What a great day for a bike ride. I'm thinking because it was the fishing opener this weekend it really helped with low traffic. I left the house about 0825 and cruise to downtown St. Paul. It's been a long time since I've pedaled through downtown, I ride there every morning to go to work but I don't see much at 0530 so it was fun to pedal through the heart of downtown. I caught West 7th street and rode it to Smith St. where I caught the High Bridge over the mighty Mississippi. I followed Smith until It turned onto Dodd Road then it was smooth sailing into Eagan. The ride took me 1:06 hours and was 14.73 miles. My average speed was 13.3 MPH. Not bad considering the climbing on Smith St. The High Bridge wasn't bad and you think once you get to the top it's all over but NO, you still have a couple more miles of climbing.
My route home was the best! I went north on Lexington to Lone Oak then turned West, I stopped at a coffee shop for a panini and some vitamin water. Then I headed North on Pilot Knob until I was able to catch the bike trail just before Interstate 494. Once on the bike trail it was a piece of cake. There were quite a few people on the trail and as I got into Mendota I found myself crossing a finish line and a whole lot of people were walking with numbers on their backs so there was something going on. After Mendota the pedestrian traffic went down but there were still quite a lot of people out on bikes. I followed the trail until I reached Harriet Island in St. Paul then I jumped onto Water street and took that to Robert St. I encountered a lot of road construction on 4th St. I was surprised by this I didn't expect them to be working on a Saturday. Add the Farmers Market to the road construction and my ride through downtown was really slow. Once I got out of that area I caught the Bruce Vento trail and followed that back home. My ride home took 1:19 hours and was 16.49 miles, I averaged 12.3 mph. I think the ride home was slower because of the traffic on the trail and the congestion downtown. Plus I tend to ride slower on a bike trail. It sure was a lot easier and much more scenic than the ride to Eagan.
My route home was the best! I went north on Lexington to Lone Oak then turned West, I stopped at a coffee shop for a panini and some vitamin water. Then I headed North on Pilot Knob until I was able to catch the bike trail just before Interstate 494. Once on the bike trail it was a piece of cake. There were quite a few people on the trail and as I got into Mendota I found myself crossing a finish line and a whole lot of people were walking with numbers on their backs so there was something going on. After Mendota the pedestrian traffic went down but there were still quite a lot of people out on bikes. I followed the trail until I reached Harriet Island in St. Paul then I jumped onto Water street and took that to Robert St. I encountered a lot of road construction on 4th St. I was surprised by this I didn't expect them to be working on a Saturday. Add the Farmers Market to the road construction and my ride through downtown was really slow. Once I got out of that area I caught the Bruce Vento trail and followed that back home. My ride home took 1:19 hours and was 16.49 miles, I averaged 12.3 mph. I think the ride home was slower because of the traffic on the trail and the congestion downtown. Plus I tend to ride slower on a bike trail. It sure was a lot easier and much more scenic than the ride to Eagan.
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