Monday we awoke to cloudy skies that held tight to it's moisture. It was still cool though, in the lower 50's.
That's the road we took to start the day. It was really nice - reasonably smooth pavement, windy, curvy, and gravel in just a couple corners. In places the pavement remained wet and since it was cool we kept our pace down.
Once on 51 we turned left on hwy 2. Fluffy white clouds revealed the blue skies behind and I harbored fantasies of a ride through and around the Apostle Islands peninsula. Alas the clouds dominated the blue skies and threatened rain, so we rode directly to Superior, WI.
First stop was Frankie's leather. The hope was they would have motorcycle boots - perhaps someone else in the group had other ideas. Can't really say that the store held more than knick knacks and pirate costumes the Harley crowd would appreciate.
Next stop was Aerostich in Duluth. Once again we tried on suits for Jennifer and once again her body shape doesn't fit neatly into male-proportioned riding gear. The rest of the team found things like boots and hats and shirts ... and I got a banana protector:
We found a late lunch/early dinner at Lindo's and met up with a friend. Before leaving town we had a little snafu. We're using the "Drop and Sweep" method to ensure nobody gets lost. It entails that the first (leader) and last (sweeper) in a row of bikes always remain the lead and sweep. As we're riding and make a turn, the lead will 'mark' a corner by indicating that the second rider must wait there and indicate to the remaining riders to turn at that corner. When the sweep comes to the corner, the posted rider pulls in front of the sweep. The leader can mark multiple turns like this, as long as there is someone behind him to post at a corner.
This method works very well, as it allows our group to get stretched out over longer distances without having to wait around for all the riders at each intersection. Riders don't have to worry about keeping up or getting lost - they can just ride their own pace, and look for the next posted rider. In towns or congested areas, we don't have to worry about getting through a light, or finding a way to park a group of bikes safely - only one rider needs to be posted.
We originally learned about this from the ST1100 group we occasionally ride with, and they have used it successfully to group 15-20 riders through large cities like London or back roads in West Virginia or Tennessee (with many turns). Our groups were stretched out over many miles. For example, one time in West Virginia, a member of our group directly behind me crashed (he's ok). The leader didn't know about the crash (nor did I) so we kept riding and I was posted. There I was, in the 95F sun, sitting and waiting for about 30 minutes with no riders to guide. Eventually the leader came back - he had kept riding and posted two more riders, then ran out of riders. Figuring something was wrong, he backtracked, picking up the posts and we went back to the accident site.
That's how it's supposed to work. But when a posted rider leaves his post, then things get screwed up. Bill crashed on last year's Walt Rider. As I was leading, I didn't know this and kept riding and dropped off two new posts until I sat there and waited ... then grew impatient and backtracked. I picked up the most recent post, put the post prior had also grown tired of waiting and left HIS post! Since I was looking for him, I rode right past where was posted, and thus our group got split up. It took us 15-20 minutes to figure out our route and then by chance we found the rest of the group.
The other way this can fail is if a rider in the middle of the group decides to take a shortcut. This happened in Duluth. We were in traffic downtown and got separated. Rather than continue on the road we were on, the local rider (in the second group) decided to take a shortcut instead of continuing on the road we were on. When he took the shortcut, he took the rest of the riders with him, and bypassed our group down the road waiting for them. We did eventually pull off the road and make a phone call to get reconnected - but this illustrates that when using the Drop and Sweep method, every rider has to stay on the routes provided. Consider what would have happened if, instead waiting as a group, we had posted some riders. These posts would never have seen the sweep (as the sweep followed the errant rider) and would have been sitting and waiting for a long time.
Anyway .. we did finally get away from Minnesota's worst road surfaces (in Duluth) and rode north to Two Harbors then Silver Bay. It didn't rain and we even saw from blue sky. That evening we convened in a hotel room with beer, bourbon, pizza and an HBO movie.
Sorry about the lack of photos from this point on .. there wasn't much to take photos of.
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