July 14, 2021
Riding to meet Big Ole.
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The forecast for today was rain and thunderstorms hitting about 11 am. We got up early to see if we could beat the rain. Our destination for today was Alexandria and the entire day was spent riding the Central Lakes bike trail. The trail is a paved rail to trails trail which means good riding, no cars and very very slight gradient. The first order of business was to back track 5 miles across Fergus Falls to get to the trail head. This was slow going through all the nice neighborhoods of Fergus Falls. Eventually we got to the trails and started cruising. The trail was pretty nice but there were some bumpy sections. There were many lakes along the way, quite a surprise for Minnesota. We took our first stop in a small town of Dayton at a gas station. As we were getting back on the trail we ran into a few of the Alpaca tour riders. We have been running into these guys for about three weeks now. We keep thinking we will not see them again and then they pop up. We discussed our routes since we last saw them and then went on our ways. Since they are not loaded they are much faster than we are. We do not expect to see them again but one never knows.
The trail is basically flat and pretty much blocked from the wind. We cruised along enjoying the serenity and the safety of not having any traffic. We made a couple more breaks for bathroom or chocolate milk. As we got closer to Alexandria the bike traffic on the trail increased. About 3 miles from Alexandria we met another bike tourer going east to west. Mary was riding from Portland, Maine to Washington. She is the first east bound northern tier tourer we have seen. We exchanged information and tips and then went on our way. We made it to Alexandria and stopped to say hi to Big Ole. It never did rain on us today. Then we went to lunch. After lunch Janet went shopping for a dress. Our daughter is getting married in early October and Janet does not have a dress. There was a shop across the street from our lunch diner and Ross and I sat outside while Janet shopped. She was having some luck so it took about 45 minutes. During that time several people stopped and asked about our trip. This is one of the best parts of the trip is talking to all these people about the trip. They are all very nice and ask us many questions. The most questions are Where are you going? Where did you come from? How many miles do you typically go in a day?
We got a hotel room and before taking the bikes into the room I did a little bike maintenance. We do not have to do much maintenance on the bikes. About every 10 days we make sure the tires are pumped up. About every 2-3 weeks we clean the chain and lube it (this is a very messy job). After cleaning the chain I decided the gloves had enough and they should be tossed. They were falling apart and were very dirty.
Tomorrow we go to St Cloud and then we will be working our way to Minneapolis. We plan to take a day off in Minneapolis and visit some friends and family.
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Today's ride: 53 miles (85 km)
Total: 1,956 miles (3,148 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 5 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 3 |
3 years ago
It was great talking to you on the trail. We met Elisa in Alexandria a little while later. Hope you continue to have a great tour! Also, you have been putting up some impressive mileage!!
Good luck and safe travels!!
Terry & Janet & Ross
3 years ago
3 years ago