Where's my notes?

I was trying to jot down a couple things to post but now I've misplaced my notes! Oh well...


I've been riding the Gateway Trail and the Bruce Vento trail a lot this winter. The Bruce Vento gets plowed the Gateway does not. This gives me a fun ride through the snow on the Gateway and an easy cruise on the Bruce Vento. Last week while riding the Vento trail in Maplewood I spotted a beautiful hawk perched in a tree, numerous deer tracks frozen in the ice and watched one of the best sunsets so far this winter. 


The Vento trail is a great ride in the winter not only because it gets plowed but also because it's fairly flat and allows me to get to the book store, coffee shop and hair supply store with ease. 


The Gateway trail is fun because they don't plow it and I get a great workout. I can also get to the Credit Union, bike shop and movie theater using the trail. 


If you want to ride in the winter and not deal with cars I highly recommend both of these trails. Just remember to use the fat tires on the Gateway! 


Happy Trails! :)

Hit by a Mini Van!

I'm going to attempt to get back to posting on this blog and with the New Year just beginning there's no better time than the present. 


The New Year started with a bang!


Yesterday, January 1, 2012 I was hit by a mini-van while riding my bike. Both the bike and myself are fine. I was crossing at an intersection, a woman in a mini-van was stopped at the stop sign. I had the right-of-way. As I was passing in front of her she stepped on the gas and hit my back wheel with the drivers side bumper. It knocked the back of the bike one direction and the front another. I managed to stay on the bike and get out of the intersection. I put the bike down, turned around and shouted to the woman. It looked as though she was about to take off! A man in a car pulled up behind her; he had seen her hit me. The woman got out of the van and asked if I was alright. I shouted at her about talking on a cell phone, not paying attention and hitting me. She never once apologized! Can you believe that? I called the police to make a report. They arrived quickly and gave the woman a citation for inattentive driving and now she will have to go to court for it. I'm thanking my mountain bike skills for pulling me through this. If I hadn't ever ridden a mountain bike I believe I would have hit the asphalt. 


The woman acted as though it was such an inconvenience to her. If she had acted as though she gave a damn I don't think I would have even called the police. I was so pissed off all I really wanted to do was hit the woman. I hope the judge makes her pay a big fat fine. 


After work today I checked out the bike and made a couple adjustments; the handle bars were skewed and the seat was a little off. Other than that it seemed fine. I went for about a 5 mile ride tonight and everything worked great! Even though the temperature was below 20 degrees I worked up a sweat riding on the ice and snow. Riding in the snow is fun, riding on the ice is not. 


With Minnesota finally starting to feel like winter I'm ramping up my search for a face mask. I have a couple but they don't seem to work. I can't find one that fits my face, I think most of them are made for man faces. In any case I think that's about all I need for my winter riding gear.

HAPPY NEW YEAR pedal, pedal, pedal

The Road Less Traveled

And now I know why.

I pedaled a new route on my way home tonight; got misplaced 3 times and had to back track! The trail was bumpy, overgrown and twisty with lots of walkers; not sure I'll take that way again. But it was nice riding through the woods rather than next to traffic :) Distance wise it didn't make much of a difference, maybe one mile. 

I'm really enjoying my commute to work but the ride home is not as nice. The ride to work is quiet, not much traffic and it's nice and cool. The ride home can be like playing frogger getting across the busy hiways. I have to cross 55 and 110 both of which have long lights and lots of traffic in the afternoon. I find myself debating on a longer ride with less traffic and hills or the shorter ride with traffic and hills. Generally the longer ride wins. 

Who knows if I keep test riding new routes one of these days I'm bound to find a good one!

pedal, pedal, pedal :)

Heat index 110

Started my ride in the rain and ended my ride in the rain. I'll take this heat and rain over a headwind any day :) I discovered another bike path today; this one has bunnies, birds and wild flowers! Plus two big red barns!
as a side note McKnight is no longer flooded Day 108

People I Follow

I've been following Sarah Outen since she left London several months back; she has now arrived in China. Traveling around the world on human power!

Day 104

Whew, I really need to post more often. They've changed the look and I don't even know when it happened. 

Day 104 of 30daysofbiking. 

Todays adventure was brought to me by the St. Paul police!

Me: Do you know if the bike trail is still open?

Police Officer: Road's closed; ride at your own risk. 

To me this means I can ignore the road closed and do not enter signs! YAY! I had a fun ride through the construction area and the bike trail was still open  :)

I know everyone hates that the state government has closed down and it really sucks for all the state employees but it sure is nice not to have to deal with road construction. Everything has come to a halt.

After the Storm

By far one of the best times to go for a ride is right after a storm. All the creatures of the forest are upset and they're out-n-about on the trails. 

Example: yesterday we had some nasty storms come through the Twin Cities, high wind, rain, thunder and lightening and even some funnel clouds were sighted. After everything had passed I went for a quick ride along the Gateway Trail. There were lots of geese along with their goslings which are pretty normal on the Gateway. The goslings are actually pretty big by this time of the year. 

I spied a mama turkey and her poults about 6 of them from what I could see. They were right on the path and scurried into the bushes when I got near them. 

My favorite sighting was a Doe, she was beautiful. I had just turned off the trail and she was standing at the top of a small hill; I was within 15 feet of her. We both stopped, stared for a second and then she bolted into the woods. It was great :)