2nd Annual Great Twin Cities Mountain Bike Tour
By John Schmidt
September 3, 2003
| Editor's Note: Last year, John Schmidt rode an epic
mountain bike ride around the Twin Cities, hitting most
of the major venues in a single day of riding. He repeated
the journey again this season, and doubled the turnout
for the event... |
The 2nd Annual Great Twin Cities Mtn Bike Tour (GTCMBT) went
off without a hitch (well maybe a hitch or two) last Saturday
(Aug 30th). The object of "le Tour" is to get in
as many off road trails as possible in one continues ride.
The 1st our was done solo, this year I talked Jeff Arndt.into
accompanying me (next year it might be another solo ride!).
The trails we connected together were Theodore Wirth, Brownie
Lake, The Farm, Murphy-Hanrehan, Terrace Oaks, Lebanon Hills,
and the Minnesota River Bottoms. The weather was perfect,
cool and dry, and we even wore arm warmers to start out with.
Equipment:
- John: '95 Cannondale SV2000, new Fatty 70 fork
(thanks to Now Bikes), Spinergy Spox wheels, Kenda Kosmik
Lite tires pumped to 70psi.
- Jeff: Trek soft Tail, Bontranger wheels, Kenda Kosmik
Lite on the back wheel, and a Michelin semi slick on the front,
both 60psi.
Food/Drink Consumed: Breakfast was 3 pancakes, OJ,
big piece of rhubarb upside-down cake and a cup of coffee,
50oz Snowbol CamelBak filled with a mix of 4 scoops Hammer
Purpetuem (orange) and 2 scoops Endurox R4, CamelBak refill
with Gatorade, 1 large water bottle, Pop Tart, Cliff Bar,
1 egg salad sandwich, 3/4 flask of Hammer Gel.
 We
started from my house in north Minnepolis about 8:15AM and
rode to Theodore Wirth and did all the trails there and then
continued down the parkway to Brownie, riding all the single
track. The only problem was my seat pack decided it was time
to fail and I had to stuff it into my jersey pocket along
with all the food. Brownie was a little tough to negotiate
with hard tires and dry loose conditions but we managed to
ride almost all of it. (segment time: 1:11)
After finishing at Brownie we rode up the east side of the
lake again and hooked up with the Cedar Lake trail. We rode
that to Hopkins and continued on the south LRT trail to Pioneer
Trail then west to The Farm. (1:25)
Before entering The Farm I made a "pit stop" at
the S.A. Rode just about everything at The Farm; skipped the
big teeter, but did the little one. Didn't make it up a couple
of the hills because of the dry, loose conditions and hard
tires, and because it IS The Farm! We stopped after and had
a Pop Tart, yum. (1:01 including pit stop)
After eating we set off back east along Pioneer Trail to
Hwy 101 which we took south to Shakopee. Then we took 17 south
to 42 and that east to 27, then south to Murphy-Hanrehan.
That part of the ride kind of sucks because it's so out in
the open and a fair amount of traffic. I need to find a better
route for next year. (1:31)
We took a short GU break before tackling the Murphy beast.
Rode in and even did the single track the MORC boys put in.
The big hill turned out not to be hard as I feared it would
be. I was able to go up in the middle ring (32x32) seated.
Just goes to show what a 5 hour warm up will do for you! The
big down hill was really sketchy with the hard Kenda's but
fast and fun bouncing all over. Once I made it sliding around
the corner I just flew. I could almost catch air coming out
of the big dip. (Well maybe not quite that fast!). We did
one complete lap, then because I like climbing that hill so
much we started a second lap before heading out the Hanrehan
Blvd. exit. (39:47).
Once on Hanrehan Blvd. we headed east to Burnsville Parkway
and stopped at a S.A. to fill the camelbaks. I filled mine
with ice and orange Gatorade and also got an egg salad sandwich.
Then we continued on to Terrace Oaks. (1:06)
Terrace Oaks was uneventful except Jeff fell on some loose
gravel in a corner and another time when I didn't make it
up a hill and he had to bail. (27:19)
Then we rode up to Cliff Road and east to Johnny Cake then
south to Lebanon. (41:25).
Once at Lebanon Hills, we took a short break. Jeff's camelbak
was causing soreness in his neck and shoulders. Riding Leb
was a blast -- we rode it all both X and XX. Both rock gardens
screwed me up. The hard tires (are you sick of this excuse
yet!!) threw me off. I was able to ride most everything else.
I've never been able to clear the 'Table Top' and Saturday
was no exception - getting close though - and made 3/4 of
the log ride. I make that about half the time. After finishing
there we rode east on Cliff Rd then worked our way down to
the Minnesota river (only a couple wrong turns) to catch the
Cedar Bridge bike/walking path across the river. On the way
to finding it Jeff had a couple flats, which wouldn't have
been a big deal but we had a heck of a time getting his tire
off and back on again and must have pitched the tube the first
time because it flatted again after about 20 minutes. I did
not know this but apparently there different size 26"
tires. The Kenda was a "559" and the rim "575"
- go figure! Probably lost 45 minutes wrestling that. (1:34)
Now the fun starts. Because the old Cedar Bridge has been
closed we had to take the south (lower) route of the River
Bottoms trail. I knew this would be tough because of the long
stretches of sand. We tried riding some of it but decided
it wasn't worth the effort. We also got to ride through some
nettles, itched like crazy but that didn't last long. After
we got back to main trail things went fast and smooth. The
pontoon bridge was on the right side and the new steps made
that crossing uneventful. From there we cruised to the Bloomington
Ferry end. (1:00).
We then took a short Cliff Bar break. Jeff called his wife
to tell her he was still alive and couldn't wait to get me
on skis this winter and return the favor. I think Jeff was
having second thoughts! We were on the home stretch now. We
rode up Bloomington Ferry road to Pioneer Trail east to Homeward
Hills Rd., north to Anderson Lakes, east to Mitchell/Baker,
north to the LRT then back to Theodore Wirth Parkway and back
home. (1:54)
We finished in the dark about 8:45PM. Total Time: 12 hours,
32 minutes.
I felt great the whole time, never really got tired, never
close to bonking. Didn't really eat or drink that much (see
above). I was feeling kind of burnt out on riding before and
didn't know if I wanted to tackle the ride, but figured what
the hell might as well put the nail in the coffin. But once
finished, I was anxious to get back riding again. Took one
day off and went back to Lebanon Hills again, did a couple
laps, and felt great. Made the log ride once and still haven't
cleared the 'Table Top' - but apparently getting a lot of
air. Maybe I need to go out and not up.
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About the author...
I've lived in the Camden area of North Minnepolis
for 29 years, married with two grown (as in out of the
house) boys, and have worked for Univac for 31 years.
I do some mountain bike racing and an occasional road
race. In the winter I ski, do 3 to 4 races a year, and
managed to work my way up to wave 3 in the Birkie last
year. With the lousy winters we've had lately I finally
broke down and bought some roller skis (V2 Aeros), so
maybe I'll try a roller ski tour to Chaska and back.
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