I rolled into the Depot Coffeehouse in Hopkins, MN right before the rain hit on May 10th. I shoved my bike under the small awning and worked on tying up loose ends. I will admit. I was disheartened. I thought I was going on a solo trip that day after spending so much time and energy planning what I had hoped to be an amazing day of riding and then camping with a huge group of women and male stokers.
I stood outside and greeted the sag wagon driver Matt Vanderson and the rest of the Surly team guides. The rain kept spitting and stopping as we moved the sign up inside to stay dry and warm up. Things were not looking good.
Until they came.
As the clock ticked closer to roll time of 1:00PM, riders continued to roll in! One of the riders told me the cashier at the Depot wanted to talk to me. She brought out 3 huge trays of awesome baked goods provided by Phil Velo for our riders. It was amazing. THANK YOU PHIL! Everyone who arrived was excited to ride. There were no bad attitudes or complaining. When the time arrived to roll out we had 42 riders on the road to Waconia.
The official midpoint was Excelsior Brewing. We all rolled in and lined up for beer. They were ready and waiting for us. I can't thank them enough for stepping up by agreeing to be open on that Sunday, offering a free brew for each rider and then donating a growler package to the prize table.
At Excelsior the guides talked about next steps. The weather report looked worse than ever. Heavy rains and thundestorms were all the forecast had to offer. We decided to hand out raffle tickets and give people the option of riding on to camp or heading back. Most chose to camp. I was personally shocked at the number of campers we had. I was excited to camp but did not expect so many others to be right behind me. It was glorious.
The weather held out for the most part. It rained a lot but it was mostly light rain until the night came. The hard stuff came after midnight when we finally extinguished the fire and last of the riders crawled into shelters.
The morning ride back to the Depot was swift and varied. Everyone had a different agenda. Some stopped for bloody marys. Some jetted straight back to the Depot. Some were gone before I even got out of my hammock. Again, I heard no complaining and only happy chatter about the trip. It was a short overnighter but it really meant a lot to me. I was told by a few that it was their first time bike packing and they were stoked to do it again and again this Summer. That was all I needed to hear to call CycloFemme 2015 a success.
Looking forward to seeing you all again! You are my heroes.
Now let's enjoy some photos I took and stole from various people's facebooks (with permission because I am not an animal).
Homeward Bound
