Brian Richardson
It’s break day eve and we made it to Minneapolis. This is the largest metropolitan area of the trip and it was the light at the end of the wind tunnel for us all week.
After 370 miles of persistent headwind, it started to let up today. The wind wasn’t entirely gone, but while we Etch-A-Sketched through a grid of county roads this morning, gusts were relatively light and would occasionally be behind us on our northbound stints. By the afternoon, we were entirely on rail trail bike paths, which tended to be tree-lined and sheltered from the wind.
Our new obstacle for the day was severe thunderstorms. Before 10am we could see a storm cell developing north of us and we picked up the pace to try to make it to Hutchinson before the weather. We didn’t entirely miss the rain, but we did at least reach the Oak Heights Covenant Church to ride out the worst of the lightning in safety. Here Usher showed us a more detailed weather report: many dozens of lightning strikes in our area over the last hour, and warnings of supercells and possible tornadoes later in the day.
The gang tries to escape a storm headed towards Hutchinson, MN
As soon as the lightning had passed, we hopped onto the Luce Line bike trail, the first of many rail trails we took today between Hutchinson and Minneapolis. Throughout the day, we would see more storms developing nearby, and be warned by some locals that we “picked a bed day to ride bikes through Minnesota,” but we thankfully avoided the worst of the weather.
These rail trails are a mix of pavement and gravel, and they took us through farms and woods and city while keeping us away from wind and sun and traffic. Another win for bike infrastructure!
The Dakota Rail Regional Trail
Afternoon storm clouds along the Lake Minnetonka Regional Trail
80 miles and two flat tires—both from Friend, who is now at 12 for the trip—got us to Minneapolis. Some of us were motivated by the upcoming break day or by the end of the Parks, Peaks, and Praries ACA route; others by gas station hot dogs. Either way, we made it.
Usher and Friend fuel up for the last push into Minneapolis, MN
The last week of headwinds took its toll on the group. Over seven days we spent more than 51 hours actively pedaling which, in addition to wearing out our bodies, left little time to maintain bikes and other equipment. Michael has a Jerry-rigged tent that probably would not survive if we had to camp in some of the storms we saw today. Usher has a pair of tires bearing large sections with literally 0mm of rubber left.
Usher’s rear tire, circa mile 2,450 of the trip—well past time for a replacement
Here in the city, we’re staying with Josh, my old roommate and great friend. Josh is the kind of friend who would drive 45 minutes round-trip from our Carrboro, NC house to pick me up on Union Grove Church Road after my bike broke down and I got caught in a freezing rain—and bring homemade cookies to cheer me up. Tonight he cooked us a delicious dinner of curry with all the fresh vegetables we’ve been missing, followed by more homemade cookies. Being here with a friend like that has been a huge morale boost for the group. We’re excited to spend tomorrow exploring the city with Josh and other friends, not on a bike.