Day 20: Sunrise to Red Wing

As it has been so far, the early bird get the worm. 7am and minimal traffic on the Minnesota highways. I dropped Tom, Will and Wes at Sunrise before heading back to get the rest of the gear from the motel. Tom opted once again to leave his gear in the car.

A majority of the morning route for today was on a bike path down the Mississippi, in Wisconsin. I stayed in Minnesota for the morning however, as the path crossed over back into Minnesota just in time for lunch.

As I was leaving the town of Sunrise, I stopped at a metal sculpture park. It was quite the park, stretching at least a quarter mile in all directions. It's cool to think that scrap metal can be reused as art.

Before lunch, however, I hung out in Stillwater, Minnesota. Of the towns we have stopped in along the route, Stillwater may have been the hippest and most happening of them all. On a Wednesday afternoon, joggers, cyclists and many other active people were out on the town. I stopped in at the local bookstore cafe to work on my blog and chill for a bit.

I met the bikers in Afton for lunch. Wes had a conveniently timed meeting with a client, as we were joined by Keith, who happened to live in Afton. The lunch was good, but from what I could tell, not much business was discussed, just small talk. Keith has a lake cabin up on Lake Pokegema, the same lake where Camp Mishawaka (a camp I attended as a child) is located. 

After lunch, I zoomed up 20 miles to a small cafe called Oasis on the Wisconsin side of the river. The owners are avid cyclists and started the cafe specifically for bicycle riders who pass through. The cafe is located at the top of a large hill, so cyclists from either direction have a nice "oasis" to stop at. Anyways, it was a nice spot for some hill training. I knocked out 7 repeats and finished up in the local tree farm. The shade was quite refreshing and the small groups of trees all had their own unique scent. 

The bikers regrouped at Oasis. Tom decided to call it a day in Red Wing, as 2 centuries in a row was a stretch. Will and Wes were determined to shoot for 20 in a row. Once again, I found a motel, and chased after Will and Wes as they cleaned up their 100 for the day. They parked themselves at the intersections of two quiet highways. 

At dinner we discussed plans for the next day. Will and Wes decided they were gonna wake up super early to get in a century, then book it back to Chicago. Tom politely declined. After two days of riding, he was gonna take his own pace again, luggage and all. We bid Tom safe travels before heading to bed. Will wanted to wake up at 5am. Wes agreed, but I fell asleep before I heard anymore.