Last fall, Minneapolis bike community fixtures Randall Dietel and Natalia Mendez set out from their home in the city with a plan to bike 400+ miles through Minnesota and Wisconsin to a finish line in Green Bay.
Dietel, a former bike courier and winner of many local alleycat races, rode a Surly Troll bike loaded with panniers and gear for the road. Mendez, also on a Troll, had a hamburger-shape bell and cue cards on her handlebars to reveal preplanned turns in the route.
Over six days they rolled country highways, rails-to-trails bike paths, slept on the ground in farm fields, and generally lived the wonderful nomadic existence of a bike tour.
Here are a few of Dietel’s photos from the trip. Makes us want to jump on a bike and hit the road right now! —Stephen Regenold
