Saturday’s ride will be an extraordinary one that we try to do once a season. The plan is to leave Starbucks at 8:00 and ride to Red Wing and back. This 81-mile route will take us about 4.5 to 5 hours, plus stops, so I’m expecting to finish around 14:00. I’m planning for three stops in Hastings, Red Wing, and Vermillion. (If you have a Garmin x40 head unit, the group ride code is VV7FS8.)

The route’s clockwise loop starts off similar to last week’s and heading east to Hastings, we’ll take a quick nature break at Lock and Dam #2, then continue east to Red Wing. In Red Wing, I suggest a couple of options for fueling up, and I plan to stop at both Hanisch Bakery and Coffee Shop and QuikTrip; both are along our route. We’ll head back to Rosemount together and stop at my parent’s farm where they’ll be waiting with water and fresh baked cookies for everyone.

This is a longer ride than normal, so you’ll need to fuel up during the ride. Please bring two large water bottles and at least 200 grams of carbs, so you don’t run out of fuel. The weather during our ride should be nice with intervals of clouds and sunshine, with temps from 68°F to 82°F, and SE winds at 5 to 9 mph.

If you missed the last stage of this year’s Tour de France Femmes, you need to watch the thrilling finale. Also, congratulations to USA's men's ITT champion, Brandon McNulty, who kicked off this year’s La Velta with a win at the grand tour’s first-stage ITT.