Yesterday I forgot to mention that Rochester is home of the Mayo Clinic. Downtown looks like a large city, but the population is only 80,000 – all of the tall buildings downtown are the medical center. We got into town via bike paths and left via county roads so no traffic in either direction.
Today was much more hilly than recent days. But it was a beautiful route. Hills are the cyclists enemy because they make riding difficult but also a friend because they provide variety and often great vistas. Our biggest hill today at mile 75 was 10% grade for a mile. But then we were on Ridge Line Road with great vistas (although corn from above is not much improved). We could see valleys below – knew this was the Mississippi River but couldn’t see it.
Late in the day we arrived in Wisconsin and then very quickly crossed the Mississippi River.
- The Mississippi River is the second-longest river in the United States, with a length of 2,320 miles (3,730 km) from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico.
- The Mississippi River is part of the Missouri-Mississippi river system, which is the largest river system in North America and among the largest in the world: by length (3,900 miles (6,300 km)), it is the fourth longest, and by its average discharge of 572,000 cu ft/s (16,200 m³/s), it is the tenth largest.
- The Mississippi is the approximate dividing line between adequate natural participation (30 inches per year) to the east and lesser to the west. As a result you will notice a great change in the trees, farming and birds within 50 miles of the river.
We’ve been fortunate in having Versus for the past three days at our hotel so we can catch up on Le Tour. We’ve had two 102 mile days and a 92 mile ride today; tomorrow is another 92 and people are getting tired.
Day 32, 92 miles, 3,339 feet climbing, 6.7 hrs
18 days remaining, 1,279 miles remaining
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