Renewal through riding.

A couple days ago I found myself with a large block of time that was totally unspoken for so I decided to go for a ride. I ride almost every day but it is usually to work, I had not been on a recreational ride since Easter, so I seized the opportunity.

I was aiming for a century which I later realized was a little too ambitious but I did end up coming close. I rode on nearly every surface you can think of that is readily available in Minnesota. Bike path, street, gravel, crushed limestone, dirt, mud, water, and single track. Doing this type of adventure was definitely made more fun by having the ECR. That bike can do anything.

I took the LRT regional trail out to Hopkins and kept on going through til it spit me out in Chanhassen, I was trying to follow the signs to get down by Murphy's Landing but got turned around somewhere and ended up by Lions Tap and 212. I topped off my water bottle at the artesian well and started climbing back up the obnoxious hill towards Pioneer Trail. Then I headed west into Chaska. I crossed over 41 and took a rest stop at the gas station then hit the trails going around the lakes. While I was riding around the lakes I saw one of the openings for the trail to hop on to Mammoth, so I hopped. All of a sudden it spat me out on the side of highway 41, so I took that north to highway 5. I took highway 5 over to Carver Park Reserve and then got on the Minnetonka Regional Trail to start heading back.

A more prairie covered section of Eden Prairie.

I took another break in a shaded boat launch in Minnetonka close to where the regional trail is closed for the bridge maintenance. I took the road around and eventually found my way back on the trail. I took the trail back into Hopkins and stopped at The Depot for a delicious coffee and sandwich. I left The Depot and headed north on the Cedar Lake trail which brought me back to the Greenway. I stopped in at Midtown to lube my chain because my drive train was making all manner of sounds. Then I continued on to the river road and took that south to 35th and met my roommate at Blue Door Pub for a burger and a beer. It was delicious. We mounted up and headed up on 38th street.

Some blurry Mammoth.

The bridge is up now, hopefully the regional trail will open up again soon.

All told I ended up putting on about 80 miles. I was pooped and my legs are still sore but it was totally worth it. The time out there in the saddle really helped me to clear my head and relieve some of the mounting stress I had building up. I always tell people that cycling is the best anti-depressants that money can buy and it is true.

Summer time.

Since summer has hit I have had a lot less time to ride. In addition to having less time to ride most of the trails I like to ride have been under water since the snow melted. Then it started to rain. I've been riding nearly every day but it is just to work or to the grocery store and back. Nothing really spectacular.

We did the camping trip through Freewheel at the end of May/beginning of June and that was fun but pretty uneventful. Three people signed up and three people showed up. It rained a lot. We all had fun and a nice ride back on Sunday.

Other than that, I have not been doing a whole lot of riding. It is kind of a bummer but at the same time my ride into work every day has been pretty enjoyable. Just yesterday I got a job offer from a company to do what I went to school for and I will be starting with them near the end of July. It seems that I will still be able to commute to work via bicycle because they have a shower and a locker room. So that is promising.

I hope to be doing some more camping soon so I'll have something to report when that time comes. If it ever doesn't rain all week I could even do just a nice quick overnight. July is on its way so I assume the rain will trade places with the sweltering heat. Huzzah!

That's it for now.

Camping season.

On Monday I am fleeing the city to go sleep under the stars for a week. I couldn't be more excited. Blue Mounds is my destination. The original plan was to head up North but the forecast looked very unfavorable. So a new plan was formulated and executed. I must say as a side note that I was overly impressed with the ease at which you are able to change a campsite reservation from the Minnesota DNR's website. Kudos to them!

In more bikey related news, we've got a camping event through Freewheel in which myself and Joe will be leading a small band of happy campers into the "wilderness" and showing them that there is nothing to fear when it comes to bike camping. The event is scheduled for May 31st. It costs $10 to join. The details can be found here. The weekend before the trip, May 24, I will be holding a small gear inspection where you can come and ask all your gear questions both big and small as well as have me rifle through your stuff to see if you would have what you need to do the overnight. I am really looking forward to this event as the one in the winter was a big old flop.

Come camp with me!

Camping!

I didn't do one post during the month of April. Things have been moving fast for me with school and other stuff. I haven't done a lot of recreational rides or exploring. Mostly commuting, which is great still but I am longing for some off road riding.

A few days ago I gave a seminar on bike camping. I think it went fairly well, I was a little less prepared than I had hoped but I think it went alright anyway. I'm going to be leading a bike camping trip on May 31st to Carver Park Reserve. This is going to be a nice short overnight trip to help people who are worried about taking the first step. Bike camping is not rocket science but it can be intimidating. Hopefully this will be a good supportive opportunity for folks to come give it a worry free trial run. I'll probably offer a quick gear inspection day around noon on the 24th of May.

Some of the details are still being hammered out but it will soon come together. As I have more things to share I will post them here to share with you all.

In other news, I will be camping from the 19th to the 23rd up North. It won't be bike camping but it will still be fun and I am excited to get away for a few days. I'll probably have things to post when that time comes.

Thanks for tuning in.

Super Happy Fun Times.

I've been getting some good rides in with my buddy Joe who will be rolling down the Maah Daah Hey trail with me later this year. We are trying to get some more substantial miles in our legs for the upcoming trip. In addition to that I'll be on my bike a lot more as I am moving back to Minneapolis! I scored an internship with the city of Minneapolis and it sounds like I'll have no problems bike commuting to this job. That makes me very, very happy.

Yesterday was the 30 days of biking kick off ride. I had a really good time. I heard a few complaints about it being a slow ride but there was 260(+/-) people there. When you have that many folks, it is not going to ever be a "fast" ride. Despite that, it seemed like everyone had a good time. I was a ride marshal so I was sprinting up and down the line trying to make sure cars didn't take us out. I had a lot of fun doing it and people were being very kind and grateful. I got to meet so many new friendly folks and saw a lot of familiar faces. To some people these rides don't sound appealing for one reason or another but you should honestly go to one of them at least once. The positive vibe of the event was very uplifting. There is something about that many people of all walks of life congregating to ride bikes together that just makes you feel good. From old folks to young kiddos in trailers or trail-a-bikes, fair weather cyclists to hardcore riders, ti mountain bikes to the oldest most beat up Schwinn you can think of, we had it all and it was great. We have a pretty special thing here in Minneapolis, don't take it for granted! I didn't have time to take pictures really but you can find them all over the place. If you have Facebook just search #30daysofbiking

That is all I got for now. Be well.