Starting from downtown Duluth (round trip miles):
to Brighton Beach - 15 miles
to Knife River - 44 miles
to Two Harbors - 60 miles
to Split Rock - 100 miles
"The Guys" (S. and J.) I bike with decided a Century was in order this year. Easy for them to say, they are retired...I'm not, alas... I'm just not able to get long distance training rides in as they are, so I figured I could comfortably do the 60 mile option, parting ways with them at Two Harbors.
(The Guys, J and S)Much to my GREAT surprise, I found myself at Two Harbors feeling really good. The temperature was decent, very little wind, I had been eating and drinking along the way as advised and...I decided to GO FOR IT! Yes! I did my first Century!
100 miles; avg speed 14.5; about 8.5 hours or so. We were stopping to rest and refresh every 20 miles, except between the Gooseberry rest stop and Split Rock turnaround which was only 8 miles apart.
Since we had started at 7am, traffic and weather was beautiful. On the way back though, traffic outside of Two Harbors was horrendous. They were replacing a culvert and putting in turnout lanes on a Saturday, in the peak of tourist season and traffic was down to one lane, backed up for a mile as they alternated who could go.
We only had two little mishaps - I had trouble coming into Split Rock with low tire pressure on my back wheel (which would explain why things felt sluggish) so I had a mechanic look at it back at Gooseberry. Poor J had a flat just outside of the Silver Creek Tunnel (also just north of Two Harbors) which S and I didn't realize so we pulled into Two Harbors and belatedly realized NO J behind us! Luckily he arrived about 10 minutes later. The mechanic truck had seen him and offered assistance but he had things under control and was almost ready to roll.
The hardest part of the ride for me came between Two Harbors and Brighton Beach (about 20 miles). One of my deltoids was cramping up and my sitbones were lodging very adamant complaints about their bruised state of existence. I was ready to get off the bike and be done with this silliness. However, we took a break at Brighton, a final stretch of limbs and legs, and that was all I needed for the final push back into Duluth.
Simply an awesome ride - the support stations were very much appreciated, the weather was beautiful (it threatened rain on the way back but it went to the South), the lake views splendid and the company was inspiring.
We're already planning our next organized ride - Great River Energy Mesabi Trail ride (50 miles) August 7.
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