derailling hangover

I really need to work on drinking water.

Sunday was beautiful out, so we hopped on our bikes and headed out to see where we would end up.  Before too long we were in Uptown wandering through the Kitchen Window.  And then we biked home.  

Not the most miles we have ever rode in a day, but one of the longest for the year.  BUT, I had less than one liter of water all day.  

yes, it felt like a hangover the next morning.

hickory switch

We switched from the Kenda 161 tires.  A while back I mentioned the 1 3/8" tires on our bikes.  There are more aggressive treads, but the Kenda's are inexpensive and came in our size.  Studded Nokians are hard to find in 27 x 1 3/8".  

Now that spring has sprung a little, we don't need the added traction so we've switched back to smoother road tires.  I've been on the same set of 27x1 1/4" Continentals for a couple years now.  And I notice the clearance around the fenders is better.  

what drives me nuts is changing the back tire.  I hate hate hate fussing with it.  Some day I'll have one of those swanky clamps which will make it easier to do bike maintenance, but till then I wrestle with the bike on the floor.

Like sitting on a bag of severed thumbs

I forgot why I stopped using the gel seat...  not as comfortable as I remembered, which wasn't very comfortable.

I do have another seat in a box somewhere, I should go looking for it.

How many bikes is enough?

One more is the correct answer.

I might have blown a bit of the wad saved for the Pugsley on an old three speed.  

It is a very pretty bike, and uses 650b tires.  Which makes an interesting change from the 27x1 3/8 that Frenchie runs on.  I don't know if it is the gear ratio or the size of the tires but this bike is very spirited.

The new bike came with a cheap plastic seat on it, which worked alright for about 3 miles, at which point it cocked back and tried to throw me off the back of the bicycle.  

When I switched Frenchie over to a Brooks saddle, I saved the Serfas seat for a rainy day.  The Serfas seat cost a small fortune and still had some life left in it, though it wasn't comfortable as it really should have been which is why I switched.  While a leather seat might sound intimidating at first, and before I finished breaking it in I would have agreed, I will never buy another that is not leather.

For now, I'll use the Serfas because it is still better than a block of plastic.

IT'S

It's Enger tower! 

Duluth!

A plaque!

Duluth!

Being locked out of vessels of knowledge

So next we went in search of the SS Meteor.  The last whaleback freighter that isn't sunk.  It did run aground at one point or another, but they moved it to Superior and cut a big hole in it and made a museum of the vessel.

 Unfortunately for us, it was the off season, and the place was locked up.  So we took pictures of the outside.  

And went to Enger Tower, where I locked us out of the minivan.

Luckily for us, the sliding door didn't lock right away. And we crawled in and unlocked the front seat.

Aquarius

I should at some point finish these posts about the trip to Duluth and if I do it before a month has past, then that would be even better.

These are pictures from the Duluth Aquarium.  Which was actually a very interesting aquarium in that all the tanks were freshwater.

They have a bunch of Sturgeon and trout.  HUGE trout.  See the guy swimming by the trout?  

Also, being able to change ISO so easily is awesome.

not a greek drama

I would like to start off by saying that the movie was very suspenseful, well developed, and mortified me.  We just watched Straw Dogs, that old movie with Dustin Hoffman when he was like 12.  

According to Imdb the movie had an "unprecedented amount of onscreen violence."  

It was 

all it needed was a chorus

and wings

GAHHHH!

Lake Walk

The lake walk started beyond our hotel and continues down to the lift bridge.  

A nice little jaunt, but still covered in ice and snow in places.  And water the rest of it.  I kept trying to find places to step on the snow and filling my shoes with slush.  Have I mentioned I love wool socks.

Also by the lift bridge is Grandma's.  When I was growing up we would stop there for sandwiches and they were good.  When I was in college, Grandma's opened a location in Fargo, and it was also good.  

But time passes.  And when we went there on this trip the meat was over done and overall blah.  For the same amount of folding money a couple can get 2 beers and 2 sandwiches at Grandma's OR walk to the other end of the Lake Walk and eat in Fitger's brewery pub thing and get 6 beers and two sandwiches that tasted better to begin with.

We have a new place to stop on our way to my Grandmother's cabin.

Look at the big anchor. And then I sneaked another picture of Shannon!