The Great Circle Tour - 2006

Unlike other tours which had a goal/purpose (coast-to-coast, Route 66, ride every road in Alaska) this one would be just a great ride, and it was. No question the wind did not look upon us with favor. It seemed to follow us and was always in our face (almost always). We rode 3182 on this tour (I rode 3555.76 from when I left home until I returned.) We started and ended in Minneapolis (the home of David, my riding partner). Being a “Great Circle Tour” we rode in a big circle - MN, WI, MI, UP (Upper Michigan) WI, MN, Manitoba, MN, SD and finally MN.

This would be our route, total miles for the day, and what made the day notable:

• Left Minneaplouis on June 3 for:
• Menomonee, WI - 85 miles - A 4-H day: hot, headwinds, hills, and Harleys
• Neilsville, WI - 100 miles - my 1st century of the year, lunch at Brackett Bar a local paid for it - thanks.
• Stevens Point, WI - 91 miles - visited the Hostel Shop, a very new & big bike shop.
• New London, WI - 58 miles - woke to wet roads, did not get wet, severe storms in PM.
• High Cliff State Park, WI - 75 miles - camped, ice cream at Froggy - life is good.
• Ludington, MI - 49 miles - new state for me, ferry, S.S. Badger, across Lake Michigan, met David’s friends Dave & Lauren

• Interlochen, MI - 82 miles - rode with Dave & Lauren, breakfast at “Old Hamlin” 1926
• Traverse City, MI - 60 miles - rode all over the city on great bike paths
• Petoskey, MI - 101 miles - climbed the steepest hill of the tour, 1st DQ - life is good.
• St. Ignace, MI - 72 miles - rode thru “The Tunnel of Trees” and around “Mackinac Island” took ferry to the “UP” (Upper Peninsular), 1st Frozen Custard (and was it good).
• Blaney Park, MI - 74 miles - raced rain to the Dreamland Motel, we won.
• Munising, MI - 76 miles - visited Munising Falls
• Marquette, MI - 64 miles - stopped at “Sculpture Park” a must stop if you are in the area, great lunch at “Memories.”
• Baraga, MI - 77 miles - start of Lake Superior’s Keweenaw Peninsula, one very light shower.
• Houghton, MI - 61 miles - got into town just in time to ride in a bike parade, rain in PM.
• Copper Harbor, MI - 70 miles - had my first “Pasty,” had a great motel with a wonderful view of Lake Superior..
• Houghton, MI - 72 miles - birch tree fell on me, got a little wet, lunch at “Gay Bar,” Gay MI

• Silver City, MI = 76 miles - just a nice day
• Bessemer, MI - 81 miles - rode thru “Porcupine Mts. State Park, 19 cars in 39 miles.
• Boulder Junction, WI - 76 miles - 7 drops of rain, rode into the lake area of northern WI.
• Park Falls, WI - 81 miles - saw a black bear, there are no falls in Park Falls (or at least we could not find it)
• Cable, WI - 70 miles - dodged a lot of showers, but did get wet twice, breakfast at the “Sportsman Bar” in Loretta, it was not open but the owner (Allen) invited us in and cook us breakfast for free - thanks. Dinner at Jacque’s house, a friend of David’s - thanks for a great evening, saw our 3rd black bear of the tour.
• Iron River, MI - 72 miles - my 70th BD, lunch at “Delta Diner” let me use their phone to call home on my BD - thanks..
• Duluth, MN - 66 miles - rode up very steep 10th Ave to stay at Terrance & Marge’s house, they had a BD party for me - many thanks (to David also).

• Two Harbors, MN - 54 miles - rode out to Silver Cliffs and rain chased us back.
• Aurora, MN - 77 miles - we are in Iron Country, I picked samples of “Taconite”
• Orr, MN - 100 miles - there was not much along our route today and I thought we would not get any lunch and there it was the “Wooden Table Inn” a very welcome restaurant.
• International Falls, MN - 75 miles - celebration in town free food (hot dogs, chips, coke, and watermelon), I wanted to see this town since it’s often the coldest place in the lower USA.
• Baudette, MN - 80 miles - 100th anniversary party going on downtown, rode into Canada.(we were not warmly welcomed by the local kids).
• Warroad, MN - 68 miles - home of “Marvin Doors &Windows;” and “Christian Hockey Sticks” which is now closed. Sad story, the two Christian brothers who started the business were on the 1980 Olympic gold metal hockey team. There had the know-how on stick building but not the business sense. Their dad’s had the business sense. When both dads passed away the business folded. Dinner was at “The Patch” restaurant, the service was so bad that I left no tip and told them so.
• Roseau, MN - 46 miles - left the forest for farm land. Home of Polaris.

