bike

Bike & Walk Week

Posted on by Teresa Boardman
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It is Friday and Fridays are for fun and it is Twin Cities Bike and Walk week which is also fun.  I like to walk and I like to bike.  I  use my purple pawn shop bike for transportation and for recreation. 

This spring when my brother came for a visit we went for a bike ride along the river.  My brother is really into biking and running.  His bike doesn’t have any baskets or carriers on it and he has fancy petals.  He can not carry three bags of groceries on his bike the way that I can on mine.   He has special cloths that he wears when he bikes and he goes as fast as he can.   I wear regular cloths when I bike and I can not keep up with him.  He told me he doesn’t like my bell and I think he was surprised when I rang it.  

My brother sets goals for himself.  That is probably why he can bike so fast and run so far.  I decided to set a goal for myself too.  It is my goal to someday pass someone or something that is on wheels on the bike trail while it is moving.   It is a  lofty goal for me but I know that I can do it.  When I do I am going to ring my bell.

A magical place

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

Last week between rain showers I discovered a magical place along the trail through Swede Hollow park.   This Tunnel is on the national register of historic places.  The trail goes past the old Hamm’s brewery and runs along Phalen Creek.  It is part of what I call hidden St. Paul. 

Stone tunnel
 

They don’t make them like this any more. 

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map

The number 2 marks the spot. 
 

Spring lasts two days

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

I went for a bike ride on Easter Sunday from my home which is just West of Downtown St. Paul to Battle Creek Regional Park.  I rode on the bike trails along the river and it is a lovely ride.  If you like to walk, bike, run or roller blade as some folks were doing on Easter I highly recommend the river trails.  A small section of the trail is closed right under the lafayette  bridge but it isn’t hard to get through it. 

I made this map with the GPS in my phone:

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Bike Trail

Most of the trail is along the river and some of it goes through wooded areas by the river.  I saw some deer yesterday and almost always see wildlife along the path.   

Battle Creek park is a great place to hike in the woods and see wildflowers and birds. This is what the park will look like in early May.  

Battle Creek Regional Park

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Biking season

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

 It is possible that it will stop snowing and will be warm enough to want to ride a bike some day.  I have had my bike out a couple of times but wearing all of those winter cloths, fighting a twenty mile an hour wind and freezing my legs off takes much of the joy out of it.

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My bike

We have an amazing bike trail system in the twin cities.  No one really knows how big it is because we don’t have any complete maps.  The trails go along the river and through the parks and around the lakes.  There are miles and miles of them and they are in great shape.  Did you know there are trails along 35e in St. Paul?  Some of the trails are county and others are city and some are state so we have five different government agencies and five sets of old and incomplete maps.  The last state map was made in 2001 and it is still considered to be the best. 

My favorite trails are the trails that run along the Mississippi River. They are part of the regional trail system . . I think.  Minneapolis has bike trails that go around the lakes and they call it the grand rounds but the web site has a drawing on it and not a map. 

My phone has a built in GPS and I think I found an easy way to record my route along the bike paths.  I am going to see if I can make maps of the St. Paul bike trails with my phone, my bike and Google maps. . . but not until it stops snowing . . July?