The Mighty Mississippi River 2011

Sights and Sounds

It's day 8 of my 30 Days of Riding Challenge and it's been great! I'm really happy that I took the challenge. I feel soooo much better since I started riding again. I hadn't realized how much this winter was getting to me. 

I observed some interesting things on todays ride. First, there is a lot of clothing on the side of the road, in parks and dumped around town. I don't know where this stuff comes from but I sure have seen a lot today. Under one bridge it looked like someone had just taken his/her pants off and left them there; weird.

As I was crossing the railroad tracks in downtown St. Paul I saw a hawk with a pigeon, he made sure I wasn't going to take it from him. He picked up the pigeon and carried it further down the tracks. I tried to explain that I'm a vegetarian but I guess he just didn't understand. 

On my way home I decided take the long way and to ride along the mighty Mississippi. With Shepard/Warner road closed to traffic because of the flooding I had the entire road to myself. It was great but a little disconcerting to be riding along a normally very busy stretch of road and have it entirely to myself. No traffic, no fellow bikers, walkers or anyone else; a little spooky. There's a small part of me that would like it if the road remained closed to traffic all the time.

I took the Challenge!

Whew; it's been a while. I'm not even going to try to catch up. Let's just say this winter sucked for riding, my job moved to Eagan and my commute went from 6 miles to 16 miles one way. And with all the snow, ice, and shitty weather we had I did not ride to work even one time after September 1, 2010. 

But as they say it's a new year! I've signed up for the 30 Days of Biking Challenge  and I'm looking forward to riding every day for the next 30 days. Yesterday I stopped at the bike shop on my way home from work and picked up some fenders for my road bike. I am not a fan of the brown stain up the backside. The fenders I bought are light weight race fenders that are attached using rubber bands. I went with these fenders for two reasons 1 they were on sale and 2 I can put them on and take them off easily (really just 'cause they were on sale). I put the fenders on yesterday in preparation for my 30 days of biking challenge. 

This evening I went for a nice casual ride through the neighborhood. The fenders worked great, no nasty brown streaks! 

Tomorrow my game plan is to ride to Artcrank but we shall see what Mother Nature brings. In any case I will get on my bike and ride. 

pedal, pedal, pedal... 

Decisions, decisions, decisions

I've been checking out the Adventure Cycling 2011 tours and can't make up my mind as to which tour I want to go on. I'm pretty certain I will take their Intro to Road Touring ride June 11-16 starting in West Bend, Wi. We'll learn how to live on the road in comfort and style. 

The decision I need to make is should I go on the Black HIlls Inn to Inn tour or the Great Lakes Inn to Inn tour. They are both in September which is a fantastic time to be in either place. I'm leaning towards the Great Lakes tour because it appears to be the better deal and I have less experience in Michigan than South Dakota. Drive time to both places is about equal. The Great Lakes tour is about $400 more but you have 5 more days of riding. 

I know both of these tours will fill up quick so I better make my decision soon...

Endo on the Road Bike!

well that was a new one...

My morning ride started off nicely, I decided to do the hills first while I was "fresh" ha ha, I don't think I will ever be fresh enough to enjoy hills. Anyway, I left home around 0830  and started my journey downtown. I encountered a little construction on Phalen Blvd so I had to get off the bike trail for about a block, not a big deal. I dropped down into Swede Hollow and was happy to see they removed the downed trees. There had been a couple trees blocking the bike trail. I followed the bike trail up to Mounds Park (hills!) and caught the crosswalk over Shepard/Warner Rd and was rewarded with a nice downhill. From there I caught the trail that leads to Battle Creek, this is a steady climb, not real steep just a continuous climb. The trail goes through a tunnel under hiway 61 and pops you out at Battle Creek park. Here comes the fun part...

