Day 30--Worthington, MN to Mankato, MN

Day 30—July 18, 2006—Worthington, MN to Mankato, MN—102 miles—1030’ climb

What a beautiful day! We started in cool (almost chilly) temps after breakfast at the Country Kitchen, though several eager beavers ate breakfast in their rooms and left immediately after luggage load . . . spurred by thoughts of heat and wind. But, really, the day brought neither in any quantities that we couldn’t handle.

We started the ride with 30 miles on Rt 60E and ended it with another 22 miles on Rt. 60E, before getting off at Frontage Road in Mankato and following Riverfront Drive to the hotel. The rest of the day was spend on very quiet farm to market roads through vast fields of soybeans and corn. Chris was riding with me and remarked that the scenery varied from cornfields on both sides of the road to soybeans on one side and corn on the other to soybeans on both sides of the road. These fields run for miles, and each has a farmhouse and outbuildings sitting in its center protected by tall tree windbreaks. These islands are all that break up the monotony of a sea of green soybeans and/or corn. 

After the first SS, which Jim set up at McDonald’s in Windom, a good group of riders sailed past a right turn. A couple in the back looked at their route sheets, but all followed the lead rider, who obviously hadn’t looked at his. Chris and I know this because we, too, missed the turn. We’d discovered our error and were sitting at the intersection with our turn signal on when the riders sailed past.

After the second SS at mile 64, I switched with Christine and took to the road while she took over the SS. At mile 75.8, I saw a left turn but no CR 216 sign per the route sheet, so kept on pedaling thinking the left turn would be just over the next rise. Andy in Box, and Dawn and Bill, on their tandem, did the same. We all discovered our mistake a mile or so later. Our turn was at CR 24—maybe the route has been renumbered. We came up on Main Street in Madelia and riders at first thought they were going to repeat the tar and oil quagmire we faced when entering Wall, but this time the sticky stuff could be avoided by riding a parallel street.

After Madelia it was a pretty straight shot on Hwy 60 to Mankato. I stopped once at a little fruit farm called Welch Heritage Farms, expecting a juicy apple or something good, but found a young boy and a nearly empty salesroom. There were several delicious looking pies, but I knew I could not carry those on my bike. Wanting something cold, I bought a half gallon of cold apple cider, drank half of it and put the other in my water bottles. This was just the tonic I needed to get me to the hotel.

All arrived safely at the hotel by 3:30 and immediately dispersed to the pool or a nearby restaurant. Congratulations to Cathy who rode her first century today. Tomorrow she’ll get to repeat her feat as we cover the 100 miles to Rochester, MN.  See you then.

 

OVERHEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY:

• “We limit ourselves to two Dairy Queens per day.” 
• “Whew! For a minute there, I thought I was going to get the chance to build another tarbaby in the motel parking lot.” [Many of the cyclists were barred from the motel until they had cleaned their bicycles of road tar, the motel even gave out worn sheets on which to clean the bikes so that the parking lot would not be tar covered either.]

SHOW & TELL: A man stopped his car at the intersection of CR 1 and asked what we were doing. When he started out again, he opened his car door and out popped his black dog, which took off like a bullet running in the fields alongside the slow moving car for a half mile or so. Guess this was how he exercised his dog. We were passed by a mother and her two daughters with balloons and rubber ducks on their helmets. They were riding their triple to RAGBRAI.