111 miles ridden – 1378 feet climbed.

What a day. We woke up to a dark, overcast sky. A selection of six different weather report sites gave us six different forecasts all of which included rain at some stage with the prevailing ‘majority’ suggesting a 20% chance of light showers at some stage between 2 & 5PM. On that basis there was a chance we could beat it.

The early riders (that includes me) were on the road by 6am with rain gear in our bags just in case. The clouds seemed too high for rain and the sun started peaking through almost immediately so we were quite confident until someone looked in their review mirror and saw the sky behind us. Dark doesn’t do it justice but not to be daunted we accelerated to see if we could outrun the darkness. No chance.

By 8am we were in the middle of a proper mid-west America thunderstorm. Lightning and thunder but no rain?! Then it came, a few spots at first and then a deluge with raindrops the size of marbles and it was so dark I almost felt like I was riding at night. Fortunately we were only 3 or 4 miles from the first SAG and arrived to find the crew had commandeered a car wash for us to shelter in. Some riders were sheltering further back but were at least safe.

The main concern is that in the wide open spaces we are in there aren’t too many objects – trees, chimneys, towers etc – for the lightening to strike so cyclists (or anyone else out in the open) are quite vulnerable. As a result we were all held at the SAG for about 45 minutes until the storm had passed.

When we resumed we were all sodden – the rain came too quick for most to get their waterproofs on – and although it had been warm and humid when we left the hotel after the storm the temperature had dropped a bit so we were also cold. So, the sky was still unappealing, we were wet and cold, and we were back in wide open relatively empty spaces with another 60 miles to ride. Funnily enough I didn’t take many pictures today but here’s one of the sky

Did I mention the wind? We were heading pretty much due West and the wind was out of the South East so it was not head on but right-side on and relentless.

By the time we got to the second SAG in the town of St James at 64 miles the sky had brightened and the opportunity to have some lunch cheered us up a bit. As 6 or 7 of us sat on the kerb outside a petrol station a chap came up to have a chat. He had been following our journey on the ABB website and cycles regularly and had lots of questions so we chatted for a while. Then he told us that he had organised for the shoulder between St James and the next town at Madelia to be swept for us! We still don’t know who he was – Mayor? Good Samaritan? – but that cheered us up AND he told us it wouldn’t rain again AND he thought the wind was turning to be more in our favour.

As it turned out the shoulder had been swept and it didn’t rain so spirits were lifted. The wind stayed where it was but we did get a couple of decent sections with a tailwind at least.

By the time we arrived in Mankato the temperature had risen to around 30C/86F and the sun was shining. The other noticeable change over the day was the increase in humidity probably due to a combination of the evaporation of rain from the storm and the lower altitude as we are now at only 780 feet above sea level, probably the lowest we have been since we left Astoria in Oregon 30 days ago.

At tonight’s briefing for tomorrow’s ride we had a nice surprise – the route has been changed and we have another 100 mile ride. Back to back century rides! A first for me – Rochester here we come.