Category Archives: Bicycle

More of Mississippi River Trail in Minnesota recognized

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The story below was published in Saturday’s West Central Tribune:

U.S. Bicycle Route 45 expands to a continuous 700 miles in Minnesota

ST. PAUL — The Mississippi River Trail, also known as U.S. Bicycle Route 45, received national recognition when federal officials today announced approval of the route through the Twin Cities area.

The route now officially runs the entire length of the Mississippi River in Minnesota, according to a news release from the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

The trail connects 700 miles of existing shouldered highways, low-use roads and off-road paths for bicyclists and closely follows the Mississippi River from the headwaters at Itasca State Park to the Iowa border. Some sections have route options on both sides of the river.

“Designating the entire length of the MRT shows a strong support for bicycling in Minnesota,” Tim Mitchell, MnDOT bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, said in the release. “The route is a unique collaboration among many local communities and state authorities. It creates regional connections and shared interests.”

U.S. bicycle routes have been designated in 10 states, and another 40 states are working to create routes.

The newly approved middle segment for the Mississippi River Trail passes through the Twin Cities Metro area and the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area — a 72-mile-long park managed by the National Park Service. Much of the route is on bike paths with scenic views. This segment of the route offers opportunities to connect with restaurants, museums, parks and festivals along the river.

The northern segment of USBR 45 was designated in October 2012 and begins in Itasca State Park, where the river begins as a small stream. The route then travels through the north woods and past numerous lakes to Bemidji, Cass Lake, Grand Rapids, Brainerd, Little Falls and St. Cloud. At Cass Lake, bicyclists have an off-road option to travel 100 miles on the Heartland State Trail and Paul Bunyan State Trail.

The southern segment was designated in May 2012 and extends from Hastings to the Iowa border. This section is on roads and multi-use paths that closely follow the Mississippi River through steep limestone bluffs, hardwood forests, and more than a dozen river towns.

This summer MnDOT will begin installing MRT bike route signs for bicyclists to navigate the route. Detailed maps and other information are available to print or access via smart phone/GPS at www.mndot.gov/bike/mrt.

Once complete, the trail will continue south along the river to New Orleans.

I’ve been riding my new bike for a few days now. It’s what I’ll be riding for Pedal for Project Impact. I’ll post more about it in a few days.

There’s a book about the entire Mississippi River Trail – from Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico. You can link to a webpage with more information about the book and the option of buying a copy by clicking on its title here: “Bicycling Guide to the Mississippi River Trail.”

Bob Hines and I will be pedaling part of the route described in the article while doing our two-man Pedal for Project Impact fundraising ride June 3 to 9.

While in the Park Rapids are for two days, we plan to visit the headwaters of the Mississippi at Itasca State Park and riding the Heartland and Paul Bunyan trails in and out of Bemidji.

Remember, if you want to contribute, you can mail a donation to: Safe Avenues, PO Box 568, Willmar, MN 56201. Please write PPI on the memo line of your check.

Donations can also be done online at www.willmarshelter.com. Just click on the donate button at the top of the home page and follow the instructions.

You’re welcome to join Bob and I for the first miles of our ride. Just meet us at 7 a.m. June 3 at the Glacial Lakes Trail head near the Willmar Civic Center.

PPI update

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There are miles of U.S. Highway 71 that have gravel shoulders.

I’ve been busy the past few weeks getting ready for Pedal for Project Impact.

While on a scouting trip Friday morning, I rediscovered how little attention I pay to details sometimes. While laying out the route for the weeklong fundraising ride my friend, Bob Hines, and I will begin June 3, I figured we could just pedal up U.S. Highway 71 to Long Prairie and onto Park Rapids.

There are a lot of rules on the sign at the Soo Line ATV Trail head near Little Falls.

On my drive Friday, I discovered there’s no paved shoulder on that road from just north of Sibley State Park to Belgrade. And that’s a busy highway with lots of semis using it.

On the positive side, I was able to verify that the Soo Line ATV Trail is paved from U.S. Highway 10 south of Little Falls to the Lake Wobegon Trail southwest of Bowlus. That bit of information will make that stage of our return route easier and safer.

I also had a bike fitting – a new experience – for the bike I’ll be riding for the Project Impact ride.

It was similar in ways to being fitted for a suit with elements of medical exam and a chiropractic adjustment thrown in.

Although the sign at the trail head gives the impression that all vehicles other than ATVs and snowmobiles are forbidden, this sign a few yards up the trail entrance tells a different story.

