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, to Moose Lake, tent camped, then on to Hibbing.  Last day to camp I rode Allen Keller's spare bike as mine was lame.  Funny because I was the self-proclaimed tour mechanic that year.
The T-shirt was an after-thought which became a tradition, another great addition Allen made to the tour.  It was a Blue shirt with black imprint of our ride logo.

Same route as in 92, which was good cause we had our hands full with improving many other parts of the tour.
We printed a green T-shirt with pink and white imprint on back. There was a small "C.O.G.S." logo on the front.  Bonus points for any who recalls the acronym for COGS.

We printed a white T-shirt with bike logo.  Actual color background on shirt was blue at top, fade to yellow, fade to red on bottom.

Printed a white T-shirt with bike logo.  Actual color background on shirt was red at top, fade to yellow, fade to green on bottom.

Don Helgager and Jim Williamson co-lead this tour.
Same route as 92 - 95.  By now we had a love-hate thing with this route.
We printed a white T-shirt with biker riding into sunset.  This artwork was "borrowed" from the TREK 100 charity ride.  We gave it back.

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. First day turned out to be 110 miles and super hot.  Tough break.

Gave out a white T-shirt with the first-ever appearance of Bear On Bike, or "BOB" logo.  Note that Bob is riding a loaded touring bike with no helmet.  Yikes.  One of our best tours.

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.

We made up a batch of off-white 3/4 sleeve polo with Mountain bike logo embroidered on the front breast.

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.

Off-white T-shirt with ride logo on back.  Small BOB on the front breast.

I believe this was the four day - but I could be mistaken.
We awarded a white T-shirt with simple MN logo which I believe Katie Weseman designed.

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.

We got roomy green T-shirts with BOB logo embroidered on front breast.

I believe Allen Keller lead this tour and a fine tour it turned out to be.  We tried out a new route which I think really added at lot.

We all got a white T-shirt with BOB ride logo. This shirt had the towns we went through listed on the back [like a rock band tour].  This route, I remember.

Another new route borrowing a bit from 2002.  This was Trevor's first year leading the tour.  The blue BOB makes sense with the jersey, but no clue 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.

We were on a roll with yet another new route and this one was very pretty. First day [down hill] into Duluth was super easy.  But we made up for it with day two. The climb from Duluth is still talked about. Trevor Thomas was our fearless leader.  We had a really great pledge total close to 16K.
Our first full custom jersey came with a good amount of corporate sponsorship. This was the birth of the claw graphic.

We went back to the Old School Route, Trevor's third tour and best ever ridership of any prior year. 

We gave out a "Bearly Made It" bicycle jersey by Primal Ware.  Because it has a bear, of course.

Duluth, to Biwabik,  to Hibbing, to Camp. Shorter but hilly.  The first day going along the shore of Lake Superior, glowing sun coming through a morning mist - wow.  Climb from Two Harbors, 13 miles of grade.  Uff-dah!  Entire tour stayed in an enormous (out of business) Bed and Breakfast mansion that the Nadings arranged.  Very cool.  Departed from t-shirts and jerseys to award a Tour Gym Bag.

This was our first ever loop route. The logistics of a loop route are much easier as far as getting riders/drivers back to their original vehicle after the ride.  Scenic Hwy 7 is a very pretty ride. We had three tandem teams.

We offered a stock jersey with an FPYC camp patch sew on (by hand by Tour Elves).

We used the Old School Route.  Ridership was down a bit but we had a really excellent pledge total.

We created a full custom jersey with Mirror Lake pictured on the front. Want to say Allen Keller is the photographer, but not for sure.

We ran an interesting international loop route to the boarder town of International Falls. The longer day was Saturday.  Nice finish on day 3.
We gave out a stock long-sleeve 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.

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 (read short/long) route to Hibbing.   Nice tour: one flat, no injuries, super soaker on day two.

We did a stock bicycle jersey with Bear On Bike logo embroidered on front. Crashed the internet with controversy as to the color: greenish-blue, or blueish-green?

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.

We worked with Primal Wear on a full custom bicycle jersey with lots of racing color, checkered Flag, a bear claw on back and a small tribute to a race well run.

Tana DuPaul was tour director.  We rode the Old School Route.  Really nice tour:  Great weather, no rain.  Pledge total over $15,000 was one of our best of previous tours.  We used Razoo.com for some pledge gathering.

This was a semi-custom bicycle Jersey from Primal Wear.  Design was done by Amanda Warzecha.

It was our 22nd Tour. Didn't realize how confusing it would be in a decade. 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.

Full-custom bicycle Jersey from Podium Wear.  Design was inspired by Kathryn James and Nick Pappas.

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!

Our jersey was a stock Primal Wear design.

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.  Had a good rookie turnout.

Our jersey was a full custom produced by Podium Wear.

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.

Our jersey was full custom design which incorporated Diane May pen & ink sketches from around the FPYC campus.

Old School route was used for this tour. We had a couple of riders go down. Road construction was at issue; some pretty bad crashes had everyone praying for the hurt. For such a low number of riders, our funds raised was very respectable. I believe Tana DePaul was Tour Director.

Our jersey was a stock lime Green bicycle themed design.

Thanks to Tana's imagination we did our first ever "hoola-hoop" route: Camp out and back to camp on Friday, Camp to Hibbing via Virginia on Saturday, Hibbing back to Camp on Sunday.  .

Our jersey was full custom design of lumberjack red-plaid with a small tribute to Steve & Pat.

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.

Our jersey was full custom design with a very Ely outdoor theme. I liked this one a lot.

In a year of complete disruption, the 2020 Tour had no choice but to be a complete mashup of weirdness.  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. 

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. 

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

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. But, some of the differences were experiments to see if we could get our numbers up. So 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.