• Lake Bronson St. Park - 57 miles - Spend the 4th of July with the Cyr’s in Greenbush for a Parade and a Bar-B-Q - thanks (which sure tasted great), camped for the second time. Pizza for dinner at the “Maverick Bar” made a lot of new friends and got a few hugs (both from males and females.)
• St. Malo Provincial Park, Canada - 60 miles - camped, David pretty sick most of the afternoon.

• Bird’s Hill Park, Winnipeg - 65 miles - the next 4 days we would be camping and attending the “Winnipeg Folk Music Festival.” We would get in some riding.
• Bird’s Hill Park, Winnipeg - 29 miles - Sprinkles made us abort the morning ride to Selkirk for breakfast. We would ride from camp to the festival grounds and back. The ride back was around mid-night and in the pitch dark, we had lights but it still was eerie.
• Bird’s Hill Park, Winnipeg - 52 miles - rode into Winnipeg. Members of David’s family had driven up to attend the Festival.
• Bird’s Hill Park, Winnipeg - 21 miles - the festival was great fun with many performers, very interesting people, it was a nice break to being on the road. Several of the people we met invited us to spend the night with them on our way back to Minneapolis.
• Hallock, MN - 104 miles - before getting on the road we had to change the tire of Dana’s (David’s wife) van. The family met in Oak Bank for breakfast. We decided it would be nice to get back into the USA so just keep riding until sunset.
• Grand Forks, ND - 86 miles - it was a hot and humid day with a very strong headwind. We even tried riding I-29 in order to get a little cooling wind from passing truck traffic. Sad to say there was almost no traffic.
• Fertile, MN - 65 miles - Stayed at the “Sand Hills” motel, really bad and dirty place, but what do you expect for $37.. But on the great side was all the people we met and talked to. Often they mentioned “Lala’s Ice Cream,” so after dinner we went looking for Lala. We found her working in her small shop making ice cream. She did not have any small portions in the store so she got in her car and went home to get some for us (just another example of how nice people can be).

• Hawley, MN - 56 miles - we had our 5th day of 30-40 mph headwinds with temps in 90's. Got revived with a DQ Moolatte - life is good.
• Near Underwood, MN - 63 miles - stayed with Ron & Katy on their farm (Lindentree), who we met at the festival. Had a wonderful home cooked meal and lots of great talk - thanks.
• Alexandria, MN - 60 miles - rode a bike path most of the day, a nice break from being on the road, met Seph & Lin who were riding coast-to-coast, they are from Salem, Oregon (50 miles south of where I live.)

• St. Cloud, MN - 77 miles - rode bike trail (Lake Wobegon Trail) along I-94 with a little TAILWIND, boy did it feel good. We were the pre-parade entertainment for a parade in a small town (meaning we rode down the street before the parade started.)
• Minneapolis, MN - 105 miles - arrived on July 17 - rode back roads along the Mississippi.
• Spent the next 5 days at David’s house - rode a total of 130.12 miles, one day we drove to Morris, MN to have dinner with Dick and Ingrid (who we will stay with in 2007, they live in NC.) Watch some of the Tour de France, had coffee with Theresa, attended the Starlight parade, visited custom bike builder Curt Goodrich, attended a Concert put on by the Minnesota Orchestra, headed home on AMTRAK. David decided to go with me and then ride back to Minneapolis. Thanks to them for taking so good care of me.
• Portland, OR - 21 miles - we rode to my house. After a few days of riding around Portland (Really in the Tualatin Valley which is west of Portland) David headed for Minneapolis. I would ride with him, to guide him across downtown Portland, which is not a lot of fun.

Stats

• Left Portland, Oregon on 5-30-2006
• Arrived back home on 7-24-2006
• Total days on the road (both riding and non-riding) 55
• Total days on the tour 45
• Total miles ridden 3555.76
• Total miles ridden on tour 3182
• Average miles per day for the tour 70.7
• Total hours in the saddle 288.44
• Longest day in miles 105 (5 centuries were ridden)
• Shortest day in miles 21
• Longest day in hours on the bike 8:51 (one of the centuries)
• Flat tires none
• June, 2006 was the first time that I have ridden every day within a month (30 days - 2169.31 miles)
• Weight at the start 153
• Weight at the end 146
• Total cost $2838.45 (includes everything, Amtrak, food, motels, and all the other little things.)