the Red Wing ride: I love it when a plan (b) comes together
(gmapped route from Jim, click for bigger version)
The plan for yesterday had been to reprise last year’s 1-day tour; taking the train to Winona then biking home. Then it rained a lot, and the train we’d need stopped running for a while. Then the bridge over the Mississippi at Winona was closed. Oh sure, there were the teasing possibilities that trains would begin running again before Sunday or that ferry service would allow us to cross the river, but no luck. Train service is still suspended, and none of us wanted to toss our bikes in the bottom of a bus. The ferry service was stopped when the bridge was re-opened to limited car traffic, but not to bikes or pedestrians. So we punted.
Plan B was to just ride from the Twin Cities to Red Wing and back for the day, and it was a fun fun trip. The weather was perfect, the food was way above average, and the company terrific. Five of us made the trip, and it was the first century ride for both Brian and Tracy. No mechanicals, no bonks or serious cramps or crashes, just a nice long day of riding with excellent friends. And the accompanying sore muscles, sore butts and bugs in the teeth.
After meeting up at Hiawatha Cyclery (and me running late), we headed out about 9:30, first to Afton for some ice cream and more sunscreen, and off to Prescott. We decided to make a loop of the trip, so after a delicious lunch at the Boxcar cafe near several dozen of our Harley-riding 2-wheeled cousins, we headed down 35 on the Wisconsin side.
It was delightfully cool and breezy after several hotter days lately, and we got a brief, light rain shower that was just enough to be refreshing. We kept on through the lush valleys and across the open green fields with only a couple of short breathers until Red Wing, where we made a longer water and ice cream stop for our halfway point. It was about 3:30 on arrival, and after about an hour of refueling we were heading west, on our way down the Cannon Valley trail.
We were all waning a bit after the long climb up from Welch and the headwinds going north to Hastings, but the cookies that Jim’s wife Lindsay had baked were the key to pushing through. The half-assed paceline helped some too. In Hastings we were hungry and a bit tired, and opted for italian rather than the various options for bar food. We didn’t totally fit in to a place with cloth napkins, being sweaty and stinky from 100 miles (by my odometer, riding to the shop from home) of riding, but it was a very good dinner and rest stop.
Leaving Hastings with bellies full of pasta, we headed off into the sunset under orange-tinted skies and calmer breezes. We wound our way through the outskirts of town in good spirits, and somewhere in Mendota Heights the group split up between those heading to Mpls and we heading to St. Paul. Cresting Smith Ave. and seeing the downtown skyline was a glorious sight, and after 125 miles the spin up the hill at Grand Ave. seemed like no big deal.
We finished up earlier than last year with a slightly shorter trip; i got home at 11pm with 131 miles on the clock and just enough energy for a shower and a beer, and then to sleep.
3 Responses to “the Red Wing ride: I love it when a plan (b) comes together”
My bike computer doesn’t track altitude, but i think Andre has that, i’ll see if he wrote it down.
Sorry plan A didn’t work (I remember enjoying the report from the first time), but it sounds like you had quite a ride anyway. 131 miles!
Nice report! Really, what a great way to spend a day. So you counted miles; what was the elevation gain? I’m betting it was impressive, given that Grand Ave was no big deal after 125 miles (!)