It’s been three years since our last cycling adventure (and man, what a three years it’s been, eh?), so it’s time to dust off the old iPhone travel blog again!!
This year we decided to ride domestically, since traveling abroad still seems kind of dicey. Mallory has wanted to visit Minnesota forever, so we’ve planned out 9 days of riding on a variety of “rails-to-trails” options, mostly in the southern half of the state.
Because we were staying in the states, we decided to drive there with our bikes. We left Colorado on May 31st, and drove to Burwell, Nebraska, so that I could zoom in to a Planning Commission meeting. I’d been fighting some lower back pain for a couple weeks, and the long hours in the car must’ve really taken their toll, as I could barely walk when I got out of the car in Burwell. I even ended up having to stand for the entire 5 hour meeting, as sitting was agonizing.
In reponse, Mallory really stepped up, not letting me lift anything, and insisting on packing the car, loading the bikes, and driving the whole next day to Minneapolis. She even had to tie my shoes for me! What a saint! I rode the entire way lying down in the back seat. Unfortunately, that meant I missed all the scenic back roads of Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota. This is an example of what I got to see from the back seat:
We stayed the first night in Minneapolis in a sweet little basement AirBnB, and the host was able to recommend a drop-in chiropractic place, so we went straight there the next day. Fortunately, the chiropractor on that day was really good, and in about 30 minutes she was able to give me huge relief, as well as recommend some exercises and supplements to get me further on the mend, and hopefully keep me that way.
The amazing thing was that we had arranged to do some riding around the city on their wonderful “greenway” system, with some of the folks from the Artspace organization that I’ve gotten to be friends with over the last 10 years, as they’ve helped us create a 30-unit workforce housing project in Ridgway. (If you’d like to know more about that, reach out to me separately, and I’ll fill you in.)
Anyway, since the chiropractor was able to get me such relief, I was able to do a couple of rides with them, with a lovely lunch gathering in the middle, for a total of 22 miles! Here’s a few photos from the day:
All of that was yesterday, so I’m going to start a new post for today…