This week’s topical heat will give way to nice, cool weather Saturday morning. It will be 63 to 73 degrees, with partly cloudy skies, and a NNE wind at about 7 mph. If you’ve been over training, like many of us do, this is a good week to stay off the bike to rebuild mentally and physically.

Saturday’s ride will be from Rosemount to Grey Cloud Island counterclockwise, starting at 8:00. Our route crosses the Mississippi River twice, and each crossing is followed by about 350 feet of climbing. We’ll stop about 20 miles out, at the beach near Prescott, where you can get more water, and later in the ride if needed. Bring plenty of food, because our stops won’t offer anything for purchase.

Saturday, we will return to Grey Cloud Island, but in the opposite direction from last Sunday. This 60-mile loop has little traffic on good roads and trails, but no bakery stop so bring enough food and drinks. I’ve made a small change to the route to remove parts of St Croix Trail and 110th Street, both of which don’t have a shoulder and may have some traffic. The weather should be very good with partly cloudy skies, temps from 67 to 73 degrees, and winds from the north at 9 mph.

Update Sunday 06:02: Let's ride today leaving Starbucks at 9:00. We'll do our Grey Cloud Island loop clockwise.

Update Saturday 06:42: No ride today. There’s a line of rain coming that should be here in Bloomington around 08:00 and more behind that. We are on the southern edge of the rain, but it looks like it will reach as far south as Northfield. If it looks like we can ride Sunday without getting wet, I’ll update this post about the same time Sunday.

Saturday is looking mostly dry in the morning, and the afternoon and Sunday look worse, so we'll see what evolves. We may have a very rare rain-out weekend. For now, let's plan to ride at 08:00 Saturday. If it's raining lightly, and looking to clear quickly, we may be able to postpone the start an hour and get a ride in before the afternoon showers start. Throughout the morning, the wind should shift from the south to west and then from north, so I think our shorter Bloomington route clockwise may be a good one for Saturday. There are several options for us to shorten or lengthen the route, depending on the weather.