August 1, 2018
Day -1
One night’s sleep and 10 hours of construction delayed driving took me from Ontario, through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin to my second night stop over in Austin, Minnesota. Along the way I saw a sign that drew me in off the Interstate to Sparta, Wisconsin the self proclaimed Bicycle Capital of America. I had to know why this was so and I figured that since I needed a new bicycle pump, this would be a place sure to have a good selection. A trip down Main Street and through the entire business district yielded no bike shops so I decided to stop into the local Museum. Curiosity was driving me to learn just what makes this town claim such an august title. A large Penny-farthing bicycle was rooted just outside so I entered confident that this was the place to find my answers. I expected to be hit in the face with all sorts of bicycle related history when I walked through the front door but no, there was not so much as a tricycle in sight. I wandered around and took in exhibits about the town’s proud history and its heroic war veterans but nothing obvious about bicycles. Not ready to give up, I asked a staff person where I might find some support for the town’s marquee claim. She led me to a twenty four by eighteen inch panel at the bottom corner of a display explaining that Sparta was supposedly the first town in the USA to convert a railroad bed into a bicycle path back in 1962. It was an impressive move for that early a year and they certainly were well ahead of the curve on conserving these wonderful routes for public uses. Still, I think you might need a few more bells and whistles to truly make such a broad scale boast. I also expected the local museum to make a bigger deal out of the topic.
What I did not know was that the Deke Slayton Memorial Space and Bike Museum was also housed in the same building on the second floor. There was nothing obvious to indicate this at the front door but given my track record for matching the date with the day of the week I am tempted to put the blame on my powers of observation. Still, given the question I asked of the museum staff, I might have hoped that she would have pointed me up the stairs to where the answer to my question and much, much more awaited.
Cheers for Sparta anyway! However, they really need to let museum staff and the folks at the visitor’s center know where the town’s only bicycle shop is located and maybe put it on the town’s map which is on display a stone’s throw from their giant statue of a Gay 90’s guy on a Gay 90’s bicycle!
Austin, Minnesota is definitely a bicycle friendly town. Miles and miles of human power only paths take you just about anywhere you could want to go. It is home to the world headquarters of the Hormel Corporation, processor of meat in all its glorious forms from raw to Spam in a can. While you might have expected such an operation to have been located closer to the source of pork and beef, you would be overlooking an important fact. In the early days of meat processing the ability to keep it cool or frozen was important to the processing process. Minnesota has plenty of cold and Hormel took advantage of that fact coupled with its excellent rail connections and middle of America geography.
With Hormel providing a strong economic base, Austin has maintained a lot of Main Street curb appeal. Local stores flourish along with many parks and recreational opportunities. Everything looks clean, neat and well maintained and walking or riding through the business district is a pleasure. There is even an entire museum devoted to Spam! Monty Python, eat your heart out.
So long as meat is on the American table and Hormel is willing to and use Austin to put it there, this town will do well. Local residents can surely get their cardiovascular money’s worth if they make full use of this city’s network of safe and smooth bike paths.