Drive west to the prairie...

Today is one of those perfect summer days which you wish you could pack up and open in the dark of February like a birthday pop up card.  It opens to let out the sun, the blue sky and the soft summer breeze.  We were lucky to have this perfect day for biking.  It was an adventure going back to one of our earliest trails that we biked on our tandem but that we haven't been back to for more than a year.  The Glacial Lakes State Trail http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_trails/glacial_lakes/index.html starts in Hawick and goes south to Willmar.  The trail winds through farm country, dotted with series of small lakes created by the glaciers.  It's the end of July and the sides of this old Burlington Northern railroad bed are covered in wild flowers - yellows, pinks, purples from the giant mullein which can reach six feet in height (and we saw some that tall) to delicate birds-foot trefoil.  As we ride along we are constantly pointing to the next flower.  We discovered a new plant called the lead plant, a member of the pea family.  Tt has a cluster of blue or purple flowers and its leaf is divided into tiny leaflets.  According to my wildflower book, it can live for centuries but will never get more than 3 feet tall.  Its growing is in the root which can delve more than 10 feet into the ground.  Parts of the plant used to be made into tea.  Another of  the hundreds of flowers that were blooming is the common milkweed.  Did you know there are 13 varieties of this pink flowering plant in Minnesota?  It's important to us because it is the only plant that the Monarch butterfly uses to lay its eggs.

We had our share of wildlife sightings including a hawk, three deer (looking but not bolting), a heron, numerous rabbits and ground squirrels plus a toad.  We took one break and sat on a bench listening to the sounds of the trail:  wind rustling the leaves of the cottonwood, bird song, insect clicks and buzzes, and the solitary mow of a cow off in its pasture.

The 36 miles of trail wind through several communities.  Each is marked by a monument that carries its name and something unique about the town.  For Spicer it was Green lake and a picture of a sailboat. Life ebbs and flows in the small towns.  The grain elevator in Spicer is for sale but the junk yard outside New London seems to be busy. We did see the original telegraph poles still standing along the trail outside of Hawick.  It takes some imagination to think of the trains once passing through all these places we are now biking. 

Detours on the Gateway

Today was my first of five voluntary furlough days at the U of Minnesota.  I remembered to turn off my alarm and sleep until 7:30 am!  Crawled out and did my morning yoga routine (thank you Kitty) and drank my first cup of coffee in the backyard while I watched our backyard critters.  One of two chipmunks is featured in this blog.  Will finally woke up and we packed up the bike first heading for excellent lingonberry waffles at http://www.steamworkscoffee.com/ where owners Jeff and Kristine remember your drinks and bring them to your table.  We leisurely read the paper and eventually got on the road for the Gateway Trail in St. Paul.  http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_trails/gateway/index.html  This is a heavily used commuter trail that passes through woodland, prairie and bogs.  In the spring you are serenaded by the peepers.  There is a parallel horse path for part of the trail. Today we encountered quite a few horses.  We were surprised when we hit a "Trail Closed" sign about 40 minutes into the ride.  We followed some other cyclists off to the horse path, then on to a road, across County Road 15 and down a gravel path for a short stretch.  Not the best surface for the tandem or its riders.  A new bridge is being built over County Road 15. This will make the trail safer and easier for riders.  Later (at the Dairy Queen) we discovered that a second bike trail bridge was being built over Century Avenue.  We never go that far west because of the difficulty in maneuvering across the street on our bike.  Great improvements; thanks to the DNR and the citizens of Minnesota that support and fund bike trails.  We are usually on this trail in early evening when we can fit a two hour ride in after work so it was revealing to see it in the light of day.  Butterflies were everywhere; splashes of colorful wildflowers lit up the sides of the trail.  We saw the orange of butterfly weed, the yellows of woodland sunflowers, grayheaded cone flowers, birds foot trefoil and butter and eggs, the pinks of spotted knapweed and wild bergamot, whites of prairie clover and sweet clover.  And the absolute best:  the rare find of a cluster of Turk's Cap Lily which we saw only once before on the Lake Wobegone trail.  That was more exciting than the deer running in front of us.  I've come to realize that being out in the country on our bike is important for my soul.   Not sure why it was so hard to get started this year.  Valuable happiness time lost.

Doing a "Dave"

Sometimes you're lucky enough to have a neighbor who is also a friend. Dave was that kind of guy. We got to know each other from walking to and from the bus every day. When Dave was critically ill in the hospital from a brain tumor, I went to visit and read him the top ten things i had learned from him. Dave didn't make it. But on Friday, September 18, we did a "Dave". Dave taught me that if you live in Minnesota and the weather is going to be exceptional then you forget everything else and go out and enjoy what you love best. For Dave it was golf; for us it is biking.

We made last minute reservations at a B&B in Rushford http://www.meadowsinn.com/ and drove South to bike the Root River Trail. The Rushford area was tragically hit by floods http://rushford.net/ but the town has amazingly come back in a very short time. We biked out of Rushford to just beyond Lanesboro and back. Despite the warm temperatures it sounded like fall. The dry leaves crunched under our ties and the unmistakable fall light lit the trees differently than just a few weeks before. Here and there was a tree turning to bright reds and golds and the sumac along the trail was bright red. Wildflowers are pretty much done except for a few false sunflowers here and there. The fields of soybeans were yellow and the corn was starting to lose its green.

