We started off in Lake City, MN--the birthplace of water-skiing (or so the welcome sign claims...)--early on Sunday afternoon. Just me, my hubby, our bikes, and Bob (the trailer). The weather was sunny, but also hot. In the eighties and humid. We got a few miles out of town before the clouds ahead became threatening. We pulled over and got out our rain gear just in time for the downpour. But onward we went! And lucky for us, the rain only lasted about 5 miles and then it was back to hot and sunny.
About 30 miles into the trip came the biggest challenge for me: our largest hill. As you may have learned from my husbands previous entry...hills are not my strong point. This one was long and steady climbing, but I did it! No stopping, no granny gear. :) My encouraging husband cheered me on the entire way and the views from up on top of the bluffs were gorgeous.
After the monster hill, there were a few smaller ones that probably hurt more than they should have due to the heat fatigue setting in. We weren't too much farther along when all of a sudden a loud SNAP came from behind me. I cringed as I turned around to look at my husband behind me. While I was slightly relieved to see him and Bob both upright, I wasn't as pleased to hear that his front derailleur broke. Not so fun for a day on the hills, but he was a trooper and made do anyway.
We finally rolled into Stockholm just before 5 PM after our 40 mile journey. The town of 97 people was adorable but like many small towns, not so convenient. It turns out most restaurants close at 4 PM. This is bad news for two hungry bikers. Luckly, our innkeeper ventured down the block for us to the one cafe left open and told them to wait for us. So the cafe, or rather the pie shop, stayed open until we had time to get there and order some of their tasty homemade specialties. One pie was apple, sausage, cheddar and the other was a reuben quiche. They hit the spot!
Stockholm really was a quaint little town. I only regret we didn't have time to explore much of it's insides since we were only visiting during non-business hours. We stayed at a fabulous inn called Spring Street Inn. Just a couple blocks from the lake shore. We played a game of Monopoly after watching the sunset and then crashed pretty hard. The heat left us pretty exhausted.
The next morning, we were up early and on our way. The weather was cooler than on Sunday which was a nice relief. About 7 miles into our journey, we stopped in Pepin, WI and enjoyed an incredible breakfast at Third Street Deli. If you're in the area and looking for some good homemade food, you should check it out. After filling our stomachs it was onward to Lake City! We ran into some bridge construction crossing the lake, but it wasn't too terrible. Once we crossed the lake we turned right into a pretty strong headwind. And more hills. Needless to say, it was a rough finish for me. I'd been making pretty good time up until that point so that helped some. About 5 miles from the finish, we saw rain moving over the lake and quickly stopped to get out our gear. By the time we got all suited up and back on our bikes it was pouring! Luckily, like the day before, it didn't last too long. We rolled into Lake City just after noon and were happy to see our car still parked where we left it. We piled everything in and decided to celebrate with lunch before heading back to the cities.
71 miles down and our adventure was complete. We enjoyed exploring a new area together and recommend it to any of you who haven't been down there.
Until the next adventure...
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