Sunday, April 06, 2008

Weekend Recap

I received the message from Jim at Hiawatha Cyclery that he got the expected shipment of Velocity rims in and that he had what I needed for a replacement rim. For some reason, I have a hard time leaving the office when I would like to and Friday was no exception. Weaved my way down to Hiawatha via an unplanned route. Glenwood, Cedar Lake, Mid-Town Greeway to Bryant Ave, 42nd to 28th south to 54th.

It was not a route that I'd taken before and it wasn't a "great one." As with most things in life, one does not learn how to make good choices until accumulating the experiences of having made a few bad ones.

Picked up my rim, a new bell (just 'cause) and on a whim opted to pick up a new Schmidt dynamo hub. Funny thing is, I don't know exactly what I will use it for! Bought a 32 hole disk brake version. The plan will be to build it up on a rim-brake compatible wheel. If I can manage to follow through with plans to pick up a rigid fork for my off-roader I should be able to run the bike as a "69'r" with a 26" rear wheel and a 29" front wheel. A 425mm axle to crown fork should allow room. 'twill be an experiment. If successful, I should be able to use a dynamo hub to participate in the 24 Hours of Afton this year. More details to come.

Saturday I was up at 5 and joined by my good friend Scott for a ride at 6am. We took off north east through White Bear lake through Washington County, Marine on Saint Croix. While heading north on Highway 95 I threw out the question of whether Scott wanted to continue a bit further north and cross the St Croix river into Wisconsin in Taylors Falls instead of the planned Osceola. I offered the promise of a fun road in. He was game.

Crossed the river on Highway 8 then headed south a bit on Highway 35 to take County Road S to Osceola. Went to the grocery store for some lunch, had a picnic outside on the tables by the Chinese restaurant, a cup of coffee, then off onto the most enjoyable portion of the day.

Quiet county roads of Wisconsin. Weaving our way south up and down the hills to Holton. Back across the Saint Croix into Stillwater. Back out north of town to highway 96 back to White Bear Lake.

Once again, I tried to map out the ride with http://www.mapmyride.com/ I like this "tool" for route planning, but have found that it is a complete computer resource hog when it comes to figuring out LONG rides. I was able to map out the first 97 miles of the route here:


By the time we got back to my house, I had 111 miles. Using MapMyRide's ability export elevation detail, there were somewhere north of 2000 feet of climbing and descents.

Now in the planning phase for a final long ride this coming weekend. This will be the last planned LONG ride before TransIowa. Tentatively thinking that I will leave the house, ride down south, around Lake Pepin and back home. Tentatively mapped it out in 3 different sections:

Stage One:


Stage Two:


Stage Three:

4 comments:

nickel said...

You might want to check out bikely. I think their elevation is more accurate than mapmyride. I think mapmyride doesn't count any ascents under 300ft or something.

I mapped your route out in bikely and it doesn't seem to have the hang issues: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/121979

It also give you a nice elevation graph (Show --> elevation) which puts you closer to 3000ft of climbing.

Reflector Collector said...

Thanks for the info...

That works pretty well and is MUCH faster! I'll have to spend some time playing when I get more time.

Anonymous said...

Occasionally Bikely's elevation profiles go on the fritz (showing either way too much or way too little), but otherwise it's a great tool, and all I use for route planning.

. said...

I would do route #2. The one I did last week took be around the local big lake (Percy Priest). Just feels good to ride all the way around a body of water.

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