Sat. 5/17/08

We had 10 to start our Saturday ride. With winds out of the NNW and predicted to pick up during the ride we decided to do the Windmill route backwards. So we headed out from Dunn Brothers going west to Salem Corners. There Dave and Tom slugged it out for the town sign, I think Dave took it. We regrouped and continued west and then turned north to Byron. Where again, Dave and Tom went at it, this time I think Tom was the victor. We regrouped again and turned west on the frontage road out of Byron, heading to Kasson. Tom went again for the Kasson sign and I went with, but I didn't have the right gear (or the legs) and Tom won the sign. Dave, Tom, and Sam turned and headed south and then back to Rochester, while the rest of us continued west to Dodge Center. We thought Bruce might have went with those guys, but he had stopped to chat with Dave and eventually caught us at the Kwik Trip in Dodge Center. After a quick refuel stop, we headed south on hwy 56 (man, does that road need to be resurfaced), where the pace picked up (as usual). We held a nice pace all the way to cty 4, where we turned east. Now we had pretty stiff crosswinds, so we got into some nice pace lining. And the group kept it together for a nice stretch, until a fiesty little farm dog came at us and broke up the group. He chased for quite awhile and made one last attempt at Jim T's ankle, then went home. We continued east into Rock Dell and then turned north (into the wind). By now the ride was starting to take it out on pretty much all us, except Bruce and Jim P. So, we let them do most of the work on the windy sections. We turned east at Salem Corners and headed east to Rochester. Jim P. turned off at cty 104 and headed for home, while the rest continued into town. There were a number of riders out on this stretch of road as we neared town. Dr. Tim turned north as we got to Circle Drive and the 4 remaining riders made our way back to Dunn Brothers. I headed home from there.

Here's the route:



Great ride guys (Dr. Tim, Dave, Beebe, Jim T., Big Jim P., Jeff G., Sam, Tom, and Bruce).