When:Saturday June 6th, 2015 – Departing around 2:15PM, other activities before (see below) Where:Islands of Peace Park, Fridley, MN Route: 7.5 miles – Mississippi River Trailer down to Reidel Farm, then over to Main St. and up to Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts – Route Map
After very mild first and second bike tours, Fridley is starting to get behind the bike tour idea… It’s at least on the official Fridley website calendar this year 😎
At 1PM, the Mayor will give a national trails proclamation. Then the community band will be playing an hour long concert. The bike tour is set to depart around 2:15PM, after the band concert.
This will be a family friendly, leisurely ride. I’ll probably have at least one kid in-tow, so feel free to bring your kids along!
We’ll head south on the Mississippi River Trail towards Reidel Farm. I’m hoping to brush up on my history before the ride in case anyone asks about the farm’s significance. Then we’ll cross over the Northtown Yard via the 44th Ave. bridge. We’ll cross into Columbia Heights briefly on the other side of the bridge before getting back into Fridley proper via Main St.
We’ll continue north on the Mississippi River Trail to Locke Lake. We’ll make a short stop at Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts. Then we’ll head back south to Islands of Peace.
Update
After shaking hands with the Mayor during the National Trails Day Proclamation, we listened to the Fridley City Band play some “water music.” One tune was an 80s medley which I believe contained the Police Academy march. I certainly had the tune my head the rest of the day, so I thought I’d share this earworm:
After the concert, it turned out that it would be just myself, a city employee and commissioner on the bike tour. I had contemplated choosing a more friendly and scenic route (having ridden my original route 2 days before). But now was my chance to show city staffers the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Mississippi River Trail (MRT) for the most part is good.
The bad 44th Ave. bridge was revisited. This time we crossed paths with a pedestrian going the other way on the bridge. He had to stand on top of the jersey barrier while I walked my bike (with trailer) past him because the space is so narrow.
Then we went back north on the ugly part of Main St. It is supposed to have a bike lane the whole length of it, but Anoka County wouldn’t have anything of it. So instead we’re left with the “World’s Shortest Bike Lane” – 4 blocks from 57th to 61st. The part of Main St. that is not a county road. 🙁
Hopefully we can get some of these things remedied by next year!
It’s not technically winter yet, but let’s face it. By the time this is published, most of Minneapolis/St. Paul and the surrounding area will be covered in a blanket of snow. Judging by the single digit temperatures in the forecast, I think that winter has officially arrived and will be here to stay.
It was nice to see several people out yesterday (Sunday) on what was possibly the last nice day to ride. For those that want to forge ahead through ice and snow, I suggest studded tires.
This photo was taken in April of this year. If you’ve ever wondered why Minnesotans are so jazzed about summer, it’s because we only get 7 snow-free months. Relish every minute!
I must admit that I have sort of a thing for wheels and tires. Maybe it’s the smell of fresh rubber. For my car, road bike and mountain bike I have at least two sets of wheels and tires: summer and winter. In some cases I have 3 🙁 I like to have both wheels and tires because it makes it less of a hassle to switch them out. It’s a ritual I perform with the changing seasons: off with the summer tires, on with the winter tires. And winter is here…
Riding your bike in snow can be fun. It is at least fun until the first time you take a digger. It was likely due to ice, and the ice that made you fall is probably hard as concrete. At least that’s what happened to me. That’s when I seriously considered getting studded tires.
Non-studded setup
Before I had studded tires, I used some simple Bontrager mud tires.
They are no-frills knobby tires. I really like them because the tread is simple and non-directional – it can be mounted in either direction. I have a flip-flop hub on my back wheel, so if I want to turn it around, I can do so without having to re-mount the tire in the “correct” direction.
These work great in snow, especially with the tire pressure lowered. If you have a set of knobby tires and want to try riding in snow, I suggest you just lower the pressure (go with the low number listed on the tire) and try it out.
If you want to experiment with even lower pressures to get more contact area (grip), tread lightly and maybe use slime or something to prevent pinch-flats if your tires use tubes.
Studly Studded Studs
Let me start with a disclaimer that studded tires often are not cheap. I am a fan of Schwalbe Tires – I run Big Apples on my bike in the summer. Their studded tires are highly regarded and some have non-directional treads so I can use it easily on my flip-flop hub. But they are not cheap. Per tire, they cost me more than the snow tires currently on my Subaru.
I would expect to pay at least $50 per tire. If you’ve found something cheaper that looks legit and will fit your bike, you’re in luck.
If you can’t afford studded tires, there are tons of creative ways to make your own with a regular tire, a drill and some screws. This is a particularly over-the-top example:
If you have seen a particularly awesome DIY studded tires, I’d love to see them!
