^ TdT History
The tour has been around, the state that is. And only some of those early T-shirts can be found in the T-shirt drawer. People are making quilts out of them - I kid you not. We've come through a lot of hot days, cool days, and sideways rain together. Just fun to remember back.
Do you remember your first tour? Or how many tours you've ridden?
Download our Tour Hall of Fame to refresh you memory. Enjoy.
Do you remember your first tour? Or how many tours you've ridden?
Download our Tour Hall of Fame to refresh you memory. Enjoy.
The Tour's Origin Story
So, it all started at a 1991 fall work weekend as Allen Keller and I were sitting in the Old Dinning Hall which is now the super scary Bat Cave building. At the time, this tiny kitchen and dinning area was serving 2nd Family in shifts - we were out-growing it. Also, did I mention the bats?
I told Allen we should do a bike ride from the Twin Cities to camp sometime. Allen was quick to see much more than I did. He saw the camp's need for a new dinning facility and aptly paired my off-hand idea with the suggestion that we use this ride to raise money to meet this need.
And the tour was born.
So, it all started at a 1991 fall work weekend as Allen Keller and I were sitting in the Old Dinning Hall which is now the super scary Bat Cave building. At the time, this tiny kitchen and dinning area was serving 2nd Family in shifts - we were out-growing it. Also, did I mention the bats?
I told Allen we should do a bike ride from the Twin Cities to camp sometime. Allen was quick to see much more than I did. He saw the camp's need for a new dinning facility and aptly paired my off-hand idea with the suggestion that we use this ride to raise money to meet this need.
And the tour was born.
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1992
First ever - and they thought it'd never last. Truth is, after the 100 mile soaker the first day, I had my own doubts. Centerville start [my driveway], to Moose Lake, tent camped, then on to Hibbing. Last day to camp I rode Allen's spare bike as mine was lame. Funny because I was tour mechanic that year. The T-shirt was an after-thought which became a tradition - another mark Allen put on the tour. Blue shirt with black imprint. |
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1993
Same route as in 92, which was good cause we had our hands full with improving many other parts of the tour. Saw our first of many multi-generational efforts, this one being a Mother/Son team of Audrey and Lester Craven. Bob and Pam Schultz were our first of many married couples to find the romantic side of the tour. Green T-shirt with pink and white imprint on back. And a small "C.O.G.S." logo on the front. Bonus points for anyone who recalls what COGS stood for. |
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1994
Same route as 92 and 93. Gary Nading who first rode the tour in '93 brought Joanne on this tour. Between the two of them, they'd go on to ride 30 tours in total. Small beginnings; and that's not a joke about Gary's stature. White T-shirt with bike logo. Actual color background on shirt was blue at top, fade to yellow, fade to red on bottom. |
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1995
Same route as 92 - 94. Steven and Pam Gillitzer joined the tour and went on to become a fixture of the next dozen tours. Miss them. Youth introduced to the tour in Deb Gerst and Eric Scharrer. It was fun to see them grow through the years to follow. White T-shirt with bike logo. Actual color background on shirt was red at top, fade to yellow, fade to green on bottom. |
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1996
Don Helgager and Jim Williamson co-lead this tour. Several of us were completing our 5th tour so we started the TDT1000 Club to recognize 1000 miles of tour riding for FPYC. The yellow jersey award was an honor for the riders on the third day of their ride. Jon Hardiman joined the tour and started a long run of tour appearances. He'll be remembered for his classic road bike, Volve Jersey, and never seeming to age. Stan Due traded in Support Driving for a bike and started a two decade run of tours which invited in his wife and children on various years. White T-shirt with biker riding into sunset. This artwork was "borrowed" from the TREK 100 charity ride. We gave it back. |
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1997
At this point, we started getting a bit tired of the "Old School Route" so we ventured out and partnered with the St Cloud church of Christ for a new starting point on a very new route. St Cloud, to Aitkin, to Hibbing, to Camp. First day turned out to be 110 miles and super hot. Tough break. Great turn out, one of our best ever. So many first-time riders - very exciting. Not sure what bet I lost, but the penalty was to ride the nurse's bike (White Lightening) from Hibbing to camp for the final stage. It made it safely. Remember "Auto-Eddie" Crumpton who bought and road a bike with "auto-shifting" transmission? It didn't end well, but we had a lot of laughs over it. White T-shirt with first-ever Bear On Bike, or "BOB" logo. Note that Bob is riding a loaded touring bike with no helmet. Yikes. |
