Biking - What I Do In My Spare Time

Since I bought a bike last year, I've decided that I really like biking. When I bike with The Monkey, I can't talk to her so we get to enjoy each other in peace and quiet (and if you know children, then you know it's really hard to get them to shut up. Seriously.). I get to haul the WeeHoo tagalong behind my bike and we can ride up to 15 miles around the city together (thank goodness for all the biking fanatics in Minneapolis, we're one of the top cities for bikers and the trails are AMAZING!!).

In general, we take the Greenway to Lake Calhoun, stop at the little park, have a snack, continue to Lake Harriet and bike around that, back to Lake Calhoun, then back to the Greenway and home. So far her favorite part is the park at Lake Harriet - it's really tall, made to be all-inclusive (the top part is wide enough for wheelchairs), the slides are fantastically fast. She just really enjoys being there. My goal this next week is to add to my loop - add in another 2 miles with Lake of the Isles. So by the time September hits, we can bike south, possibly to Minnehaha Falls and back. I'm not quite sure if we'll get there this year. But I do know that she LOVES biking, so I'm hoping this continues and we can take some biking adventures/vacations.

My goal is to make a loop - start from home, go east to the Mississippi, south to highway 62 & Cedar Lake, then take the Minnehaha Creek trail back to Lake Harriet and home. I have no idea how many miles that is but I do know it's about half of what I did last week (which is around 18 - 20 miles). Eventually I'd like to do the Cannon Valley Trail - from Cannon Falls to Red Wing (and then back again). I'm not sure if I'll have to do that one alone or not. We shall see how Bimmer Man feels about that - I think it'd be a long day for The Monkey, so taking her might have to wait until next year.

But I really like biking. I like it so much that I ended up buying a second bike (not a comfort bike like I have - that one is really for going around the cities at a comfortable pace and I like that bike for hauling The Monkey). It's a lot lighter and now I can pretty much fly. It's awesome.

If you haven't biked in a long time, go for it. If you live in the Twin Cities, you have plenty of options for trails and you'll be so happy you decided to ride again. Biking is awesome!