The trail zig-zags along following the creek, there are a series of small wooden bridges and some nice little rollers. As I was approaching one of the bridges I noticed a group of children. I immediately slowed down, not that I was going very fast anyway, it's all up hill and zig-zaggy. There were probably about maybe 8 kids and one man on the bridge. The teacher? tells all the kids to move to the side so that I can pass. At this point I was moving only fast enough to keep my bike in a forward motion. The kids all moved to the sides of the bridge and I was riding through the middle. Just as I got to the end of the bridge a boy on my left side darted in front of me! I hit both brakes but there was no way of avoiding hitting him. I did a slow endo over the handlbars and he was knocked to the ground. My right leg/knee was jammed between the handlebars and the frame of the bike, the left pedal found it's way into my left ankle. And I landed on the palms of my hands. I detangled myself from my bike and checked the kid. He appeared to be fine just a little scared. The teacher came over and checked to see if he was alright, now the boy started to cry. The boy said his right leg hurt so the teacher took a look, I couldn't see anything but I'm thinking he may get a bruise out of it. I stayed around long enough to ensure that the kid was OK, he stopped crying right away and seemed to be fine, I think he was scared more than anything. I know it scared the hell out of me!

I continued my ride into Battle Creek and explored the Upper/Lower Afton areas. Then I turned around to enjoy the downhill ride back into town. As I was riding back I noticed my back tire was losing air and my right knee was starting to swell. By the time I got back downtown my knee was giving me quite a lot of grief so I decided to cut my ride short and headed back home.

I rode a wee bit over 28 miles and now I'm enjoying a spot of lunch while I ice my knee. I'm glad I started with the hills I feel like I got a better ride. I'm also taking bonus points for the endo and riding in the heat. I have three 12 hour days at the office coming up so my next ride probably wont happen until Tuesday.

Now I need to go check out the back tire and make sure there isn't anything in it. I'd hate to get a flat tire riding into work tomorrow :p

Gotta Get Movin'

Here it is the middle of July, I have a 100 mile ride coming up in a couple of weeks and I haven't ridden more than 40 miles in one day! I'd like to blame it on the rain but I can only use that excuse for MT biking, can't ride the trails when they're wet. I can always ride on the road. I have been commuting to and from work so that has to count for something. And I've been using my bike for transportation whenever possible. OK, now I feel a little better :)

Today I'm off to get in a conditioning ride, I was hoping to leave the house by 0700 but I started the laundry and now I want to get it hanging on the line before I take off.

WTF I just went to fill my coffee cup and glanced out the window, it's raining! I guess that means my laundry gets an extra rinse cycle. ARRHHH! I'm still going for a ride.

I'm thinking of a combination hills and flats today, going to head West and catch the Bruce Vento trail and ride that into town then up to Mounds Park and over to Battle Creek, that should give me a little climbing. Then cruise on back and catch the Gateway Trail by Phalen Lake. I can take the Gateway out to Pine Point and back, all total I should get in about 50 miles. There's so much road construction this summer that even the bike trails are adveresly affected by it. I think I can avoid any construction by taking this route.

I have one more load of laundry to get on the line then I'm outta here!

Happy Trails!

Flag Day Ride

I'm thinking I'd like to start a tradition celebrating Flag Day.

Ride 50 miles for every star on the flag.

Ride 13 miles for each stripe on the flag.

A total of 63 miles. I've computed a route from my house and back taking in various sights around the Twin Cities.

Flag Day Ride 

Now I just need to figure out how I can ride 63 miles on a work day. Flag Day falls on a Monday this year. hmm...I could take the day off...or I could ride 63 miles after work and make sure I bring my lights. I'm thinking it will take me about 5 hours with minimal stops. Better give myself 6 hours. Let's see I get off work at 1430, home by 1500 and back out the door by 1530, 6 hours and I'd be home by 2130, that's doable. I like the idea of taking the day off or maybe leaking out two hours early. Yeah, that's more like it, I could get out of work at noon and be on the road by 1300. Whew, 63 miles that's a lot of pedaling. Wonder if I can get anyone to join me???