Both my friend and I felt the last few miles of this year’s longest bike ride: a round trip on the Dakota Rail Trail from Wayzata to St. Bonifacius. We earned our lunch of coffee and salted caramel cheesecake, which we enjoyed in St. Bonifacius before burning it off on the ride back.
Category: Move
Capital taking a rest
As I rode my bike on a random ride, I turned onto roads I don’t remember ever traveling. At the edge of a rail yard, empty railcars faced off against piles of container trailers and containers. In the distance, the towers of Minneapolis competed with an abandoned grain elevator.
Upriver to Anoka
Cycled upriver with Dwight and a friend visiting from the UK to Anoka, a four-hour trip that included a stop at a fine bakery and another stop to admire an extraordinary Halloween yard display. In Anoka, after beer and snacking on appropriately unhealthy starters, we took the Northstar Line back to Minneapolis. We’ll all sleep well tonight.
Hostile ground
The road was sandy and rutted under increasingly tangled concrete overpasses. I pushed my bike until the place’s hostility became too much, and I turned back.
Beyond the pretty path
Cycled with a friend visiting from the UK. Decided the route didn’t need to be pretty all the way, so we included some industrial areas. This GAF roofing shingle plant fit the bill, especially since the asphalt fumes seemed… robust.
Smoky Sunday Stroll
On our Sunday morning walk, an overnight multi-alarm fire had done a number on the air quality. Here we’re standing on the 10th Avenue Bridge looking across the river towards the East Bank Campus of the University. Normally we’d cross by the truss bridge, Northern Pacific Bridge Number 9, but it’s closed for repairs.
I tip well
A flock of scooters had completely taken over the racks outside Whole Foods. I shooed one away to make room for my old hoss, and it promptly succumbed to gravity.
Stillwater via rail trails
It was glorious weather for a bike ride on part of the Gateway Trail then the Brown’s Creek Trail to Stillwater. Here we’re cycling back out of Stillwater after stopping for coffee and calories. On the left, the former railroad depot has unevenly morphed into a K-5 charter school. (Dwight took this photo of our friend and me.)
Table service at Lake Harriet
Cycled our favorite loop via Lake Harriet where we stopped for breakfast at Bread & Pickle. Here I’m delivering the always-fresh coffee while breakfast sandwiches were being cooked to order.
Minnesota River ride
Cycled with a friend, starting at the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge, now free of automobiles. An ice warning sign was a great reminder to make the most of the last days of summer. Across the bridge, we followed a lovely new wooded trail along the Minnesota River, then backtracked.