Relative Something

My assessment at the end of our bike ride on the hills around Wintervale is displayed visibly in this image captured by Beth Bertelson:

It rained much of Friday night but we woke up to a pause in the precipitation and the ground was only a little damp outside. However, radar evidence indicated another batch of potentially heavier rain moving in our direction at a rate that would put it over us right when we wanted to head out.

Undaunted, the group of my friends who ventured the roughly hour-long drive to our place were going through the preparations to ride without hesitation.

As the minutes closed, I sensed the trend of movement on that next mass of wet weather was going to slide just south of our location. Instead, we ended up getting a dose of ground fog that faded the beauty of the fall colors and obscured the distance view of the horizon at the high spot that usually offers the best vista.

Soon after descending the invigorating glide down from that potential view, the fog dissipated and the dryer air hinted we were going to be granted perfect conditions for our time on the road.

One highlight of having my cycling friends join me on these roads was the combination of ride buddies from two different worlds. There were people I met on the annual June rides now known as the Tour of Minnesota and two riders I grew up knowing in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Paul and I have known each other since grade school and shared a number of epic biking adventures over the years. That shot is taken at Vino in the Valley restaurant near the Rush River. You can see in the background we were blessed with periods of blue sky at the midpoint of our route.

After a pause on a bridge by a limestone cliff, we started the long, slow climb up the steep hill that marks the transition between the two worlds of lush valley and wide open farm fields.

We made it back to Wintervale in perfect time and celebrated our accomplishment with a delicious lunch feast. The laughter and riding afterglow was precisely what I was longing for and very reminiscent of the week-long Tour of Minnesota we have every June.

Cyndie and I added a few tours of our forest, the labyrinth, visits to the horses and interactions with Asher to top off a perfect adventure that fit surprisingly well between bouts of inclement weather.

We needed the rain and I really wanted to ride with friends. I am very lucky that I was able to have both. Overnight last night we received 1.25 inches of rain. Ahhh. Perfect timing.

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