Ride Magic - My River Commute in 3 minutes of Video

There are some bike rides that you live for. There is one I live for every week, especially when it is a gorgeous Friday afternoon after a long week at work. After a week of riding (or busing) the direct 8.5 mile route from my home to work near downtown St. Paul, I crave the 15 mile route back home along the Mississippi River. It is the perfect way to decompress after a work week and bring in the weekend. Two weeks ago I shot some video and added Tom Paxton's "Ride my Bike" as the sound track. I hope you enjoy it!

The first 12 miles of my river route in video:

My river ride in words:
From the rush of cruising through downtown St. Paul and its mini-rush hour,
To the beginning of quiet as I pass through Harriet Island,
I pass under St. Paul's High Bridge,
Through the Mississippi River floodplain forest.
River sediment, once deep, now laces the trail,
Leading to a surprise - residual floodwater.
I wind through the cottonwoods of Lilydale and,
Gently climb back in time as I ascend the side of the river gorge.
I tunnel to emerge at the cacophony of Mendota Bridge traffic,
Passing over the center of the earth and under the center of the heavens,
And pausing for deer at Fort Snelling, I make a quick descent.
Whoa, the bloodroot is blooming, and Dutchman's breeches too,
Lingering for Minnehaha Falls Park scenes,
I wish I could have stopped for a beer and dinner at Sea Salt.
Thanks to my bike, the "Italian Stallion".




















A view down the Mississippi River with downtown St. Paul in the background. This is very near the Mississippi's confluence with the Minnesota River. I take this photo about a dozen times each year in an attempt to capture the changing seasons along the River. This one is from last October.

A Picnic in the Park for Day 19 of #30daysofbiking

The luscious spring weather begged for a picnic in the park. I hopped the bus home early, we loaded up the Kangaroo with bats, balls, and picnic food and headed to pick up Theo with Moxie running alongside. It felt like a summer day that you savor every moment of...but it was April 19th.


The Kangaroo is a fantastic mobile picnic unit. Just roll it to where you want to picnic and unload the balls and what not. Tie the dog to the frame and you are hands free.
Henry had a wonderful time chasing this ball around and pointing to the string of airplanes ascending.
When the 3.5 year old tires of riding his balance bike, just lay it across the top, and have them ride inside. What a beautiful evening it was for #30daysofbiking.

Balance biking

Wanting to get rid of his training wheels, Theo goes back to practicing on his balance bike.

What a beautiful spring biking day

Short on time and anxious to get going on Day 15 of #30daysofbiking, I loaded Henry into the Roo and we took Moxie for a bike-run along the Midtown Greenway. Looking down, the path was covered with adventurous, yet unfortunate earthworms. Looking up, people's yards were filled with early spring flowers. By night time I was biking home from rehearsal under a star-studded sky. What a great day it was for biking 14 miles.

Day 11 of #30daysofbiking

It was a low mileage day and weekend for me. Too bad because it was a gorgeous weekend. From what I can tell, lots of others made it out more than I did. As I was walking the dog this morning, bikes were crossing many parts of my route. The #30daysofbiking Twitter posts also suggested a busy day. For example, lof Tweeted, "LOTS of people out on bikes today in Minneapolis. Just think if Bicycling Magazine had seen the city today."

For Day 11 I finally got out this evening for a 2.2. mile ride to and from Dunn Brothers for a little cafe work time. Gorgeous evening blue light as the day calmed down and the smoke from so many people's yard firepits lingered low.

Day 10 of #30daysofbiking (ala Dutchman's Breeches)

My favorite way to end the work week is to take the long bike route home from downtown St. Paul along the Mississippi River to Minneapolis. It is a 15 mile route full of great scenery and dedicated bike trail. I had a great time trying to capture a video description of this route yesterday (which was actually day 9 of #30daysofbiking), but I am still editing it down to a reasonable length such that somebody other than my mother-in-law would watch it.
Until I get the video up, here is one image of the wonderful spring ephemeral wildflower, Dutchman's Breeches, that bloom each early spring along one particular spot of the trail. What a treat it is to see them!

Day 7 of #30daysofbiking

Day 7 of #30daysofbiking. Sunrise on the early leaves of the Mississippi River floodplain cottonwoods. I love using my bike commutes to observe the seasonal, monthly, weekly, and daily changes in the Mississippi River floodplain forest between Minneapolis and St. Paul.
It was a big biking day, especially this afternoon. Saw 23 bikers on my 8.5 mile ride (2.7 bikers per mile) to work and 73 (8.6 bpm!) on my way home. That compares to 19 and 45, respectively, two days ago (4/5).

Biking the dog

So you like the exercise you get while you bike around town? Well why not spread the perks to your dog? With the stability of three wheels that come with the Winther Kangaroo, we find ourselves biking the dog more often to give her a good run, especially when time is tight. Moxie absolutely loves it and took to it last fall very quickly. Here is our bike run this morning for day 6 of #30daysofbiking.