Leave Wabasha Kwik Trip at 9.
118 miles to lunch at Santa Fe in Arcadia
Fuel up after lunch and 148 miles to Nelson, with loops that can be omitted if desired.


Brent's phone:
five o seven six 30 - oh 55 one

Brent's email:
brentjass at gmail dot com

Could you have ridden the section of 108 north of Mindoro? The scenery is similar, but the turns are less sharp. The Cut is south of Mindoro and north of West Salem.

There's a slight chance you could be snowed on in the high elevations, so you should avoid high elevations. The southern Wyoming route does this. If it goes over 7000 feet anywhere, it's not for long. Colorado's another story. US 50 takes you over Monarch Pass, which is at least 11,000 feet. Even 160 takes gets close to 11,000 feet at Wolf Creek Pass. I would NOT go through Denver unless I was going south on I-25 to Albuquerque.

When it snows at altitude, it's not like what we usually see in Minnesota. I've ridden in very heavy snow in the mountains several times, and the worst problem I've had is the lack of visibility. Well, that and being cold. The snow is almost always much drier than what we're used to here, and it evaporates pretty quickly. I'm not saying it can't be a problem, but with your attitude of maybe needing to rent a U-Haul one way through the mountains (although it might be a challenge to find one when you need it), I think you'll be fine.

I tweaked my route a little

https://goo.gl/maps/dwpeirgQjk52

mostly to get off I-90 in South Dakota. The only time I don't prefer two-lanes is when I'm in a big hurry. You might prefer I-90, but I'd avoid the Black Hills unless it's relatively warm.

I think you'll be fine. Long-distance riding is so much easier than it used to be. If you get cold, you're rarely more than an hour away from a warm place where you can stay as long as you want. Your bike should be reliable. It's not like you're running the Iditarod or riding to the North Pole.

Good luck, be safe, and have fun!

Brent

Looks like you're trying to pound it into the slider. Try going the other way.

I used to a big screwdriver and pry the seal out until I bought one of those fancy seal remover tools, which make it just a little easier.

Clarification: I think you should try pulling the slider away from the fork tube with a slide-hammer technique.

The confusing words, "crashed with the patrol in pursuit," are from the writer at the Star Tribune.

It makes it sound like he ran into the police car.

He ran some DOT impact certification tests on some 10+ year old helmets and they passed tests to the standards they were built to with no problem.

Interesting. It seems obvious that a helmet isn't going to go from being 100% in Year 5 to 0% in Year 6, The degradation is likely to be gradual and progressive. I'd also expect a helmet that's been worn 50 hours might protect better than one that's been worn 10,000 hours.

Dale, do you remember whether these were helmets that had been in use for 10+ years, or helmets that had spent their lives inside a box in a climate-controlled environment?

This 10 year-old design looks better:

Full story:
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/slideshow/human-motorcycles-17534449