Rob's Big Ride Redux: Day 26, Tyler to New Ulm, 93 miles

Best: Extra 7 mile detour (you don't really believe this do you)

Worst: Highway 14 sucks in Minnesota

Most Unexpected: Turn Halle Ratskeller

Last nights dinner was Lasagna.....Again. We slept in the school cafeteria in warm humid conditions with a loud fan trying to make it livable. Not the greatest nights sleep, and others probably less so as I was sleeping on top of my sleeping bag with just my shorts which would cause nightmares for just about anyone.

We rolled out knowing our 86 mile ride was going to be an extra 7 miles due to a detour. The winds were favorable, but the detour made sure that we rode into a headwind. After getting off the detour we rode with a strong sidewind. How strong you ask. See the picture below.

We made pretty good time, and obviously much better than if this was a headwind. I did not enjoy from miles 50 to 70 as it was just monotonous and a lot of work to keep going. Thank goodnesss I was riding with Kevin and Jenn to keep me from lagging. Lots of corn, enough to tempt me into the following picture.

This is probably the last corn patch we will see on this trip. My daughter thought I should compose a poem on my ride, so here it is:

Riding through the corn

Is really bor'in

There were some interesting things to see on the trip and they are below. We rode on Highway 14 and it was a terrible surface 2 years ago, and nothing has been done to improve it. The j/b/m was real high and there were holes big enough to swallow a bike. Once we got through Sleepy Eye, we turned off and got onto a decent highway for the final miles into New Ulm. (in case you forgot, j/b/m measures jolts to the butt per mile. In this case the jolts were spaced about the same, but the displacement was much greater resulting in maximum force to the nether region of the anatomy)

After moving into our dorms on the Martin Luther campus, we headed off downtown to the Turn Halle Ratskeller which is the oldest bar in Minnesota. It started out as a gymnasium and the idea was imported from Germany, but shortly thereafter the bar was installed to help the gymnasts really achieve flexibility. It was a great experience, and after a couple of beers, I rode back so I could go to dinner at 5:30 to eat at the school cafeteria. Lasagna again. Just joking, we had chicken but the best part of dinner was the ice cream. The ice cream was in large tubs with a multitude of different flavors, and it was semisoft. It was just like if you bought your ice cream at the supermarket, and then after bringing it home you took the top off of it and ate the part that was not hard. I of course have never done this.

Cool murals on the barns.

We are in Minnesota and still Laura Ingalls Wilder signs appear. This time they claim to be the home that Laura Ingalls Wilder was born. Who cares is what I say.

Even Linus loves Sleepy Eye where the streets are even worse than Hwy 14.

A good section of Hwy 14. Note the cracks that appear every 15 feet. The shoulder would disappear and then the road became abysmal.

What do you think the owners of these bikes are doing?

The secret entrance to Turn Halle.

The bartenders inside the Turn Halle. The bartender on the right gave us all a calendar with the ladies of the Turn Halle not wearing clothes for each month. She was on September and was covered by an a newspaper. I got her to sign the calendar.

Paintings inside the Turn Halle were done in the 1880's. This is Heidelberg castle.

Everything you needed to know about Turn Halle. Fascinating.

I went to pay for my beer with my wallet I had taken from my bike bag and I couldn't find the wallet. I assumed I had left it in my bike bag. When I went back to the bike, I found my wallet on the ground where apparantly it had fallen out somewhere between the bike and my pocket. It had been lying there for more than an hour, and the money was still in it as were my credit cards. I love Minnesota. I unfortunately did have to pay back the person I borrowed the money from to buy the beer.