AAN Day 30 - Worthington to Mankato, MN

Daily Statistics:
Mileage: 101.3 miles Average Speed: 17.2 mph
Vertical: 1430 feet Depart: 6:08 AM Arrive: 12:41 PM
Calories: 7043

Link to Garmin ROUTE DATA

Today was a pretty easy day on the road overall. We got a nice early start to overcast skies. This helped keep the temperature down, without having the rain we had yesterday. The picture below gives you an idea of how it looked about 10 miles out of Worthington.

I started out riding on my own, and stayed that way through the 2nd SAG. After the 1st SAG, we left Minnesota 60 for a series of county farm roads. They were all in very good shape, and made for great riding. There was very little traffic. The scope of the farms here is amazing. The corn and soybean fields seem to go on forever. Hopefully, this next shot gives you an idea of how big the fields are.
The 2nd SAG was in the town of Madelia, and one of the buildings there had this nice mural commemorating the end of the James gang, with the capture of the Younger brothers, on Sep 21, 1876. I seem to have cut off the very right side, which had the Younger with their guns as well. Apparently, this was 8 miles from Madelia.

About midway to the 3rd SAG, the speedy group caught me, and I jumped on for 10 miles or so. This brought my speed up to 22 mph or so while I was with them. Unfortunately, about 2 miles from the 3rd SAG, Mark from Toronto, who was in back, caught a rock and went head over heels over the handlebars at about 24 mph. He was a little scraped up, but not too bad. His bike seat is a little warped, and will probably have to be replaced. He was able to ride in to the hotel, so nothing too bad. It did shake everybody up, though. I have had a couple of those myself, so I know how he feels. He will probably be a little sore in the morning.
After that, we all proceeded into Mankato. The hotel is right down town for a change, so it should be a good stop.