Kinesthetic Sense Saves Cyclist's Life - It Can't Be THAT Unpleasant - CycleBlaze

August 29, 2023

Kinesthetic Sense Saves Cyclist's Life

Sakatah Lake State Park

The lights of nature didn't go out until about 9:30 last night, but the lights behind my eyelids were out by about 8:30.  I laid down on the picnic table for relaxation purposes only, but promptly fell asleep.  I'm not sure what time it was when I transferred my body from the table to my tent.

It was a nice, warm night.  The campground was completely quiet except for the kinds of noises one hopes to hear in The Church of the Great Outdoors:  Owls, crickets, cicadas, and about thirty seconds of frenzied coyote howling.

I never heard a peep from Jesse Ventura's site over there.
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I woke up before any of the sleepy heads in the campground, including Jesse and his family.  I know that because I walked around the entire loop.  I counted eight RVs and two tents in a campground with something like 80 sites.  I guarantee, every one of the sites will be filled this weekend.

Which reminds me--I didn't exactly come up with perfect timing for this winging-it tour.  Right in the middle of it is the three-day Labor Day Weekend, which is the last weekend of family camping before school starts.  Campsites may be hard to come by--even in Minnesota's least popular bike touring sector.  I guess I'll have to deal with that when the time comes.

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After scouting the campground and recording my findings, I took a hike on one of the Nerstrand Big Woods State Park's trails.  I assume it was one of the most popular trails judging by how wide and overly well-groomed it was.  Plus, it leads to a waterfall.  Everybody loves a waterfall.  I know I do.

I admit to being a little disappointed in the volume of water running over Hidden Falls.  The creek was darn near dry.

Wide and well-groomed
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A view from above the waterfall
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Our hero risks getting swept downstream just to get a picture of himself beneath the falls.
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Steve Miller/GrampiesPretty feeble looking (the waterfall, NOT our hero, of course).
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1 year ago
Gregory GarceauTo Steve Miller/GrampiesThe hero might be more feeble than he appears.
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1 year ago
Ron SuchanekThat's a great way to get cleaned off after a long day in the saddle.
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1 year ago
Gregory GarceauTo Ron SuchanekYes, and with that kind of water volume & pressure, you can be clean as a whistle in less than three hours.
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1 year ago
The trail was a loop. Here is a picture from the route away from Hidden Falls.
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That sunrise wasn't the actual sunrise.  The actual sunrise happened almost an hour ago.  The sunrise in the video was just the sun rising over the hill.  Nevertheless, it came at the right time to surprise the heck out of me while filming.  I think it narrowly beat out Hidden Falls as the highlight of my hike.

(I apologize for the sound quality in the above video.  I don't know why my narration was breaking up.  The only thing you might have missed, though, was me saying, "view-blocker . . . view-blocker . . . view-blocker . . . ")

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I know the previous section of this page was all about hiking.  Let's get back to the important stuff: Breakfast and Cycling.

I'm one of those rebellious kids who, from an early age, always ignored the wisdom of my mom, both of my grandmothers, and every health and dietary expert in the world.  "A nutritious breakfast is essential for good grades/a productive workday/successful bike touring," they say.

I generally argue that I DO eat breakfast.  Coffee is my breakfast.

But once in a while I will stray from my stubbornness by indulging in a greasy morning meal of bacon and eggs.  Other times, I like a sweet breakfast treat, and I'm not talking about donuts or danishes or jellyrolls or fancy pastries.  I'm talking about pre-packaged, heavily sweetened cereals.

It's been said that "you are what you eat." If that's true, I'm MAGICALLY DELICIOUS."
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Scott AndersonI’m sorry. I just can’t bring myself to like this. I hate candy cereal. If I could I’d give a half-like for the coffee, but that’s not an option.
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1 year ago
Keith AdamsTo Scott AndersonI liked the caption, even though I'm not a Lucky Charms kind of guy.
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1 year ago
marilyn swettAnd lucky too!
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1 year ago
Gregory GarceauTo Scott AndersonI don't think you know what you're missing out on with those marshmallowy charms.
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1 year ago
Gregory GarceauTo Keith AdamsI thought every kid of our generation was a Lucky Charms guy.
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1 year ago
Keith AdamsI'm lucky, and may be charming, but that's as far as it goes. Now Cap'n Crunch, on the other hand, got me through college.
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1 year ago
Ron SuchanekLucky Charms are delicious! I also recommend Cocoa Puffs.
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1 year ago
Gregory GarceauTo Ron SuchanekCocoa Puffs were delicious, indeed. But, of the two major cocoa cereals, I'd give a slight edge to Cocoa Krispies. They took Rice Krispies to a whole new level. Snap, crackle, pop, choco-munch.
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1 year ago

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By 10:00, I was finally back on my bike.  Outside of the state park, I opted for a few miles of gravel roads.  You know, just for fun.  And fun they were, except for that one time when a big utility truck went by, and its wake of gravelly dust befouled my eyes, nose and mouth.

