It's a 17.5". There's only one. It's my size. You'd better hurry.Our luck with the weather ended today. 22 miles from the end of the day's ride and we could see the storm moving in behind us. We took off at a good pace with hope of reaching the cars before the storm caught us. We did not make it and rode the last five or so miles in the rainstorm. Even so it was a great ride. Mary upped her speed again and I was pushing 20+ to keep up with her and Brian. At some point near the finish, Brian gave Mary the front and she started pulling away from us!We changed to dry clothes in a Dairy Queen restroom and warmed up with an ice cream cone. After some stops in a few tourist shops and the purchase of a Schwinn advertising sign we drove south to the Brainerd area. Tomorrow we ride to St. Cloud and the Lake Wobegon Bike Trail (where all the men are handsome, the women strong and the children are above average).Thursday night we are going to the track races just north of the Twin Cities and I can relive my glory days as a young track racer.Alex.... I have lots of "used jerseys" at this point in the trip. They do smell. I will check again for a hint of celery. I suspect I will detect the essence of pancakes and DQ and no celery.
We are within 100 miles of the Canadian border, camping for 3 nights on a lake with 140 miles of shoreline. Just got back to camp before the rains arrived. Second time we have dodged the rainin two days. To confirm, the Axiom panniers are rainproof, except for the ouside zipper pocket. The kept our jackets nice and drive during a tremendous thunderssorm sevral nights ago. Mary has regained her cycling form as the ride unfolds. Found myself pushing 18 mph to catch up with her today. We added an extra 15 miles today to get to a DQ! And, Dan I had some great donuts this morning and thought of you. See everyone at the shop next week. Speaking of shops I have not seen a good one since we left Minneapolis. Still looking for a road bike mirror to replace the one on Mary's bike that I broke. Oops.
Now I have to go retake my place in the basement bucket brigade.So, the details of this bike tour in Minnesota are as follows. For a number of years a group of cycling friends have planned independent bike tours around the country. They have done rides in Alaska, the Rockies, Colorado, Nova Scotia, Minnepolis to New York City, etc. The group varies each year and it becomes a reunion each year to see old friends and make some new ones.This year we are in Minnesota with about 25 people and are riding mainly on the bikes trails. we are here for 16 days and riding 14 days. Some days we are camping, some days we are in a hotel (like today), and we also stay twice in a friend's home. We are calling this ride the Minnesota Car Caravan Tour. The driving we do is usually less than an hour, either before or after a ride.One neat detail that I want to share is what we call "Guard Out" ride routes. We do not use route sheets and when there are lots of turns, like riding in Minneapolis St. Paul or Duluth it could be hard to not get lost. With Guard Out that has not been a problem. We have several guards and when the ride leader says guard out one of them waits at a turn and directs all the riders through the turn. The guard then sprints back to the front of the group. Even with multiple turns, using several guards keeps everyone on route and gives the guards some interval training with lots of short sprints.Today we are on the Mesabi bike trail and will ride by the huge open pit mines up here. The entire trail is paved and it is unique in that it does not follow an old railroad bed. It is an up and down trail with several climbs with 8% grades or better. I may get to use that low gearing on the Portland today. Cheers.
