30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 30

Awww... it is over. I had so much fun doing my 30 Days of Biking! Last year I rode more miles, but I did not ride everyday. This year I rode everyday, but I rode fewer miles. Most of the month I rode in rain and snow and wind and cold, but the last few days of blessed sun made all the difference. My goal was met and life was good. Today I rode an easy-peasy 6.75 miles and I am psyching myself up for May and National Bike Month!

Now, something you didn't know, I also did 30 Days of Yoga this last month. Some of the days were very short sessions and some longer, but I did do yoga everyday. I feel much more balanced too. I have been having issues balancing on my left foot, but now I am doing better. I will continue with the yoga in May along with a bit of weight training.

Miles Today: 6.75

Total Miles: 158.19

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 29

At 151.44 miles, I have reached my goal of 150 miles for the month!

(Ignoring the fact that last year I set a goal of 300 miles for this year. I don't know why I did not look back before I set this year's goal.) 

That means that tomorrow's ride will just be gravy. I can cruise along without a care in the world. I can loop through neighborhoods and circle around dogs. I can just have a jolly old time.  Hee Hee!!

10.3 Miles

I took this one picture today. I don't know why,
I guess I just thought it was an interesting tree.
 Oddly, I think it is shaped a bit like my map for the day...

Miles Today: 10.3
Total Miles: 151.44

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 28

Well, guess what?! I am at 141.24 miles! I think I am going to make 150 miles! What a difference a couple of nice sunny days make. Today, after two rides, I put in 24.13 miles. My first ride was windy and adventuresome. My second ride was shorter, but it ended with a lovely rainbow. 

Ride 1 ~  15.88 Miles

Ride 2 ~ 8.25 Miles

Here is a little video of my ride down my favorite trail:

Rainbow at the end of the ride!

Miles Today: 24.13
Total Miles: 141.24

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 27

Rodney and I went for a ride today. It was a nice long one too. Rodney turned back at about 10 miles and I went on for a total of 15.23 miles.

Look at that map! 15.23 miles today!

We stopped for a lovely ice cream today. 

Rodney had Twix and I had licorice.
We both had marshmallow topping. 

A cute little diorama of an ice cream shop in the ice cream shop!

From the top.

If you look closely you can see Rodney on the bridge. 

Coon Creek from the top of the Creek Meadow Dr bridge. 

The entrance to my favorite trail. 

Miles Today: 15.23
Total Miles: 117.11

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 26

I finally made it to Bunker Hills Park on my ride today. It was a wonderful 7.56 mile ride. I have finally made it to over 100 miles this month! 

In Bunker Hills Regional Park.

Soon this will be green!

 

Look at that lovely clear trail. 

Hopefully  this will be the last of the snow!

Miles Today: 7.56

Total Miles: 101.88

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 25

Oh what a beautiful day! I think we can can that spring is here! 

Short ride today, but I was able to get in 4.13 miles:

Miles Today: 4.13
Total Miles: 94.32

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 24

Today's post has to be short and sweet, just like my ride. I was not able to go for a ride until after 4:30 and then it started to rain. I ended up taking a a ride just to say that I did.

Miles Today: 1.25
Total Miles: 90.19

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 23

How frustrating. I looked at my biking stats for last year and I am feeling very depressed. I rode 255.43 miles for 30 Days of Biking last year! 255.43! I had a goal of 300 miles for this year. I realize that last year was much nicer weather-wise, but really? Though, I suppose, I did not wake up to this on April 23 last year:

This as mostly melted now, but we had a good
2-3 inches of snow overnight. 

So, I am just going to soldier on as best I can. I will keep putting in as many miles as I can each day and we will see where it takes me. I went 7.09 miles today. I am now only 31.06 miles from my new 120 mile goal.

Miles Today: 7.09

Total Miles: 88.94

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 22

Hawthorne sitting on a rock and pics of some of my herbs that are
sprouting in my herb bed.

Happy Earth Day! Oh, I had great plans for my Earth Day Ride. I was going to put in 22 miles and go eat lunch at Cafe Organica (the cafeteria at the Aveda plant in Blaine~it is open to the public), from there I was going to go to the Big Dipper for ice cream and then a  ride through Bunker Hills. But no. Maybe next year!

But look! I do have some signs of spring! I have mint, tarragon, horseradish(?) and I think a flower growing in my herb garden. Sadly, they are probably going to be covered in yet more snow tonight, but then we are expecting this:

Oh! Do you see? Do you see those 60’s coming? I can’t say how exciting it is! Okay, first we have today’s and Wednesday’s snow to deal with (to which I say BLECH), but after that I think SPRING is coming to Minnesota!!!

My new goal for the month is 120 miles. I feel it is very unlikely that I will make it to 150 at this point. The weather will be getting nicer next week, but I will not have as much time to ride. I would only need 38.15 miles to make that goal and I would still be pushing myself. So new goal set. 

Miles Today: 4.55

Total Miles: 81.85

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 21

I did not want to go for a ride today. We got back from having lunch at my mother’s house at about 3:30 and it was gloomy, gusty and grey out. I just wanted to curl up and either nap or read, but I got dressed and set out anyway.

The minute I closed the garage door and started up the GPS it started to rain. I planned a very short ride in my head as I set off down the driveway, but by the time I hit the road I knew I was riding down Foley to take a picture of this sign:

They have had it up since before Easter, but I don’t think it is currently spreading the message they had originally hoped for…

And, of course, once I got on the bike I rode and rode. I am always surprised how my enthusiasm soars the minute I am on the bike and riding. I ended up getting in 5.72 miles!