Some of the gravel was disturbingly loose and I almost crashed on a fast downhill curve.  ALMOST!

When I was in high school, my wrestling coach told me I had excellent kinesthetic sense.

"What does that mean," I remember asking.

"Look it up," I remember him replying.

Luckily, I knew how to use a dictionary, and now I know that it means he thought I had a good knowledge of my muscles and joints and balance, and what my body can and can't do.

I believe, all these years later, that my "excellent kinesthetic sense" allowed me to keep upright while barreling through the loose gravel, coast out of danger by feathering the brakes, and come to a stop at the edge of a pretty steep roadside ditch.

Enough bragging!  I admit, I was pretty happy when I returned to pavement a mile or so later.  

Black gravel
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Nice hills in the distance
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White gravel
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The hills continued after I reached the paved road.
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I descended into the city of Faribault and took a photo of its downtown.
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Scott AndersonLooks sort of Hastingsish.
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1 year ago
Jon AylingI really like this style of architecture - it's really characterful. As an outsider, it looks so distinctively American to me, it's just what I'd always imagined towns in the Midwest to look like.
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1 year ago
Gregory GarceauTo Jon AylingJon, the town really did have some nice looking buildings. In the past, I've only sped through it in my car on the high speed interstate highway. As everybody on Cycleblaze knows, bikes are the way to go.
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1 year ago

I used the wi-fi in Faribault's public library to enter my post about yesterday's ride.  Then I moved on to the REAL southwest Minnesota.

According to my geographical senses, Interstate-35 is the dividing line between eastern MN and western MN. By riding under this bridge, I'm about to enter no-man's land.
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For some reason, I was looking forward to riding the Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail.  Normally, I don't care about rail trails, but the very name gave me visions of pretty hills that sing.  I like hills to a certain degree, and I definitely like singing.

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I complain about view-blockers a lot, but in this case, they serve a useful purpose. They block out the busy 4-lane Highway 60 which is only 20 yards to the left.
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Cannon Lake--the Mediterranean Sea of Rice County, Minnesota.
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GREG, DON'T EAT THAT! It's a cattail, not a corndog!
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Scott AndersonHopefully you didn’t break it off for this shot. Aren’t cattails an endangered species?
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1 year ago
Jeff LeeTrying to get this in before Bill Shaneyfelt leaves a comment about it: Cattails are apparently edible!

https://extension.umn.edu/natural-resources-news/wild-edibles-cattails
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1 year ago
Bill ShaneyfeltSing it, Jeff! :-) Good to know others will help out!
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1 year ago
Gregory GarceauTo Scott AndersonI assume you're joking, but if not, see the gigantic field of endangered cattails in today's post.
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1 year ago
Gregory GarceauTo Jeff LeeJeff, they might be edible in some sense, but I'd never really eat one.
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1 year ago
Scott AndersonTo Gregory GarceauGood to know! I saw a few by the trail just last week. I’ll have to go check one out. Which is better - raw, or fried?
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1 year ago
Gregory GarceauTo Scott AndersonI'm going to go with neither raw NOR fried. Eat them at your own risk.
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1 year ago
Grasshoppers plagued the trail almost all afternoon.
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Bill ShaneyfeltDifferential grasshopper. They are pretty common!

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/63518-Melanoplus-differentialis
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1 year ago
Kathleen JonesYou could eat those instead of the cattails.
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1 year ago
Gregory GarceauTo Kathleen JonesGrasshoppers or cattails? A horrible choice of meal to have to make.
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1 year ago

The trail took me all the way to Sakatah Lake State Park.  It was a very nice place to camp.  Well, very nice after I slathered DEET all over my body.

Then I set up my tent and started writing in my notebook about my day.  Hopefully, I'll be in a place to catch up on the journal tomorrow.

My campsite
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I don't know for sure, but this looks like it could be my site's designated toilet.
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Today's route. (I forgot to post yesterday's map, so I'm going to go back and do that right now--in case you're interested.)
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Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 71 miles (114 km)

Rate this entry's writing Heart 13
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Bill StoneNice waterfall, Greg! For a moment, I thought you must be in Iceland!

Just kidding.

Take it easy this weekend. Likely to be plenty of bozos driving oversize motorized vehicles at high speeds, probably under the influence of beverages, and not paying much attention to bicyclists.
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1 year ago
Rich HarrellUhhh . . . . are those leaves of 3 at your designated place???

Maybe not :)
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1 year ago
Gregory GarceauTo Bill StoneIceland, Nerstrand Woods . . . same thing.
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1 year ago
Gregory GarceauTo Rich HarrellConsidering all the places I've bushwhacked, I think I might be one of the 40% of the population who is immune to poison ivy. My brother, on the other hand, once fell into a batch of them and was squirting liquid from blisters within a few hours.
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1 year ago