Today we will end up riding 101.86 miles. Whenever I have to ride 100 miles or more, I mentally take it seriously. Anything less than 100 miles is just a ride. Anything more than 100 miles is an effort, psychologically and physically. Since the trip began, I think we have ridden over 100 miles maybe 7 times. To ride 100 miles now is almost just another day.

When we left Worthington it was perfect riding weather. Most riders started out with light windbreakers, which were shed in fairly short order. The first SAG stop was at mile 30.5 at a McDonalds. I only mention this because everyone in McDonalds was looking out the windows, staring at the spectacle of riders coming and going. We signed in, ate, and continued on our way.

The terrain continues to be fairly flat and the landscape green. One woman in a store told me it was supposed to rain today. It didn’t rain on us. We are starting to ride by lakes now. I love the water and spent summers on a small lake in Michigan called Fine Lake. We continue to ride mostly on country roads going by many small family farms. These farms are beautifully maintained. Most have barns and silos and are surrounded by corn or soy bean fields. One thing that is very different from Oregon is the amount of lawn people here have. They mow a lot of grass here in the Midwest. In Oregon people have much less grass and more plants and a lot of bark spread here and there.

Team Stop A Lot rode comfortably in a pace line most all day. Prior to the second SAG we did pick up the pace and rode about 20-21 mph. When we ride this fast, there is very little conversation because everyone is concentrating so hard on the road and the tire in front of them. All the rider hears is the hum of the bike tires on the road. In addition, if there is a tailwind, the roar of the wind in your ear stops and the hum of the tires on the road is more pronounced. When this happens every rider knows it and it is like riding in the “zone.”

Mary challenged our ride leader, Mike, prior to leaving in the morning. Mike said he wanted to give us a head start so he would at least have some challenge in reeling us in. Well, as you can imagine, we had not seen Mike and we were approaching the second SAG stop so there was no way we were going to let him reel us in without a fight.

We arrived at the SAG and Mike arrived some time later. He had to assist another rider with a bike problem. Mary provoked him one more time before we left, so we fully expected him to roar by us later in the afternoon. We rode all afternoon looking over our shoulders, but we never saw Mike.

We stopped at a Dairy Queen for lunch about 10 miles from our destination. Fully refueled, we headed toward Mankato at a pretty good clip. Most of this time was spent riding on the shoulder of the road. Tim and Cathy had joined our group about 9 miles outside of town. Mary was pulling and I was bringing up the rear behind Tim and Cathy. There was debris all over the shoulder so riders were signaling obstacles to avoid left and right. The further back you are the less you can see and have to trust the path that the rider in front of you takes. In other words, you try to track your own bike exactly where the rider in front of you had ridden his bike. Even if obstacles are pointed out you can’t always avoid them. Cathy hit a big piece of truck tire tread as she weaved to her right. When this occurred Tim moved to his left and rode on the rumble strip, which is very unpleasant and dangerous. I moved a bit to my left, only to run over another piece of the truck tire. This all happened in an instant! The front riders glanced over their shoulders to be sure everyone was all right. We were and we rode on. This is an example of another everyday occurrence that had resulted in no consequence and will be forgotten before dinner.

We all arrived safely at our motel and got checked in and started preparing for another 100 miler the next day. I had a pleasant surprise after dinner. Barb’s sister and husband drove down from the twin cities to visit me. We had a nice visit and it was great to see another familiar face. I have had so much support from all of my friends that I will never forget it.

Mary’s mother will be with us from the Wisconsin Dells to Portsmouth, NH. Steve’s wife will join us in the Dells also for a day or two. It will be fun to get to know other members of the family of Team Stop A Lot.

Today we have seen more beautiful country and had another safe day of riding. God is so good.

Click here to see more pictures from today!