This morning's ride began and came to an abrupt and unexpected halt. No more than one mile from downtown Red Wing, I downshifted and heard a loud pop followed by my pedals ceasing up. Upon quick examination, it was apparent that my derailleur was caught up in my cassette (gears adjacent to the rear wheel). I stopped, hoping to figure out what had occurred. The derailleur hanger (the point of attachment for the derailleur to the bicycle) had snapped in half! What this meant riding-wise was that I could not go any further, because when the derailleur was caught in the cassette, the derailleur had become bent which prohibited the chain from moving (making pedaling impossible).
Two phone calls and one cab ride later, I was at a bicycle shop in downtown Red Wing. I was in luck that the shop owner carried the same brand of bicycles as my bike. The shop owner explained that finding a compatible derailleur hanger could be a challenge, as Trek had changed the styles of derailleur hangers over time. Presently, this posed a problem with my bicycle from 2013. None of the bicycles on the showroom floor had a compatible hanger, and unfortunately the part alone was not in stock at his store. At this point, I was beginning to wonder what I could do for making the ride today work; in my mind, not riding was not an option. While pondering this, the shop owner cleverly thought that a compatible derailleur hanger could be on his wife's bicycle. Sure enough, the derailleur hanger from his wife's bicycle was a match! At the potential displeasure of his wife, he installed the derailleur hanger from his wife's bicycle onto my bicycle. While conveying my gratitude and shame for inconveniencing his wife's bike, he said it was not a big deal and wished that his wife would get a newer bicycle!
Fortunately, this was only a 1 hour setback, and we were back on the road to Winona. For the first 20 miles, or so, we followed US-61/US-63 southward along the course of the Mississippi River. The shoulder was generously wide, and the river was plainly visible once the highway followed the river more closely. A mostly sunny day with combined a mild temperature in the mid to high 70's made today's ride especially enjoyable. Decent amounts of shade were frequent as well. I stopped at Lake City to take in the river as well as some food. While mosquitoes were nowhere to be found, mayflies blanketed the park along the Mississippi, making this stop somewhat shorter than desired.
Once on the road again, around noon, my stomach reminded me that riding on without food would likely end up being a poor choice. With this, I stopped at a Dairy Queen and had: a small Butterfinger blizzard, an order of fries, and an order of cheese curds. Eating this indiscriminately would surely end after this trip! After lunch, we rode southward along US-61 until we were about 5 miles outside of Winona. From here, we once again rode along the well-designated MRT. Once in Winona, a stop at a local brewery seemed appropriate followed by dinner at a neighboring restaurant. From what it appeared, the bridge crossing from downtown Winona was in the midst of a sizable construction project (some signs indicating that the project would be complete some month in 2019).
After dinner, we opted to spend a night in a local hotel as rain was visible to the north and was in the forecast for later this evening. Having a good night's rest would be necessary, as tomorrow's ride was going to be well over 100 miles in length.