1998
We went back to the Old School Route having learned our lessons on planning really long days of riding. Maybe 97 was just an abnormality with a high rider turnout, but we were a bit down on numbers in 98. Was it the route? The heat? We may never know. Roger Mahan joined us. We were trying like crazy to set him up with a young single girl - little did we know he was already courting Heather, who we'd meet in '99. Off-white 3/4 sleeve polo with Mountain bike logo embroidered on the front breast. |
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1999
Old School Route, again. Very hot. Put a couple in the hospital for a few hours with over-heating issues. We had the two tandem recumbents along. I secretly wanted one of these from that tour onward. Lynda Barnacle joined the tour and made it a part of her summer ever since. Appreciate Roger's support driving too as that's such a hard/important role. Off-white T-shirt with BOB logo on back. Small BOB on the front breast. |
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2000
I believe this was the four day as we wanted to do something special because 2K, or something. Woodbury to Hinkley, to Esko, to Hibbing, to camp - but I could be mistaken. I have this vague memory of sleeping, or trying to sleep on the gymnasium floor at the Hinkley High School. May have been the first time I realized the powerful impact snoring can have. White T-shirt with simple MN logo which I believe Katie Weseman designed for us. |
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2001
BOB finally breaks down and gets a road bike and helmet. Judging from the celeste green color of the bike, I'm guessing Bianchi. Quite honestly - I don't remember what route we rode so I'm assuming we did the Old School Route. We got roomy green T-shirts with BOB logo embroidered on front breast. |
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2002
I believe Allen Keller lead this tour and a fine tour it turned out to be. We went from Brainerd, to Remer, to Hibbing, to Camp. White T-shirt with BOB logo. This shirt had the towns we went through listed on the back [like a rock band tour]. This route, I remember. |
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2003
Park Rapids, to Remer, to Hibbing, to Camp. This was Trevor's first year leading the tour. The blue BOB makes sense with the jersey, but can't remember why the Jamaican helmet motif, mahn. Our first year with a jersey for the riders. Just off the rack, but it's a bear. Still have mine. Yes, that's a younger me styling it. |
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2004
Hinkley, to Duluth, to Hibbing, to Camp. The climb from Duluth is still talked about. First day [down hill] into Duluth was pretty easy. But we made up for it with day two. Trevor Thomas was our fearless leader. We had a really great pledge total close to 16K. Our first full custom jersey with a good amount of corporate sponsorship. I think this was the birth of the claw graphic. |
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2006
Shorter route but scenic and hilly. The first day going along the shore of Lake Superior, glowing sun coming through a morning mist - wow. The climb out of Two Harbors is 13 miles of grade. Uff-dah! Entire tour stayed in an enormous (out of business) Bed and Breakfast mansion. Very cool. Tour Gym Bag was the prize. |
2009
Camp, to International Falls, to Chisholm, to Camp. An international loop route; longer day was Saturday. Nice finish. 22 Riders / 3 rookies. $10,000 raised. Stock long sleeve bicycle jersey with FPYC logo on front and US/Canada flags on back. We departed from tradition by awarding the jersey on Thursday evening before the ride. Friday (stage 1) was cold and rainy. The long sleeve was just the thing. |
2010
We started from the Bemidji church of Christ, and after pictures with Paul and Babe made the trek to Grand Rapids. Day two offered a first ever A/B route to Hibbing. Hibbing to Camp day 3. Nice tour: one flat, no injuries, soaker on day two. 28 Riders / 9 rookies. $10,100 raised. Stock bicycle jersey with Bear On Bike logo on front. |
2011
Our 20th Anniversary! We rode the Old School Route. Nice tour, hot on day one and three, a bit wet on day two but no one seemed to mind the tail wind. 30 Riders / 9 rookies. $12,000 raised. Full custom bicycle jersey by Primal Wear with lots of racing color, checkered Flag, a bear claw on back and a small tribute to a race well run. |
2012
