Night riding

Yesterday, after a 50 mile day, we arrived at our campsite (Lock 22) at the south end of Hennepin Canal bike trail the north-south feeder of the east-west running canal. We'd had a fairly easy day half on a bike trail, half on small quiet farm roads, mostly flat, just a few rollers, and an awesome tail wind. We discussed riding longer to take advantage of the great conditions, but my legs haven't recovered from our 108 miles day yet, and we had the little campground along the canal all to ourselves.

We set up camp, ate dinner ... and checked the weather on our phones. Our apps were predicting "likely heavy thunderstorms with high winds and hail" for tomorrow's ride, 70 miles to Freeport, IL. We ate dessert, discussed our options, and decided we'd rather ride the 30 miles to Rock Falls/Sterling, IL (the next city with a motel) tonight in the dark, than tomorrow in the storm. So we packed up our gear and at 8pm started biking along the north-south Hennepin feeder canal. We rode as fast as my legs would let us (at least it was super flat!) as long as we had light. We had a beautiful pink sunset around 8:30, some dusk riding, and by 9pm we were riding (a little slower) by headlamps and bike lights. And that's when the fun started. Apparently the feeder canal bike trail is not a popular, well ridden trail. Although it began as a well maintained crushed stone path, it turned into an over grown dirt path with low branches, high grass, and sometimes down to one track for us to follow in our headlights. The other clue that the path was not used much was the wildlife we were scaring up as we rode down the path. We saw deer, great blue heron, many raccoons (some a little too close to our front wheels), and beaver (one slapped his tail spectacularly for us); and, heard splashes and other stranger screeching noises from animals we couldn't identify.

At 10pm we found, with great relief, the end of the trail, and edge of town (Rock Falls, IL), AND a motel to wait out the storm. So this morning I am writing this blog post from our motel room ... and the storm hasn't arrived yet. Now our apps are predicting heavy storms later this afternoon, and clear skies with head winds for tomorrow's 80 mi ride to New Glarus State Park, WI; and, our last night on the road! At least, the storm has given us another adventure, and a day off the bike for my tired legs. Hopefully my legs will get enough recovery for one more hard day, and then a short ride into Madison, and into our own driveway.