a midway bikelog

I realized i hadn’t written anything about it, but we made another attempt at the annual bi-modal St. Paul to Winona and back to St. Paul trip this year, about a week ago. The idea of the ride is to take the train from St. Paul to Winona, MN, which has a baggage stop and is a convenient 150 miles from home. After the leisurely morning breakfast and bullshitting on the train, we spend the afternoon, evening and sometimes a good part of the night cycling, and much merriment is to be had.

This year, for the 2nd time in our 4 years, we had to resort to plan B. The last time it was flooded tracks that shut down the whole line for a couple of weeks, and this year we had the bad luck of riding the day after some torrential thunderstorms. It was dry when the 9 of us hearty fools assembled at the train station, but the storms had made the train 3 hours late, which put a wrench in our plans. So we hied ourselves a couple of blocks away to a lovely diner for a proper breakfast and planning session.

The last time we were derailed (ha!), we went to Red Wing and back, which is about the same distance and replicates about half of the route anyway. This time we opted to head east and north, leaving town with only a vague plan in that direction.

We arrived in Hudson and went north, regrouping outside of Stillwater. The vote was to make for Osceola to the north, so we forged on, picking our way on a route completely improvised by a committee sense of direction and the help of 2 iPhones. At one point we hit a dead end and opted to cross a highway and try out an ATV trail, which proved delightful.

We had a lovely repast at a bar in Osceola where we delighted our waitress with both our wit and our capacity to drink water. With only a couple of exceptions (aside from the off-roading) the 2-lane roads were delightful, and one stretch of road after we had crossed back into Minnesota was simply beautiful.

In another break with custom for these rides, we were home at a decent hour, by 10 for me. Although i rather miss the delightful night riding we usually have, i have to admit it was nice to be in bed before 4am. A good time with fine cyclists, and some really nice roads north of the cities that i’d like to explore again soon.

We’re also scheming to plan out a long ride that is exclusively (as much as possible) on ATV trails. Let me know if you’re interested, and especially if you know of a good map resource for ATV and snowmobile trails within 5 miles of the Twin Cities.