101 Miles

On Sunday, Ming and I rode up from Eagan, past Minnehaha Falls, around the lakes, out to the Depot in Minnetonka, around the north end of Lake Minnetonka via the Dakota Trail, out to the west end, south around the bottom of the lake on the Northern LRT, and then back to Eagan via St. Louis Park and the lakes with stops at The Depot for coffee, The Bistro in St. Bonifacius for Pancakes and coconut tea, Whole Foods for fruit and juice, and then home.

We had to do an extra loop around Lake Harriet to make sure we broke 100, but Ming finally has a century under his belt.

The biggest problem during the ride wasn't the heat or the effort, but me breaking a spoke at the 25 mile mark, in Hopkins.  It sounded like a gunshot.  There are 1300 miles on my bike, which seems light for a bad rim, but it looks like I'll need a new one before RAGBRAI.  None of the stores were open until noon, but while I was sitting here watching the guys in Hopkins put out the garage sale bikes, they offered to take care of my spoke over an hour early, getting us back on the road with only an hour and a half delay.


The bench was nice.  But the waiting room at the Dunn Brothers next door was much nicer.  Who sits in those chairs while waiting for the first person in line to finish?


Ming at the Depot, doing his Neo impression.  Delicious mango bars and coffee.


Random picture of the bicycles.  What matters to me most is that my new wireless odometer is still attached after 25 miles.  That might be a record for not dumping one into a creek or river.


Ming likes to pray for a good ride.  This is how they do it where he comes from.  He must have only been praying for his bike, not mine, or my spoke would have been fine.


That's right.  100 miles, and I took pictures of bathrooms.  There's just not much to see beside a lot of trails and trees and nice lake vistas I've seen a hundred times before.  It's beautiful, but it's not new.  This is the Java King from the Depot bathroom.  I think he needs a raspberry hat.


And this is the University of Minnesota java train that brings coffee to The Depot.


As we rounded Cedar Lake for the home stretch, Hidden Beach was absolutely mobbed with people.  As I was out of action last year, I didn't realize they had opened it up and made it public instead of a sneaky mud pit and nude beach, which is how I remember it.  I never went there to be nude or coated in mud, not that I have a problem with either, but I was back there when other people were nude and coated in mud once while exploring a bike path.  I thought it might be something to do with Pride Weekend until I read the Wikipedia article.