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.

Singing on the Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail

This is a photo at the start of our 50 mile ride at Cannon Lake just outside of Faribault, MN. The winds were gusting up to 25 miles per hour but the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the flowers were still covering the countryside. It was the type of day that made one understand why they loved the Midwest (Easterner that I am), the skies that go on forever, the vivid colors of green from the corn and soybean crops and yellow from the goldenrod, cone flowers and woodland sunflowers. It moved me to start singing "America the Beautiful" at one point (to Will's dismay). The Sakatah trail goes from town to town so many of the cyclists we meet are community cyclists and not tourists like us. They're the ones that always say Hi and comment on the bike. "That's the way to ride," one kid yelled at us while another pronounced us "Awesome!". It's a feel good trail from the forest of the State Park and Sakatah Lake to the cornfields outside of Elysian. Put that to music. I was feeling one with the bike but Will complained that he was not with it. He had put a new chain on to hopefully remedy the miserable noise in the rear wheel. I was getting excited after 40 miles because all was quiet but kept my mouth shut not wanting to mention a shutout. Unfortunately about mile 41 it started again but not quite as fingernail across the chalkboard painful. There are a number of other fixits to do which involve replacing other parts. Other screamers out there will sympathize with us. We drove the Highway 13 home and went off road to discover Kilkenny right here in Minnesota. It has a bar which was hopping on Saturday night. We now move into our fall biking schedule - hard to believe Labor Day is just around the corner.

Three Trails in Three Days

We were in the middle of a rainy week complete with tornadoes when we decided to be "wild" and take off for a biking weekend. Will got out the map and figured if we stayed in Little Falls we could finish off the small section of the Central Lakes trail that we were rained out on over the 4th of July, get a short ride in on the Lake Wobegon Trail and spend most of Saturday on the Paul Bunyan trail. I managed to get reservations at the Waller House Inn for two nights http://www.wallerhouseinn.com/ Friday morning dawned with more rain but the weather radio said it was going to clear so we headed west by northwest to Bowlus. http://bowlusmn.com/ This has become one of our favorite trailheads on this particular trail. It has great facilities including a cafe in town, picnic area, and most importantly flushing toilets! We headed up to the Blanchard Dam first to view the river with all the rain from the previous week. The trail goes across the Mississippi immediately adjacent to the dam so you're looking down at the water spilling over the causeway. Cool stuff. Along the trail there are remnants of the telegraph poles, some still with insulators. We headed back to Bowlus and on to Holdingford. The flowers were amazing - predominantly yellow with golden Rod, false sunflowers, common mullein and woodland sunflowers. We also saw monarch butterflies. I had just heard on MPR that morning that the cool temperatures and dry summer had kept the numbers of monarchs down from previous summers. But we were pleasantly surprised to see quite a few. They are especially attracted to the Joe Pye weed and milkweed that were plentiful along the trail. Not much in the fauna department except for black squirrels, an occasional chipmunk, fighting goldfinches and an immature red tail hawk landing right next to us on the trail. Just a note that Bowlus is the hometown of the boxer Duane Bobick who went to the 1972 Olympics on the USA boxing team. We checked into the B&B and met one of our hosts, Raquel. We had the Sapphire Suite which was two rooms so we were able to spread out our gear and I had room to do yoga in the mornings. Raquel had suggested that we eat at the Black and White Restaurant which is run by two trained chiefs. The food was great and we treated ourselves to a bottle of wine. http://www.attheblacknwhite.com/ It was quite a surprise to find this quality restaurant in a small town. Saturday dawned sunny and cool. After a breakfast of baked blueberry pancakes we rolled ourselves into the car and on to Merrifield to start our ride. If the Lake Wobegon trail was the color yellow; the Paul Bunyan was purple. There was beebalm, thistle, Prairie Blazing Star, chicory, New England Asters blooming everywhere among the golden rod, black eyed susans, etc. Minnesotans were out in droves around Nisswa which is like a shopping mecca in the middle of nowhere. We road alongside lakes on the right, on the left...it was the fisherperson's paradise. Our goal was a 30-40 mile ride but we finished with 52. Not a bad accomplishment after the 33 the day before. Again we drove home, showered and headed bck to the Black and White for another great meal and a short walking tour of Little Falls. It's really a neat town, full of old houses, interesting churches and of course it is the hometown of Charles Lindbergh. Sunday morning was a later than usual breakfast - hashbrown quiche. Did I tell you I gained back all my weight loss in one weekend despite the exercise!! This was the day to finish off the Central Lakes Trail and our missing few miles from Evansville (named after a postman) to Ashby. We started out from Brandon and road uneventfully to Ashby which sits over a pair of lakes - Lake Christina and Pelican Lake. The road back was long as our legs started to feel tired and then to top it all we heard the ominous hissing in the front tire. Luckily we had a spare (fast learners) and as Will worked on changing the tire I watched a pair of egrets on a small lake and discovered two turtles basking in the sun. If we hadn't had the flat we would have missed them. Back in Brandon we loaded up the bike and headed home on the backroads to add a few more towns to our list. Have you been to Brooten or Regal or Eden Valley?

