Day 7: Winona to New Albin

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015

I was the last person to start pedaling today, around 8:15.  Noticed my second flat of the week as I tried to leave the motel, and waited for the sag vehicle to bring me my spare tire since mine was showing tread.


More bluffs today

The Big Hill!  About a mile of solid climbing, often at 10-11% grade.  I was not the only person who walked almost all of it.

View from the top

Lunch at the River View Vineyard and Winery

Final official rest stop, about 14 miles from Iowa 

State forest land, on one of my many, many stops to take more electrolytes

Wahoo!!!
I knew I was the last to make it to Iowa so I rode into town with those balloons around my arm.

It's a Hart family tradition to document the tan lines at the end of the bike trip.  Legs are slightly skewed by the addition of road grit.  I packed wet wipes to clean up at the end, but those zebra stripes from my awesome (and awfully smelly) Keen clip-in sandals will take a while to blend back in.

Stats for the day:
57.95 miles
4:58:41 saddle time
11.64 mph avg
32.85 mph max

428 miles total!
34:21 total time

My next long bike trip will be from the cushy splendor of a recumbent bike.

But first, walking in the Alps next fall.  More to come.

Eagles!

I can't resist posting a few videos I took at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha.  This is such a cool place!  The videos are a little shaky and fuzzy, but it's great info.

Columbia, in the room where I was first up-close to four eagles: 

Meet Angel and hear why she's at the NEC:

Learn about eagle stomachs, crops, and food preferences:

Footage of an eagle eating (an already dead) fish:

Day 6: Red Wing to Winona

Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015

After being sick the day before and knowing the dew point was to be in the 70s, I got an early start on the day.  That was also helped by the fruitless attempts at sleep.  Red Wing is a cute town.  I recommend a visit.  I do not recommend camping there.  Trains every hour or more all night, and rocks being dumped into a metal container by 6 am.  Good gawd!

Lake Pepin, where the Mississippi widens near Lake City

An eagle was hanging about in the area when I stopped for a brief feet/hands dip into the river.

A visit to the National Eagle Center in Wabasha allowed unprecedented proximity to eagles.  I was in a glassed-in room with 4 eagles.  Not glass between us.  I was in the room with them.

We are solidly in bluff country.  Many times we wound around bluffs, gently uphill and protected from the wind, then downhill on the shady side with a bit of wind.

Lock and Dam #5

The city of Winona took mercy on us on a hot-hot, muggy day and arranged for our dinner and music to be moved inside the Winona County Historical Society.  Plus, we got to tour some of the exhibits.

After the $2.50 train fare, the next best decision of the trip was to share a hotel room in Winona.  It's just too hot to try sleeping outside again.  I promised my roommates I wouldn't post the photo of their bedtime yoga, though. ;)

Stats for the day:
69.16 miles
5:38:14 saddle time
12.26 mph avg
25.27 mph max

Day 5: St Paul to Red Wing

 Monday, Aug. 31, 2015

The day started with another ribbon-cutting in Overlook Park in St. Paul, part of the Mississippi National River & Recreation Area.  Chris Coleman, Mayor of St. Paul, among others, spoke briefly.

Then a climb up, up to the edge of St. Paul (some folks did this on 3-speed Nice Ride bikes!)

and Indian Mounds Regional Park (a place to which I think it's worth the hills to return to).

And we kept climbing and climbing.  This is the first hill of the trip it was obvious I would walk up.  No shame.  None at all.

Once the pack led us out of the city, I took my own pace through the hot and windy fields to Hastings.

But apparently I still didn't take care of myself well enough.  At the lunch stop at the LeDuc Historic Estate, it became clear that my electrolytes were seriously out of balance and I ended up riding in the sag vehicle for the afternoon. I downed all the forms of electrolytes I had, but in the end I credit salty Cheetos for curing me. Yea! The best excuse I've yet conjured to eat Cheetos!

Stats for the day:
32.99 miles
2:57:56 saddle time
11.12 mph avg
27.89 max speed
Missed the most awesome downhill experience yet.  Also missed 10 miles into a blaring headwind, all slightly uphill.  Good day to be sick.

Channel 12 News

During lunch on Sunday a camera crew was interviewing folks from the trip.  Here's the story:

Day 4: Clearwater to St. Paul

Sunday, Aug. 30, 2015

Last night Carol the Instigator tried to convince some of us to ride the North Star train into the Cities, but I said I needed to bike the whole route.  When the south wind pushed hard against the side of my tarp early this morning, I quickly changed my mind.  I'm so sick of headwind!  And some of us, including myself, are having trouble with saddle sores.  So we biked 21 miles to Big Lake, got more bandages and Desitin at Walgreens, had an hour to hang out at Caribou Coffee, then spent the best $2.50 of our lives to ride the train to Fridley, some 4 miles from the scheduled lunch stop.

