• Mileage today 80.8
• Mileage total 2132.7
• Elevation today 1594 ft
• Elevation total 91420 ft
• Weather-started day in 60’s ending in mid-80’s; RAIN for first 20 miles and 10mph sidewind all day

Today was intended to be an active recovery ride of just 80-ish miles. I say just because we you are 26+ days into a bike trip, viewpoints change – all you are doing is packing (unpack or pack up), eating (3 squares and about 5 snack stops) or pedaling (because when your sleeping, you are pedaling). You can really focus or in my case, really check-out ( haven’t turn a tv on yet). So ya, recovery ride thru MN is incredibly repetitive (almost to the point of being dull and boring). Maybe why MN politics is so whack!

We started with two bad four letter words for a bike ride -WIND and RAIN. Not a gulley washer but enough to cover the roads and make it look like someone sprayed soap on the road. Also in a large group of riders in pace lines, you are picking grit from you face, shoes and teeth from the back spray! At one point I looked down at my front wheel and water was being blow forward off my wheel – it was a weird sensation of going forward and backward at the same time. At mile 20 sun came out and all jackets and rain booties were off.

Pics are a little lame as not much going with the scenery. Tomorrow is cross of Mississippi into Wisconsin for 117 miles. Looking forward to leaving the smell of pig farms for the smell of dairy farms!