Our first eagle sighting came from a shadow that flew over our heads. An adult was soaring right over the trail as it looked for fish in the Root. Later we scared an immature eagle that took off right next to us from the side of the trail. That was exciting.

The Root River trail is less busy on the Rushford end and way too busy in Lanesboro. It's one of the reasons we don't do this trail more often. Since it was a Friday, we were better off than usual. There were other tandems going the opposite direction from us - two were recumbents but not Screamers. There are no railroad relics except for depots on this trail but the Rushford has an interesting museum attached. The museum at Lanesboro was also worth the visit. We did this on our second day.

We made the fatal mistake of stopping at Whalen for pie on our way back. Apple pie a la mode was perfect but sat in my stomach all the way to Rushford. I suggest pie to go and eat it at the end of the ride.

The Meadows Inn is just outside of town slightly above the valley. Doug welcomed us and we met Marie later. She had just come back from Ireland. The next morning we sat and chatted on the patio after breakfast about Ireland and the Irish language with her. Vultures soared over head in the summer sun. I realized on this trip that I missed the small town life that I knew as a kid. There are certain qualities of familiarity and friendship that are harder to come by in the city. These bike rides and visits to small towns in Minnesota have been good for the soul.

Our zen moment with the screamer

Gray clouds all week but they broke briefly for our one bike ride before the Central Lakes trail. Traffic was uncharacteristically light going through St. Paul where we headed for a 20 mile ride on the Gateway trail. The temperatures were cool; I actually wore a hoody for most of the ride. There were way too many rollerbladers on the trail. Fortunately for us they were on the final leg of their trek and we were just starting out.

We were in the groove last night. More uphill going out means downhill coming back. It is so exhilarating when you're humming. I really felt one with the bike. It's amazing to me how you can shut out the world around you when you are focusing on one physical task. Last night I tuned into my pedal action; thinking at first about each stroke then moving eventually to just an automatic cadence. This doesn't happen with every ride.

But let me also complain about our bike. Will worked on the brakes today so we don't come into stops with the customary shriek. Nice. However, everything else on this bike makes noise. Maybe if two lightweights were riding it would be fine but with us the seats creak! Now we also have a noise in the back crank. Will thinks it just crap falling off the chain from the silicone spray he puts on the chain. Whatever, it drives me crazy. And drives him crazy because I complain about it all the time.

We were so focused on the ride that we hardly noticed wildlife. We did see an egret and were serenaded by frogs. You really have to be there to hear the different frogs calling back and forth. There were more horses than usual on the bridle path lending an aromatic smell to the woods.

We ended up the night at 299.9 miles for the season. Didn't think fast enough to go that extra .1 to round it off.

Beat the heat on the Gateway

We need to get in a few training rides during the week so despite temperatures in the 90s and a high dewpoint we headed out for our first ride on the Gateway Trail. This is an 18 mile rail-trail that begins in St. Paul and travels through a number of suburbs to end up at Pine Point Regional Park just a few miles from Stillwater. We start the trail about midway near Hwy 36 and I-694 so it's about a 20 mile round trip for us. The challenges can be heavy traffic - it's a commuting route and used by rollerbladers. We also have the cross roads several times but traffic is usually light. Remember - NO STOPPING! By the time we get on the trail (6:45 pm) it's quieted down.

Much of the end we bike on (traveling East toward Pine Point) is tree shaded with wetlands on either side so you can catch a glimpse of egrets settling in trees or hear the peepers. A horse path runs parallel to the bike trail. We share the trail through tunnels and over bridges so one has to steer around the manure. There are signs that indicate we're supposed to announce ourselves to the horses. I'm still not sure how that works. Tuesday night we had a deer cross the trail and we also spyed a wild turkey with her brood. You also ride through a farm; on previous rides we've had to stop for cows being herded from pasture to barn.

Like most of the rail trails the Gateway has a plethora of wildflowers. There are biffys along the trail and a nice bathroom at Pine Point. We encountered a group of girls going on a nature scavanger hunt when we took our break. They were all wearing tie dyed shirts and thought our screamer was "cool".

We kept to our pace despite the heat and felt pretty pleased with ourselves. Next opportunity is tomorrow night for another try.

Lake Wobegon trail

After the coldest start to June since the 1950s we finally had a warm, sunny Saturday. After waffles and ligonberries at Steamworks, we headed west to the Lake Wobegon Trail. The spring wildflowers were still in full bloom probably because of the cooler weather. We saw golden Alexanders, campions, wild geraniums, wild roses, Canadien Anenmones, Virginia Waterleaf. Two new flowers: Cow parsnips (our favorites) and Daisies. Keep in mind that there are lots of other flowers out there but we're tracking the ones we can identify.

I hopefully will also post a photo of one of the old telegraph poles from the original railroad line. You can see these between Bowlus and Holdingford. Not much wildlife besides birds but we heard peepers and saw an occasional chipmunk.

Our pace was great considering the headwind and uphill route to Albany. The ride back to Bowlus was mostly downhill and with the wind. We decided not to head for the dam but instead chatted with Louie, the resident caretaker of the trailhead, for a while and then ate lunch at Jordie's Trailside Cafe. I heartily recommend Jordie's for a great lunch with homebaked pie! It's located right behind the depot.

The screamer was well behaved today as were its riders. We drove the scenic route home through Little Falls and Pierz (where I got into the wrong car). It was great to be back riding. People were really friendly and chatty this weekend. Probably because it finally felt like summer had arived. We did hit showers near Mille Lacs but sunshine back home.