Greetings, Riders! We
hope you all are as excited about the Fifth Annual Fiddlin’ Fifty Gravel Grinder &
Potluck Picnic as we are. Attached to
this e-mail are the cue sheets and waiver.
One is for you to print, fill out, and give back to us on Saturday
morning; the other is for you to commit to memory; make sure that you memorize the one which you wish to ride. If you need either one of them in a different
format, let us know and we’ll see what we can do. Both will be available here at the house, as
well. A fourth attachment refers to safety and etiquette. Please look it over to see if there is
something listed that you do not already know.
Potluck business:
Please bring your perishable potluck profferings in well-labeled
coolers. We will have someone to help
bring these items from the parking area to the house, and other people to
organize the food throughout the day, so we hope that nothing will be left
behind. We don’t have much refrigerator
space for cool things, but do have outlets for keeping Crock-pot items warm. In addition, if you wish to sit on something
other than the grass, you will need to bring a chair. We are going to confine the chickens during
the ride, but we can’t guarantee a lack of chicken poop which, while remarkably
large, can be hard to see in the grass.
Our address is 6478 Colombe road, Chisholm, MN 55719.
You can use your smart phones or some other miraculous device to
navigate your way here, or you can attempt to follow Susan’s directions. However you do it, please park in the
designated parking area.
If you are approaching from Virginia, take highway 169 south to the turn
for Kinney/25 north. Follow 25 north
through Kinney, stay on it by turning right at the T intersection, and continue
until you come to McNiven road, which is the first road that crosses 25. Turn left and go until you hit pavement and
the first road that goes to the right.
That is Colombe. Follow that
until you get to the sign for parking, which will be on the right.
If you are approaching from Hibbing, take highway 169 north to the
Chisholm/73 north exit. Follow 73 north
through Chisholm (this will include a left turn at the first traffic signal in
Chisholm). At the north edge of town,
you will come to McNiven road, which goes to the right. There will be a storage facility on the
corner. Turn right and follow McNiven
until the pavement ends. Turn left on
Colombe road and follow it until you get to the sign for parking, which will be
on the right.
If you are approaching from Ely, take highway 22 west where
highway 1 meets 53. Follow 22 until you
get to 73 (the first stop sign), then turn left. Follow 73 south until you get to Johnson
road; our landmark for this turn is the guard rails which both are visible as
you descend the hill on 73 and keep speeding motorists from sliding into the
creek. Turn left on Johnson and follow
it as it curves right to become Colombe.
Continue past our driveway until you get to the parking area, which will
be on the left.
You all may have noticed that we mentioned “parking” a
couple of times. We are tremendously
pleased that there are too many of you to park at our house and happy to have neighbors
who will let us park across the road from their house. It is about a quarter of a mile from us. We will have one volunteer there to direct
parking and another volunteer available to bring your potluck items to the
house. You will then be able to easily
ride your bikes down for check in.
“This is all great,” you say, “but when do I need to be
there?” Excellent question! Check-in on Saturday morning begins at 8:00. Our volunteers won’t be here until 7:00, so
please don’t come too much before 7:30, unless you want to fend for yourself/be
put to work. The ride will begin at
approximately 9:00.
Remember, this is a ride and potluck, so stick around
afterward if you can. There will be a
lot of good food and interesting chat.
Perhaps most importantly, we have the Lonesome Polecat award to
present.