You can run just one studded tire, but I’d recommend two. Where studded tires really shine above regular knobbies is on hard-pack snow and ice. You really don’t want to run the studs on pavement as they’ll wear faster that way, and the studs actually provide much worse grip than rubber when it’s on concrete or asphalt. Some studded tires get around this conundrum by only putting studs out towards the edge. Talk to your local bike shop and they can help you decide on a brand/type that suits your riding.
Riding in snow can be sort of nerve wracking at times, especially when the snow becomes hard and rutted. I’m still wrestling with this myself. I tend to white-knuckle the handlebar when loosening my grip and going with the flow would be a much more pleasant experience. If I were a better mountain biker, I probably wouldn’t have this problem 😎
So here’s to winter. Hopefully it’s just the beginning of a different type of riding season.
What the heck is an S24O? It’s an acronym invented by famed Rivendell Bicycle builder Grant Peterson. It stands for Sub-24 Hour Overnight and he writes about it in his book “Just Ride”. Put simply, it’s a bike overnight where you’re gone for less than 24 hours. Since it’s short and you travel by bike, it limits the amount of “crap” you can bring.
I (possibly foolishly) convinced my family to embark on a 16 mile bike ride to the nearest campground, at Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Park Preserve. It wasn’t foolish because we lacked the muscle or equipment to undertake this endeavor, it was foolish for other reasons… Continue reading →
Getting There
A month before we embarked, I scoped out the route. This was good because the trails in Anoka County are extremely poorly marked. I got lost no less than 5 times. Plus I found two shortcuts that weren’t offered by Google Maps which would shorten the distance.
I made a time-lapse of my scouting trip using my GoPro:
We chose to actually go from Friday to Saturday – so we could have a full day of recovery before work on Monday. One thing about leaving early afternoon Friday that I didn’t anticipate was rush hour traffic – I work from home so I’ve purposely forgotten most of the drudgery of “regular” daily life. Traffic wasn’t especially bad, but it felt like everyone behind the wheel had some pent up angst.
An old bike-commuting coworker once told me that morning traffic is much more agreeable than afternoon traffic. People can use you as an excuse to be late to work. They’ll drive politely, and then can twist the blame if their boss asks. “I was late because of bicyclists.” But in the afternoon they need to get home, or else.
So we got buzzed by a couple of jerks that needed to get on the freeway ASAP, only to crawl along the interstate at the beginning of rush hour. Meanwhile, crossing the interstate meant we were onto the trail, so long suckers!
What to Bring
With the route set, I knew to allot around 2 hours for riding (plus breaks) so we could schedule accordingly. But what to bring? Some things were obvious, but what do you omit and what are must-haves? Here is what our packing list looked like:
Shelter, clothes & bedding
1 Tent
3 Sleeping bags
3 Small pillows
Toothbrushes & toothpaste
Minimal clothes for the next day
Fire & food
Lighter & newspaper
Firewood purchased at campground
Grill grate at campsite
Picnic table at campsite
1 Cooking pot
1 Skewer for hot dogs and marshmallows
4-person tableware set
Hot dogs & s’mores for dinner
Bacon & eggs, with instant coffee for breakfast
Other
Flashlight (bike light)
Multi-tool (knife/scissors)
Paper towels and/or baby wipes
Bug spray
We identified a couple of things that we need to better the trip next time. One was a lantern for hanging out at the picnic table. My bike light is bright, almost too bright. It was sort of like being in the interrogation room with it shining right at you.
Also, a camp-dedicated cooking pot would be nice. Our normal kitchen one went home looking like it had endured the worst, now scorched and soot-covered.
But that’s the best part of the S24O – if you forgot something, you’ll live. You can remember it for next time and not worry because you’re there for less than a day.
Our S24O looks a lot like car camping, minus the car:
The Romper Room
My wife warned me about camping with a 16 month old. We had just come off a month-long stint of Jessi’s mom staying with us and helping out with the kids. Grandma had been sharing a room with our 16 month old Marlo, and they had gotten into a good nighttime routine with minimal interruptions.
I assumed her sleeping habit had gotten to a point where Marlo would go to sleep when tired, and she’d respect everyone else in the tent, just like she did when she was in her crib and grandma was in her bed in the same room.
Boy was I wrong.
Jessi went to bed with the baby around 8PM. But Marlo had no intentions of sleeping. The sheer thought of everyone in this nylon fabric box sent her into a frenzy. She scooted and climbed all over everyone with laughter and cheers. At several points no one could contain their own laughter because she was laughing and clapping joyously. This lasted for 3 HOURS. 11PM was the magic hour when laughter turned to tears, and a few minutes being held by mom turned into everyone finally getting some rest.
