I wish I could describe to you how many there were. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. They moved in a mass of them more like a school of fish than birds and seemed to be focused on eating and eating. Simply hundreds of them. I was surprised that a raptor would eat insects but that seemed to be what they were doing.

It got me thinking about the other hill-related events I’ve witnessed over the years and thinking serious work should be done in documenting such events. (Plus, I’m procrastinating on a big project I should be doing.)

I remember driving down Hawthorne Road in Duluth following one of those psycho longboarders as he picked up more and more speed before deciding he needed to abort the ride. He steered toward the grassy on the side of the road and ejected, rolling faster than he thought he would, toward a street sign that he T-boned with his body. He quickly jumped to his feet, suggesting that he was just fine and still had all of his cool in tact.

My son will never forget the day we were driving down Fourth Street near the Coop when we saw a car “parked” on a steep slope with its front end wrapped around an old oak tree. At the top of the slope, standing in a parking lot, you could see the owner of the vehicle staring down at the car that apparently didn’t have its emergency brake on. A small evergreen was also tucked up under the car — or at least the top part that had been taken out on the car’s trip down the hill.

I remember walking out of the Salvation Army downtown once and hearing sirens and walking to the side of the steep hill and seeing people standing outside all along the street. At the top, there was a bent stop sign. Another place, more damage. And, at the bottom of the hill, a car smashed into an electric pole.

I know that cyclists in Duluth have celebrated the hills by spending one day trying to ride up every single one of them. But maybe we should have some events that celebrate going in the other direction, like these people do in Chile.

VCA 2010 RACE RUN from 052″>changoman on Vimeo.

So, got any hill stories?

- Had done this trip
- Knew of good resources for planning such a trip
- Had suggestions on a good route

I thought I’d lucked into an easy way to map out the ride using Google maps, which has a fancy “bike” option for directions. It gives me three options that I think you can see here. However, it has me going what’s called the Wild Rivers Trail and what I’ve read about that trail suggests that it may have fast-moving ATVs and loose gravel more suited to mountain bikes and even says cycling is “not recommended.”

So, I’m not so sure. I once did a backroad drive from Madison to Duluth on the old state road that more or less parallels the Interstates. That seemed pretty and quiet. However, as I say, I’m hoping to get some recommendations from others.

I am personally planning on telling Lutsen that not only will I not be visiting their resort anytime soon, I’ll also be spreading the word through any channel I can find. I wish there was some way I could suggest that others also send them a note saying you’ll be doing the same.

For example, people could voice their concern on Lutsen’s Facebook by “liking it” and then voicing your displeasure: page.

People could also email Lutsen to let them know you’re going to boycott the resort.

What I can’t find is the direct email address of the resort’s co-owner, Charles Skinner. I wonder where he lives. We could all visit his house and say, “hi.”

From left Charlie Farrow and Tim Ek (who, along with Jason Buffington and Jeremy Kershaw make up the Death Before Dishonor group) at last year’s Trans-Iowa. Note the headlamps because they will be riding all night.

Two of Duluth’s strongest endurance cyclists completed an amazing feat today in Iowa. The Trans-Iowa is a two-day, 300-mile bike race on mostly gravel backroads that starts at 4 a.m. on Saturday morning and finishes when you either cross the finish line or quit, which many people do. To win, you have to pretty much ride without stopping for a little more than 24 hours.

Tim Ek placed second in a sprint for the finish. Tim rides for Salsa bikes.

Charlie Farrow placed fourth after riding all night with Tim.

You can listen to the audio updates of the event here.

These guys pretty much have no off season, riding bikes all year long while the rest of us are skiing or waiting for winter to end. In these races, they don’t know the route until the race starts. They get cards that tell them how long to ride and when and where to turn (and hope they don’t get lost). They have none of the silly support cars or other help you see in professional bike racing. They are basically on their own.

In September, Duluth will host its own version of this race for the third year. Called the Heck of the North, it runs along gravel roads from Duluth to points north with a grueling finish up Seven Bridges Road.

Congrats guys.

[vimeo][/vimeo]

What if, in an effort to show the world that we are sore losers, everyone in Duluth stops using Google and instead starts using the search engine AltaVista? I was able to find AltaVista quickly by doing a Google search and was pleased to find it still exists. I remember using it after my modem finished dialing up.

I tested it out by typing in “perfect duluth day” and found this site was the first result… below something called Benjamin Franklin Plumbing.

In your face, Google! The mayor can change the name of his kid to AltaVista, though his friends will just call him “Alt.” And, yes, I did steal this idea from a crappy weeknight sit-com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd5c-hzWcf0

Duluth gets a shout out of sorts in this PlayStation ad. I thought they said Duluth Mutton Hut at first, which sounded appealing, but I’m pretty sure it’s puttin.

I don’t think there is a puttin’ hut either, sadly.