July 10, 2015
The Shipping News: Day 38 - hanging out and getting stuff done in Duluth
The only thing missing from this town is the smell of salt water, otherwise it's like so many other port cities around the world (in a good way). A mix of rail roads bring goods in, docks and ships moving stuff out, and some old warehouse and industrialized areas undergoing gentrification.
It's a real town with real people doing real things (unlike the mercurial world of Bay and Wall Street).
We didn't have as much time to explore the city as we would have liked. First, we slept in, which our bodies needed, and second, we had to deal with our first bike issue of the trip.
Two days ago coming into Internationl Falls, the bike started to have really jerky braking on the front wheel. The wheel ran smoothly and was true, but when I applied the front brake it would jerk quite violently on each wheel rotation, indications of a flat spot in the rim.
Fotunately we didn't have any really big hills until we came into Duluth so it wasn't a big deal, but it needed to get addressed. There are several good bike shops in Duluth and Twin Sports was close to our hotel. When I explained our situation (cross county road trip) they were right there with us trying to sort out the problem.
We tried first to get the rim rideable, but this didn't really work. It would be least a day delay to get a new rim built up as they didn't have appropriate rims in stock, but they did have a built up wheel that would work ( Shimano XT hub with Mavic 721 rim). We were back on the road in under an hour! Thanks guys!
Back at the hotel I salvaged the spokes and hub (Chris King) fom our old wheel and then discoverd the source of the problem. The rim had split down the middle, causing the walls to flare out. I started to wonder which of the 473 potholes or 132 rough train tracks or 1496 expansion ruts we rode over caused this problem. I guess we'll never know, but its fortunate that we had this problem in an area where we could get it fixed right away. It also looks like I have another winter project, learn of to build wheels with the salvaged spokes and King hub.
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There's always a silver lining to thee things and we always look for it. We quizzed the guys in the bike shop on good roads and routes east, and more importantly, good places to eat in Duluth. Even on a rest day you get hungry.
Curt from the bike shop suggests the Duluth Grill for lunch. It was only a couple of blocks away so we took him up on his suggestion. The place was packed, the service was quick and very freindly, and the food was fantastic. Fish tacos for me and a Smoked trout salad for Kirsten, accompanied by some great drinks (mango peach ginger turmeric and cinnamon smoothie for me and a blueberry lemonade for Kirsten). Followed this up with a killer apple pie (me) and brownie sundae (Kirsten) because we can! Did some arithmetic and we are averaging 118 km per cycling day. I'll have a second helping of please!
Got the rest of the normal 'rest day' stuff done .....laundry, journal updates etc, and then headed down to the harbour area to check it out.
It was a fabulous day, on the verge of being too hot but it didn't quite get there, and clear blue skies. The harbour and Canal is pretty cool with the industrial working harbour juxtaposed with the trendy revitalized warehouse area. We spent quite a bit of time in the Engineering Corps building / museum (for the record Kirsten wanted to spend longer in there than I did)! Lots of history and information on the development of shipping on the Great Lakes, and lots of info on the lakes themselves.
Unfortunately we didn't have time to take in the Great Lakes Aquarium, we'll save that for when we're back here with Callum.
We saw the Ariel bridge in action, Great Lake freighters coming into port, lighthouses, families hanging at the beach, all of it really great.
As the sun was starting to set we took the board walk along the lake (think ocean) to down town and Va Benne Cafe where we had another fantastic Italian meal. Sat on a balcony overlooking the inland sea that is Superior, and felt very content with our lives.
We also inwardly realized that this massive expanse of water needs to be cycled around, and that will our existance for the next week. Oh these 'rest' days are but fleeting moments....
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