Day 26: Too Bad, Better Bite the Bullet Hard, Son

Wabasha, MN to Prescott, WI

Stats!
Miles biked today: 57.2
Total miles biked on trip so far: 975.2
Max speed: 31.0
# of near death experiences: 1
# of meals eaten despite total lack of hunger: 1 (just to get warm!)
# of total Mississippi crossings so far: 5

Today we faced a sampler platter of .... I don't know... worse than inconveniences but not as bad as full-fledged troubles. Obstacles?

When we started out this morning, Dean was singing "On the road again / I am reluctantly on the road again." It sums up how we were both feeling. Yesterday was a 68-mile day and it drained us both a bit.

Nevertheless, we got started. It was COLD today. The high today was 61 degrees, and it was in the high 40s when we set out. Add to that the wind off the river, and the natural breeze that comes from biking, and we were frozen! At about 15 miles in, we hit Lake City, MN.

It was just about the cutest town I've ever seen, and it was on the Mississippi by the gorgeous bluffs and water. I really loved this town. I pulled off at a viewpoint for a photo, and Dean was not happy with me. He was chilled to the bone, and ready to stop for coffee! We soon found a place to get coffee and a second, HOT breakfast to prepare us for the next leg of the trip.

So, Obstacle #1: freezing cold weather that chilled us to the bone.

Our next stop was Red Wing, MN, 15 more miles down the road. On our way there, we hit another batch of road work, and had to do another muddy makeshift bridge crossing in a work zone.

Obstacle #2: Road work / mud pit

From the moment we left the motel, my bike pants had been bothering me. I have some sensitive spots from chafing, and the saddle sores, and the pants (which had previously been my favorites) were driving me crazy. I tried to adjust them, but just ended up ripping a hole in the leg. The hole in the leg meant that with every push of the pedal, the back of my leg rubbed against ... some part of the bike. It was maddening, and starting to really hurt.

It turned out that we had accidentally ripped the pants last night while wringing them out after washing them in the sink, which was why they bothered me in the first place, but trying to fix it just made it worse.

We pulled into a rest area (called a "wayside rest") and I changed my bike pants and threw the old ones out. It made an immediate difference, and all was well. On the plus side, we went 3 mph over the speed limit on our way into the rest area. Yesss! We've been trying to exceed a speed limit for weeks!

Obstacle #3: pants

Red Wing was also a really cute town, and I think I am going to add it to my "places I would consider living" list. It's right on the Mississippi, less than 60 miles from Minneapolis, adorable, and big enough to have all services. To continue on from Red Wing, we had to get on a different highway and cross back into Wisconsin. Why are we going back into Wisconsin for 25 miles when we need to be going west? Beats me, but we mostly just go with what the maps tell us to do. In this case, I'd say ACA really puts the adventure in adventure cycling.

They put us on a highway with NO shoulder, one lane in either direction. To their credit, they kept us off it as much as possible, but we did have to cross the Mississippi on this highway. We were unwilling to ride on the highway itself, because riding on a one-lane, no-shoulder highway will just infuriate all the car drivers and put everyone's lives at risk. A car will zoom into oncoming traffic at 60 mph to get around a bike just to sit at a red light. I didn't want to risk the danger.

There was a very slim raised platform that was just wide enough for us to walk our bikes on, so we did that. The cars zoomed by us. It was a little precarious, and it was a LONG walk. At one point, an 18-wheeler rushed by us, just a couple of feet away from our narrow pathway. The gust of wind produced by the speeding semi literally knocked me off my feet and into the railing of the bridge. I was almost knocked into the Mississippi! But I regained my balance and we made it across the bridge.

Obstacle #4: Dangerous route + speeding semi

Less QQ, more "pew pew." (Apparently that makes sense if you play WoW.)

Once we were in Wisconsin, we finally had to do what I just knew would be unavoidable -- ride over the river bluffs. We had already ridden over the river bluffs in Missouri, south of Hannibal, and it was GRUELING. This was, thankfully, not quite as bad as that, but still pretty tough. In La Crosse, we had the bike shop re-gear our bikes to make our lowest gears lower, so that we will have an easier time in the Rockies. I'm glad we did. We had two 1,000 foot climbs over just a few miles. We were able to do the first one without walking, but it took all my energy. We walked half of the second, but still made it to Prescott, our goal town!

Obstacle #5: Long, steep hills

We arrived into Prescott, MN at about 4 p.m., and made our way to the motel. The motel restaurant here is called Philander's. Add that to Hoochies, and we may have a theme going. But apparently Philander Prescott was the founder of the town. A likely story.

Dean wanted to do a bit of work on his bike, after repeated difficulty shifting on hills, and we discovered that he had broken a spoke somewhere along the way, and we now need to get to a bike shop ASAP to get a replacement spoke. We'll probably get a few extras to carry with us, in case this happens again.

Obstacle #6: Broken spoke

Tomorrow, for Dean's BIRTHDAY (!!!) we will hit 1,000 miles and hopefully make it to Minneapolis disaster-free. Wish us luck and/or send birthday greetings to my awesome husband!