Fall Colors Tour 2008

Saturday, October 04, 2008

WOW, what a fantastic day for a ride! I had hoped for a better turnout but by the time I got the route mapped out and an email sent a lot of people already had plans for this weekend and some were turned off by the miles. But hell if you can't do a casual 60 miles by the end of the riding season you simply did not ride enough this year and you need to get your ass on the trainer this winter.  :) I'm old with bad knees and did the ride.

In any case those of us who did ride had one of the best riding days of the year. The morning started off cold! I was undecided as to what to wear as it was only about 45 degrees outside when I woke up; big brrr. I decided to wait until just before the ride to decide and throw on my riding gear. The game plan was to roll out of my house at 10 am but everyone was running a little late. Margeaux arrived just after 10 followed by Julie. After all the pre-ride fuss was over we started pedaling down the street at 10:38 according to Julie's watch.  I, as always, dint have a watch or computer on my bike. As we were cruising through the park at the end of my block I made the comment that I felt like I was forgetting something, felt like I was riding naked but chalked it up to not having my camelback on. 

We caught the Bruce Vento trail about a mile from my house and headed South, once on the trail I realized why I felt naked, I had forgotten my wallet containing my id and money, oops. The decision was not to turn back and we would pool our cash for lunch. We followed the Vento trail along Johnson Pkwy turning right onto Phalen Blvd. The trail dips down into Swede Hollow just past Arcade street and ends in downtown St. Paul. We took the frontage road up to Mounds Park for our first scenic stop and photos. Following the park trail we continued climbing to the top of Mounds Park, climb, climb, climb...

Crossed over Warner/Shepard Rd and caught the bike trail along the river. Julie turned off and followed the other trail up to Battle Creek.  Margeaux and I continued along the Mississippi River until Sibley street, we turned north a block to Kellogg and over two blocks to Robert St. where we crossed over the river and dropped down to Harriet Island.  Margeaux had never been to Harriet Island so we spent some time exploring. We then followed the Big Rivers Trail through Mendota and took the Mendota Bridge across the Minnesota River over to Fort Snelling. We met up with Gordy and Kenny at Fort Snelling and the four of us rode together to Minnehaha Falls Park.  Kenny left us at M'haha Park as the poor boy had to go home a study, sucked to be him.

Gordy, Margeaux and I followed the bike trail along Minnehaha Creek to Lake Hiawatha and Lake Nokomis. We continued on the trail following the creek, one of my favorite areas, to Lake Harriet and on over to Lake Calhoun. We traveled along the West and North sides of Lake Calhoun catching the Midtown Greenway trail. There were a lot of people and pets out around the lakes. We turned off the Greenway around 30th Ave and grabbed lunch at Clicquot, thank you William for the nice service and accommodating our seating request. After lunch we headed towards W River Pkway, turning right and following the river to Lake/Marshal Ave where we crossed back over to the St. Paul side.  Margeaux and I decided to ride back over the bridge to get some pictures and Gordy continued on his way home. After taking time for photos we traveled back to the St. Paul side of the river and followed along the trail to the Hidden Falls Park turn off. It was a beautiful ride through Crosby Farm Regional Park. We spent some time taking pictures and enjoying the ride. We climbed out of the park at Elway and took the Shepard Rd bike trail back into downtown St. Paul. We stopped several times along the way for photo opts. 

After crossing back over to Mounds Park we decided to jump off on Johnson Pkwy and take that back home, it cut off a few miles from the ride but it was getting late and people were coming over to my house for food and beverages. I'm not sure what time we got back to my house but Margeaux clocked us at 56 miles, so we only cut a couple miles from the original route.  We were a little disappointed in that the leaves were not "peaking" but the ride was really nice and it gave us a greater appreciation the colors we did see. 

Weather permitting I'm going to head out again next Saturday repeating this route only skipping the lakes in Minneapolis and sticking to the River ride portion.  The leaves should for sure be turning by then. The miles wont be as long but I don't have all day to ride.