The Ride that SHAGGED Me!

All right. So we were on our honeymoon...I guess shagging is a part of the package, right? Sigh...Don't even go there Joni! Ha!

Mike and I woke up to a lovely sunny morning and after eating a nice (but in hindsight, not enough) breakfast, I got a head-start on my way to the Canadian Border. I had a full size car-lane for my bike lane. Beautiful, smooth pavement. Wow! As soon as I got out of town (one stoplight and one mile later), I started passing many cool bed and breakfasts along the shore. One very cool one was called Skara Brae (a Scottish B&B), but most had a Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or Finnish flavor with a Dutch one thrown in here and there.(There's even a Lindskog road...I thought of you Candy!) Once I passed 5-Mile Rock (about 5 miles out of town), there was nothing but me and the trees and the lake, with an occasional passing car.

The air is clean. Very Alpine-like. (like Lake Tahoe without people) Soon I came upon a State Park (Judge M-something or other). Most of the roads that lead off Highway 61 are gravel...so I just stayed on the road, but by bicycle, you go slow enough (or I do) to see all the sights. I stopped in to see the Naniboujou Lodge and Trail. I could tell I was getting close to Indian territory.

I felt good. I was just humming along...taking in all the spectacular views of the Lake and woods. About 25 miles into the ride, the inevitable happens. Big Mig...my handsome husband rides up beside me. We chatted a bit, and then he said, "the only thing that kinda sucks is we have a tailwind". Gulp!? And I just thought I was riding well because I had so many miles in these legs. Even with help from the wind, I can not keep up with Mike's "tempo", so I bid him farewell and slowed down to my touring speed, keeping an eye out for potential water-refill opportunities for the ride back. (Mike should have done the same!)

All along the road are entrances to Lake Superior hiking trails. Soon I was in the Grand Portage National Forest. I'd roll up and down the road and see not much of anything but trees and water and rocks and blue sky. 6 miles from the Canadian Border, much to my delight and surprise I began to climb Mount Josephine. It's a two mile climb! (There is a mountain in Minnesota afterall!!) The sights from the top look out upon little rock islands, and the descent into Canada is fast with smooth pavement and a huge lane all to myself!

While Mike had "problems entering Canada, (not problems, but they stopped him and asked him all kinds of questions), the guys just waved me through. I rode about 5 miles into the new country, but the road quality declined and it ventured inland...plus that tailwind thing was in the back of my mind. So at about mile 6, I turned around and headed back to Grand Marais.

While I was climbing Mount Josephine on the return, these guys on motorcycles passed me and waited for me at the top. "Woman! You are an animal!!" I smiled. Then on the descent, I felt the wind. Can I do this for 46 miles back? Yikes. I stopped for a box of fig newtons at the Grand Portage casino. Topped off with water and snacks, I got back on the road---I looked out on the Lake and saw a black bear!! Wow! (Mike saw a mama bear and her baby right in his path when he was in Canada).

I was really feeling the wind now. A year ago it would have stopped me. But all this riding in the prairie winds has toughened me up a bit. In Hoveland (spl?) I see this blond, tan beautiful and half naked amazon type woman running towards me in my lane. She was a big norwegian/swedish looking gal...those motorcycle guys must have enjoyed that.

I kept expecting Mike to pass me again...but he was gonna try and make it to Thunder Bay (that would have been 140 miles for the day). The cool air felt cold. I didn't know if I was going to make it home. I was hungry and near bonking when I saw the sign for 18 miles to Grand Marais. More fig newtons and I put my nose down and hammered home. At Croftville I knew I'd make it.

96 miles for me and about 115 for Mike who showed up looking more flogged than I. We ate a bunch of peanut butter, took showers and recovered a bit. We had hoped to go to the Angry Trout for dinner. But we were too hungry. We needed huge volumes and so we opted instead for Sven & Ollie's infamous pizza place. Mike ordered their largest "Havaiian" (not a typo) a large plate of fettacini pesto with butterey garlic bread and we drank alot of beer! Awesome. All the guys that worked there were from some far-away Scandinavian land and there sing-song english was lovely.

After we stuffed ourselves we went home and slept like rocks to the sound of the rain that the wind blew in, thoroughly shagged from our fabulous day on our bikes!