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| First experience with Minnesota Nice at the City Hall Bar in Minneota, MN |
We had barely crossed the Minnesota border when we had our first experience with Minnesota Nice. Our camping spot for the night was the city park in Minneota, MN. We weren't overly thrilled with the choice since it was a hot muggy day and there were limited facilities at the city park. The closest shower was at the town pool about a half mile from the campground.
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| Our group with one of the owners of the City Hall Bar before he left for the lake. |
HOWEVER, before heading to the campground a group of us stopped at the City Hall Bar. Being Friday afternoon on July 3rd the owners had decided to close early at 2 PM and head to the lake for the holiday weekend. We showed up about 1 o'clock in time for a beer before they closed. After about 6 of us showed up, we asked if they would be willing to stay a while longer so we could enjoy the air conditioning before heading the city park. The owners are couple guys in maybe their early 40's and answer was. "keep track of what you drink, leave some money and close the door on your way out!" He showed Glen how to operate the digital jukebox and put in enough credits for probably an hour's worth of music (Glen was in the mood for Toby Keith in prep for the 4th). Jocelyn, being the accountant, kept track of the beer consumption. Needless to say we left them a very generous tip for letting us stay in the bar while they got their afternoon off.
While we were at the bar, I went outside and was on the phone ordering a new bike from a bike shop in Minneapolis (I'll get to that minute) when a guy came down the street and wanted to know what was the story with all the bikes in front of the bar. His name was Larry and sold insurance plus seemed to the town's unofficial welcomer. He came into the bar and talked to all of us to get the full story and he told us about the town. Later, he came by the campsite and talked to a few more of us and then offered to bring sticky buns for breakfast the next morning. True to his word at 7AM, Larry walked into the campground with two pans of sticky buns. Man, what an introduction to Minnesota Nice.
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| Corn to the left of me, soybeans to the right... that's been the scene for the last 200 miles |
I won't spend a lot of time on what we have seen in the last few days. Its farm country, so we have seen miles and miles of corn, soybeans, the occasional field of sugar beets and hog houses. The weather has been in the high 80's to low 90s and the humidity around 70%, so I am sweating like a pig myself. I'm probably drinking 2-3 liters of water/Gatorade a day.
Now, back to my bike. About a week ago, it started making a creaking noise coming from the pedal cranks. It became progressively louder and more frequent. It was so loud not only did it bug me no end, but anybody around me. I finally found the source of the creaking was the bottom bracket (the mounting system for the bearings that the pedal crank goes through) was working its way out of the bike frame. I am not quite sure how this happened but it looks like a spacer that was in the mounting had fallen out at some point allowing the pressed in bearing assembly to work its way out. Last fall this bike fell off a bike rack going 70 miles an hour on the highway. There was some damage the the front and rear derailleurs that I replace, but I may have missed the damage to the bottom bracket. Anyway, I wasn't going risk trying to get it fixed in one day and then move on, so I just bought a whole bike. I am excited to have electronic shifting for the first time!
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| My new Salsa Cutthroat 1x12 with electronic shifting |
Long story short, I have been looking at what bikes might be available for purchase in Minneapolis (a few days down the road) and I found one. The same make and model as my bike which I really like, but one size larger. I called the bike shop and arranged to have it delivered to the hotel yesterday, just after we arrived. I'll put my old bike on the van for a few days and at some point I will ship it back home where I'll fix it again and sell it.
We are now down to 4 weeks left in the trip. The next couple of weeks have some long miles and not great camping locations, some with no showers available. A couple of camping locations don't have opportunity for a motels without a 2-8 mile additional bike ride. Our wonderful tour company won't deliver bags to a hotel... period. Back in Huron, SD, I bought a bigger backpack so that I can ride to a motel several miles away if needed carrying enough clothes for the next day and I have already used it a couple of times.
I am no fan of camping in hot muggy weather, especially after riding 65-80 miles without a shower. The tour operators could use a little Minnesota Nice, but I don't see that happening. Some of the end points for rides seem to be very poor choices where there are limited facilities. Several of us have looked at the routes and just can't seem to find any logic in why we stopped where we did when a little route adjustment would have put us in a better location for services.
I haven't talked to anyone on the trip that would ever recommend these guys. Planning a cross country trip is not easy. I did it for our trip in 2013. Some of this just wasn't well thought out in view of the clientele. We are all over 60, mostly well over 60 and sweating out it out in a primitive camp site when you really don't have too is not high on anyone's list of things to do.
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| XC50 Ride Route up to Minneapolis, MN |
Miles Ridden: 2362 miles
Elevation Gain: 97,500 feet
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