Med City Meander: Riding In Rochester

 

The map

Memorial Day weekend Mary and I took our bicycles to Rochester, MN, to participate in the inaugural Med City Meander.  The start and finish was at Cascade Lake Park.  The ride took us on various trails and roads in and around Rochester.  Having been in that city once, I was excited to go.  New trails to explore!

GETTING THERE IS HALF THE FUN!

The flames of SUVs are lighting the road to Polk City

We live in Iowa but travel to Minnesota several times a year.  Great bicycle trails and great music concerts to attend.  We were up Minneapolis in March and will return in October twice for rock & roll.  One year instead of The Ragbrai, Mary and I took our touring bikes and rode from St Cloud to Fargo, ND, and back in 6 days.  This was on two seamlessly connected trails, Lake Woebegone Trail and the Center Lakes Trail combining to make 140 miles of SMOOTH, paved trail with towns every 5 to 8 miles.  The Root River Trail is another great bicycle destination path.  Do the Preston Harmony Trail while you are up there. We also recommend the Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail that starts just off I-35.  But in my mind, the Med City Meander would show us how to get to the Shooting Star Trail.  My mind was mistaken as that trail connects LeRoy, MN, to Austin, MN.  Oh well...

Somewhere in Ankeny, IA, near the Polk City turn off on I-35 we spotted a fire in the darkness.  A Jeep Grand Cherokee was suffering an engine fire.  I asked Mary to grab her phone to take a picture but I beat her to the punch since my phone was on the center console.  After we passed the flaming SUV we saw emergency vehicles heading from the north racing to the scene.  The driver did have the ability to get the vehicle onto the shoulder of the freeway.  I thought of Roads To Moscow by Al Stewart. 

We were very confident in our ability to get to Rochester.  Yet we put our faith in Google Maps to guide us to the exact location.  Part of the issue is that we have traveled up and down I-35 some many times that we have seen the green sign telling us to turn for that city.  Hang a right on the I-90 exit and follow signs.  Google was engaged before we reached I-90.  But Rochester was not on the sign.  Google did not bark at us.  We continued north.  Maybe the next exit?  Yeah, highway 30, no Rochester sign.  Small towns and county roads until we reached highway 14.  Still did not see a Rochester sign until we reached city limits.  I do not know what programing went in the AI but it was dumb.  Highway 14 was probably the turn but it was under construction.  But we did get to Cascade Lake.  It was that point that my faithful navigator's phone took a dump but I spotted a Honda Pilot with two bikes hanging off the back and I followed them to the proper parking lot for the ride.  Use The Force, Luke!

The Ride

The Mayowood Stone Barn or as we call it, The Weddin' Barn.  Looks like an exchange of vows will soon take place. 

Lone rider climbing the hill.

A group of riders desperately trying to catch the rider in the photo above.

After unloading our bikes from the inside of the Pilot and grabbing what we needed, tire repair tools, sleeves for arms, helmets, lock, wallet, keys, water bottles, ect, we rode to the registration table.  Mary handled that while I messed around with my bike.  Inside the shelter there were donuts and coffee.  Mary handed me a paper map, a decal and a pamphlet on trails.  Then we were off!

There a lot of families and cyclists of all ages participating today.  Triathletes to a woman with a dog in a rear basket.  People were polite and noncompetitive.  The trail around the lake was bumpy.  I hoped it was not a sign for the rest of the ride.  We were on "endurance bikes."  These are allegedly more comfortable than stand road bikes.  But the kawthunk kawthunk every 10 feet was annoying.  Hopefully, the other trails will be better.

I heard a rumor about a "hill" and we found it.  Just a long climb along US Highway 14.  Then the "3 Mile Jacket Drop" as a group of riders reached operating temperature.  There was a 9 Mile Jacket Drop later.  I forget when I ditched my sleeves, at least 15 miles.  Some canopy on the Zumbro River Trail was both welcomed and beautiful, a lot of white and purple flowers in the woods.

Later we rode through the Mayowood area, a gorgeous neighborhood of nice homes and a "wedding barn" before we returned to the Zumbro River Trail which lead us to 1st Ave and downtown Rochester. 

Downtown is a great place.  I wish we had more time to spend there.  The riverfront is nice and fun, murals and artwork, many underpasses and the Rochester Art Center which sponsors Art4trails that has many sculptures along the trails.  Not directly on the route but we made an excursion to photograph the Taper Arch sculpture which reminded me of Chicago's Cloud Gate sculpture (the Bean).  After photos we found the rest stop and drank some water.  There are a lot of coffee shops, bars and restaurants here.

Downtown riverfront

Selfie

The "Tapered Arch" in front of the art center.

This was the turning point for the short and long ride.  Since we were here to ride we took the long route. This route included the Bear Creek Trail, Marion RD Trail, John Wellner Trail and the Civic Center Trail.  Most importantly, it brought us in view of The Ear of Corn Water Tower!  We did not get close enough but saw it.  

Why do people suck?  Dockless Lime scooter tossed into Bear Creek.  Personally, I prefer dockless rentals because I can park them and shut off the meter at my short term destination unlike docked rentals, B-Cycles for example, which charge you until they are returned to a docking station inconveniently located nowhere near the place you want to visit.

The Corn Tower

Back to downtown for a Spinal Tap moment.  Although the ride was very well marked, there was some confusion for participants of the long ride.  We rode back to the rest stop but had to back track to the turn for the long ride to realize that we needed to turn left for the short route to return to the start of the ride.  No big deal but funny in retrospect.

A federal house of incarceration.

This is how sidepaths through business districts should be.  Clearly segregated between bike and walking lanes.  No huge planters obstructing views.

Need to stop here and eat and purchase a shirt!

Huge green pedestrian bridge at Cascade Lake

Ride up into the clouds!

Option to exit the bridge before crossing highway 14.  We turned around here.

Nothing really to note about the finish.  We repeated the beginning of the ride to photograph a pedestrian bridge that crossed highway 14.  Huge bridge!  Donuts and coffee were gone.  Food trucks were set up for nourishment and an obstacle/skills course was there for young riders.  A man came up to us as we were loading our bikes in the car.  He said he had a strange question. "Did you see a r/c car in the form of Grave Digger?"  He left his son's car on top of his truck and it fell off on his exit.  Nope.  Nice assumption that we knew what Grave Digger was.  Poor kid will get a new one very soon.

I was very impressed with the ride and Rochester itself.  We plan to return and spend more time there.  Definitely will bring bicycles that can run on lower air pressure to cushion the trails.  A ride to photograph all the trail artwork.  Restaurants and brewpubs, coffee and more.  And the Douglas State Trail from Rochester to Pine Island for a 25 mile out and back.

We headed straight to I-90 to leave town.  Before we reached Austin the Honda needed gas and I needed caffeine as both the car and me were running on empty.  Took an exit for Austin but the bridge was out.  No joy.  The next exit was Haywood, but despite the sign we did not see the gas station.  Strike 2!  Albert Lea was next and we scored.  I slammed a red Bull, tropical, as I was refueling the Pilot and had a screw top white Monster for the road.  I stopped yawning was alert and awake for the rest of the drive.

No burning Jeeps on the trip back but a huge line of cars just south of Ames to see the country music concert at Jack Trice Stadium.  I hoped everyone enjoyed themselves.