Seg #26 Last Minnesota Segment with Chris

Seg #26: Douglas State Trail Pine Island to Rochester, MN 8/4-5/13

Start	Pine Island, MN	44.21077-92.64617	NS miles 18
End	Rochester, MN	43.95277,92.45817	Trllgth 23.9 Ride 27.8

Ride Hr2.5

AVS 9.5

MXS 22.5

DST ~27.8

Temp 81

Kcal 2898

The Douglas State Trail is apparently is named for the same Douglas person that the town associated with trail is named.  The trail occupies the railbed of the former Chicago Great Western Railway corridor between the cities of Rochester and Pine Island. The asphalt trail passes through some of the riches farmland in Minnesota.

We found the trailhead at the north end of Pine Island about five o’clock. We figured we could make pretty good time with the hard trail under the tires. Chris rode with me to the halfway point and turned around to get the car. There were several heavily treed areas that gave great shade and a wind break. I was surprised that I only averaged 9.5 mph. When I could not locate Chris in north Rochester, I decided to ride on to the Mayo Clinic as that would be a good meeting point. The clinic is a monstrosity with a silvery façade and a clean, tidy image. The appearance alone screams “first class” as my former Nebraska College of Dentistry colleague Sere Koka described it. Sere now works in oncology at the clinic, quite a change from dentistry and the specialty of prosthodontics. It was nice relax in the sculpture garden with the bonze likeness’s of papa W.W. Mayo and his two sons Dr. Will and Dr. Charlie who are credited with founding the first and largest integrated not-for-profit medical group practice in the world, employing more than 3,800 physicians and 50,900 allied health staff. Unfortunately I was so mesmerized by the clinic, that I “spaced-off” the fact that I needed to ride five more miles south to overlap segment #20 (The Great River Trail in Wisconsin). I hope I can make up this gap without having to ride south of Rochester.