Gateway Trail

The Gateway trail is about 1 mile North from my house; as I enter the trail I always ride past the Ramsey County Cemetery. I've lived here nearly all my life and did not know this was a cemetery until they posted signs a few years back. The cemetery was established in 1893 on the grounds of the county almshouse and poor farm, the Ramsey County Cemetery was a "Potter's Field" for indigent persons, the homeless, and patients at Ancker Hospital who died without relatives or friends able to pay funeral costs. No provision was made to provide headstones and with few exceptions graves were unmarked. When the cemetery was closed in 1923 there had been 2991 recorded burials. Afterwards, the burial grounds reverted to agricultural use as part of the poor farm. In 2001, the 2.45 acre site was designated a heritage park by the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners.

I begin the Gateway Trail at the 5 mile marker at White Bear Ave and travel East to the end at Pine Point. From my house to Pine Point and back is a nice 26 mile ride.

Not sure if you can see them but there are a couple Egrets in the water.

Horses are a frequent sight on the trail and if you are riding your mountain bike off road you need to announce yourself and yield to the horses. I've never had any problems with the horses and the riders have all been friendly.

I have a dream... the plan is to extend the Gateway State Trail from Pine Point Park through the Wilder Forest, to William O'Brien State Park, up to Taylor's Falls and Interstate State Park. Continue the dream of a Twin Cities to Duluth trail system, connect other trails and recreational areas, connect surrounding communities and continue the same non-motorized multi-use recreational trail opportunities.

The Gateway State Trail is one of my favorite rides and the fact that it is only 1 mile from my house makes it all the better. I can cruise to Stillwater in about an hour or I can head West and connect with the Bruce Vento trail and from there it's an endless network of bike trails.

I may not have any coffee houses in my neighborhood but I have something better; the Gateway State Trail!

First Ride of the Year

Took the mountain bike out yesterday for a spin on the Gateway. Once again I encountered snow just past the 694 bridge. I guess I thought with the sixty something degree weather we had that the snow would have melted but alas I was mistaken. I hit several patches of snow and slushy/icy crap. I handled it much better this year than last. I only put my foot down once and of course it was in the freezin' cold slushy puddle. It was about that time that I decided to turn around and head back home. Once my feet are cold my entire body gets cold and my shoes were pretty wet by then. There was a lot of water on the trail along with some muddy spots. 

All in all it was a fun ride. I took it nice and easy and just enjoyed the lovely weather. There is nothing like 60 degrees in March to get me antsy for summer. 

The lottery drawing for the Chequamegon Fat Tire festival happened last Saturday so I'm waiting to find out if I got in. That will be fun. Tara's not going this year so I think I'll be on my own. I plan to stay in the same place as last year, it was super nice and the owner was great. I hope to go up again on Thursday afternoon, ride the course on Friday then race on Saturday. If I find someone else who is going and wants to share the room I may even stay until Sunday. It would be fun to do some Sunday/Funday stuff. Tara and I were supposed to do the Rough Stuff orienteering last year but it didn't work out. This year they've added a poker ride to the Rough Stuff and that looks like fun. 

Ok, time to get ready to curl...

Riding in Boulder

Boulder Colorado may have become my favorite place to ride. If I could figure out a way, I think would move here. OK, so I'm out riding a cheap ass heavy borrowed bike and guess what, it was a fantastic ride. Why you ask? Well because people in Boulder love to ride bikes! I have never been any place where people are so respectful to riders. Every intersection I came to the cars yielded, it did not matter if they had the right- of-way or not. They stopped and waived me through; it was great!

The weather here today was near to perfect, 65 and sunny. The challenges I had came from the altitude, my poor Minnesota lungs were not quite acquainted with the lower level of oxygen. I have trouble enough breathing when I ride so this was quite the challenge. I loved it anyway and for the most part the areas I rode today were pretty flat, only a couple hills.

Tomorrow I hope to get into the mountains. There's a path about 1 mile from the apartment I'm staying in and it goes right to the mountains. Today I rode to the mountains and back with a few side trips, well actually a few "oops, wrong ways". I'm thinking of renting a high end road bike as the bike I used today really did not fit me and it weighed about 50 pounds! I can't complain, it was free. I just would really like to put on some miles and a bike that fit me and was lighter would make it so much nicer.

