Another Beauty ...

Another beauty of a day today. The clear blue sky, beautiful autumn colors, pleasant temps ... it doesn't get much better than this in the fall in Minnesota. It should be spectaular weather for the Twin Cities events on Sunday. If I were running the marathon, it would be my ideal weather (30'ish). Still undecided about TC10 ... of the 6 people I've heard from or talked to in the last 24 hours, 4 say run it. 2 say bag it. Still don't know what to do, but you will find out on Sunday afternoon!! It will be a great evening for a walk in Byron with Team R.E.D. Just finished making cookies. Cookie production has slowed the last 6 weeks. But it hasn't come to a screeching halt either.

Speaking of Team R.E.D. I registered for the Living History Farms 7 mile race on November 20. Tom O' is gathering the names of people interested in hopping on a bus for the ride down to IA and back. The bus holds 55 and the last I'd heard from Tom, 16 were on board already. Registration opened at midnight and it fills. If you're running (and you can run for the team ... choose Team RED when registered) and want to ride the bus, give a shout out to Tom O'. What a hoot this little adventure will be.

Back to yesterday's ride.

Here's a link to a map MapMyRide - Renee's 54-miler in Rochester, MN and here's a snapshot of the map and the elevation chart. I don'[t know what's up with those mileage markets. There's no way that route is less than 11 miles!! Click on the link and you should get the correct mile markers. The roughte is 54+ miles.

Not exactly flat. And as you can see, I live on top of a hill. : ) I went through Byron at 4:14 PM ...

I spotted the last couple runners from the Byron CC team heading back to the high school after practice. After almost 30 miles of heading basically into the WNW wind, I finally turned SE just south of Pine Island. What a relief. I get tired of fighting all the wind we have here. There's a flat stretch on County 3, before the intersection with County 12, that is probably one of my favorite stretches to ride in Olmsted County. Especially when the wind is a tail wind. (This shot was tricky ... one hand on the bars, looking through my viewfinder on my phone and not at the road ... I took about 5 before I got a clear one. Yikes.)

And one of my least favorite stretches for some reason, even with a tail wind, is the section of County 3 south of Douglas to Valley High Drive. No rumble strips (yet). Just don't like it and I'm not sure why. After getting to Valley High I went west again staying on County 3 and then south to Salem Corners (hilly, but generally downhill I think) and then home. Made it home in time to clean up, make my salad and get to Kathryn's for book club at 7:00. With time to spare. : ) A good ride. I'm thinking about a long ride tomorrow ... possibly to Lake City. I'll keep you posted.

I just have to post this sentence from a recent email (sender shall remain anonymous). It made my day. "I've been reading your blog.  I still don't get it, but it does have  a soap opera effect.  You keep tuning in the next day to see what's new. " : )

Well, I must close. I have some bathrooms that need cleaning ...

Later.