After saying goodbye to Lloyd and Gent, we went back to Alexandria to start the day where I had turned off of the Central Lakes Trail. This was my second day of almost exclusively riding on this trail system. It is such a wonderful way to see the little towns and countryside in this part of Minnesota. Too bad more of my travels could not be like this!
At the start of the day, my legs were still smarting from yesterday's cycling. The winds really take a lot out of you. Once I got into a rhythm, my legs settled down. There was a lot of wind but it was mostly cross winds and the trail was protected a fair bit by trees and hills.
There was a lot of traffic on the trail today. (Sunday bikers :-) It was quite a wide variety of cyclists, rollerbladers and walkers. I even saw a few cyclists with helmets so they must sell them here. There was even a couple of deer, eating the young corn.
Just before reaching Avon, I started to notice a wobble in my rear wheel. Those Moose Jaw pot holes are coming back to haunt me. I had broken a spoke. I don't have any extra spokes so when I caught up to Rochelle in Avon, I switched over to her bike to finish the day. I need to get some new spokes and repair the wheel in the morning. This is the second broken spoke and is likely to happen fairly often due to those pot holes. I will have to stock up on them. I am hoping to get to St. Johns without having to have that wheel rebuilt!
As I approached Saint Cloud the bicycle trail ended and I reluctantly returned to Highway 75 that took me through town. I stopped at a Pilot truck stop to have a shower before finishing the day at yet another Walmart.
Tomorrow, we travel to Minneapolis, roughly 100 km away. It will be a late start because all the bike shops open at 10am. I am not sure yet where we will stay as we have a number of people to see and things to do in Minneapolis! We also have to start doing some more detailed planning beyond Minneapolis.