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Day 37: Annapolis!

  Beltsville to Annapolis, 31 miles, 1000 feet of climbing. Today’s ride presented us with the usual weather elements: warm and humid - we’ve ridden in hotter; sporadic strong headwinds - they helped cool us off; hills that had challenging gradients - they were short compared to what we’ve tackled elsewhere on this ride.  Nothing was going to prevent us from enjoying the last leg of our adventure - and we enjoyed it thoroughly! Any thoughts that perhaps we should have finished up last night instead of holding off the final 30 or so miles until this morning evaporated as we made the final turn to the waterfront in Annapolis and saw Susan, Ann, Bill’s son Peter, Mike’s son and daughter-in-law Matt and Deanna, and Mike’s brother Tom there to greet us and cheer us into the final stretch.  It really was a great day for us. We’re staying in Annapolis for the night.  We showered and had a lunch with the group and have dinner planned for later this evening at a nice restaurant in town. Mike is
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Day 22: Wobegon Days






Fergus Falls to St Cloud, 116 miles, mostly flat.

We had a great day of riding today. We started off at a bike shop in Fergus Falls where Caleb, the sole, and young hand at the shop this morning, did an absolutely superb job trouble shooting and fixing a derailleur problem on Bill’s bike and giving both bikes a shot of badly needed chain lubricant.  (Not surprisingly, riding in heavy rain and hail for a prolonged period tends to do quite a number on drive chains, and has a way of making your bike sound like a creaky old door - or a creaky old man.). We also met some other bike travelers and had the opportunity to ride with a father and son from Missouri starting out on one of their annual bike trips together.

Our trip was made easy today because we had 100 miles or so of well maintained and easy to follow bike trails, specifically the Central Lakes Trail and the Lake Wobegon Trail (where all the cyclists are good looking and their speeds are above average). It was great for us, as we hardly needed to consult a map (until we were brought back to reality when we had to navigate on actual roads to get to St Cloud). We had a great time riding through and around the prairies, farmlands and lakes of central Minnesota. We even stopped for lunch at a cafe that was not attached to or even near a gas station, the first time that has happened in a while. That said, we did stop at a gas station later - see picture - where Mike took up his usual place on the curb while enjoying a delicious snack from the gourmet section of the station’s deli refrigerator. It’s like a reserved table for him. 

We wound up in St Cloud because it fit the mileage targets for today and also because it is just such a cool name for a city that we couldn’t resist staying here. We have a few routing decisions to make tonight for tomorrow’s ride. We’d like to avoid riding through major metro areas if possible, and there are several such areas between where we are now and the east coast. More than likely we will make wrong decision, but why change now?



Comments

  1. Anna AlmonteJune 12, 2021 at 10:30 PM

    You guys are looking great!

    ReplyDelete
  2. smrJune 13, 2021 at 5:45 AM

    Finally, a proper lunch break! Wish I was in Minnesota - sounds like an upbeat state!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJune 13, 2021 at 6:43 AM

    Great job! It was awesome to meet you guys!
    -Drew and Dan

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownJune 17, 2021 at 6:46 AM

    I'm enjoying your trip so much....but I'm going to miss North Dakota. So much dramatic tension. That's where the film version will focus on. Bruce

    ReplyDelete

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