Daily Summary

The Ride

This was supposed to be a nice, flat, easy, fast ride. Of course, we got fairly strong headwinds again and so it was a slog. I had to pedal continuously for the whole ~6 hours. Even on the downhills (which weren’t steep) I had to pedal because the wind would stop me if I didn’t. The temperatures were good, with lots of sun, and the roads were nice at least.

The good news is that the tweaks I made to the programming of my electronic shifters is working fine. I am having to get used to using the buttons a bit differently, but it will work for the rest of the ride.

Beating The Odds In A Bad Way

We have had super bad luck with wind. I looked up that winds only come from the east 10%-20% of the time through South Dakota and Minnesota. We’ve had moderate to strong headwinds the vast majority of days for the past 2 weeks. The odds of that are low. It is certainly adding to our fatigue, and the next couple days look to be more of the same. Only we’ll have the first hot days. I may finally be able to start a day without at least a 2nd layer!

One safety issue about the headwinds is  that you can’t hear cars, or even trucks, coming up behind you. You only hear them when they are right there. So, you just have to keep right and try to keep an eye on your mirror. Even with that effort, I’m often surprised when something passes.

I’ve come up with a little song about wind. You can look for it on my next leg summary midweek!

The Sights

There really wasn’t much until the last 12 miles when we hit the Root River rail trail. You can see the sight to the start and then a few pictures along the trail. It reminds me of the Silver Comet in Atlanta. But, honestly, the woods along the trail are much nicer in Atlanta!

The Pose

The other night, one of the gentlemen mentioned that he weighed himself in the workout room and that he weighed MORE than when we started. We promptly nicknamed him “thunder butt”. Then he challenged us all to a weigh in after our huge dinner. We were all over our starting weights (we like to think muscle added!). So, we did another weigh in the next morning. I ended up being the most up in weight by a hair and was declared the fattest.

Today, my jersey that is a size too small kept slipping up and looking like a crop top. I decided to lean into it and posed while arching my back and pushing my stomach out as far as I could. That’s what you see. It’s a beauty, isn’t it?

The young guide today also declared that I was the “least chopped unc” of the crew. So take that!

Another Rider Dropped

One of the remaining 7 of us lives in Minnesota and met a good friend for dinner last night. After dinner, he decided to pack up and leave. We’re not really sure why, but we’ll miss him. Now there are only 6 of us left. Apparently, there are a lot of atypical things happening this trip according to the guides.

The Hotel, Town, And Food

Lanesboro is a cool little town. We’re at a hotel called the Cottage House Inn. It has a “grandma’s house” vibe. You can see in the pictures that my room literally looks like a guest room at your grandma’s house. I mean that in a good way, too. It makes you feel a bit nostalgic.

We’re hitting a local place for dinner and another for breakfast. I expect them both to be good. I’ll try to walk around town and check it out too.