New Adventures -- Northern Tier

We are in the second week of the trip.  Overnighting in Muscatine, Iowa tonight with a day off here tomorrow.  Water has been the theme for the most part for the past two weeks.  If it's not raining, there's water standing in the fields.  The Mississippi is well outside its banks in Muscatine with flood warnings tonight after heavy rain today.  Riders were pulled from the route today when storms started at mile 25.  Some were disappointed, but safety is the priority.  This way all continue on to ride another day, and we have extra time to enjoy The Merrill in Muscatine. We've traveled from Stillwater, Minnesota to Muscatine over the past 5 days.  Once we were in Iowa, of course, it really felt like home.  We were in Marquette on Saturday and Dyersville last night, only 25 miles from Dubuque. There have been some very nice riding days along with some of the wet ones; but everyone saddles up in the morning to ride regardless of condition be...

We've been on the road for a week.  It's a rest day in Stillwater, MN today.  A great  stop!  Bike friendly, vibrant, welcoming and many activities.  But, that's today.  Let's go back to last Friday (Fargo to Pelican Rapids, MN). If you follow on Facebook, you know the story.  There've been 5 riding days so far and only 1 that didn't have gale force winds, 1 day above 60, 2 days below 40, and 2 days without rain.  Yes, the weather is the dominant theme so far; but riders have ridden each day persevering through rain, wind, snow and cold.  Kudos to the hotels along the way for having rooms available when we arrive so that everyone can get out of the weather, get warmed up and into dry clothes asap. This a group of 17 riders, a guide, a full time chef and a chef leaving after Stillwater.  There are 3 of us pulling SAG (support and gear) duty.  I'm doing double duty, which means I ride half the time and the rest of the time in...