The home stretch, with lots of stretches

I've been riding most days in July, other than when I was in Wisconsin earlier this month with my Aunt Marianna from Kentucky to visit Beth, my stepmom, and my brother and his family. As always, it was a treat to take my dog to the nearby Sniffspot (private dog parks you can rent out).

Haley wasn't too impressed with the horses, but the chickens...

Beth bought Haley a new toy and
I hilariously got a photo featuring her tongue.

I rode pretty regularly in June, too, and I'm pretty happy with the frequency of rides I've been doing, even if they haven't been super long. 

The pinch flat I got riding over a pothole.
Thankfully it was very close to home so I could just walk home
and fix the flat at my house rather than on the side of
the road on a hot day.

Nevertheless, my back, hip, and neck led me to go for two massages this month, which makes me wonder why I'm so hesitant to go do something like that before things get super annoying. If I'm going to end up spending the money when I'm in pain, why not do it sooner to try to prevent the pain? Anyhow, I went to two totally different places and they each were good in their own way, so I'll go back to each person again (and I scheduled one appointment for shortly after I get back home after the TRAM).

This weekend, I rode 45 miles each day. The wildfire smoke subsided enough to make that a possibility and the heat index was around 90 each day (an improvement from earlier this month). I realized that I think my best strategy for the TRAM is to go a little slower and in a little lighter gear. It will take me longer, but will be more pleasant. This was my M.O. for the rides this weekend and overall they were pretty comfortable in real time.

The dog loves the heat, until all of a sudden she doesn't.

Until it recently got really hot, I'd been riding
with these very, very attractive compression
socks that oddly match my sandals. 

The other day, I re-rewired the headphones
in my helmet. The other headphones I'd
recently used as replacements were too
protective of the ears and didn't play my music
loud enough. These work great.

Yesterday, I rode to Como Lake and Lake Phalen, along Battle Creek, and along the Mississippi. I lost my rear light along the way at some point, unfortunately so had to get a new one. 

Today, I rode along the Minnesota River at various points. 

MN River Valley

MN River - it looked prettier in real
life, although it definitely is a brown river -
very silty

I'm so lucky to live by both these big rivers, and so many lakes and creeks. And I'm also lucky to have really good biking routes along them all, too. 

So a week from now, I'll hopefully be peacefully asleep in my tent on the grounds of "the public school" in Menahga, Minnesota. It isn't clear to me whether there's one K-12 school or if it is just an elementary school or what, but that's where we will park, camp, and then take off for our 5-day ride. I learned from Wikipedia that the booming town of Menahga (1340 residents in 2020) was platted in 1891 and named for the Ojibwe word miinikaa meaning "there are [many] blueberries."

I was looking for restaurants for dinner and the options are Subway and a couple of gas stations. It's that kind of town! I'm curious, though, to find the Blueberry River. And maybe some actual blueberries?

Until I go, I'll be doing some shorter rides around town, running my packing errands, and getting some chores done. And working, trying to get things squared away before skipping town... 

Thanks for your support everyone! Wish me luck! 

https://events.nationalmssociety.org/participants/Go-Maggie-Go

http://maggiemsbiking.blogspot.com