Rick Norsten, of Rick’s Cycles in Willmar, did the fitting fresh from a class in the Twin Cities taught by an experienced bike fitter and a sports medicine doctor.

It took about two hours, although I’m sure the process will take less time as Rick more fittings.

He examined various joints to find the point from which to take measurements. That was the part that made it seem a bit medical or chiropractic to me.

By the way, if you want to join Bob and me for the first miles of the ride, just meet us at 7 a.m. June 3 at the Glacial Lakes State Trail head near the Willmar Civic Center. We’ll stay on the trail past New London.

So, if you want to ride a few miles with us, please do.

Rick Norsten measures my new bike.

And now, it’s time once again for the fundraising:

You can mail a donation to: Safe Avenues, PO Box 568, Willmar, MN 56201. Please write PPI on the memo line of your check.

Donations can also be done online at www.willmarshelter.com. Just click on the donate button at the top of the home page and follow the instructions.

Can’t complain yet

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I’ve been complaining for weeks – at least – about the weather.

Another local cyclist kind of put me in my place by reminding me that registration closed Wednesday for the Minnesota Ironman Bicycle Ride.

This Ironman is strictly a bike ride, not a triathlon. Minnesota’s event has permission from the World Triathlon Association to use the Ironman moniker.

According to the ride’s website, it’s the state’s “longest running century (100-mile) ride.”

When cyclists roll out of the Washington County Fairgrounds just outside of Stillwater, early April 28, it will be the Ironman’s 47th annual run.

Bob Hines and I tested our foul weather clothes pretty well by riding the 100-mile route of the 2010 Minnesota Ironman Bike Ride. But we wore only some of that gear for a few hours once during the week-long Bicycle Tour of Colorado later that year.

Because it’s always held in late April or early May, it’s not unusual for the weather to be uncooperative.

To put it simply – it often sucks.

But the ride’s organizers have embraced the weather issue and use it as a selling point.

“We Ride Rain Or Shine,” is the event’s slogan.

I’ve also heard, “All we guarantee is wind, rain and snow.

You might say the Ironman proves there can be winter weather in Minnesota to the end of April and beyond.

My friend, Bob Hines, and I have registered for it three times and ridden it only once.

One of the years Bob and I decided not to ride, another local rider showed more fortitude and actually completed the tour.

He saw my wife, Sofia, the next day. When she asked how the Ironman went, he responded that it was great, except for the wind, the rain and the snow.

When Bob and I actually did ride in the Ironman was the same year we signed up for the week-long Bicycle Tour of Colorado. That year we actually wanted bad weather so we could test the foul-weather riding clothes we’d be taking to Colorado.

It blew and rained

But it never snowed during that year’s Ironman.

So I suggested we ask for a refund of our registration money.

Bob shot down that idea.

It turned out that we didn’t really need all that extra clothing in Colorado.

The temperature was around freezing when we started our ride the second day of the tour, but it climbed to 80 degrees by noon.

It never snowed in the mountains, as literature from the tour organizers indicated it could, and the only rain came in the form of a light sprinkle on the last hour of the last day.

Overall, we had more bad weather in one day riding the Minnesota Ironman than in a week in the mountains of Colorado.

But I guess the history of the Ironman proves I really can’t complain in earnest about Minnesota weather for a few more weeks.

And, even then, I’ll probably get that chance.

It’s set

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Well, I’ve made reservations so the route and schedule for the weeklong bike ride my friend, Bob Hines, and I will be taking is set. If you add up the miles listed, the total’s around 450 miles. It will be a little more if I can figure out the location of a certain barbecue restaurant near Itasca State Park. I had lunch there a couple years ago when I was riding the Habitat 500.

Here’s an approximation of our route created by Google Maps.

Day 1, Monday, June 3

Willmar – Long Prairie, 69 miles

Glacial Lakes State Trail and Highway 71

Day 2, Tuesday, June 4

Long Prairie – Park Rapids, 76 miles

Highway 71

Day 3, Wednesday, June 5

Park Rapids to Itasca State Park and back to Park Rapids, 40 miles (at least)

Highway 71

Day 4, Thursday, June 6

Park Rapids – Bemidji, 60 miles

Heartland and Paul Bunyan trails

Day 5, Friday, June 7

Bemidji – Pequot Lakes, 72 miles

Paul Bunyan Trail

Day 6, Saturday, June 8

Pequot Lakes – Albany, 81 miles

Highway 371, Soo Line ATV Trail and Lake Wobegon Trail

Day 7, Sunday, June 9

Albany – Willmar, 51 miles

Stearns County Road 10, Highway 23  and Glacial Lakes Trail

Our ride is intended to raise money for and awareness of a Project Impact.

