Day 32 – The Mississippi River and the Sword of Damocles

July 19, 2018

Day 32 – Rochester, MN to La Crosse, WI – 87 miles, 3,130 feet vertical

Executive Summary / Highlights:

• Rain threatened all day but mostly held off.
• Beautiful ride over rolling hills, including eight miles on a secluded (and flat) bike path …
• … but headwinds hounded us much of the day. 
• Only one kick in the teeth: a one mile climb at 12% grade. 
• Managed to have a life-affirming double espresso at Barista’s Coffee House in Houston, MN.
• Enjoyed “reading” my fourth book. 
• Crossed into our sixth state, Wisconsin.
• Crossed over the mighty Mississippi River.
• Wondering how to get our bike helmets on tomorrow morning over our cheese head hats. 
• Oh, and yeah: new tires were great.  No flats today. 

I loved cartoons as a kid.  I watched Bugs Bunny all the time and it was very educational.  I was probably introduced to every famous operatic aria and orchestral piece while Bugs Bunny continually outsmarted Elmer Fudd.  (“Silly Wabbit!”)

I also loved watching the Three Stooges.  Every day, after school, Officer Joe Bolton would remind us, “Now kids, don’t try this at home,” right before Moe, Larry and Curly poked each other’s eyes out or hit each other on the head with a steel head hammer.  Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.  And this is where I first learned about the Sword of Damocles.  Watch for yourself right here.

Well, we had the Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads most of the day today.  When I woke up this morning, the forecast on The Weather Channel was for heavy rain and thunderstorms – 90% chance.  And it may have been still dry when we saddled up, but the skies were dark and threatening.  It looked like it was going to come down any minute.  We rode and rode, wondering how long the rain was going to hold out. 

At SAG 1, it started to drizzle lightly and riding through the mist was like having air conditioning.  But then it got a little wetter and switched over from air conditioning to light rain.  I stopped to put on my rain jacket and rode for a while in the rain.  But it never got much worse than that and in fact, after not too long, it stopped.  The last half of the ride was just fine.  We should all buy lottery tickets. 

Unfortunately, tomorrow looks pretty wet as well, if the forecasts are anywhere near accurate.  Nothing to be done – unless there’s lightning, we’ll be riding.  So we shall see what we shall see.  

I was afraid my camera would be in a plastic bag all day, but instead, I had to edit down from well over 100 pix, so please enjoy these photos from the day.  And check out how we just crossed the Mississippi River at Where’s Jeff at jeffblye.com

Thanks for following.

…Jeff