Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: Self Contained Touring in Northern Minnesota

« on: March 02, 2013, 07:03:45 pm »

I live in Duluth and the route from Duluth to Grand Marais is decent. Beautiful of course because the whole ride is along the shore of lake superior. Plenty of good camping with many state parks and plenty of options for wild camping. The road is good for most of the way with wide enough shoulders and  some of it is covered by the gitchi gami trail which is very nice.  Some of Hwy 61 has narrow to non existent shoulders but overall it s good.

The mesabi trail is awesome. Lots of options on the areas you are looking at.

Let me know if you need more information.

If you are into beer, Duluth has many microbreweries. Very good stuff.

Mike

2

Routes / Re: Duluth MN to Madison WI

« on: February 02, 2013, 07:28:50 pm »

Thank you both for the ideas. Some good stuff to think about. I had been thinking I would travel mostly the back roads of Wisconsin and try to hit as many trails as possible when I got closer to Madison. I had not really considered going south in Minnesota on the trails first, then heading east.



Mike

3

Routes / Duluth MN to Madison WI

« on: January 24, 2013, 08:13:33 pm »

I am planning on riding from Duluth  to Madison. I have the Wisconsin DOT bike maps. Looks like I will have to piece together a route mostly on back country roads. Has anyone done part or all of this route and be willing to share any route information they may have?

Thank you in advance.

Mike

4

Gear Talk / Re: How to avoid saddles sores and rash (hand sanitizer)

« on: March 11, 2012, 08:21:46 pm »

This is an interesting topic in an odd sort of way. I have been suffering from saddle sores the last couple of years and have tried many different things from different brands of bike shorts to different creams. I think most of my saddle sore originate from an infected hair follicle. I have just started using a chamois cream from Doc's. It seems to be helping prevent them. If you go to the manufacture's website there is actually a fair amount of information about saddle sores and prevention. The guy that created the stuff is an M.D.

I do think wearing clean shorts and getting out of them as soon as you are done riding helps prevent issues. I know changing out of your shorts right away post ride is not always possible, but something to think about. When backpacking,  I always get out of my hiking boots as soon as possible when I get into camp and this helps prevent feet issues. 

Any Dermatologist's who happen to bike a lot wish to chime in?