Day 22, August 16: monocultural landscapes

Appleton, MN to Litchfield, MN http://cyclemeter.com/85ef50859d8f1e5c/Cycle-20150816-0704
Distance: 80.1 miles
Total trip distance: 1499.9 miles
Average speed: 14.9 mph
Maximum speed: 27.0 mph
Riding time: 5:24
Weather: 70° when I started at 7am, and thanks to persistent cloud cover the temperatures did not get out of the 70s for the rest of the day. The dew point was in the middle 60s during the day, but in the evening it was 54° after a cold front came through. There was no wind for the first 30 miles, but then WNW tailwinds kicked in at varying speeds--usually about 5 mph, but sometimes reached 12 mph or higher. The forecast showed rain coming in the afternoon.
Terrain: uphill 1561 feet, downhill 1436 feet. This ride stayed within a narrow band of elevation – from a low of 1000 feet to a high of 1300 feet.

This route went east from Appleton, MN to Litchfield, MN across moraines and outwash plains. Moraines are accumulations of earth and stones carried and finally deposited by a glacier. Outwash plains consist of sediment deposited by streams flowing away from a melting glacier. I superimposed the route on a section of Erwin Raisz's Landform Map of the United States, a minutely detailed, hand drawn pen and ink map. The "W" on the route stands for Willmar, the largest city in the area. This map clearly shows the moraines and plains as well as the flatness of most of my route.

The route from Appleton to Litchfield superimposed on a section of an Erwin Raisz landform map.

Monocultural landscapes dominated the route. By monocultural landscapes I mean landscapes dominated by the practice of growing a single crop in a large field. Corn and soybeans are the two most widely planted crops in the US (see US Environmental Protection Agency table below).

Major agricultural crops produced in the United States in 2011 (excluding root crops, citrus, vegetable, etc).
Crop	Harvested Area (million acres)	Cash Receipts from Sales ($ billion)
Corn (grain)	84	63.9
Soybeans	73.8	37.6
Hay	55.7	6.7
Wheat	45.7	14.6
Cotton	9.5	8.3
Sorghum (grain)	3.9	1.3
Rice	2.6	2.9

Large corn and soybean fields, east of Appleton.

Forty percent of the corn grown in the US is used for ethanol production.

Bushmills Ethanol Plant on US 12, Atwater, MN.

I saw several CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) for chickens.

Chicken CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation) in St Johns Township, Kandiyohi County.

Chicken CAFO near Grove City, MN.

Agricultural land uses decreased a little as the day went on as lake-based activities increased. I began in Swift County, and then I entered Kandiyohi County, whose tagline is "where the lakes begin." This transition is easily seen in a Google Maps terrain view screen capture.

A Google Maps terrain view screen capture that shows Kandiyohi County in red. The first part of my route from Appleton toward Kandiyohi County crosses an outwash plain while the moraine area in the County has plenty of lakes.

As I approached Kandiyohi County I was happy to have some modest tailwinds after several days of cross and headwinds. The air had been very muggy for the last few days and a cold front was forecast to move in. This is a recipe for heavy rain. I left at 7 in the morning to get ahead of it. At lunch I looked at my Weather Undeground phone app and was a little unsettled to see a nasty rain cell to the west coming my way (see phone screen capture).

The blue circle in the upper right locates my phone in Willmar. An animation on my phone app showed heavy rain bearing down on me.

When I started cycling I picked up the pace. Storms pose a lightning threat and it is no fun to be peddling while soaking wet and seeing poorly through wet sunglasses. I then came across a "road closed" sign. I hoped I could get through and that bridge work or something would not mean a detour. I headed down the closed road and saw that US 12 was being repaved.

A dreaded road closed sign, but It turned out to be closed for cars and not for bicycles.

After riding a bit on a velvet smooth road with no traffic I was surprised to come across a cyclist on a fully loaded touring bike--a Surly Long Haul Trucker with waterproof panniers in front and back as well as fenders. Ken Johnson had retired from Surly Bikes, which is headquartered in Bloomington, a Minneapolis suburb. He was the first bike tourer I had seen since Missoula, MT. We exchanged notes and I was interested to learn about his Cruise bike seat. Bike seats can be a major source of discomfort--a literal pain in the ass. My Brooks leather saddle is a technology dating to late 19th century England, and it is the best saddle I have had, but I still get sore toward the end of a ride on some days. Ken had switched from Brooks to Cruise and found a big improvement. I may have to try one some day.

Cruise saddle. It has an unconventional design but looks comfortable for touring.

Ken informed me that the road was under construction all the way to Litchfield. I would have the smooth road all to myself.

Cyclist's dream: brand new smooth road, no traffic.

As I arrived on the outskirts of Litchfield I started to feel some raindrops, but the sky did not look especially threatening. I passed by a farm implements dealer and then Bikes by Bob. Bob has a fence of old bikes at his bike shop. I did get a little wet during the final two miles from a light rain, but not enough to be a problem. My good luck streak continued.

A large assortment of farm implements. The road is damp with rain.

Recycled bicycles at a shop named Bikes by Bob make a nice fence.