We then biked into the city and met Stephanie of The Fit Tourist on the Stone Arch Bridge for a quick overview of the historical significance of the things you can see from the bridge.  Some of us took the green line train across to St. Paul, some biked.  I was really getting into the idea of "rest day" by then.

Stats for the day:
35.75 miles
3:08:19 saddle time
11.39 mph average
24.64 mph max
268 miles total for the trip
20:45 total time so far
1 great friend who helped tend a very tender area of my body and took me out for the most satisfying dinner of the whole trip

Day 3: Crow Wing State Park to Clearwater

Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015

Very few photo stops today.  We left the protected paths and headed south on the highway.  A team of us "drafted" to lessen the effect of a strong headwind.  I dared not stop and lose the group.  I really don't know how I would have made it through the day without them.  And they became my crew for the rest of the trip.  Carol, Velma, Sherry, and Barry, what a fabulous group to call home.

St. Cloud friends Brendon, Catharine, Emmaline, and Zadie welcomed us into the rest stop at at the Bend in the River Regional Park north of St. Cloud.  Then Brendon rode along!  All the way to Clearwater, 29+ miles!

Stats for the day:
78.57 miles
5:57:57 saddle time
13.16 mph average (with a head wind!)
26.40 max speed

Day 2: Walker to Brainerd

Friday, Aug. 28, 2015

Paul Bunyan's girlfriend, Lucette

Visiting old friends in Nisswa.  

(Ellen & Cindy know this friend.)

 Lots of trees down along the trail from a fierce storm earlier this year.

And lots of human hours to clear the trail!  Thanks to those who made it passable!

So, so happy to meet back up with the Mississippi in Brainerd!

Look how she's grown!

Stats for the day:

86.97 miles (got lost right before the campground at Crow Wing State Park and added about 5 miles)

6:43:40 saddle time

12.92 mph average

32.85 mph max

153 miles total

11:35 total time

Day 1: Itasca to Walker

Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015

Official tire dip in the headwaters of the Mississippi

Six bikes were part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony.  Oldest biker (Dick), youngest biker (me), person who traveled the farthest to be part of the ride (Rich from Philadelphia), Mary who test rode the entire route, and a couple others whose "category" I don't remember.

 

 Lots of bright yellow shirts gathered for the ribbon-cutting!

And we're off!

 Just a small stream, used to fight local fires

 Babe and Paul and I had lunch together in Bemidji.

The Paul Bunyan Bicycle Trail.  

Lots of trees helped to block a headwind and keep us nice and shaded.

Super sweet hang of my hammock in the park in Walker

Stats for the day:
66.22 miles
4:51:16 time in the saddle
13.64 mph average
32.54 mph max

Itasca!

 We rode a bus from a NE suburb to Itasca State Park.  Our 50 bikes somehow all fit in a small trailer.  We had a chance to set up camp and explore the park before dinner.

Bikes gathered before dinner and received a special incense blessing from Terry Larson, a naturalist who lives near the park.

 Lake Itasca

300-year-old red pines in Itasca

Blog not working

I'm having issues getting Blogger to recognize the photos I'm trying to upload from my phone. Those of you I'm connected with on Facebook can see some highlights there.

The Route

Here's a visual of the Mississippi River Trail.  We're doing the "cheating" route, cutting out the question mark shape and going straight down through Walker and Nisswa.  Maybe another year I'll bike the route that's much closer to the actual river, through Grand Rapids, Aitkin, etc.  Wanna come along?

Itinerary for Headwaters to Hills 2015

Thanks to several nudges from the Universe, the last of which being a write-up in the bikeMN newsletter about the first ever Headwaters to Hills bike ride, I'm biking along the Mississippi River Trail in Minnesota next week.  Everywhere except St. Paul, I get to sleep in the sweet, sweet comfort of my hammock in campgrounds.  I'll post a few pictures here whenever I get a chance.

Take part in the journey virtually, or perhaps tag along for a few miles if we are passing through your town.  Here's the basic itinerary:

• Wed., Aug. 26: Transit to Itasca State Park, get to know the group of 50 riders.
• Thurs., Aug. 27: Ribbon cutting near the headwaters to celebrate the completion of the Mississippi River Trail.  Bike to Walker.
• Fri., Aug. 28: Walker to Brainerd
• Sat., Aug. 29: Brainerd to Clearwater (St. Cloud area friends, this is your day to join in!)
• Sun., Aug. 30: Clearwater to St. Paul (Twin Cities friends, this is your day to ride along for a bit or meet me downtown for dinner.)
• Mon., Aug. 31: Start the day with another ribbon-cutting with the National Park Service in the MNRRA.  Bike from St. Paul to Red Wing.
• Tues., Sept. 1: Red Wing to Winona.
• Wed., Sept. 2: Winona to New Albin, Iowa, celebrate the ride, then bus back to Century College in White Bear Lake and drive home.