The TNR that was not to be.

With the weather for TNR looking almost perfect we set the bar high and put it out there we would attempt to go to Little Falls and back.  This would be about 80 miles, which doesn't give much time for messing around since we leave at 5:30.  But the route is super flat and there was little to no wind, plus we had some strong riders show up.
Around mid day storm cells starting popping up on the radar.  What?!!  Where are my clear skies I was promised?!  It looked like we may get wet, but it also appeared we would potentially miss the two cells if we planned it right.
Not to be...
We had our first flat before we even left.  Two miles in we had another flat.  A mile later yet another!  Nothing was said but we knew we would be pressing it to make it to Little Falls now.  As we finally cleared the chaos of town we found our groove and were flying.  We averaged 27 mph on the river road.  I kept looking to the west, northwest at the darkening skies.  It still appeared to have a clearing to the North.  Sprinkles started to come, the dark clouds rolled in fast, and then the rain.  It was decided we would be riding right into the storm so we headed west and abandoned our Little Falls attempt.

We ended up doing the rollers out by Holdingford, Tower Hill, Ol Shep, Schuman Lake Road, Fruit Farm, Seven Wonders, and home.  So instead of flat route we found a hilly route!  We rode into the sun and had great weather the rest of the night.  Turns out we made the right call to head west as just north of us was gold ball size hail.
3 hours 11 minutes, 71 miles, 22.3 mph average.  Another great TNR.

The rest of the week will be pretty low key for riding.  I'm racing up in Grand Marais, La Grand du Nord, on Saturday.  The past two weeks have been pretty big riding weeks for me and my legs are feeling it.  Maybe not the smartest move but damn am I loving riding right now!