COWS Wrangler Ride on the Root River Trail

Lanesboro to Harmony: 46.05 miles
Comments: Ride Time was 3 hours 20 minutes, average speed: 13.7

A small group of 7 tandem teams rallied up for a COWS Wrangler Ride in Minnesota. Dennis and I were impressed that the teams were willing to travel an average of 3 hours to join us today as we biked the Root River & Harmony Preston Trails. Of the 7 teams, only 2 were on upright tandems with the rest riding recumbents. We teased that this should have been advertised as a recumbent rally.



The group set off down the trail at 10:15 a.m. with cloudy skies above and a chill in the air. We took our first break 10 miles into our ride in Preston where we gathered the teams together for a group photo. We noticed a young couple watching our group as we neared the trail parking area and stopped to ask them if they would help us out by taking a few pictures of our group. They were kind enough to accept. We then chatted a bit with them and answered all their questions about the wacky world of tandeming.



Our next stop was in Harmony. We all made it up the steep hills found on this segment of the trail and put on another 12.5 miles since Preston for a total of 22.5 miles to this point. The group was ready to eat so we all headed off to find lunch at the Village Square. While waiting for lunch to be served, John and Joan shared with us their near head-on collision with two other bike riders—a narrow miss just minutes before reaching Harmony. That can really be nerve wracking but we were all relieved to hear that John’s quick reaction avoided the crash. After filling our stomachs and sampling Julie’s famous pie, we biked back the way we came to our vehicles awaiting us in Lanesboro. We ended this Wrangler Ride with a total of 45 miles of biking for the day. The weather was decent with some drizzle towards the end of our ride but not enough to dampen our enjoyment for the day’s ride.



The biking may be done for the day but the party continues. All teams were invited to the Veerkamp farm north of Lanesboro for a grilled meal before heading home. Boy could this group eat! Must be all that biking. We went through a dozen hamburgers and 15 brats. We also served veggie salads, strawberries and cookies. The light rain kept us corralled in the garage but we still all managed to have a great time. Plans were made for more Wrangler Rides this summer and we are excited to get a chance to bike with the COWS again soon. July will be the next Wrangler Ride near Waupaca, WI hosted by Joan and John Laabs followed by another in northern Wisconsin in August to be hosted by Tom and Annette Esser.



RRT Wrangler Ride Attendees: Joan & John Laabs, Michelle & Alan Andersen, Shirley & Jim Hamm, Tom & Annette Esser, Pete & Theresa Ives, Margery & Tom Rice

Thanks to all for making this a very special riding day for Dennis and I.