Duluth Day

I realized early last week that I would have Saturday all to myself. I had been wanting to take a day trip to Duluth to ride the Piedmont trail as well as check out the Spirit Mountain downhill runs.

Friday night I was getting really excited for the trip. I distinctly remember waking up in the middle of the night and wishing it was 6am. A quick phone check said 3:22am. Back to sleep. Soon it was 6 and  I was brushing my teeth and getting ready to head out the door. Curt showed up on time with not one, but two fully rigid bikes for the trip. When your riding rocky trail and DH, only the best riders go rigid.

We hit the road and picked up Larry at 6:50 and headed toward Duluth.

PSI check

Curt requested that we stop at Holiday for the first of his two breakfasts. He explained to us that he likes a donut right away in the morning and then a regular breakfast later on. Two hours later we were stopping at the first McD's in Duluth and Curt got the worst smelling hashbrown ever. I could smell the grease and it was making me nauseous. I don't know how he eats that stuff. 

All rock

Around 9:30 we pulled into the Piedmont trail head and started on our ride. First impressions were that the trail had a lot of rocks. Small ones on the trail, and huge boulders to ride on. The only other trail in the mid-west that is similar would be Rock Lake in Cable.

The views along the trail were great. I am sure that a fall ride would expose even more views. The only "problem" was that you are too busy trying to ride over all the rocks to take it all in. 

I made mention last week on FB how I am enjoying my new geared Ti 29er so much and am almost never riding my SS. That was my go to bike for the past two years and I promised it that I would never sell it, but it has been hanging up in the garage since a family ride. The down side to this is that I have no interest in breaking a $250 derailleur or carbon parts so I don't ride many skinnys anymore and now in the case of large rock drops, I'll walk down them for now...

This was a tricky line to get around the bigger drop. You had to go around the outside and there was a pretty significant drop if you fell to the left.

The rest of the trail was great. Admiral Rockbar was a very fun trail and I hope to make it back to this trail a lot more often.

11:15 is not too early for a beer

Now it was time to head to Spirit Mountain. We stopped at Erbert's and Gerbert's for a quick bite and were at the ticket booth getting hit on by the cashier in no time. 

We rode the Happy Camper trail first, then Candyland a few times, then Smorgasborg. It was fun, I got some air, and no one crashed. I thought DH was OK, but it's not something that I plan on getting in to. The lift ride kind of saps the excitement out of it for me. 

Curt on the other hand found out that a Mukluk is not the best (or probably the 4th best) option for riding DH. He decided to show everyone who was there that day the a real mountain biker also rides his bike up the hill.

Larry getting artistic

This drop above has some real potential for some bad things to happen if someone comes in too hot.

Small drop for me.

Shortly before the above photo was taken Curt flatted out the front tire of his Mukluk. To all of our surprise, no one at the trail that day had a spare tube for him to borrow.

There you are Curt, didn't see you there.

The damage

It was a fun day. If I did it all over again I think that I would ride two laps at Piedmont, then go over to Lester or Hartley. Then to Spirit Mountain for a few runs before heading home. A two day trip would be nice as well.