TRAM 2003, Day 3 mostly

Day 3 was Redwood Falls to Hutchinson.  Long downhill and across the river, then two difficult climbs, a flat stretch heading east then turning north for a long mostly straight run to Hutchinson.  I remember on that northern leg riding up behind the two guys who had built their own tandem, welding together frames in a configuration that had one of them facing forward and one facing to the rear.  I rode behind them for a while and had a pleasant chat with the guy facing to the rear.

This is one of the early rest stops, if I recall correctly this was still on the road while we were heading east.

I base my conclusion on the sun angle evident by the shadows and by the fact that Santini is still wearing a vest and the Bianchi Babe still has on long sleeves.  Closed circuit to BB, velcro closure shoes?  I don't remember those.

That was the farm where I had a chat with the farmer and he said that to have sufficient volume to survive in the then current farm economy he needed to farm about 16 quarters.  Four sections, more than 2,500 acres.  That is a daunting task without a LOT of really large machinery.  That's his machinery "shed" visible in the background of the photo.  He had a lot of really large machinery.

Here's Andy standing in line at the mobile repair stop.  I think he had a flat tire and had ridden the last couple of miles to the rest stop with it flat.  That's hard riding.

Here the riders are gathered at the half banana/quarter peanut butter sandwich distribution point.  Andy has resolved whatever his maintenance issues were and BB and Santini are pointing to Lynne's name on the list of riders of TRAM 2002 who raised at least $1,000.

Still the same rest stop but it must be getting warm, BB has taken off her long sleeved top layer.

By the way, I am pretty sure Bob took that photo and in fact, I think Bob may be visible in the straw hat in picture 1.

This one was taken at the finish at the city park in Hutchinson.

Mark didn't ride his bicycle that year but he did get on his motorcycle to come out to visit the Day 3 finish.  I forget, doesn't he ride a Harley?  Just kidding, I know better.

And a little earlier in the day, the last rest stop if I recall correctly, the GRider and an old shed. 

I think we talked to Allison on the road just before we got to that spot.

That's what I have from Day 3.  Day 4 was, of course, the day of inhumane wind and the bitches who stole someone's men on the downhill to Saint Peter and our lodgings at Gustavus.  Staff was waiting for us in the shadow provided by that high rise dormitory on the north end of the campus.  If I recall correctly we did not even go to the official end of the route that day, we just went ahead and rode to the place where we would be staying on campus.

The wind was horrible, you can see it in the posture both of myself and the guy trying to and not succeeding in keeping up with us.  This photo was taken on the eastward leg to the next to last rest stop, dead into the wind. 

We joined forces at that rest stop and rode the rest of the way gruppo compacto, Andy and I sharing the lead cutting into the wind with BB and Santini following and a small flock of women we did not know bringing up the rear.  They asked if they could ride in our wind shadow and we agreed but somewhere towards the end something unexpected happened.

Someone else tell that story.  I was on the front at the time, I didn't see or hear a thing, I only know the story from those who were affected and are therefore qualified to provide the details.

A side note about the last photo is I obviously didn't take that picture.  I downloaded it from the official TRAM website sometime after the ride that year.  TRAM had an official photographer on the road to provide interesting shots and I guess this time we were it.  But the tag on the photo indicates that it was taken from the TRAM Day 3 gallery.  I know from the date stamps on the other photos posted today that they were taken on Day 3.  If you look at what I am wearing in this photo and what I am wearing on photos known to have been taken on Day 3 it should be obvious that this photo is Day 4.