Last week Lisa and I joined our team CLiPD (Cindy, Lisa, Lindsey, Paul, Dan and David) on a new-to-us organized ride called Bicycling Around Minnesota (BAM, not to be confused with Bicycling Around Missouri, which Lisa and I have also done). “Bicycling Around Minnesota” is an exaggeration, as we only biked through three of Minnesota’s 87 counties – Fillmore, Houston and Winona – though they are three of the prettiest counties in the state. (Paul and Cindy are dear friends and frequent cycling companions, and Paul’s brother Dave flew out from Colorado with his girlfriend Lindsey for join us for this trip.)

It was a four day, 240 mile ride beginning and ending in Lanesboro, taking the long way to Rushford, La Crescent, and Houston through the hills, forests and high prairie of the Driftless region of southeastern Minnesota – that region of the country where the glaciers never covered the landscape and therefore, did not leave “drift” – sediments, silt, clay, sand, etc. The Driftless region is characterized by bluffs and river valleys, and, of course, running through the middle, the Mississippi River.

The Minnesota BAM is kind of a mini-RAGBRAI with only 300 participants. We had the support of Pork Belly Ventures, the outfitter we’ve used twice on RAGBRAI and once on the Missouri BAM – with their incredible and ingenious shower truck – a retrofitted semi trailer that contains many men’s and women’s showers which are, frankly, glorious at the end of the day.

This is how it transpired, day by day. (NOTE: photos mostly by Lisa, Lindsey and Cindy)

Day 1: Lanesboro to Rushford the long way (65 miles)

The ride began on Thursday morning in the lovely town of Lanesboro. Lisa and I had just been there a couple weeks before, riding the Root River Trail between Rushford and Harmony. We realized why this trail is one of the most popular in the state – it is well maintained, and runs beside some of the most beautiful trout fishing streams in the state. BAM, however, did not use the trail (mostly) and rather, took a course west out of Lanesboro and up a long climb to Fountain and then on country roads to the south, back to the east and north again into Rushford. We could have been in Rushford in less than two hours if we’d taken the trail from Lanesboro, but instead we covered 66 miles the BAM way.

We left Fountain to ride to Preston, Harmony and Canton, at which point we were just a few miles from the MN/IA state line. In Canton, we headed north on County Road 21. We’d driven 21 a few weeks earlier and noted how pretty it was. But on the first day of BAM, it was windy from the north – really windy – so windy it was hard to coast down the many hills we climbed. For at least 15 miles, as we angled north/northeast, we climbed and descended, always into the stiff headwind – it was pretty grueling.

We eventually arrived in Rushford after rejoining the RRT for the last miles in from Peterson. Mid-afternoon, we were setting up our tents near the town’s high school and athletic fields. BAM provided dinner and music and people from the town, including Dan and his German Shepard Tessa came over to enjoy the evening. They travel all over the area in Dan’s green Russian motorcycle and sidecar. I kind of fell in love with the dog.

Day 2: Rushford to La Crescent (65 miles)

We woke Friday morning in a fog. I mean, a real fog had settled in the valley overnight – we could hardly see across the field. The organizers actually requested that we stay back a bit to let the fog burn off a bit. We were headed to La Crescent via Houston, then north to a frontage road along I-90, and, at mile 35, a choice to take a shorter route into La Crescent, or a longer and hillier one up to the Mississippi River, then back south along highway 61 back to town.

But we all pulled out of Rushford in the morning haze for about 25 miles of relatively flat riding. It was a beautiful morning, with a long, gnarly hill which ended right under the interstate. We met at the top of the hill, which is when we decided on which of the two routes into La Crescent we’d be taking. The three women all chose the shorter route with a lunch stop at Riverview Winery. The guys chose the longer route and after a break at a very large Kwik Trip, we parted ways.

The long route began with steep downhill on which I maxed out at 39 mph, behind my faster, less timid, biking buddies. Then we jockeyed with trucks on 61, before turning back away from the river and up our second big climb of the day. At the top, a few miles of flat road overlooking the Mississippi River valley before our descent into La Crescent.

It was nice for the guys to ride into the campground and find our tents all set up for us. We found our cold beers and relaxed a bit before heading over to the local pool, er, “aquatic center” to find relief from the heat in the small town community pool on a sultry August afternoon. It was delicious and we were not the only BAMmers taking advantage of the pool, I mean, aquatic center. Then back to our campsites for dinner, music and whiskey tasting by RockFilter Distilling out of Spring Grove. They have an organic bourbon whiskey called “Giants of the Earth.” Lisa noted “Ole Rolvaag would be rolling over in his grave.” But the whiskey was great (sorry Ole – and Grandpa and Grandma).

Day 3: La Crescent to Houston (55 miles)

Before we hit the road on the third day, we checked the air pressure on our tires. As I was pumping Lisa’s rear tie, the core in her valve popped out. I never knew before this that the valve (Presta or Schrader) has a core that is screwed into the valve itself, and that the core can loosen, and with pressure from the tire, can blow out. We were at the bike mechanic’s truck when this happened and he had a special little tool that tightens that core. Once it was back in, we inflated the tire and it seemed fine. We headed south out of town on Highway 3, with the Mississippi and its sloughs, backwaters and islands to our left in the rising sun.

