Day 30 – Winona,MN to Red Wing,MN

Date: 28.05.2018

Altitude: 2539.4 ft (774 m)

Distance: 81.20 mi (130.68 km)

Total Altitude: 53956.7 ft (16446 m)

Total Distance: 1955.65 mi (3147.33 km)

Today I started into my 5^th week on the road. Last week was the warmest week so far. I cycled in three states, Illinois, Iowa & Minnesota, and met quite a few interesting and nice people along the way. It was a great week, although it was a bit too hot for my taste, at the end of the week.

After two shorter days, today I had to cover a longer distance. The plan was to start early to have an hour or two before it gets really hot. Unfortunately my start this morning got delayed a bit, due to a thunderstorm over Winona with heavy rain. I finally got on the road around 8am. It was still raining, but this was actually quite nice, so it stayed cooler for a while. The sun came out after an hour or so into the trip and it got hot really fast. The temperatures reached again the high 90s but it felt more like 105°F or even more (around 41°C). Being on the bike in these temperatures for hours with almost no shade is tough, and I really need to take care that I always have enough to drink. But even the water is not really refreshing, since it will be warm after only a short time.

Besides the temperatures, the scenery on the route today was again really nice. The route followed the Mississippi river or stayed at least in the vicinity of the rive throughout the day. The route stayed again on Highway 61 for a while. Not the nicest road for being on a bicycle, but at least there was a wide shoulder to ride on. But the route deviated from US61 a few times, which in general meant extra miles, but also a nicer ride. Each time I left the Highway and moved away from the Mississippi, I had to go up the bluffs eventually. As soon as I reached the top of the bluffs, the scenery changed completely, from the forest areas down by the river to farmland on top of the bluffs. It was quite nice to have this mix in scenery during the day. But I could have done without the climbs.

Conclusion for the day:

Some days a bit of rain feels actually quite nice.