My initial plan for the last day of my St. Peters to Minneapolis bike tour was pretty boring: ride west from Hastings, north past the Minneapolis Zoo (hopefully with time for a short stop), north through suburbia to the bike trails along the Mississippi River, and then finish at the Stone Arch Bridge. I was […]
Bicycle Tour from St. Peters, MO to Minneapolis, MN
Here are a few of the best photos that I took on my bicycle tour from St. Peters, MO to Minneapolis, MN. Scroll down to see all of the blog posts.
If you just want to read one post, jump over to I Did It! St. Peters to Minneapolis by Bicycle
You can see larger versions of those photos in my St. Peters to Minneapolis 2023 photo gallery.
SP2M Day 13 – Fountain Lake, WI to Lake City, MN
Day 13 started with a flat-ish tire. My patched tube apparently had a slow leak. Fortunately it went down overnight so I got to fix it sitting indoors in my hotel room instead of by the side of the road. I trashed the patched tube and installed my spare rather than continue to mess around […]
SP2M Day 12 – La Crosse, WI to Fountain Lake, WI
Rest Day in La Crosse I spent a day in La Crosse to sleep, do laundry, blog, and (burp) eat too much. Again. But honestly, just because I had already eaten pizza for lunch, how could I possibly pass by a second lunch on the patio at the La Crosse Distilling Co? The glass contains […]
SP2M Day 11 – Prairie du Chien, WI to La Crosse, WI
This was going to be my longest day so I got up and out quicker than usual. I was fed, packed, and pedaling before 8:00am. The good news was that I had half as much gear to shlep so getting going was quicker. Compare this rig to what I had when I left home in […]
SP2M Day 10 – Cassville, WI to Prairie du Chien, WI
I had had one continual problem over the last several days: black flies a/k/a buffalo gnats. I had blithely cycled into black fly season and it was a particularly bad one this year. As long as I was riding and moving eight or nine miles per hour, I was free of the nasties. But any […]
SP2M Day 9 – Galena, IL to Cassville, WI
Fun though it was to laze about Galena, eat too much, and shop more than I oughta, I could hear the Stone Arch Bridge calling me and there were hills to be conquered. I set my sites on Cassville, WI, 44 miles and 2,800 feet of climbing away. It was going to be my climbing-est […]
SP2M – Visiting Galena, IL
I woke up on Friday morning feeling great and mostly recovered from the previous day’s hills and the previous evening’s Caesar salad, pizza, beer, and chocolate (in that order, of course, because the rules of fine dining just cannot be broken). I had a lazy morning waiting for my cousin, Melanie, to drive down to […]
SP2M Day 8 – Fulton, IL to Galena, IL
I left Fulton bright and early because I knew that it was going to be a hard day. I needed to cover 49 miles, one of my longest of the trip, and I also had to climb 1,880 feet. Pretty much all of the climbing was packed into the last 15 miles. First stop was […]
SP2M Day 7 – Moline, IL to Fulton, IL
Day seven dawned with more beautiful weather. I briefly considered delaying my departure from Moline so that I could ride over to the Rock Island Arsenal to see the atomic canon. I lost so much time on the previous day’s flat tire that I had not gotten to see it. Grown up responsibility kicked in, […]
I Did It! St. Peters to Minneapolis by Bicycle
With a gentle right turn onto the Stone Arch Bridge this afternoon, I completed my bicycle tour from St. Peters, MO to Minneapolis, MN. It has been quite the adventure. I pedaled for 15 days and took rest days in Nauvoo, IL; Galena, IL; and La Crosse, WI. I saw the Mississippi River from both […]
SP2M Day 6 – Muscatine, IA to Moline, IL
After two days of cold, grey skies and headwinds, I was singing out loud as I headed northeast out of Muscatine to mostly sunny skies and calm winds. Nothing could possibly go wrong on a day as perfect as this. Temps were cool as I left the hotel but forecast to warm up promptly. I […]
SP2M Days 4 & 5 – Nauvoo, IL to Oquawka, IL to Muscatine, IA
Day 4 – Nauvoo to Oquawka Fun though Nauvoo was, I had to leave and head north or I would never find either Minneapolis or a third restaurant. The day started cold, grey, and windy. Mother nature decided that three days of tailwinds was more than enough (thank you very much) and it was time […]
SP2M – Visiting Nauvoo, IL
I spent a rest day in Nauvoo, IL. I had hoped to learn some about Mormonism and about history. There seem to be at least two parts of the town, Historic Nauvoo and the actual modern city. I think that Historic Nauvoo would be a magical place to visit, if you are a Mormon. There […]
SP2M Day 3 – Quincy, IL to Nauvoo, IL
Imagine traveling north on one road for three hours and not passing through a single town. Sounds like something from the lightly populated ranchland of the West or some foreign country, right? I just did that in western Illinois, riding north out of Quincy to Warsaw. Intellectually, I knew that there were no services in […]
SP2M Days 1 & 2 – St. Peters, MO to Louisiana, MO to Quincy, IL
I am writing this in Quincy, IL, 114 miles into my bike tour from St. Peters, MO to Minneapolis, MN. So far, the trip has been almost all smiles. The roads have been smooth (except where they weren’t) and level (except for the hills). The drivers have been amazingly courteous, compared to the folks back […]
Revised Route – Skipping Madison
I have revised my bike tour route, following the Mississippi River Trail (MRT) all the way to Rosemont, MN and skipping Madison, WI. I had been planning to swing northeast from Galena, IL and visit my cousin in Madison. From there, I wanted to visit Devil’s Lake State Park and then follow some gorgeous bike […]
Last Bits of Preparation for My Bike Tour
I am into the last few bits of preparation for my bike tour from St. Peters, MO to Minneapolis, MN. I took a long WINDY ride today, with breaks similar to what I plan while on tour. First was a 21 mile ride to Clayton for lunch with friends. Then an 11 mile ride to […]
Planning a Bike Tour from St. Peters to Minneapolis
Just over a year ago, I bought my Masi Giramondo touring bicycle. I have clocked over 2200 miles on it, mostly doing errands around town and using it for local transportation when I am going somewhere alone. I did manage a couple of short trips last year including an overnight to Robertsville State Park (temperatures […]
