Yay! The route finally turns east! Mark Beaumont had ventured as far south as he dared in order to escape fierece headwinds in Minnesota and stage 639 is where the fightback to make up for lost time begins. The route is heading south of Minneapolis and Saint-Paul and it remains to be seen how it will head back north again to make land between the Great Lakes. The stage is a descender, but it’s lumpy so you might not actually notice the difference. In pure geographical terms, it’s five miles south then seventeen miles east: in elevation terms, the highest elevation is at one mile while the lowest is at twenty one miles: and it’s mostly lumpy in between.
The rollout crosses Highway 23 after a mile then nothing much happens until Highway 4 hangs a right/left to enter Hector after four miles. After passing through the town, Highway 4 meets Highway 212 at an intersection and that’s basically H4 done and dusted: the route hangs a left and Highway 212 is your new guide all the way to Brownton. Immediately after the turn, Hector Municipal Airport is on the right then there are junctions north and south every half a mile or so. The road’s as flat as a pancake to 510th Street at eight miles, after which is descends into Buffalo Lake at ten miles.
Highway 8 heads south just before Buffalo Lake and Highway 22 heads south just after. Then it’s relatively flat to Highway 20 at fourteen miles where the highway descends to Round Grove Lake a mile later. The road loops around the southern side of Stewart at sixteen miles before climbing to the junction with Highway 7 that crosses north/south at seventeen miles.
It’s then lumpy up and down, but more down than up on the straight run to Brownton but just before the finish, the road hangs a right onto Highway 15. Surely the route isn’t going to go even further south? All will be revealed on stage 640.
Distance: 22 miles / 35 kilometres
Distance: 22 miles / 35 kilometres
Ascent: 226 feet / 69 metres
RGT Magic Road: OPlb3fLz90wX
Max elevation: 1042 ft
Min elevation: 972 ft
Total climbing: 228 ft
Total descent: -294 ft
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