But the sleep was not good, because I have a 2-man tent and we were 4 – two adults and two of the wildest, tossing-est, turning-est children ever. Then once we did fall asleep we were awoken by the sounds of a meddling raccoon. That bastard stole the last of the s’mores! Judging by his heft, he didn’t need any more s’mores 🙂
Turns out both my parents and Jessi’s parents have similar horror stories of going camping with children of a similar age. Some of those children may have been me. But we didn’t hear these stories until we returned and told how our own trip unraveled. I guess the next generation is doomed to repeat the same mistakes.
Even though some parts weren’t “fun,” we’ll surely remember it forever, and always tell the tale. As Grant Peterson put it:
If they hate it, it’s only a night, and they’ll still be proud as they brag to their friends how much they hated it, and they’ll be secretly glad they did it.
When you want to carry some stuff beyond a 6-pack of beer on your bike, trailers are the way to go. Minneapolis, being the bike-friendly city it is, is home to the “Little Red Trailer” – a neat little trailer that’s made from recycled wood.
David of Dayworks Inc. builds sets for theater productions, and when it’s time to strike, he uses the wood to fashion the trailer. It has a metal frame at the base and 12″ pneumatic tires. Continue reading →
It comes with a rudimentary, yet versatile mounting system which can hook up to virtually any bike. It has evolved over time, so the one you receive may not look exactly like the one in my older photos or other reviews.
Making All Trailers Interchangable
In some of the photos in this article, you’ll see the trailer hitch mount in its original form. But shortly after purchasing a used Chariot trailer, I realized how convenient it would be if both my and Jessi’s bikes could interchangeably tow either the Chariot or the Red Trailer.
I really liked the Chariot mounting system, so I contacted David at Dayworks and he supplied me with a “virgin” hitch-arm. I purchased a Chariot Axle-Mount ezHitch Upgrade to add to the hitch-arm. It includes almost everything needed to adapt the trailer, except an extra-long bolt to secure the lollipop, which can be easily purchased from the hardware store.
The only issue was the “lollipop” that Chariot uses is smaller in diameter than the tube steel of the Red Trailer hitch-arm. So I went to the hardware store and browsed for some suitable PVC pipe to act as an adapter. The one that worked for me was this:
3/4″ x 6″ PVC Riser
With some sanding I was able to get it into the hitch-arm tube. Then I drilled a hole through both the hitch arm and the adapter for the lollipop fastener bolt, which also holds the lock pin, safety strap, and D-ring. Here you can see it installed with all the accouterments:
Lollipop with adapter, lock pin, and safety strap attached.
Putting it to use
I initially got this trailer to get propane refills from the local convenience store – the trailer can accommodate 2 propane tanks. But I shortly realized it can do so much more. It really opens a world of what you can carry via bicycle.
I’ve gone to the hardware store and returned with multiple 5-gallon buckets full of gardening or syruping supplies.
More often that not, I use it to shuttle goods between my parents house and my own. It’s carried several bike parts including a complete kid’s bike:
On one one trip to my parents, I spotted a rad retro-style ottoman at a garage sale. It was only $5 and I already had the trailer, so I just added it to my cargo.
It’s great for a large grocery trip – it can carry up to 4 bags.
While the trailer explicitly recommends against carrying animals, I’ve done it. Once you start moving past 10MPH, the excitement of fresh air and the fear of jumping out keep the dog in place.
I don’t normally go into gushy personal stuff here, but since publish day lands on my wedding anniversary with Jessi, I thought it was appropriate. Also, our gift giving seems to be at a stalemate this year as neither of us really wants anything, besides “your extra time and your… KISS!
We try to keep record of what we did in an anniversary journal, at least when it comes to what we did on our anniversary date and what gifts we exchanged. Those minor details often trigger memories of what was going on in our lives at that point.
Often times we forget to actually write stuff down, so when we go fill stuff in years later, it may resemble fiction more than fact. Sometime we rack our brains on what gifts we previously exchanged – and how sadly they must not have been great if we can’t remember. But the gifts themselves (or their longevity) aren’t what I’m concerned with, it’s the memory we associate with them.
One recent memory that really resonates with me is that Jessi is a strong woman.
In 2012 (one of the years missing from our journal) I convinced her to march Minnesota Brass with me. She proved that she is still the strong woman she always has been by working hard and doing her job. She wound up being voted the colorguard “rookie of the year” which she rightfully earned.
In 2013 she gave birth to our second child, a beautiful girl. Jessi proved again during delivery she is still as strong as ever. I thought we were going to be “those people” having the baby in the car. Jessi labored so much at home, by the time we got to the hospital, labor was 90% over. No time to waste, let’s have a baby!
In 2014 we rode the St. Paul Bike Classic. I always talk Jessi into doing one of the local bike tours around our anniversary. This year she rode all the way up Ramsey Hill. I know it seems like a silly feat of strength but she actually did it. I never have, and I’m the guy that’s always talking about bikes. So I did the walk of shame once again and Jessi got to stand on top of the world as the powerful woman she is.
