Aunties and Pedal Trouble

Thunder and lightening greeted us Tuesday morning and forced us to wait at the church for at least an hour before leaving. We finally departed in pouring down rain and started our 44 miles on the same road we had been on for several days. The morning was fairly miserable because of the rain and because of the massive hills that kept appearing. There were several that I thought were super long and took so much endurance to keep climbing. After riding most the morning alone, I caught up with Ashley on the hills and we powered through to lunch together, both starving and losing energy quickly. The scenic views were incredible, especially with rainy mist filling the valley, but it was tough to enjoy them in our physical and mental state.

After a freezing cold rest at lunch, I took off with Lexi and we knocked out 20 miles before anybody caught up with us. Once we neared the city, we hopped on a bike path, which took us right next to my aunts' new house!

Our last couple miles took us up the steepest hill on St. Paul. Thank goodness it wasn't too long. At the top I was greeted by Aunt Cynthia and the new dog, Annie! It was great. Upon our arrival at the church Cynthia picked me up and took me back to her and Aunt Kit's house.

The evening consisted of taking a great shower, visiting with Kit and Cynthia, snuggling with Annie, walking Annie, and eating pad thai at a fabulous Thai restaurant. It was just what I needed to load up for the next day. I was so happy to see family and really relax for a night.

Sleeping was definitely the second best part of the night, because I got to sleep in bed with a pillow. I have gotten used to the therma rest wedged in between the church pews, but a real bed makes a big difference. This morning Kit greeted me in the kitchen with grapefruit juice and the best breakfast of the trip so far. I enjoyed a big bowl of hot 10 grain cereal with Greek yogurt, frozen blueberries, and Vermont maple syrup. It was delectable!

Our ride today turned out to be only 94 mile; we were all expecting over 100. The majority of the route was on a bike path, which was great even though my legs and butt were screaming today. Our first lunch was in a little town on a lake, which I waded into for a bit, trying to delay our departure.

The route felt particularly long today; it helped when we started drafting on a long windier road. Kelsey held a great pace and Nate (behind her) blocked the wind well for Caity and me. About 20 miles from our host my pedal started acting really weird (as I described it to my fellow riders, it felt like Prof. Quarral was putting a curse on my broomstick). It turned out my pedal was really stiff and hardly turning indepedently from the axel. I called the van to pick me up and I'm going to spend some time tonight working on it. I'm almost definitely sure the ball barrings are shot and that I am going to have to buy new pedals tomorrow in Duluth...whether or not I can ride is another question. We'll see how the pedal loosens up overnight.

Showering today was certainly an adventure. We hooked up a tarp on the side of the church and showered with a hose. It was freezing cold, but very refreshing and lovely to be clean. There's really nothing like being clean after being extraordinarily dirty. It's much better than your average everyday shower.

 And pictures...

 

Overlooking a cow farm after a long climb uphill

 

Morning mist rising in the valley

 Snake at our willow tree rest stop

 

 Erin and Stella stopped at a train during our detour

 

Me as Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

 

Waiting to leave the church during the thunderstorm