Boulder has over 300 miles of designated bike trails. Since the 1970's the city has taxed the citizens a .5% tax to purchase open space (park land) and build bike trails. It's great, no matter whether you ride on a bike only, a multi-use trail or a bike path along a road the riding is great. It was unbelievable to me how great the drivers were.

And the apartment we're staying in is perfect, only $90 a night! I would love to come back and dedicate an entire week or more to riding. I'm sure if I did some training in this altitude I would be a much better rider in Minnesota.

I can't wait to get out and ride again tomorrow!

Underground Railroad Bicycle Route

I think I may have found my dream ride. This would be an adventure of a lifetime and I think I may need to find someone to ride along with me. I was surfing around the Internet this morning and checking out cycling websites and blogs. I stumbled upon a video of a bike ride someone had taken; the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route. So I googled it, the funny thing is that it brought me back to the Adventure Cycling website which I had already looked at early today. 

The Underground Railroad Bicycle Route honors the bravery of those who fled bondage and those who provided shelter. This route passes points of interest and historic sites along a 2,008 mile corridor. Beginning in Mobile Alabama and ending in Owen Sound, Canada. 

One of my dreams has been to travel on my bike, pack my bags and hit the road. I'm going to spend a some more time on this and see what it would actually take to do a ride like this. I don't think it's something I could realistically fit in this summer or anything but I can certainly gather the information needed and plan for it. I get 5 weeks vacation a year from work, I can start socking away some money and see if I can't find someone to ride along with. I know I could do this alone but I think a riding buddy would be safer. Hell, I must be getting old if I'm thinking about safety. 

Breast Cancer Ride

Breast Cancer Ride 2009

Last week I received a call from Kari Mitchell, one of the organizer's for the Breast Cancer Ride. She called to inform me that the BCR, in addition to benefiting the Open Arms of America association was also benefiting the Susan G. Komen organization. This was great news! Kari and I talked for some time about last year's ride and what was in store for this year. She said they were tweaking the return ride as some riders had trouble with the hills on the second day. Kari said they are working on a route that would hopefully include part of the Cannon Valley Trail.

I have already committed to this ride and hope to get others to ride with me. This was one of my favorite rides last summer. Another thing Kari mentioned is that this year the ride will take place August 1 - 2, so that it doesn't conflict with the MS150 ride. Last year they were only about a week apart, if I remember correctly. I've already committed to the MS150 ride again this year too.

If you're interested a blog has been started for the Breast Cancer Ride, it was developed to allow riders, crew members, volunteers and supporters of the ride a chance to share their stories, training regimen, fund-raising techniques (I sure could use some of those ideas) or anything else they want to write about.

As most everyone knows I love to ride my bike and I usually do rides "just for the fun of it." The St. Paul Classic, Mesabi Trail ride, even the Tour of Saints rides were examples of that but the Breast Cancer ride and the MS150 ride hold a different meaning for me.

Cancer has hit my family hard on both sides, nearly all of my aunts and uncles have died of cancer and my grandmother on my mom's side died of cancer. My father was diagnosed with cancer nearly three years ago. I have three cousins battling cancer right now, all of which are under 50 years old, one is under 40. Both my Grandmother and my Aunt on my dad's side had breast cancer and I've had three biopsies for Breast Cancer myself, fortunately they were all benign. To say this cause holds a special place in my heart would be putting it mildly. I also have several friends who have battled Breast Cancer, this is something that is just not going to go away. We need research, we need medicine, we need people to contribute to organizations like Open Arms of America and Susan G. Komen.

If riding a bike isn't your thing, then volunteer, sponsor someone (pick me), collect money from your family, friends, co-workers, get involved. An Orientation Meeting will be held Monday, February 9 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm at the Bloomington REI store, what better reason to stop by the REI store. There will be more orientation meetings so check the Breast Cancer Ride website. The orientation meeting is a great place to learn more about the Breast Cancer Ride. I'll be there, come on by.

Sessioning...

picking out a small section of trail and doing it over and over again until you get it right.

I recently read this article on the Mountain biking by 198 website "How To Become A Better Mountain Biker and in part 2 he discusses sessioning; in other words practice. This is a great piece of information and something I never do. This year I'm adding it to my riding. Rock gardens are my fear zone, so they are first on my list. Practice, practice, practice.