Five Ways In Which This Mini-Tour Will Be Different From The Others

1. Inner-city Madness:  Who the heck conducts an entire mini-tour in a major metropolitan area?  Especially when the dude conducting the tour has previously made the outrageous claim that he is some sort of high priest of a religion he invented--The Church of the Great Outdoors.  I'm that dude, and it's true that I DO proclaim the wonders of wide open spaces, of sun and sky, of mountains and deserts, of farmlands and prairies, of rivers and lakes.  But it shouldn't be a surprise to anybody who has read my previous journals that I also like riding in large cities.  In my opinion, the bike touring species was not created for wilderness, small towns, and rural roads alone.
2. About the Bike:  I'll be riding my third different bike in three mini-tours.  That would be my skinny-tired roadie bike.  According to my calculations, it's seventeen years old and has carried me more miles than a guy who has never had a bike computer can estimate.  It's fast, but not as fast as it used to be, mainly because my legs aren't as fast as they used to be. 

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marilyn swettHow about "Ted"?
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3.  An Homage to Minnesota Art:  I always pay tribute to the art in our natural world:  The way a deer prances across the highway.  The way a cloud might resemble Jesus smoking a pipe.  The way a strong wind conspires with a pile of dirt to disrupt one of my cartwheels.  The way a mountain rises above a forest of view-blockers.  The way cicadas scream in the trees.  But there is also art that has been created by man.  Too often, I neglect that stuff.  Not this time.  I intend to focus on Minnesota art and artists.  Get ready for that.

4.  A Huge Weight Off My Mind . . . and My Bike and My Legs and My Lungs:  I'm going to be a minimalist for this mini-tour.  Not just a mini-minimalist, but a hard-core, pare-everything-down-to-the-bare-necessities, MAXI-minimalist.  I'm so excited about this topic that I'm thinking about elaborating on it on a separate page.

5.  In Order to Pull Off the First Four Items of Differentness, I Will Be Forced to Engage in One More Different Activity:  The first two mini-tours required not much more than loading the usual stuff on my bike and heading in a pre-determined direction.  This time, I will actually have to do some planning.  Planning the best inner-city bike routes.  Planning to reduce the size and weight of my touring load to the bare minimum.  Planning for issues involved in riding a pretty old bike with a lot of miles.  (I just replaced a very old tire that was worn down to the last of its rubber.)  Planning the best way to include as many works of art and artist's landmarks as possible in such a limited time.  Planning that involves hotel reservations.  CRAZY!