A couple of miles out of town, I looked back to see if Lisa was with us but couldn’t see her. I pulled over about the same time Dave noticed a text from her – she had a flat about a quarter mile behind us. Paul and I turned around and rode back to her. I was already wondering what had caused the flat, and assumed that it had something to do with that valve tightening we’d just done. (It turns out assuming can be a mistake but more on that later.) On a ride like this one, with a lot of people on the road at the same time, pretty much everyone who passes offers to help and that happened. But I knew what I was doing, and had the wheel off and put a new tube in and inflated it and we were riding again.

By now, the rest of the pack had moved quite a ways down the road and Paul, Lisa and I were alone on the highway, heading south into Brownsville, where we caught up to the group and the ride’s mechanic and his van. I told him what had happened – that is, that the new valve had failed – and he, a man of few words, sold me a new tube (I hate to ride without replacement tubes on each bike) and we continued with our ride.

We were riding next to the river and the shores and wetlands were rich with purple loosestrife, an invasive aquatic plant that the state of Minnesota has been trying to control for decades. But it is actually kind of pretty with a tall purple flower in full bloom in August.

We soon left the river, and rode up the first big climb of the day as we headed west towards Caledonia where we wanted to stop at the Houston county fair. The Minnesota State Fair was opening in about a week, and the county fairs were all going strong as the kids showed their animals bound, hopefully, for state.

After a walk about and a huge icy lemonade and a shared brisket sandwich, Lisa and I hopped back on our bikes and rode up on the high prairie, as we had been so often between apparently endless fields of corn or soybeans and then, at mile 45, we screamed down a long steep hill back into the Root River Valley and the town of Houston for the second time on this trip. It was the hottest day yet – upper 90’s and sunny – and we were relieved to get into our campsite in Houston in mid afternoon.

We have a tradition of ending the day’s ride with a beer, so Lisa and Cindy set off to find some while Paul and I set up tents. As I was sitting down to relax, Lisa walked her bike back into the campsite, her rear tire completely flat.

So, I’ll not go into a long speech about flats, as tempting as that is. (Though I think it is safe now to say that every day this summer, I have had the thought ‘it’s been a long time since Lisa has had a flat!’ but fearing a jinx, have never said it.)

But I’d jumped to a conclusion this morning (the day that began and almost ended with flats) and assumed that the last minute (and new to me) valve repair was the problem with the first flat. I’d expressed that opinion to the mechanic who didn’t disagree with me. So now, with no place to be, and sitting in the shade, I decided to get to the bottom of the problem. Lisa took the tire and did the panty hose swipe test and went from “I’m not finding anything” to suddenly feeling a prick, and then confirming with the panty hose that there was a tiny wire sticking all the way through the tire. I got my needle-nose pliers and pulled it out and put the new tube in and mounted the wheel and we were fine and have been ever since.

I walked by the mechanic’s van a bit later and told him that we’d found a wire which caused a second flat. He said immediately “that’s what caused the first one” contradicting my initial assumption. He trusted the valve repair and, like any experienced mechanic, he understands leaks. I had assumed (wrongly) that it was the valve and he hadn’t bothered to correct me. It was a reminder to me that when you have a flat, you HAVE TO identify what is causing it – I should have inspected the tire more carefully in the morning. We were incredibly lucky that the tire held out all during that hot day – it would have been awful to have a flat roadside under that sun.

We were dying to get in the river, so with the tire restored, the four of us rode upstream till we came to a campground with river access and climbed on in. The Root River was clean and cold and absolutely refreshing, its current wanting us to go downstream.

Day Four: Houston to Lanesboro (55 miles)

Our final day was short, and we were expecting hight temps again, so we departed as soon as possible. I should say, Lisa and I, Paul and Dave, departed. Lindsey and Cindy decided to go to Lanesboro the short way – 30 miles on the Root River Trail, rather than our hilly 55 mile route.

But we were on the road by 7:00AM, and the first 15 miles were among the most beautiful miles I’ve ever ridden. We turned off the main highway out of Houston up onto the most amazing and quiet Sunday morning road with a beautiful surface, no cars, only farm animals looking for breakfast, and birds darting about, and the mist rising over bucolic farms.

Then the day got serious and we tackled yet another long and steep climb, up towards Spring Grove, with a scheduled stop at the town park for Spring Grove soda pop and donuts made by the Lutheran church. (“Donut forget Jesus Loves You”)

The soda pop was a little sweet for me (Dan) but the rye whiskey was just right, so we bought a small (it’s expensive) bottle to bring home as a souvenir.

Now, with only about 30 miles to go in our trip, we began to get wistful – it was like being at camp, and making new friends and then going our separate ways.

We cruised down another hill to the valley bottom and Lanesboro and a final shot of our group before one last trip to the shower truck and then loading up to head home.

It was hot, hilly and wonderful, thanks to the great organization of the ride and, most of all, our really lovely travelling companions.