Best Bike Path Ever

I was unable to ride yesterday due to some delicate issues "south of the border", so to speak.   This was a fact bordering on tragedy, as yesterday was pretty much a perfect day for a ride.   Oh well.

Tonight, the Ladies' Ride set out on the new Highway 14 segment between Owatonna and Waseca, otherwise known as the best bike path ever.   It is a newly paved, unopened road.  No cars, no potholes, just nice even concrete for 13 miles.   There was a dog though...we'll let that slide.  Now, most (all?) of the others had already had the pleasure of riding this road, but I have always been out of town, so this was new to me.   Let me tell you, it lived up to the hype.

First off, we had just a bit of a tail wind on the way to Waseca, meaning that we were cruising at a 18-19 mph average without even trying.   However, even once we had turned into the wind, the road was so smooth that we were still going at a pretty good clip back.   I elected to not ride in the pace line for most of the ride, just because I wanted a little more workout.  Well that and I'm pretty bad at riding in a pace line.   Still, I did fade to the back towards the last half of the return trip to avoid upsetting my back by hammering out the miles.   

Verdict?  Fantastic ride, and it's a shame they are going to give the road to the cars.   

Workout:  30.7 miles / 16.3 mph average