My Bicycle History
In October of 2003, my wife and I went to the City of Columbia Heights (Minnesota) police auction. At the auction, I won three bicycles and spent $5. One was a mangled kid's bike, which I immediately threw away. It was lumped in with an old Huffy road bike, which looked in better shape than many there. The Huffy has not seen much action, as its rear rim has a dent that prevents the rear brakes from functioning properly. (OK, so the fact that I broke the rear brakes off also inhibits their correct functioning, but I could fix that if it weren't for the rim problem). The third bike I acquired, for $2, was a Schwinn road bike from the early 1980s.
Since then, the small bike that I got for $2 has given me my biggest hobby. I have put more than 4000 miles on this bike, with only minimal repairs (2 sets of new tires, one new crank arm, different quick-release front wheel). I installed a rack so I can ride it to school without carrying a backpack on my back, which is nice in the summertime. I've also taken some memorable longer rides, as described below.
In April, 2007, I decided that there were enough repairs needed on my Schwinn that I bought a new bike. This time I spent a lot more money for a nice road bike. I enjoy my new bike, and only wish I had more time to ride it!
Top Ten Longest Rides
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Some of my favorite rides
Eau Claire to Drummond, WI (June 2007): What a wonderful bike ride! I followed the Old Abe State Trail from Chippewa Falls to Cornell. Afterwards, I followed little-traveled county roads along the Chippewa and Flambeau Rivers north past the Chippewa Flowage near Hayward. The entire route had good pavement, fairly few hills, virtual solitude, and constant views of rivers and lakes. I couldn't ask for a nicer way to spend a day!
to Seeley, Wisconsin (Sept. 2004): This was a rather eventful ride. I experienced 2 chain derailments (which is a big deal when it gets wedged in the chain guard on my bike), 3 flat tires, 1 road which exists on a map, but not in real life, 2 roads which were as sandy as a beach, and a 1.5 mile stretch of riding along a snowmobile trail north of Hayward, Wisconsin. Yeah, this one pretty much had everything.
I left very early in the morning and went to Hugo, MN to catch the Hardwood Creek trail north. I took that until it intersected highway 8 in Forest Lake. Then I followed highway 8 east into Wisconsin. This was a good idea; although highway 8 is a busy highway, it has very wide paved shoulders, and is gently sloping downhill for much of the way between Forest Lake until Taylor's Falls on the Wisconsin border. There's a nice Swedish bakery in Linstrom.
After crossing the St. Croix River, I took the Gandy Dancer State Trail from Saint Croix Falls to Webster, WI. This is a nice, peaceful trail. However, being crushed limestone, mostly uphill when traveling northbound, and having already traveled 60 miles before starting, I got pretty wiped out on this segment. This isn't the nicest state trail in Wisconsin; I prefer either the Red Cedar State Trail or the Elroy-Sparta Trail.
After leaving the trail, a series of back roads got me to Hayward. From here I had all sorts of problems with roads that didn't exist, or were nothing but sand. This slowed my pace so much that darkness set in by the time I reached Seeley, where I stopped for the day.
Grandest Rounds 2004 In 2003, I set out on a mission: to ride my bike in as many cities as possible in one day. I achieved 49 cities that year, in a route I dubbed the "Grander Rounds", which makes reference to the city of Minneapolis's Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway. Of course, I had to outdo myself. So, in June 2004, I tried to break that record, and succeeded. I entered 59 different cities in one day, covering 128 miles. I started in Fridley and made a clockwise loop around the twin cities metro area. There are a lot of suburbs of the twin cities!
Cedar Lake Trail The Cedar Lake Trail in Minneapolis and Saint Louis Park is one of the nicest urban bike trails I've ever seen. The claim is that it's a bicycle freeway , which isn't too far from the truth in the sense that each direction gets its own section of pavement for much of the trail. While the trail goes through the city, it manages to stay serene by traveling through undeveloped marshland. In order to maintain the prairie grass along the trail, the area is periodically burned to the ground. When this happens, the trail looks like it meanders through some bizarre extraterrestrial landscape.
Other trails I've been on:
- Old Abe State Trail from Chippewa Falls to Burnet Island State Park, north of Cornell (WI). This is one of the few Wisconsin rail trails which is paved (the Chippewa River trail is another). The trail follows the Chippewa River and passes through the town of Jim Falls. There are some nice views of the river, and when I rode the trail (a Friday morning in June) there was not a single other rider. Bring a lunch and enjoy this trail! The river flows southward, so the trail is uphill the entire way if you're traveling northbound.
- Erie Canal Heritage Trail in western New York. I've been on this trail between Palmyra and Brockport (NY). The trail parallels the current incarnation of the Erie Canal, and is therefore very, very flat. The trail condition varies from smoothly paved (Pittsford to Greece) to hard-packed limestone dust (Palmyra to Fairport and Greece to Brockport) to soft-paked limestone dust (Fairport to Pittsford - use caution in wet weather) to nearly impassible asphalt (Fairport). This is a popular trail which is very scenic, particularly between Gates and Greece.
- Luce Line State Trail from Plymouth to Watertown (MN). Nice woodsy trail, crushed limestone. It can be a bit soft after rain storms.
- LRT Trail Hopkins to Victoria (north route) or Hopkins to Chanhassen (south route, both in MN). You can make a nice loop out of these two trails. The south route has particularily nice scenery near the Chanhassen end, and the north route borders lake Minnetonka through the villages of Deephaven and Greenwood.
- Glacial Drumlin Trail in southeast Wisconsin. This trail mostly parallels roads or farmland. It isn't the most scenic trail of the bunch.
- Gateway State Trail from Saint Paul to booneyland, MN. This is a very nice trail once it exits the I-694 loop in Maplewood. Because of this, you'll need to become proficient in jousting on a weekend afternoon in order to fend off the large population of bikers and skaters on this trail. And to ward off pirates. No, not the Pittsburgh Pirates. You could fend them off with a wet noodle.
- Sunrise Prairie Trail, which extends the Hardwood Creek Trail north to North Branch, MN. These two trails are seamlessly connected, very nicely paved, and as flat as a really, really flat thing. It's not terribly scenic, following farmland, highway 361, and interstate 35.
- Chippewa River Trail from booneyland to Eau Claire, WI. This trail connects to the Red Cedar Trail in booneyland, which then will take you to Menomonie. The Chippewa River Trail is not quite as scenic as the Red Cedar Trail, but it does have the advantage of being paved. It also follows the Chippewa River (duh!), so there are some very pretty vistas.
- Ozaukee Interurban Trail running north to south across Ozaukee County, Wisconsin. The trail is largely along the bed of the old interurban railway which offered passenger service between Milwaukee and Sheboygan. It passes through just about every town in Ozaukee County and has a healthy mix of rural and village atmosphere. The off-road portions are in excellent condition and are very nicely paved.
- Rochester, Syracuse, and Eastern Trolley Trail from the hamlet of Egypt in the town of Perinton to the village of Fairport, NY. This is a nice little trail which doesn't see as much use as the trail along the Erie Canal. My amusement with this trail came on my first ride. I started at Center Park in Perinton and traveled north. I didn't realize that the trail abruptly ends at the Erie Canal and does not cross; I really needed to hit the brakes! I was surprised that the last quarter mile of the trail was in such good shape considering there is no way to access that part of the trail without turning around and doubling back. This is a very short trail, but a nice alternative to some of the busy roads in the area.