It's beautiful here. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are known as the metropolitan area with the most per capita bike commuters. Who knew? But after spending three days on various parts of our bike system I can certainly see why it is worth the effort in our, shall we say "variable" weather?
This sign was something I passed several dozen times this weekend. It signifies a 50.1 mile bike only trail that runs around a pretty decent sized chunk of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I've always thought it foolish to pack up your bikes and drive to a bike route when I have perfectly good sidewalks and streets in my own neighborhood. But this week I wanted to see what I was missing, and now its all clear. In my neighborhood there are some pretty decent, quiet streets to bike. But almost none of them are flat. In fact, you can't leave my apartment in any direction without encountering a hill within the first mile. They are everywhere. And in terms of having a nice LONG bike ride, it is easier for me to maintain a more steady effort, rather then pumping up hills and cruising down the other side.
On Tuesday, I decided to see how far I could run. I have a dear friend out in New Hampshire that is trying to get out here to see me, and she is a RUNNER! She has now run countless 5 and 10ks, and 3 half marathons. If she comes out here I know she's gonna want to run with me, and I wondered, just how far can I go if pushed? Well, I can't say I ran the whole time, but I did go 7 miles on Tuesday. Here is my lovely route:
I really pushed myself too far, and by the end of Lake Harriet I could barely ambulate, much less run, but it felt good to push my limits. It was a perfect day and there were plenty of colorful sailboarders out on Calhoun and such beautiful little waves on Lake Harriet. The gardens are starting to bloom, and as I made my way past the amphitheatre the musicians were warming up for a concert. At Lake Calhoun I passed the lakeside restaurant and nearly keeled over from the lovely smells of food cooking. It was such a wonderful, if painful and LONG run (I don't even want to tell you how long it took me to go 7 miles...a LONG time!)
Wednesday was left for recovery, and I was pleasantly surprised that I felt really good.
On Thursday, Andrew and I met up at my friend Martha's house in St. Louis Park, a suburb directly north of us about 8 miles, and left from her house to catch another piece of the great dedicated bike trails that run through the heart of Minneapolis.
Minneapolis has smartly repurposed old railroad routes, which are already set up to bypass most traffic routes, and turn them in to dedicated biking "freeways". There are few exits and entrances and the trails are smooth as silk and well marked. Most importantly? They are FLAT. Going Andrew's speed, I hardly had to pedal at all! We met up with the Lake of the Isles trail, a lovely paved path that circles the circuitous Isles, surrounded by multimillion dollar estates. We took a short detour half way around the lake to reward the hard working Andrew with an ice cream cone. I think Martha was less than thrilled with the speed the little 8 year old generated, but I was pleased as punch with how well he held up on this 10.5 mile ride! Getting to and from the ice cream parlor involved a treacherous hill, but we were soon back on the pleasant, flat paved path around the lake and back to the dedicated trail to St. Louis Park. The weather again was just stunning, sunny and beautiful, a slight breeze to keep us cool, the temps hovering right at 70.
Friday we took another rest break and just played at the park with friends.
Today we all three headed to Lake Nokomis, the closest in the chain of lakes to our home. Scott and Andrew wished me a nice ride and headed over to the dock to do some fishing. This was my final route although my original plans were a bit different:
I wanted to try out more of the eastern portion of the beltway, so although my original plan was to circle Harriet, Calhoun and Isles and then head back on the eastern side of these lakes, I instead headed straight east from Calhoun, then cut down on Portland for a faster shot to the starting point. (As the boys had called and fishing was a bust.) What is so wonderful about these rides is the scenery. Each part of the trail is set up so that biking involves a minimum of interaction with traffic (must trails are off street and either go over or under cross streets to minimize intersections) and a maximum interaction with the natural beauty of our fair cities. I wound around lakes studded with flowering trees, coasted alongside creeks with gardens and statues and lovely bridges being passed under by families in canoes and kayaks, and on the bigger lakes watched the sailboarders dance across the surface and the dogs catch frisbee's and the families cooking mouthwatering steaks and playing volleyball. I also always enjoy looking for couples on first dates: this is what Scott and I did on our first date and I love seeing the awkwardness mixed with possibilities and remembering back.
A lovely week with 40 miles overall of running, biking and walking. Can't wait for what next week will bring!
