Urban Biking

Great time in a great biking city- Minneapolis. A friend was in town and he wanted to try some biking in Minneapolis on Tuesday. We chose the Chain of Lakes bikeway- part of the Grand Rounds. We actually did part of Minnehaha as well.

What a great ride. First along the Minnehaha creek and then to the three lakes:

• Lake Harriet
• Lake Calhoun and
• Lake of the Isles.

It was a windy day as the whitecaps show. We were fortunate in that we were heading into the wind when most sheltered and with a tail wind when we most needed it. Even the cross winds weren't too afor us. All in all it was around a 15 - 20 mph wind.

The wind surfers were loving it on Lake Calhoun (above) while the sailboats were enjoying the more protected (and smaller) Lake Harriet (below) s seen through the bandshell.



We of course had to stop at one of my favorite places in the area- Victor's 1959 Cafe. Tom is smiling since it is after a lunch of a great Cubano sandwich (as seen on the Food Channel.)

"Urban" biking is a different animal than trails in the woods, but it is no less interesting. In fact it is a lot of fun when you have a city like Minneapolis that has a 50 mile+ series of bikeways for recreation, The Grand Rounds. I am looking ahead to doing the Minneapolis Bike Tour in September that actually does 14 miles (around the Chain of Lakes) or 37 miles around most of the Grand Rounds.

Obviously there are more people on an "urban" biking setting- but on a nice Tuesday afternoon, it was worth it- and not a lot of people. Our total was 21 miles with the stop at Victor's and a great Caribou Coffee store at the north end of Lake Nokomis on Cedar. Try the iced coffee with a shot of white chocolate. It's great. (I also take fewer pictures on "urban" biking.)