Today, Andy and I rode around 35miles up to Owatonna, passing somewhat flat terrain, with the occasional rolling hill. On a flat surface with our 90pound trailers we can get up to 15-18miles an hour. To our dismay our speed was more like 8-9miles, as the wind was constantly pushing at the front of us. Good for wind turbines, bad for bikers, so like usual, it took us longer then we expected. However, there was a bit of a reprieve when we would come up to a row of trees, as it blocked the air flow and we were able to pick up some speed. Unfortunately and to my tired legs, this rarely occurred as the miles and miles of corn more so dotted the landscape.

If the trees blocked that much wind for me, I wonder why this area and others like it don't plant more of these natural barriers to block the wind for the crops, especially with soil erosion being so high in the US.

As I just looked up some facts on soil erosion(love wifi), I've found from a Cornell Study by Susan Lang, March 2006, http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/March06/soil.erosion.threat.ssl.html:

• "The United States is losing soil 10 times faster -- and China and India are losing soil 30 to 40 times faster -- than the natural replenishment rate.
• The economic impact of soil erosion in the United States costs the nation about $37.6 billion each year in productivity losses. Damage from soil erosion worldwide is estimated to be $400 billion per year.
• As a result of erosion over the past 40 years, 30 percent of the world's arable land has become unproductive.
• About 60 percent of soil that is washed away ends up in rivers, streams and lakes, making waterways more prone to flooding and to contamination from soil's fertilizers and pesticides.
• Soil erosion also reduces the ability of soil to store water and support plant growth, thereby reducing its ability to support biodiversity.
• Erosion promotes critical losses of water, nutrients, soil organic matter and soil biota, harming forests, rangeland and natural ecosystems.
• Erosion increases the amount of dust carried by wind, which not only acts as an abrasive and air pollutant but also carries about 20 human infectious disease organisms, including anthrax and tuberculosis."

Good to know, so what do we do about soil erosion? I'm on a mission to find out on the trip, so stay tuned.:)

Also, here's the latest installment of pictures from the last couple of days.
http://www.changinggearsmovie.com/resources/photos/062708M/index.html