While there are a variety of funding sources for programs for women, Project Impact, the effort to help children who have experienced violence in their homes, is supported strictly by local contributions.

That’s why Bob and I will be pedaling for Project Impact.

If you’d like to help, you can contribute in a couple of ways.

You can mail a donation to: Safe Avenues, PO Box 568, Willmar, MN 56201. Please write PPI on the memo line of your check.

Donations can also be done online at www.willmarshelter.com. Just click on the donate button at the top of the home page and follow the instructions.

Bob Hines is way out ahead of me — as usual — on a 40-mile ride we took Saturday. Doing rides like this give me confidence we’ll be ready for Pedal for Project Impact in June. I’m just hoping the snow will be gone by then.

Spring?

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The weather was supposed to warm up Wednesday.

It did — but only technically.

As I pedaled away from home shortly after 9 a.m. that day, the National Weather Service Willmar webpage, reported it was 34 degrees with a 15 mph southeast wind gusting to 18 mph.

That meant a wind chill of 25 before taking into account my traveling anywhere from 5 to 21 mph.

Trying to dress for the “warmer” weather, I put on lighter gloves than I’ve been using and tucked my balaclava into my back pocket.

That turned out to be a smart move.

As I headed east out of town on Highway 12, I felt the wind but it wasn’t too uncomfortable … once my face froze.

I felt jet propelled once I turned north on County Road 127. Even though it’s a gravel road, I rolled down some of the steeper hills at more than 21 mph.

When I turned around to head back, it was a different story.

It wasn’t really a head wind I found myself facing, but it was cold and strong enough to slow me to less than 5 mph as I crawled up some of the steeper hills on the same gravel road I’d just flown across in the other direction.

And the weird thing was a wind turbine on the road just a short distance from Highway 12 was pointed almost straight west. I was heading south and fighting something that was blowing fairly hard.

Then there was the train.

I’d noticed it when I turned onto County 127. It was parked maybe 100 yards or so from the crossing just off Highway 12.

As I approached the crossing, I heard a train whistle blowing.

But the parked train waited until I was less than a half mile away and had a good vantage point slowly rolling down a hill.

That’s when it blocked the road with its countless coal-laden cars.

I waited for nearly 10 minutes, but at least the train made a pretty good wind break.

Once it passed, I pedaled the few dozen yards to Highway 12, turned west and sailed the 4.68 miles back home.

Then there was the train.

Another step for Pedal for Project Impact

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For the last two years, Pedal for Project Impact has been primarily a family ride, as shown in this photo from the 2012 ride. This year it will be just Bob Hines and I riding from Willmar to the headwaters of the Mississippi River and pack.

For the past two years, Safe Avenues, the Willmar-based shelter house for the victims of domestic violence, has held Pedal for Project Impact. The first year, it was a family ride on the Glacial Lakes State Trail.

A year later, we added a couple routes for cyclists who wanted a road ride that went a little farther.

This year, we’re trying some altogether different, as explained in the fundraising letter which follows:

I’m back again asking for your help. In 2011, I asked you to contribute when I rode my bicycle in the week-long Habitat 500.

This June my friend, Bob Hines, and I are doing Pedal for Project Impact. It will be a two-man ride from Willmar to the headwaters of the Mississippi at Itasca State Park. From there, we’ll follow the river as far as we can on our way back to Willmar.

Our ride is intended to raise money for and awareness of a program at Safe Avenues, the local shelter for women and children who have experienced domestic violence.

While there is a variety of funding sources for programs for women, Project Impact, the efforts to help children who have experienced violence in their homes are supported strictly by local contributions.

Project Impact offers parenting education for moms.

It provides support groups for children who witness domestic violence.

Care for children when their moms are working on safety planning or attending groups.

The project works with members of community who assist children or work on behalf of children.

It also offers referral and access to counseling services, school social workers, child guide programs, day care providers, mentorship programs, family activities, and children’s events.

That’s why Bob and I will be pedaling for Project Impact.

If you’d like to help, you can contribute in a variety of ways.

You can mail a donation to: Safe Avenues, PO Box 568, Willmar, MN 56201. Please write PPI on the memo line of your check.