Back in the Saddle

After a long hiatus we finally got the bike out. House guests, our own non-bike travels, Irish Fair, and my sinus infection took way too much time from our summer. But today, despite high dewpoints, we threw the bike in the van and headed south to our favorite trail on the Cannon River. It was a wild flower day with 12 sightings of summer wildflowers: spotted knapweed, green headed coneflowers, grey headed coneflowers, Canada Goldenrod, Wild Bergamot (like beebalm), Joe-Pye Weed (not Joe Pa), Queen Ann Lace, Common Mullein, Purple Coneflowers, Tall Bellflower (my favorite with delicate blue-purple star flowers), Spotted Touch-me-not (best name), and Jewel weed. The green headed coneflowers which are tall yellow flowers covered wide areas of the trail. Despite the layoff we rode reasonably well and the nasty crank noise didn't start until 20 miles were covered. Is it the chain, the derailler (sp?) or both. HMMMM. Wildlife - chipmunks running across the trail in front of us, a hog nose snake along the side of the trail, ground squirrels, circling vultures and a young deer peering at us from the side as we rode toward it not deciding until the last moment that it should actually cross the trail. I told Will it would be a perfect day if we could see the wild turkeys and low and behold we did see them but from the car on the way to Red Wing - six turkeys strutting through someone's front lawn! People everywhere today including a woman who complemented me on my "punk" hair. Also the guy wearing the "Beat Michigan" shirt was a hit. The kids tubing down the river yelled up at us "cool tandem" as we waved majestically from above. A good Day.

It's all about speed

After work ride...strong legs....best pace of the season of 14.3 mph on the Gateway Trail. Passed the 400 mile mark for the season.

Neither rain, lightning nor broken bolt....

A 4th of July weekend to remember on the Central Lakes State Trail. If you want to see lakes this is the trail to ride. And then throw in pelicans, herons, egrets, night heron, cormorants, belted kingfishers and you're in Heaven. We started biking in Dalton, a very small town with alot of traffic for some reason, and rode out to Fergus Falls. This is the most scenic part of the trip with one lake after another - some just small glacial puddles while others stretch into bays with islands covered with birdlife. A fawn crossed our trail and alongside the trails were purple coneflowers, yellow clover, false sunflowers, daisies, etc. Unfortunately the trail stops abruptly in Fergus Falls and we didn't even see the town. There is a trailhead at Pebble Beach which we skipped. We rode back toward Dalton toward Ashby hoping to see Lake Christina and Pelican Lake. Despite the weather forecast of fair skies we were caught in a rain shower just outside of Ashby. No thunder or lightning so we waited under the branches of a tree for the shower to pass. The tree as umbrella worked well and we headed out again once the rain let up. Unfortunately the dark clouds started to fill in once we got to Pelican Lake. We smartly turned back and rode like the wind only to hear ominous thunder in the distance. To the South it looked clear but not right over us. We did pause to see a kestrel (small hawk) on the utility line along the road. Large raindrops turned to a heavy shower. We tried the tree trick again but the rain was getting serious as was the thunder. We were within five miles of Dalton. Rats. So off we went into the rain, thunder and lightning and the back spray coming into my face. By the time we got to the car (35 miles round trip) the gutters along the road were overflowing. Will threw the bike into the car; I covered the seats with our raincoats (which we had left in the car). We stripped off our shirts and at least had dry t-shirts on. Driving into Alexandria toward our B&B, The Cedar Rose Inn we noticed the roads turned dry just past Ashby. There was no rain anywhere but right above us. Waiting for us at the B&B was a decanter of sherry and a huge bathtub. We washed up, went out for dinner, and slept like logs.

July 4th was a perfect day. We had a full table at breakfast with folks from the cities in Alex to watch their kid play baseball and another couple from North Dakota on their way to the Twin Cities. We decided to bike out from Alex to Garfield and then back to Alex and on to Osakis for close to 50 miles. Halfway to Garfield we heard a crack. Will said those famous words, "that doesn't sound good" and I look down to see the support for his seat hanging loose. It looked like our ride was over. Will found some adhesive tape and managed to bandaid the support and we rode back to Alex. We remembered walking past Ace Hardware the night before and decided to ride a few more blocks to see if it was open. We drove down main street - not easy for us - and pulled up to find the store open. YIPPEE! The helpful clerk found Will the right size bolt; we screwed it in and off we went back to Garfield. Thank you Ace Hardware! In Garfield we met a 77 year old biker and his wife. He biked 77 miles on his 77th birthday. He looked like he could give most of us a run for our money. Very inspiring. From Garfield we turned around and headed to Osakis. The scenery on this end of the trail is not as inspiring as the Fergus end but we saw tons of wild flowers including a prairie lily, thistles, red clover and purple coneflowers. There were the occasional killdeer trying to lead us away into the corn fields, lots of goldfinches and one rabbit. We were looking for shade and frequently rode along the wrong side of the trail to get some cool breezes. We did travel past Oakis to see where this trail hooked up to the Lake Wobegon Trail. We almost have both trails complete - just missing small sections. Arriving back in Alex and went immediately to Dairy Queen and ordered large cold things to each and drunk.

That evening we headed back down to the Depot restaurant and sat outside on the patio looking over the trail and Lake Agnes. Pelicans and cormorants flew by, fish jumped, about 20 ducklings waddled by. We drank and ate and ended a great day together.

Notes on the trip: we saw a few remnants of the trains besides the rail left in Fergus Falls including a few crossing markers, mileposts and a water crossing post. Alexandria has a charming downtown but it was almost totally closed over the holiday. We'd like to see the Runestone museum on a return trip. The speedway in Alex operates from Memorial Day to Labor Day on Saturdays. It is very loud and kind of intrudes on early to bed people like ourselves. Alex is a very walkable town and has a number of interesting buildings which I have on Facebook. We ran into fun and gregarious people each morning at the B&B. Everyone sat around for more than an hour eating and talking.

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.