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Tour of Lakes 2023
Join us for three days of bicycling and socializing in the beautiful Brainerd Lakes area June 2-4, 2023, on our annual Tour of Lakes weekend. If you’ve never biked in this area before, you are going to love it! The roads are low-traffic and very scenic, passing by many area lakes and forests. The Paul Bunyan trail is also nearby. The rides on Friday and Sunday will be regular TCBC rides, while the ride on Saturday will be a TCBC Outreach Ride-the Tour of Lakes. Plan to not only bike with the group, but eat, socialize, and relax by the lake and around the campfire with us as well at Good Ol’ Days Resort in Nisswa. We hope you can join us!
RIDES
Friday, June 2: BRAINERD LAKES. 1:00 PM B/C, B, A/B and A 35-50 miles. Start location TBD. We may start at a different location this year to mix it up a bit. I will post a note on the forums when the start location has been finalized.Join us for a ride in the beautiful Brainerd Lakes area with scenic panoramas as big as Paul Bunyan himself as we ride past glistening blue lakes, through dense forests and on the Paul Bunyan Trail! Now that’s no tall tale! There will be various mileage options between 35-50 at A/B, B and B/C levels. The routes are on gently rolling low-traffic roads and/or roads with good shoulders. RWGPS links will be posted in advance of the ride. Ride leaders encourage groups to stay together.
Please pre-register so we have an idea of who’s coming and to make it easier to enter the ride 🙂
Ride leaders: Mary Derks (651-335-6505 or maryderks@yahoo.com), Scott Larson (612-730-8371) and Jean Hurlbert.
Saturday, June 3: TOUR OF LAKES OUTREACH RIDE. Join in the FUN on Tour of Lakes (TOL), an event ride sponsored by the Paul Bunyan Cyclists in the Brainerd Lakes area. Make your way from one delicious rest stop to the next via the scenic low-traffic roads of the area. There are 3 mileage options – 13, 41 and 71. After the ride, there will be a band along with food and drink available for purchase.
- Registration: You can register up to and including the day of ride. To register and for more information on the ride, go to http://www.paulbunyancyclists.com/tour-of-lakes.html You must be registered for the ride in order to get TCBC mileage credit.
- Ride start time/departure location: Please utilize the online registration to register for the ride. Ride departs from downtown Brainerd on Laurel Street, between 6th and 7th streets. Please arrive at the ride start early to allow time for parking, check-in, picking up your t-shirt taking it to back to your car, etc. We will plan to do the ride briefing at 7:30 am, weather permitting. You are welcome to depart whenever it is convenient for you. Be sure to wear your TCBC jersey, preferably the new one!
Sunday, June 4: BRAINERD LAKES. 9:30 AM B/C, B, A/B AND A 35-55 (multiple mileage options available). Start location is the Paul Bunyan Trailhead in Nisswa, adjacent to the Dairy Queen. See Friday, June 3 for description.
LODGING:
We will again be staying at Good ‘Ol Days Resort (www.goodoldaysresort.com, 1-218-963-2478) in Nisswa. The resort currently has 1 motel style room, a 2 BR cabin and a 3 BR cabin available. There are also numerous other resorts and hotels in the area.
Check-in/out times for Good Ol’ Days:
Check-in is at 4 pm. NO EARLY CHECK-IN WILL BE AVAILABLE.
Check-out is at 11 am. The resort will open up a couple rooms for showers after the ride.
Parking:
There are 28 parking spaces at the resort (2 spaces for each cottage 1 space for each lodge room). Please work it out amongst your cabin. The resort owners are encourage people to car pool as much as possible to allow room for everyone to park.
See Good Ol’ Days Resort’s web-site for more info (www.goodoldaysresort.com).
MEALS
Coffee: Good Ol’ Days has fresh coffee available in their central gathering area 24/7.
Breakfast: If you’re staying at Good Ol’ Days, a continental breakfast is included with your lodging; however it is not available until 7 am so you may need to fend for yourself in order to get to the ride start timely.
Friday Night Happy Hour and Dinner: We’ll plan to meet at Big Axe Brewery around 6 pm for happy hour and possibly dinner also.
Saturday Night Dinner: A potluck dinner is planned for Saturday evening at 6 pm assuming you’re still hungry after all the delicious food you ate on the ride. Please bring something to grill and something to share based on the following:
If your last name starts with:
A-M: Side dish or salad
N-S: Appetizer
T-Z: Desert
If there is something you’d really like to bring, please bring that instead as we’d hate to miss out on your specialty (assuming your specialty isn’t potato chips!) Also, if you’d prefer to bring condiments, paper plates, etc. for the group, please contact me (contact info below) to see what’s still needed.
As for the ‘something to grill’ part of Saturday’s dinner, there is an excellent meat market in Little Falls (about 2/3rds of the way to Brainerd). It’s called Thielen Meats and is on the northwest corner of Hwy 10 and County Rd 27 behind the Holiday gas station. Here’s some additional info. Check them out!
Thielens
300 NE 13 St
Little Falls, MN 56345
Phone 320.632.2821 Fax 320.632.0503
Hours: 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. (F); 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Sat); 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (Sun)
Retail meat market and specialty items
over 40 varieties home smoked sausages
delicious home smoked bacon
specialty cheese
specialty coffees and candies
WHAT TO BRING:
TCBC jersey (preferably the new one)
Camp chair for sitting around the campfire.
Something to grill and a dish to share for Saturday’s potluck.
Refreshments!
Food for other weekend meals, as needed.
Emergency Contact Form (see below)
Your BIKE!
Emergency Contact Form: ‘If you bring it, you won’t need it.” Hopefully that’s the case with the Emergency Contact Forms (download here). If you would, please fill this out so we have contact info for you in case something should happen. Please fill out 2 copies-carry one with you on your bike and put the other in a sealed envelope and I’ll collect them on Friday and return them (unopened) on Sunday. I will also have blank copies in case you forget yours.
QUESTIONS/CONTACT INFO: If you have any questions, please contact me at maryderks@yahoo.com or 651-335-6505 (voice/text).
We hope you can join us!
TOL Ride Leaders: Mary Derks, Scott Larson and Jean Hurlbert
