I rode far yesterday.

Earlier in the week I mentioned on twitter that I wanted someone to ride far with. Mike Hall mentioned he was going to Duluth that weekend. Long story short, I was in. As luck would have it, so was Monty Byrnes. This was good. The more the merrier.

Plan was to meet Mark in NE at about 6:45 and ride out to Lino Lakes to meet Mike. That went off without a hitch. 25 miles from my house we were at Mikes house filling bottles and emptying bladders. We set out up 23 (where Mike has the first mishap of the day-broken spoke) and down Kettle Ridge to Wyoming, I think and then onto a bike trail to North Branch. 5 miles down the road from North Branch was a tiny town. I stopped there twice, but I forget the name and don't want to google it. From my house to Mikes house Mark and I avg'd 17 mph. That was good. From Mikes house to this tiny town we avg'd 22mph. It was NOT Mike making us do that...Mark just wouldn't take it easy, or, more accurately, that WAS easy for Mark. We all made it, and at a good clip.

Next stop, Mark got a flat...We stopped and fixed that and then were off to Pine City another 20-25 miles up 61. we stopped, bought a bag of salty chips and gatorade and waited for Mikes wife to bring his race wheel turned spare long distance wheel. Made that switch and then we were off. Caught some fast tri guy that was riding from North Branch to Duluth and then running the Marathon today. That's just silly. It took the 3 of us about 8 miles or so to catch him, then we rode together a bit and chatted until the roads pointed up a bit. We got to some little hills and it broke up a bit, and we 3 slowed down to stay together. We caught back up to crazy tri guy and rode to Hinckley, where it was time for a potty break on the side of the Munger trail. The plants looked thirsty.

From there the pace finally slowed down a bit into Finlayson where we stopped for sandwiches in some tiny weird "deli" place. Pretty alright! We sat there for a bit, and recovered and ate and then we were back on the trail.

We made it to about a 1/2 from moose jaw. Jaw? lake? knuckle? something like that, I'm not from here. Then Mike flatted the almighty Zipp. Uh-oh! we tried to fix it. The sealant in the tire didn't work. The super glue I bought didn't work. He even tried to patch it from the outside, and that didn't work either. It never held air. He called his wife to come BACK down from Duluth to save the day. I wasn't having that, and had already been contemplating turning around. A few reasons, mostly because I didn't want to have to wake up and ride back the next day when the route wasn't fresh. SO, We tried to continue on with Mike riding just about on the rim, but then he gave up (wisely) and I turned around. That was at mile 120 for me. 97 miles away from Mikes house and just under 30 back to Hinckley.

Margaret was at the NSC in Blaine until 9pm, so I had 5.5 hours to cover that 110 miles. It was going to be close. I felt pretty good from the time I just turned around and was keeping it between 20-22 for the most part, save for purposely NOT pushing it up the hills to save my knees. I made it back to Hinckley in about an hour and a half, and stopped and bought more gatorade to stay reasonably hydrated. Another 20 or so back to Pine City, and I kept rolling. Starting to hurt. Just watching the pavement move on past my front wheel. My knees don't really like long trips. At that point I was up to 175 miles or so and my knees weren't too happy with me.

I kept plugging along, stopping at that little town again (15-20 miles past Pine City) where they told me I was 5 miles from North Branch! By this time it was almost 7. I had just over 2 hours to get another 35-40 miles in. It was starting to look plausible, but I was really hurting. I made it to North Branch at about 7:15, and looked for the trail for 15 minutes. Wasted time, wasted energy. At this point it was about all I could do to go about 18mph without it hurting too bad.

I get onto the trail, and Margaret calls me to say that she got done early. My shot of getting to Blaine was over. She was gonna come get me. I didn't WANT to try to ride home, I hurt, and there was a shower coming (a rain shower, not a physical shower, although that would have been wonderful!)

I rode down the trail into Stacy, and communicated with Margaret that she should take 35 north to Stacy Trail, and that I'd be on that rode. When I spoke with her I was at 197.7 miles and I wanted those last 2.3 VERY badly. I was pretty much falling apart, but I got them. Got to some mailbox on that road, and turned around. Margaret met me when my odometer read 200.3. Mission accomplished. Day saved. Success.

We drove home (but the car is dying pretty quick. It doesn't do well on the freeway anymore...think it's almost time to retire it.) and I got showered and made dinner.

Happy day. Under 12 hours of riding time. Got picked up at 8, so that's just under 14 hours start to finish. I'll take it. RAAM 2011? Doubtful. Margaret won't let me, my knees won't let me, and I don't even think I'd be game for that. Maybe in a team. Yep. I'd do it on a team. BUT, I WOULD love to be on a support crew for next year. I can offer mechanic assistance for the bicycles. Where do I sign up? I'd volunteer a week of my life to drive across the country at 12mph in an RV!

So yeah. All's well that ends well. Wrapped it up today with a 25 mile Lillydale loop with Margaret. Legs still worked, not too well though. Made it up both Ohio and Ramsey. I'll take it.

Now to help out with leading The Fix ride out west for 50-60 miles tomorrow! If anyone wants to ride, Depart The Fix at 117 Washington at 9am. It'll be fun.

OH! Forget to mention that we saw a flock of sheep being herded down the rural highway by sheep dogs and humans with sheep staffs! It was amazing.