...following a week of romping around Manhattan playing tourist gawking at the Empire State Building, Ground Zero construction, City Hall, Brooklyn Bridge, Lady Liberty, Times Square, Chinatown, Little Italy, Central Park, American Museum of Natural History, Staten Island Ferry, Governors Island Ferry, Battery Park, Broadway Theater Musicals, amazing food everywhere, Rockefeller Plaza, insane taxi drivers, all while eluding rats & disease in the subway......left me on the fence as to whether I'd show up to the gravel road epic in a couple days time! Starting up life in Duluth again on Wednesday came in a trying way as Jen forgot to give my dad the key to our vehicle when he dropped us off @ the airport in his when our trip commenced. So, I flew back alone and the key was w/her in NYC for the remainder of her stay until her friends' wedding ended on the weekend. If you ever get stranded in the TC then I'd highly recommend the Jefferson Bus Lines to get back home for a reasonable $20.50 expressway. Getting into the swing of things wasn't hard but I did feel really exhausted. All those 4 AM nights out, consuming a very unusual diet regularly, proved I was no match to the polar opposite lifestyle I carried out a while. Oh well, it was so worth doing and knowing that I'd see many friendly and familiar faces @ the Heck of the North had me appear regardless of whatever circumstances. I found myself drinking a lot of wine @ home among friends upon returning and yet got out on the bike daily. Around 8 o'clock on Friday I even rode up to event director, Jeremy Kershaw's place in the rain to get my cue cards for the next morning. Knowing I wouldn't be one of the people treating this 'group ride' as a race, gave me an opportunity to embrace the peak foliage and make new friends coming in from out of town. One of them being, Chris Skogen, who is the founder of the Almanzo 100 in southern MN. He too didn't have the legs for this so we just enjoyed the day together for the majority of the route. As he put it, "I got nowhere to be & all day to get there." Near mile 54 is the midway checkpoint where riders get the second half of cue cards to finish the 102 total distance. In no hurry I used the porta potty, sipped a couple cups of cocoa and thru a can of Mountain Dew in my jersey while BSin' w/some young volunteers. Coming off the north shore trail onto CR 266 was the only spot that had me standing around for a bit wondering do I go thru the gate across the road or hang a left. I went up the gravel maybe a quarter mile and turned to come back and wait for a guy I passed in the woods but.....hmmmm.....never saw him pop out!?. Could he have crossed? Gone right? Not sure what to do since there was no signage I just gambled and proceeded in the direction I had as my initial instinct to find it was the right choice. Right hand bend on Nappa and the rest was easy to navigate. Beautiful mix of connecting travels was scouted out by Jeremy w/one sector new to me. Variety in the surfaces we'd roll on gave it a diverse feel I enjoyed. Jury is still out as to whether these kind of events could be raced by me. However, I'm wanting to make a visit to another before developing an opinion. Shindigs like the one @ Big Buff's afterward sure make it enticing.
Up early again the next morning to pick up Jen from the airport and then find our friends Pete & Amy @ Target Field for the last TWINS game of the regular season. The home team lost but we still had a great time!
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