Duluth Fat-Bike Tour

This past weekend Vandy and I headed north to Duluth for the second installment of the Duluth Fat-Bike Tour. We were joined by ArcFlash and the three of us started our adventure on Friday night with a camp-out.

View from my tent  Saturday morning........not bad

Time for some eats

Rolling en masse 

some ride the steep stuff......some walk  

  Saturday morning we grabbed a quick breakfast before meeting the COGGS group at Lester Park a little before 9 am. It was good sized group of about 15, lead by master fat bike rider and route visionary, Rudy O'Brien. In charge of following behind and sweeping the route was ultra distance fat-bike extraordinaire, Eric P.

Break #1

Excellent view of D Town

Yours truly......thanks to EP for snapping this 

EP in a really cool section of ?

  I've spent a fair amount of time in Duluth over the years but I was shocked at the amount of wild places the ride showed us. I knew most of the main trails we rode, but the places in between left me clueless as to my whereabouts. It was nice to just follow the person in front of me and see where the route leader would take us. Along the way we did parts of Lester, Hartley, Piedmont, Brewer and Spirit Mtn all linked together with deer trails, roads, power-line easements and an old railroad grade.....this ride had everything !

Haulin' 

Rudy said there would be hike-a-bike, there was in fact hike-a-bike

flood damage 

you lookin' at me ? Punk 

No trains here 

  I'm not sure if it was COGGS, Rudy, or others who supplied sandwiches, drinks, cookies, jerky, and candy at three predetermined stops... Thank You.  The ride ended at Mount Du Lac somewhere in the neighborhood of 37-40 miles over an eight hour period. The ride manifest stated it would be around 50, not a single exhausted soul complained about the discrepancy but was grateful  instead.

My favorite........underground 

there will be mud 

Power lines........too exhausted by the time I got done climbing to take any pics that could represent the severity of the steepness........You'll have to trust me , the power-lines were tough

done 

I'm hoping to ride a third chapter of this outing, and would encourage anyone looking for a challenge to attend.     It was nice to meet all of you, thanks for not giving us twin cities guys too much grief, and if I didn't include you in a photo here I'm sorry.   Thanks COGGS .......D Rider out