This is a photo at the start of our 50 mile ride at Cannon Lake just outside of Faribault, MN. The winds were gusting up to 25 miles per hour but the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the flowers were still covering the countryside. It was the type of day that made one understand why they loved the Midwest (Easterner that I am), the skies that go on forever, the vivid colors of green from the corn and soybean crops and yellow from the goldenrod, cone flowers and woodland sunflowers. It moved me to start singing "America the Beautiful" at one point (to Will's dismay). The Sakatah trail goes from town to town so many of the cyclists we meet are community cyclists and not tourists like us. They're the ones that always say Hi and comment on the bike. "That's the way to ride," one kid yelled at us while another pronounced us "Awesome!". It's a feel good trail from the forest of the State Park and Sakatah Lake to the cornfields outside of Elysian. 
Put that to music. I was feeling one with the bike but Will complained that he was not with it. He had put a new chain on to hopefully remedy the miserable noise in the rear wheel. I was getting excited after 40 miles because all was quiet but kept my mouth shut not wanting to mention a shutout. Unfortunately about mile 41 it started again but not quite as fingernail across the chalkboard painful. There are a number of other fixits to do which involve replacing other parts. Other screamers out there will sympathize with us. We drove the Highway 13 home and went off road to discover Kilkenny right here in Minnesota. It has a bar which was hopping on Saturday night. We now move into our fall biking schedule - hard to believe Labor Day is just around the corner.
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