Tana DuPaul was tour director. We rode the Old School Route. Really nice tour: Great weather, no rain. Pledge total over $15,000 becomes second best of previous tours. We used Razoo.com for some pledge gathering. 25 Riders / no rookies. $15,000 raised. Semi-custom bicycle Jersey from Primal Wear. Design was done by Amanda Warzecha. |
2013
We started and ended at camp. We hit Hoyt Lakes day one, circled back to Hibbing, then Hibbing to camp. Use a lot of the Mesabi Trail, one of our sponsors. Challenging headwind coming into Chisholm but otherwise a great weekend for riding. 21 Riders / 2 rookies. $9,400 raised. Full-custom bicycle Jersey from Podium Wear. Design was inspired by Kathryn James and Nick Pappas. |
2014
Went back to Old School Route. A bit soggy on the way out of Hugo but as the day worn on, good riding. Day two featured a detour due to bridge work. Roughish roads - just a bit warm. Final day was overcast with a north headwind to humble us. Overall, a good ride! 24 Riders / 5 rookies. $12,000 raised. Our jersey was a stock Primal Wear design. |
2015
Did a beautiful route very similar to the 2006 Tour, starting in Duluth, traveling along the North Shore. Made Hoyt Lakes for day one, after 13 mile climb up from Two Harbors. Day two had a new section of the Mesabi Trail north of Aurora, which was a hoot all the way to Giants Ridge. Trail all the way to Hibbing. Only a bit of rain on final day. Good rookie turnout. 23 Riders / 7 rookies. $13,000 raised. Our jersey was full custom design by Podium Wear. |
2016
Camp, to Grand Rapids, to Hibbing, to Camp. Nice roads day one and half of day two. Hwy 73 got gappy again. Three tandem teams. Record setting tour for total riders, oldest rider, youngest riders, and best fund raising result for FPYC. 46 Riders / 17 rookies. $33,000 raised. Our jersey was full custom design which incorporated Diane May pen & ink sketches. |
2019
First ever start from Hibbing. Turned out really fun. Used Mesabi Trail out to Ely on day one. Very pretty ride. Day two took us through Cook and back to FPYC. Did our traditional final day in reverse which was kinda fun. 14 Riders / 3 rookies, $8,000 for camp. Our jersey was full custom design with a very Ely outdoor theme. I liked this one a lot. |
2020
In a year of complete disruption, the 2020 Tour had no choice but to be a complete mashup of weirdness. With everything shut down as it was, the tour was the only game in town - thus, the remarkable ridership. We left Hibbing for camp via Big Fork. Second day offered a road-ride out and back, AND an off-road 28 mile mountain bike course. Then back to Hibbing from camp on day three, just like 2019. The MTB stage option proved to be a great draw and likely to be repeated. Our jersey was full custom design, super simple, but bold and sharp - a bit of order and symmetry in a year that needed it. |
2021
The 2021 Tour was a really great ride despite the low turn out. We looped from Camp to Hibbing the long way - 96 miles. The second day offered a 63 mile road-ride, AND an off-road outing at the new Redhead MTB Park in Chisholm. It was almost an even split between the road rally and off-road crews. The third stage was our traditional 51 miles back to camp. Our jersey was a full custom design, printed by ATAC and designed by our very own Kalai Myrick. A very popular result. |
2022
The 2022 Tour was a really great ride despite the low turn out. Wow, two years running I've said that. Hmm. We headed out from the Pine Grove Church of Christ in Baxter for a really nice 100+ mile day up to Grand Rapids. The second day offered a 50 mile road-ride to Hibbing, AND an off-road option at the Tioga MTB Area in GR. It was almost an even split between the road rally and off-road crews. The third stage was our traditional 51 miles back to camp. Our jersey was a full custom design, printed by ATAC and designed by our very own Kalai Myrick. A very fun jersey for a very fun TDT. |
2023
The 2023 Tour was just different. Some of that was me feeling unable to plan and execute a pre-First Family Camp tour while directing same. But, some of the differences were experiments to see if we could get our numbers up. That didn't work as hoped. Still, a great donation result that will go a long way to update windows in the Nurse's Cabin. Day one was a 51 or 76 mile road route which took the tour into Wisconsin briefly - a first for the tour. The weather was just about perfect. Day two was a 31m, multi-segment Mystery Ride which was very chill. Nice overcast, no wind, mild day for a Sunday ride. No flats, no scraps, and no notable mechanical issues. The Woodbury church of Christ was our gracious host throughout. Our jersey was a full custom design, printed by ATAC and designed by our very own Kalai Myrick. This jersey won us many compliments as we all wore them on day one. |
^
Riders |
10 |
Rookies |
10 |
Raised |
$2,600 |
Route |
Centerville Moose Lake Hibbing Camp |
Riders |
10 |
Rookies |
10 |
Raised |
$2,600 |
Route |
Centerville Moose Lake Hibbing Camp |