Kinesthetic Sense Saves Cyclist's Life

August 29, 2023

Sakatah Lake State Park

The lights of nature didn't go out until about 9:30 last night, but the lights behind my eyelids were out by about 8:30. I laid down on the picnic table for relaxation purposes only, but promptly fell asleep. I'm not sure what time it was when I transferred my body from the table to my tent.

It was a nice, warm night. The campground was completely quiet except for the kinds of noises one hopes to hear in The Church of the Great Outdoors: Owls, crickets, cicadas, and about thirty seconds of frenzied coyote howling.

I never heard a peep from Jesse Ventura's site over there.

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I woke up before any of the sleepy heads in the campground, including Jesse and his family. I know that because I walked around the entire loop. I counted eight RVs and two tents in a campground with something like 80 sites. I guarantee, every one of the sites will be filled this weekend.

Which reminds me--I didn't exactly come up with perfect timing for this winging-it tour. Right in the middle of it is the three-day Labor Day Weekend, which is the last weekend of family camping before school starts. Campsites may be hard to come by--even in Minnesota's least popular bike touring sector. I guess I'll have to deal with that when the time comes.

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After scouting the campground and recording my findings, I took a hike on one of the Nerstrand Big Woods State Park's trails. I assume it was one of the most popular trails judging by how wide and overly well-groomed it was. Plus, it leads to a waterfall. Everybody loves a waterfall. I know I do.

I admit to being a little disappointed in the volume of water running over Hidden Falls. The creek was darn near dry.

Our hero risks getting swept downstream just to get a picture of himself beneath the falls.

The trail was a loop. Here is a picture from the route away from Hidden Falls.

That sunrise wasn't the actual sunrise. The actual sunrise happened almost an hour ago. The sunrise in the video was just the sun rising over the hill. Nevertheless, it came at the right time to surprise the heck out of me while filming. I think it narrowly beat out Hidden Falls as the highlight of my hike.

(I apologize for the sound quality in the above video. I don't know why my narration was breaking up. The only thing you might have missed, though, was me saying, "view-blocker . . . view-blocker . . . view-blocker . . . ")

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I know the previous section of this page was all about hiking. Let's get back to the important stuff: Breakfast and Cycling.

I'm one of those rebellious kids who, from an early age, always ignored the wisdom of my mom, both of my grandmothers, and every health and dietary expert in the world. "A nutritious breakfast is essential for good grades/a productive workday/successful bike touring," they say.

I generally argue that I DO eat breakfast. Coffee is my breakfast.

But once in a while I will stray from my stubbornness by indulging in a greasy morning meal of bacon and eggs. Other times, I like a sweet breakfast treat, and I'm not talking about donuts or danishes or jellyrolls or fancy pastries. I'm talking about pre-packaged, heavily sweetened cereals.

It's been said that "you are what you eat." If that's true, I'm MAGICALLY DELICIOUS."

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By 10:00, I was finally back on my bike. Outside of the state park, I opted for a few miles of gravel roads. You know, just for fun. And fun they were, except for that one time when a big utility truck went by, and its wake of gravelly dust befouled my eyes, nose and mouth.

Some of the gravel was disturbingly loose and I almost crashed on a fast downhill curve. ALMOST!

When I was in high school, my wrestling coach told me I had excellent kinesthetic sense.

"What does that mean," I remember asking.

"Look it up," I remember him replying.

Luckily, I knew how to use a dictionary, and now I know that it means he thought I had a good knowledge of my muscles and joints and balance, and what my body can and can't do.

I believe, all these years later, that my "excellent kinesthetic sense" allowed me to keep upright while barreling through the loose gravel, coast out of danger by feathering the brakes, and come to a stop at the edge of a pretty steep roadside ditch.

Enough bragging! I admit, I was pretty happy when I returned to pavement a mile or so later.

The hills continued after I reached the paved road.

I descended into the city of Faribault and took a photo of its downtown.

I used the wi-fi in Faribault's public library to enter my post about yesterday's ride. Then I moved on to the REAL southwest Minnesota.

According to my geographical senses, Interstate-35 is the dividing line between eastern MN and western MN. By riding under this bridge, I'm about to enter no-man's land.

For some reason, I was looking forward to riding the Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail. Normally, I don't care about rail trails, but the very name gave me visions of pretty hills that sing. I like hills to a certain degree, and I definitely like singing.

I complain about view-blockers a lot, but in this case, they serve a useful purpose. They block out the busy 4-lane Highway 60 which is only 20 yards to the left.

Cannon Lake--the Mediterranean Sea of Rice County, Minnesota.

GREG, DON'T EAT THAT! It's a cattail, not a corndog!

Grasshoppers plagued the trail almost all afternoon.

The trail took me all the way to Sakatah Lake State Park. It was a very nice place to camp. Well, very nice after I slathered DEET all over my body.

Then I set up my tent and started writing in my notebook about my day. Hopefully, I'll be in a place to catch up on the journal tomorrow.

I don't know for sure, but this looks like it could be my site's designated toilet.

Today's route. (I forgot to post yesterday's map, so I'm going to go back and do that right now--in case you're interested.)

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Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 71 miles (114 km)

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Bill StoneNice waterfall, Greg! For a moment, I thought you must be in Iceland!

Just kidding.

Take it easy this weekend. Likely to be plenty of bozos driving oversize motorized vehicles at high speeds, probably under the influence of beverages, and not paying much attention to bicyclists.
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8 months ago

Rich HarrellUhhh . . . . are those leaves of 3 at your designated place???

Maybe not :)
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8 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Bill StoneIceland, Nerstrand Woods . . . same thing.
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8 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Rich HarrellConsidering all the places I've bushwhacked, I think I might be one of the 40% of the population who is immune to poison ivy. My brother, on the other hand, once fell into a batch of them and was squirting liquid from blisters within a few hours.
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8 months ago