1st Bike Post

As of now, this blog will be a review of my biking.

Location: Big Rivers Regional Trail
Distance Traveled: ~12 miles
Average Speed: 11.8 mph (But I saw 14.9 an awful lot)
Time Riding: ~1 hour

Notes:

A very pleasant ride on the first day of (I'm gonna say it) summer! The temperature was in the upper 70's, the Mississippi was out of its banks, and there were a fair number of people on the trail. I road clear to Lillydale, and beyond. Then back.

This particular trail follows a train bed for a time and is on the shore of the Mississippi River. There are several places that are politely described as "wetlands."

I think I earned some kind of "hardcore biker" award--at least a rating of "Initiate." There were a couple places where the wetlands had expanded to include the trail, and I road right through it. Water came clear up the axels of the tires, and my feet got soaked. I had to stop to clear leaves and gunk off the moving parts. The odometer bead still works, so the engineers must have designed it for people with a disregard for technology. That, or it's just a magnet.

...

Alright, that's not terrible impressive. But I know my Mom would have turned around.

Next time I'll be taking my camera. I saw a heron (in a ditch o.O ) that I believe is referred to as Blue. It must have a tolerance for people, for I was only 20 feet away, and people were whizzing by me constantly. It would have been fun to get a picture of that, as well as St. Paul, a Northwest hanger, and I think I saw downtown Minneapolis, too.

The sunset was interesting, but consisted mostly of midtones. We need more pollution and green trees.

Footnote: Saturday night I returned from Rochester around 1am. South of Faribault was an immense fire; the smoke could be seen against the night sky. Getting close revealed the flames reflected in the smoke--it was a fearsome sight.

Fifteen minutes later I saw northern lights across the entire horizon. Not particularly distinct, but animated. It was hard to keep the eyes on the road.