Blue Earth Challenge

I wasn’t sure I wanted to do this ride. I wasn’t feeling up to the challenge, so to speak. The day before (Saturday, July 25) I rode the Tour de Bun in Montgomery, Minnesota, with Myrna, a 30 mile ride, and had significant saddle soreness. Fortunately Myrna was out shopping later in the day and found a new pair of bike shorts for me. I was looking forward to trying them out but was unsure of using new clothing on a long ride. (As it turns out, the old shorts were just worn out and the new shorts with better padding completely solved the problem. Yay!)

Ride Stats: 80.2 miles in 4 hrs. 55 min.  (16.3 mph average)

The Blue Earth Challenge is a long ride, all right. At 80 miles it is getting up there toward my goal of doing a century ride. I knew I could do 70 miles because I did that last week on a pretty flat Wild Flower Challenge down near the Iowa border. How would I fare in Blue Earth where, as Road Biking Minnesota says, “The ride passes through majestic valleys formed in the glacial period, offering you a challenging tour”? I wasn’t sure.