Hemi's Sunday Adventure

A varying group of us have been riding on Sundays for a few years. We generally meet at the Coon Rapids dam along the Mississippi and follow West River Road to downtown Minneapolis. We meet up with other riders at the historic Stone Arch Bridge. This past Sunday was the inaugeral 2011 Sunday ride, for me anyway. However, we couldn't take our usual West River Road route, due to the tornado damage of two weeks ago. These Sunday rides are usually led by Hemi, (also known as Dave). Hemi had spoke to Berger, another Sunday disciple, who meets us at the Stone Arch. An alternative route was formulated. We would cross the Coon Rapids dam to the East side of the river, and make our way to downtown Minneapolis. We got across the dam with no problems. We could see and hear the roar of the swollen river going through the dam locks. All that water flooding parts South. The other side of the dam is a regional park. The entire road system is tore up. All dirt. Not exactly road bike friendly. But, there is the paved bike trail that runs alongside the river. 

We went about a mile at most, and came upon this. The Mississippi had overflowed the banks. Now what?

Hemi is thinking real hard. He is trying to envision new a route in his mind.
He said he knows where to go...

Off we went, on a muddy trail that turned vertical. Would have been perfect if we had mountain bikes! Oh well, it's all part of the adventure, right?

We finally made it to the Stone Arch, where we picked up Berger. Berg is great to ride with, because he loves to talk about food! He also is the only rider I know that can eat a Holiday egg muffin in the middle of a ride and keep going strong. He also has several mansions scattered about the Twin Cities. It's always fun to ride past one of them. Not that we ever get invited in.

This is CJ. Mountain biker extrordinaire. He has been one of the hardest working people that I know of helping to build the new mtb course in Elm Creek. I think he's planning on putting in a 50 foot jump ramp, but, only if JT will give him the elevation necessary. CJ's nickname is Griz. That story is for another day.

We take off from the Stone Arch, heading to St. Paul, taking in the sites (read: pretty female runners around St Kate's). We get to the state capitol and head to the Gateway Trail. After a few miles we run into this:

Berger is up front. There are multiple trunks of the tree to negotiate.

CJ finds that maybe it is easier to go underneath, rather then up and over!

We finally get going again and hit the Holiday Service Station in White Bear Lake. Sure enough, Berger gets his egg muffin sandwich! We head on up the trail till we get to MN Hwy 96, and head back to White Bear.

You don't ride this route without stopping at the Cup and Cone! Hemi and Berger split a sub. CJ and I split a "kiddie sub."

Berg on the left, Hemi on the right. Remember, it wasn't 45 minutes ago that Berg ate an egg muffin!

This route is officially called the "Chile Dog", because of the availability of chile dogs at the Cup and Cone. I think Amy is the only person to eat one and continue riding! We're still about 20 miles from home.

The rest of the ride was so-so. A little rain, I had a flat, and then we couldn't find our way back across the Mississippi. Other then that, it was great!

Final tally was 83 miles. Didn't break any speed records, but, who cares when you have an adventure?

If you want to see the GPS route, click on the link:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/89218138

Geez, been a while.

 Four months is a long time not to post anything. Part of it is facebook. It's just so simple and quick to let out your opinions or post a photo. I'm also disappointed with how the blog operates. Some changes happen and I don't understand why. What happened last time was that no one can post comments. I have no idea why. I've never changed my settings and I've checked them at least a half dozen times. There is no place to get help, except through forums, which have never been a good source for me. You either get someone talking in geek-speak or some one asking a question who's even dumber then I am. So much for my ranting. Here are some food photos. I still haven't done my Anguilla post, and people have been asking about that. I appreciate your comments! Even though you have to email me or tell me is person....

See, it just happened again! I tried to preview the blog, something I've done dozens of times. I hit the preview button, a new window opened up, and the window is blank! That's part of the reason I quit writing on this. Things you've done for 3 years all of a sudden quit working for no effing reason.

Ron and his wife Sue came over to celebrate Ron and my birthdays. I promptly put Ron out on the deck to fry up some sunfish that I had left from last summer. I was in the kitchen cooking risotto.

The meal: fried sunfish, risotto, and a 7 layer salad! Awesome!

Last night I fried up some scallops in olive oil and butter. Get the oil pretty hot and then sear the scallops about 3 minutes on each side.

Finish with some sea salt and ground pepper, and you have a delightful side dish.

I don't know if I've posted any pictures of Henry on the blog. After Charlie died, we spent a lot of time looking for a replacement. Through sheer luck, we discovered the lady that bred Charlie's mom. So, our Henry has about 7% of Charlie's blood line in him!