Donations can also be done online at http://www.willmarshelter.com. Just click on the donate button at the top of the home page and follow the instructions.

“Just Ride”

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It’s title is “Just Ride: A Radically Practical Guide to Riding Your Bike.”

In this book about bicycling in the U.S., author Grant Petersen questions a lot of popular trends – everything from clipless pedals to the value of cycling to lose weight.

And he’s not always diplomatic when writing about something he thinks is B.S.

Clipless pedals (which, of course, have clips that attach to cleats on cycling shoes) are of little or no use to most of the people who use them, according to Petersen.

Such pedals are supposed to enable riders to both push and pull their pedals as they ride. But studies have failed to prove cyclists actually pull.

Another of the ideas Petersen challenges in “Just Ride,” is the idea that exercise alone enables people to lose weight. Most people who have tried to slim down by walking, running or pedaling haves learned that exertion alone won’t cut it.
“Losing fat isn’t as hopeless as it sounds,” Petersen writes. “Just cut back drastically on carbohydrates.”

But bicycle lore tells riders that carbs — bananas, oatmeal, pasta and so on — are the perfect types of food to eat before a long ride.

To lose a pound of fat, the average person must burn 3,500 calories, Petersen writes. A cyclist weighing 170 pounds (I wish) who rides a moderately challenging route for an hour will burn 500 calories.

That means riding seven hours without eating or drinking any calories to shed a pound of fat.

Cutting the carbs seems like a much better idea.

Too much about cycling is influenced by racing, Petersen argues.

Most people don’t need the super-light, carbon-composite bikes that racers in the Tour de France ride. What do the few pounds saved on the weight of a cycle matter compared to the weight of a rider? he asks.

One of the nice things about the book is that it’s organized in such a way that you can read just a portion that pertains to a subject you’re interested in.

Petersen is the founder of a bike-building company, Rivendell Bicycle Works.

“Our mission is to make things that wouldn’t be made if we weren’t here, to offer an alternative to racing-centric bikes and parts, and to espouse a different approach to riding,” it states on the company’s website. “And to resurrect and keep healthy many of the better ideas, designs, and styles of bicycles, clothing, and accessories that we personally like to use or wear.”

I don’t necessarily agree with all of Petersen’s ideas, but have found his book thought provoking. It might be that I’m just too invested in some of the practices Petersen argues are unnecessary or just plain wrong. Or, it might be that clipless pedals and riding a bike that looks like a racing bike is part of why I enjoy cycling.

But it’s worth reading because it makes you wonder how much of what you do in your cycling is because that’s what other people are doing and it’s what the industry pushes. You may continue doing it, but “Just Ride” might save you some time, money and worrying about what you’re doing differently.

Any ride

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I covered 13.65 miles during my ride Wednesday. About 5.25 miles were on gravel.

I was sick for a couple weeks and missed a lot of opportunities to ride outside. There were days when the weather (for Minnesota in late January) was pretty nice, but I was coughing too much or too dizzy because of whatever was sloshing around in my sinuses to consider riding outside.

Of course, there were plenty of days during the past three weeks when what little time I spent walking the dog was more than enough time outside. Some of those days were positively arctic.

The odd thing about the relative risks involved in winter cycling and winter dog walking is that I thought it would be more dangerous to be pedaling on icy, snow-covered street. While I’ve been slipping and sliding on my bike, I haven’t fallen yet.

And the nastiest injury I’ve suffered happened while I was walking the dog.

I slipped and slammed my right knee into an icy patch of sidewalk.

My knee ached, but not when I pedal. For the past few days, I’ve been riding the bike I keep mounted on a trainer in the basement. My knee feels better now, but for a while, about the only time it didn’t ache was when I was pedaling.

I was using the trainer to prepare, as I recovered from my cold, for riding outside.

I had to really push myself, but I rode outside today (Wednesday, Feb. 6) or about an hour and a half. There was a southeast wind causing a wind chill just above zero, but I wore layers of clothes so it wasn’t too bad.

It wasn’t the best ride I’ve ever had, but any ride is better than none.

Snow mainly after 1 p.m. Right

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The weather’s been pretty nice for January in Minnesota — except on weekends.

It seems that most of the time since the second or third week in December either the weather has been too cold and/or windy to ride outside or something to do with Christmas, New Year or my birthday (I turned 60 on New Year’s Eve) has made it impossible to ride.

Not that I’m complaining. Christmas with the family was fun.

