Our office is located about 2 miles from the Minnesota river, home to one of the original mountain bike trails in the Twin Cities area. In the summertime, you can ride these trails along the river until it links up with the Mississippi river and take that all the way back into Minneapolis or Saint Paul. So basically, I can ride almost all the way home from work off-road.
Yesterday was one of the most stellar days Minnesota has seen in a long time, 72 degrees F and sunny with little wispy clouds and a very blue sky. I rode it solo on my Karate Monkey, which sadly hasn't seen action since May in Fruita. The first 12 miles of trail are almost purely singletrack, and good singletrack. Beyond that is a section of trail that rarely gets ridden. Even though some of it could be really killer stuff if maintained and ridden, it's now overgrown with weeds and plants. For mile long sections, you can't even see the trail ahead of you and the itchweed makes your arms and legs burn. There are also a couple sketchy creek crossings where you must dismount and hope a log is down to walk across. Lots of sandy sections and downed trees. It's what I remember about the early days of mountain biking, before hardpacked and groomed IMBA trails existed. Bushwacking at it's finest.
Why ride it? Because it's still fun to go slow and work your way through the debris leftover from storms and flooding. There is also no fear of a head on collision with another cyclist, as I went 45 minutes without seeing another person. This trail empties onto some double track dirt roads and eventually paved bike paths. When you finally see signs of people, it's almost a relief to know you're back in the city.
I saw 5 turkeys, countless rabbits, 2 deer, a weasel of some sort and met a guy named Pete who said he reads the surlyblog. All within a mile or two from the famed and lame Mall of America. It's rare to be so close to the city, but be able to escape it so easily. Two and a half hours later I arrived home and inhaled two hamburgers, two PB and J's, two pieces of pizza and two beers. Eat, sleep, ride, work. That's good livin'.
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