July 16
Monday, July
16 Worthington, MN to
Mankato, MN 97.36 miles 27.4 Max 14.0
avg 6:49:07
I'm over at the
library. It was right across the
street!
I had a great time today. I figured with nearly one hundred miles to
ride today I would eat the scheduled breakfast to be sure I had enough fuel. We who like to get an early start out were
very pleased the hotel opened up our serving by 6:15 instead of the 6:30 posted
time. I knew it would be a good
breakfast too, because last night's dinner was excellent. I had pancakes, sausage, orange juice, peach
muffin, cranberry juice, baked egg/ham/cheese casserole, honey dew melon,
cantaloupe, milk and a big glass of water.
We cyclists eat a lot - but we work so hard out there and burn it all
off and need more in just an hour or two later.
It was blowing strong from the south and the clouds were rain
clouds, so I packed the rain gear. I
really zipped along and was at the 30 mile first SAG stop in no time. It is fun going along these old highways
here in Minnesota. There is a
"town" every seven to ten miles.
The town is basically a grain elevator with the railroad tracks running
next to it. Mary Ann and I left the SAG
stop together and we rode with each other the last 67 miles. The road surfaces were bad in some places
with deep ridges in along the edge of the pavement. I call them 'buggy ruts' because that is what we encounter in the
roads in the Amish country on bike rides in that area of Ohio. We had to be extra careful. There were times when we had a 15 mph tail
wind. That was super nice and we were
rolling along making very good time. At
71 miles we signed in at the SAG van and then headed for the Subway Shop for a
sandwich to get us fueled for the last 24 miles in to Mankato. Had some head winds the last few miles, but
all in all it was a terrific ride. I
got in to the hotel by 2 PM, and I thought that was great timing for riding 97
miles today. Jumped in the whirlpool,
shower, and then walked across the street to the library.
Just before I left the lobby, I was
talking to Ed and he asked if I had heard about the accidents today. Will, the teenager on the trip got into one
of the road ruts and took a bad fall and is bruised up and being checked out at
the ER. He'll be ok and will get scrapes bandaged. But I really feel bad about Bev and Lee. They were not too far behind me in the first
part of the morning, but then I never saw them again - which is unusual because
we often play a little hop scotch on the road.
I was told Bev too went into one of the ruts, fell - and her husband Lee
was so close behind he ran into her and fell, dislocating his shoulder. So he will have to leave the trip. They are such a sweet couple and we always
right next to each other every inch of the way. So sadly they will have to return to California. Please continue to pray for our safety.
We will be shuttled to the eating place
in a few minutes. So for today, that is
about all from Bicycle Boot Camp - summer 2001. We had another near one hundred mile day tomorrow. I was in bed by 7 PM last night and had lots
of sleep for today's ride. Dinner is
later today, so I won't get that many hours tonight.