Day 30 – Worthington to Mankato, MN

Today: 102 miles, 1187 feet of climb
Cumulative: 2211 miles, 79430 feet of climb

The weather was much better today. Nice sunny skies and warm. Weather the way I like it. With a longer distance to ride, today was a day to hammer out the miles and it turned out to be my first sub five hour century. 4 hours 54 minutes by my count from the hotel and 4:50:07 by Jeff’s count starting after we had breakfast at Perkins. An average of 20.4mph, pretty speedy in my book, especially taking into account traffic lights and slower speeds through a few towns along the way.

Our early morning pace line

Today’s ride primarily took us on Route 60. It was a busy highway, so where opportunities presented themselves, our course took more rural roads. For the most part we were riding in a northeasterly direction.

That's Jeff, Katie, Mark K., Dave, Mark W. and Alex in front of me left to right

Jeff, Mark W., and Dave rode with me from the start again. Katie and Alex joined up with us along the way and stayed with us until the outskirts of Mankato after which we rode in smaller groups for safety reasons. Mark K. started earlier and joined for the middle part of the ride when we caught up to him. Jeff from the ABB staff also rode with us for most of the day.

Jeff from the ABB staff joined us today. Yes, he's from Minnesota.

Again, we saw a lot of corn, farms, and grain elevators. When you looked eastward towards the morning sun while riding, you saw what you thought were skyscrapers on the horizon. It seemed like you were nearing a big city. Then about ten miles down the road, the big city always turned out to be a grain elevator. This happened a few times today.

It looks like a skyscraper. But it's a grain elevator. Here, we are riding on busy Route 60.

I did not take many pictures today since I was concentrating on the road or the wheel in front of me with our higher speeds. Compared to yesterday, we covered 31 more miles in six extra minutes.

That's it for today. We will probably ride slower tomorrow, which allows for more picture taking.

Today’s route:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/41191137