And I did get a 60-inch, flat-screen TV for my birthday. Nuff said about that.

Weather over the past weekend was about as cold as it’s been all winter. And we can look forward to even colder weather this coming weekend and into the beginning of next week.

About the only exception to the recent bad weekend weather trend happened the first weekend of January. That Saturday we took advantage of calm, sunny day by going to Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center to try snow shoeing. I’d never done that before and — except for a few tumbles — I enjoyed it and got a good workout.

On Sunday that weekend, it was time to take our daughter, Gabby, back to the Twin Cities because she went back to work Monday. Gabby and Sofia, my wife, shopped and, after hunting all over Plymouth, I found an Indian restaurant in the very mall where I left the women.

Any trip that includes an Indian buffet is great as far as I’m concerned.

But driving to the Cities gorging on Indian food is just another reason I need to get some riding in.

Snow mainly after 1 p.m. Right.

Since that weekend buffet, weather has been good enough to ride outside six or seven times.

Wednesday looked pretty promising … on Tuesday.

According to the National Weather Service, the high temperature would be around 34 degrees and, although there would be light snow, it would fall “mainly after 1 p.m.”

Well it did reach 34 — at about 6 a.m. And the snow was a little early.

I was about two miles from home at about 11:15 a.m. when I took off my untinted sports glasses because moisture from the snow that had been falling for the past half hour had fogged them.

Because the temperature was below freezing, the snow actually helped in one respect: It improved traction on icy portions of the road.

Overall though, I enjoyed biking as it snowed. It still wasn’t too cold — at least not after I added a thermal undershirt before turning around and heading back home into the wind.

And the addition of blowing snow changed the terrain and the sky around the unpaved roads I’ve been riding regularly for months.

The studded tires I bought (and finally broke in) have worked well so far. I wouldn’t try to stop on a dime on ice if I was rolling along at 20 mph even when my tires are covering with little carbide knobs.

But when traveling at a reasonable speed and gradually increasing the pressure on the brakes (which I can do because my winter bike has disk brakes) those tires seem to do a good job of grabbing whatever’s beneath them.

Overall, while this winter may not have been as mild as last year, it’s not without it enjoyable cycling opportunities.

Breaking in the studs

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It had been nearly two weeks since I’ve ridden a bike outdoors.

Then I rode for an hour Thursday.

It wasn’t exactly the best day for a ride, but the Finns made me do it.

As I reported in my last post, I bought studded tires for my mountain bike.

The tires were made in Finland, and according to instructions in multiple languages on the tire labels, which I discovered while mounting them on my bike, I have to ride them for 30 miles on clear, paved roads.

It took me a while, but I managed to mount the studded tires on my mountain bike.

Normally, 30 miles would be a pleasant weekend afternoon ride for me. But holiday activities and weather have kept me indoors.

I had an hour or two Thursday morning and decided I’d better start breaking in those tires even if the wind chill was 0 and it was snowing lightly.

I drove a mile or so from home to about a block from U.S. Highway 12 because the streets in my neighborhood are pretty icy – one of the reasons I bought those studded tires.

But the shoulders on the highway are wide and almost always free of snow and ice. That made it seem like the best road to use to break in the tires.

It runs east and west, which meant I was pedaling into the wind as I left town.

It was so cold …

How cold was it?

I was so cold my bike computer – a digital odometer, speedometer and clock – slowed down. Its liquid crystal took much longer than usual to switch from one readout to the next. And parts of numbers and letters appeared at different rates.

 

I’d put toe warmers in my biking boots. They’re supposed to heat up for five or six hours thanks to a chemical reaction. The pair I used were duds.

The wind wasn’t so strong that I was fighting it, but it seemed I was going slower than I

The cold was almost too much for the display on my bike computer.

should. I was working hard to achieve speeds of nine to 11 mph.

I decided riding 10 miles – a third of the required break-in distance – was good enough for that day.

As I approached Kandiyohi, I began to worry that the cold was not only affecting my computer’s display, it might be impairing its computing.

I was on the outskirts of the town and the display indicated I’d traveled about four and a half miles. From my house to Kandiyohi is a distance of well over six miles.

Griping to myself about how bike gear ought to tolerate more extreme weather than the computer obviously could handle, I realized I’d driven about a mile to Highway 12.

Curses, I had had another senior moment.

On the way back I had a tail wind that made averaging 13 mph a breeze.

Just 20 more miles to go.