Prepping for the day in the Budget Host Motel Amazingly, the WiFi started to work at the Budget Host Motel last night after we arrived back from our late night Mexican dinner and after having spent 2 and a half hours blogging in the Grand Rapids Burger King... The bright side of completing the blog in the Burger King was that we returned on bike to our hotel at about 10:30PM (in the rain) and got to bed early allowing us to get a full 8 hours of sleep. We awoke refreshed and ready for a big day. We have learned that a full night's sleep is critical to our physical restoration each day. After breakfast at Dottie's - apparently the local hangout for retirees - we got away at about 10AM happy to be assisted by a light tailwind out of the Northwest.
Joachim Ostertag - riding East to West Shortly after leaving Grand Rapids, we passed the 3,000 kilometre mark on our trip! We stopped to mark this milestone with a high five and then got back on our way as a bigger milestone lay in our path today...
Around the 50 km mark, we saw a cyclist coming the other direction down the highway - which had changed from a divided highway to a two-lane highway after Grand Rapids. We waved and asked him where he was headed to which he replied "Vancouver". He crossed the highway to chat and we learned that his name was Joachim Ostertag. He was riding from Owen Sound Ontario to Vancouver to support his "Change the Cycle" project to help end violence against women (see his website: www.changethecycletour.org). We enjoyed a nice break and as we were getting ready to part, he commented that it was too bad that we were riding against the wind?!? We were surprised by this comment as we had been helped out be a tailwind for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, he was right as we lost the tailwind for the rest of the day. Luckily, however, the ensuing head/cross wind was very light.
We met Joachim in an interesting stretch of the road where a dead forest standing in a marsh lined the road to the south. This continued for 4 or 5 kms, after which we reached our lunch destination - Floodwood MN. We speculate that the forest must have been flooded at some point which killed the trees, leading to the town's name "Floodwood". Instead of stopping for lunch in the fast food spots lining the highway, we prefer to explore these towns and were happy to find a nice little old-time restaurant just at the end of Main Street.
Around the 50 km mark, we saw a cyclist coming the other direction down the highway - which had changed from a divided highway to a two-lane highway after Grand Rapids. We waved and asked him where he was headed to which he replied "Vancouver". He crossed the highway to chat and we learned that his name was Joachim Ostertag. He was riding from Owen Sound Ontario to Vancouver to support his "Change the Cycle" project to help end violence against women (see his website: www.changethecycletour.org). We enjoyed a nice break and as we were getting ready to part, he commented that it was too bad that we were riding against the wind?!? We were surprised by this comment as we had been helped out be a tailwind for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, he was right as we lost the tailwind for the rest of the day. Luckily, however, the ensuing head/cross wind was very light.
We met Joachim in an interesting stretch of the road where a dead forest standing in a marsh lined the road to the south. This continued for 4 or 5 kms, after which we reached our lunch destination - Floodwood MN. We speculate that the forest must have been flooded at some point which killed the trees, leading to the town's name "Floodwood". Instead of stopping for lunch in the fast food spots lining the highway, we prefer to explore these towns and were happy to find a nice little old-time restaurant just at the end of Main Street.
Lunch at Bridgeman's Family Dining Cafe in Floodwood MN - another old-time throwback.
Following lunch, we had only 3 kms to ride until we reached the 3,050.25 km point - which is exactly half way across our adventure!
 Happy Ken! |  Exactly half way! |  Happy Cam! |
Reaching this point of the trip gave us both a boost as any fears that we might not have been able to complete the trip have been largely dispelled. We celebrated with another high five and by calling our wives to share this with them. We both feel like Horseshoe Bay was a long time ago, however, at the same time it seems like it has gone very quickly.
Riding back from "The Heat" in the dark After passing this milestone (coincidentally at the midpoint of today's ride) we made quick time to Duluth. Cam felt like he reached a breakthrough today as he found today's ride to be his best ride of the trip so far, with the accumulated miles that he has done starting to pay off. The terrain became much more rolling today with many climbs and descents. This is often very difficult riding as you are often climbing hills. In spite of this, Cam found that he felt like he was in control of his ride, instead of the hills, wind and miles being in control of him - which was very encouraging. He also found the landscape to be very beautiful and truly found the joy in the journey today.
We found a room at the Country Inn & Suites near the airport after a great deal of searching on the internet and phone during lunch. We had heard from many people that Duluth is an awesome city. It seems that this is a broadly held view as we learned that every hotel room is generally booked on summer weekends within 150 miles of Duluth as it is such a popular place to visit. We were very happy to get our room and celebrated with dinner at the Outback Steakhouse next door and by taking in the movie "The Heat" which we had intended to see last night in Grand Rapids before the WiFi situation slowed us down...
Ride Details:
- Distance: 124.0 kms
- Riding time: 5 hours, 21 minutes
- Average speed: 23.2 kms/hour
- Wind: 1st half: Northwest (light). 2nd half: Northeast (light)
- Cumulative: 3,111 kms
Tomorrow's Destination: Ashland, WI - 115.4 kms
For more ride details, see Strava and for more photos from today's ride, see the Photo Gallery.
We found a room at the Country Inn & Suites near the airport after a great deal of searching on the internet and phone during lunch. We had heard from many people that Duluth is an awesome city. It seems that this is a broadly held view as we learned that every hotel room is generally booked on summer weekends within 150 miles of Duluth as it is such a popular place to visit. We were very happy to get our room and celebrated with dinner at the Outback Steakhouse next door and by taking in the movie "The Heat" which we had intended to see last night in Grand Rapids before the WiFi situation slowed us down...
Ride Details:
- Distance: 124.0 kms
- Riding time: 5 hours, 21 minutes
- Average speed: 23.2 kms/hour
- Wind: 1st half: Northwest (light). 2nd half: Northeast (light)
- Cumulative: 3,111 kms
Tomorrow's Destination: Ashland, WI - 115.4 kms
For more ride details, see Strava and for more photos from today's ride, see the Photo Gallery.