Day 31 Journal Mankato, MN to Rochester, MN

I rode 103 miles today. Mankato to Rochester, MN. I am 4 days behind in my journal. All I can say about today – a very tough day is:

Not far from the start I encountered 3 miles of road construction that I had to wade through. It was louse gravel and sand.

After the first SAG I got to about mile 42 and the sky was turning green and black and purple. A terrible storm was brewing and Chuck and I who were riding together, knew we couldn’t make it the 9 miles to he small town of Medford. Three riders were up ahead and suddenly a bolt of lightening flashed up ahead. I looked to my left and saw a farm with an open-ended shed with a corn planter in it. I quickly turned to run into it. The other three riders who were ahead of us came back and knocked on the farmhouse door to ask permission to take shelter in the storm that was bearing down VERY FAST. The old man who came to the door said NO! He kept saying no because he said we would smoke in the shed! I couldn’t figure out what was taking those guys so long to get into the shed, but it was this person who was holding them up. Finally the wife came to the door and said, “Well, it you HAVE to I guess it will be alright.” A couple of other riders came along and all 8 of us were in this little implement shed for 1 hour and 10 minutes. What a storm! We later learned the wind was 65 mph, the hail was nickel size and the rain was coming down in torrents. After we thought the lightening was done, and the rain was just a sprinkle we started to cycle and had gotten down the road about ½ a mile and WOW! 5 huge lightening strikes out in the distance. We ran to the nearest farmhouse and that couple opened up their big garage. They were really nice people. They brought out a Chinchilla baby that was only 10 days old. Then they brought out 3 baby puppies that were only 2 weeks old. They set up folding chairs for us, and gave us water. We were there another hour. Chuck who had not brought a jacket along asked for a garbage bag to use as makeshift protection. He put armholes and head hole in the big bag and he was set to go. Finally we started out again and made it to Medford. The ABB van pulled in at the same time as we did at the first McDonalds we saw. About 10 people didn’t continue riding and they were picked up and rode in the rest of the way. After leaving Medford it started to rain again, but we just kept on going, as there was no lightening. I rode the next 20 miles in a steady downpour. The last 15 miles of this 103 trek was really hard and I was very tired. The wind got stronger and stronger too as we neared Rochester. The terrain most all day was NOT flat, which made for a challenging ride. Five miles from the hotel as we were coming into the heart of the city and close to the Mayo Clinic, Chuck had a blow out on his tire. Luckily the ABB van came along right then and everyone helped get his tired changed and pumped up again. I rolled into the hotel absolutely whipped! I was so exhausted I could not even get on the Internet. I got in at 5:30 PM, just in time to shower and get to dinner that was scheduled at 6:30. I went straight to bed afterwards. This day was a day where the comfort zones were stretched to the max.

No photos, to wet to take the camera with me today.

Go to other websites, such as www.RideJimRide.blogspot.com, or Don Allison’s link to his website found on www.UltraRunning.com and see some stories and photos of today.