Miles Today: 5.67

Total Miles: 77.3

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 20

Today was a two ride day! Woot! 

Ride 1

Ride 2

I thought it was actually quite nice out today. (You know, in a strange snow-in-April-having-to-wear-gloves-and-ear-muffs-while-biking sort of way!) My first ride was a bit cooler and there were patches of ice, but very little wind. My second ride was windier, but the temps were in the low 40s.

I ended up putting in 9.67 miles total! 5.07 miles on the first ride and another 4.6 on the second. Sadly though, with the storm, I am now 28.42 behind my goal of 5 miles per day. If only the weather would cooperate!

My tarragon seems to feel that everything is on schedule
and has been up for about two weeks!
(If you have any good tarragon recipes please send them to me!)

Another fun snowman. The snow was perfect for it!

The trails are still covered in snow. 

Miles Today: 9.67
Total Miles: 71.58

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 19

Good Lordy! There be tons of snow! Tons! Look at what I woke up to:

The round thing is our fire-pit and the rectangle is an improvised
bird feeder, both where snow free yesterday morning. 

In the end we got about 8 inches of snow yesterday afternoon! 8 inches! In April! At least I can say I lived through a record setting day!

I was not at all surprise to find that I wasn't able to ride on the trails today. For all of the entrances looked like this:

The trail entrance from Kumquat to the first bridge. 

I think I would need much stronger legs and a mountain bike to get through there! Still, I did get in a nice 2.98 mile ride. The wind was bit strong, so I stayed closer to home, but it was sunny and I saw some fun stuff like this:

Look at that Snowman!! He is huge!

 One slightly un-fun thing about my ride is that all the trees looked like this:

Which is beautiful, I admit, but what do you think happens when the wind hits that? Now what do you think happens to the bicyclist under the tree? See what I mean?

Miles Today: 2.98

Total Miles: 61.91

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 18 ~UPDATE~

This is why I went biking so early today:


I am worried about tomorrow's ride! How will I ever be able to make it out?

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 18

Spring is yearning

In the deep and blustery morn

Crows scratch for gifted corn

Squirrels scatter across the ground

Hoping there are nuts to be found

As winds gather from the west

Cottontails hide in their nests

Spring is hidden at this time

Yearning to come into its prime

I slid out the door early this morning for my bike ride. It was 34 degrees and knew it was only going to get colder. I figured I better get while the gettin' was good. It was a bit of an eerie ride too. It felt like a frozen moment in time. Everything knew that a storm was coming and it was both strangely quiet and busy at the same time. At one point I rode past a brace of ducks and they all flew straight at me and over my head. I think I could have grabbed one if I had been so inclined. It was a bit disconcerting. The octave above is my attempt to capture the feeling of the morning. 

Now as I look out the window, a few hours later, it is snowing big hard flakes that sound like rain. And, of course, there is a squirrel eating the bird food. 

I am very glad I went for a ride when I did. I was not able to use GPS again today, but I went a “regular route” of 3.14 miles. The map below is from Day 10, but it is the same path that I took today.

Miles Today: 3.14

Total Miles: 58.93

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 17

I usually wait until the warmest part of the day for my ride, but today, because of the weather forecast, I went out a few hours earlier, just in case it decided to rain. Sadly, this meant I did not run into the people I usually see on my ride. So, I missed the little old man with and umbrella that I always say hello to. Bummer.

I took a bit of a strange route today. Normally I map my rides with my myTracks app, but today I could not get a good GPS signal. This meant that I would have to manually map it on  Google Maps. It also meant I had to 1) remember my route until I got home and 2) stay on trails that Google Maps recognizes as passable.  

When I got done mapping, I was quite please to see that I actually got in 7.9 miles! Which means that I have broken the 50 mile mark for this month!

I also just realized that I am only 29.21 miles behind on my goal of 150 miles this month. (At 5 miles/day I should be at 85 miles now.)  With a bit of luck and some cooperation from Mother Nature I just might make my goal yet!

Along Sand Creek Trail.

I call this Bone-Rattler Trail. It is a terribly bumpy ride.
On the map it is the section of the ride the loops down
towards Northdale Blvd in the Lions Coon Creek Park. 

Small creek that cuts through the Bone-Rattler Trail. 

Culverts that under Xeon Blvd.
Sand Creek is really rushing to the Mississippi right now!
(Well to Coon Creek and then the Mississippi.)

Miles Today: 7.9

Total Miles: 55.79

30 Days of Biking 2013: Day 16

As the saying goes, you have to make hay while the sun shines. And that is exactly what I did for today's 30 Days of Biking Ride! I rode 8.52 miles! 

It was really fairly nice out. I only wish that I had gone another 1.5 miles so that I could say it was over 10, because it does not look like I will be getting in another long ride until next at least Saturday. Apparently Winter Storm Yogi is going to hit us hard over the next few days. (I don't know that I will ever get used to naming winter storms.)

On the bright side, it might be in the 50’s by the end of next week! Whoo-hooo! That should bring in warm weather just in time for May and National Bike Month.

I rode up University Ave today. It was under construction
last year at this time, so it was the first time I rode this trail.  

The trail was fine all the way until this point on Main St.
If you  look closely at the picture you can see stop lights
 in the distance. I had to push my way through the snow all
the way to that point. 

The trail I usually take was fairly clear. 

But when I got to Woodview Park it was snow-covered again.
Those are my bike tracks through the snow!

Miles Today: 8.52

Total Miles: 47.89