A Crazy Bike Ride!

A few weeks ago, Matt and I decided to bike up to the lake from my house.  This is all fine and dandy, the day before it was 80 degrees, sunny, and generally perfect outside.  We forgot that Mother Nature can be a cruel person, changing your fortune with the swipe of her windy, cold hand. Needless to say, we only made it halfway, to a quaint little fishing town called Garrison.

Here's the run down:

Thursday - 6 am.  Matt and I have a quick bfast of toast and peanut butter, along with a quick sip of coffee. 

6:30: We head out under the cover of darkness.  It's pretty chilly out and there's a fierce wind blowing around.  I start to think this is not going to be that much fun and yearn for my bed and more coffee.

After making it through NE Minneapolis and onto East river road, we forged on northwest, battling the urge to turn around and the winds that didn't seem to give us any mercy.  To add to my trepidation our Grandpa called and left a foreboding message, urging us to cancel our ride. The weather report said 30-40 mph winds and dangerous snow conditions ahead!

Here's Matt and I at our first gas station stop.  My legs were already aching and we hadn't even made it to Anoka yet!  We had several gas station stops, prompted usually when one of us became non-responsive, had to pee, hungry, or all three.  I learned that as the day went on, it became increasingly more difficult to hop back on the ol' steed and brave the lonely highway.

 My story will be long winded (ha!) if I keep going at this pace(haha!).  Basically Matt and I biked 115 miles up to Garrison, on the northwest corner of Lake Mille Lacs.  We biked for a long time, made it to the hotel, and had our Dad pick us up the next day(thank God!).

This is what I stared at for 11 hours. 

Here's some observations from the road:

- It was cold, and using up all your energy makes you colder.  

-There's nothing better than hot soup and sandwiches with your broham in a gas station diner.  The bearded regular was great to chat with!

-I will always remember Matt singing Whitney Houston and Boys to Men for a good hour.

- Premium Rush! (Every time we were blown off the road, this is what we yelled)

-We had a successful flat and repair job on the road.

- I literally got choked up when we finally made it to Garrison.

-Billboards and water towers are really exciting along highway 169.

-We should train before doing this again. 

Anoka!! (Like from those car commercials)

 Grossest looking america food ever.

 Matt practicing for the pit crew.

 Trying to smile with cold faces

 Hog #1 and Hog #2

 Yay! Matt sitting in the exact same spot where he and Dad took refuge 6 years ago.

 Trying to get a shot of Matt behind me, totally missed but got a nice googly eye picture.

 8 miles from the end, super tempted my Grand Casino!

 We're about 6 miles away, Matt's starting to give up

 Retreating further away from the road, we're almost done!

 Yoga!

 This is what it's all about!

 My favorite picture of the trip, legs standing on poop covered rocks. It's so deep.

 Awesome water tower in Pequot Lakes, painted to look like a fishing bobber.

Such an epic trip, sometimes you gotta risk it to get the biscuit!