60+ Miles in a Day and Some Single Track: Elm Creek Trip

 Editor's Note: Hi all, this is Kate. And I have a confession: I dropped the ball big time on this one. I'm sorry. We were busy doing silly things like getting married, hiking one of Backpacker Magazine's Top Ten Most Dangerous Hikes in America, and the like. I wrote this post, and then forgot to publish it. Forgive me. And enjoy.


Hello Adventurers!

This weekend found us doing what we often do on Saturday mornings: going to the Angry Catfish Bicycle and Coffee Bar (by way of The Baker's Wife because, hello, 54 cent cake donuts with sprinkles).

I had to artfully slide that donut next to the cup so it wouldn't be so obvious I had already started enjoying it.

We caffienated. We sugared. We drooled over nice bike things. Then we got on the mountain bikes and headed up to Elm Creek Park Reserve in Maple Grove, Minnesota. 

A few weeks ago, Aaron shared the tale of our bikepacking trip turned bike and brew tour in the western suburbs of Minneapolis. 30 miles and 2 breweries to our final destination, that night as we sat around our campfire eating some sort of Mexican dinner out of a bag, we each said, "Well, I think this could be a day trip. Get up early, hit the breweries, stop for lunch and get home. 60ish miles in a full day? Sounds great." So when we were told about Elm Creek-- a cool 30 miles from our house-- we thought, Adventurers! Let's make it a day trip!

From the Angry Catfish, we got on West River Road in South Minneapolis and rode past the U of M, around downtown Minneapolis, and north. Not really knowing exactly where we were going, we took a few short detours, discovering that the West River Road trail is not totally connected all the way through as we originally thought it was. The route required us to take a handful of city street detours to connect where the trail suddenly ends to where it restarts, anywhere from 0.2 to 2 miles later. Though it would be less confusing the next time, it would be great if someday that trail connected all the way through.

A lovely view.

We took the West River Road trail all the way to the Coon Rapids Dam and then turned west onto the Rush Creek Regional Trail. I just don't think I can say enough about Three Rivers Park District and the work they have been doing to make trails, parks, and active living accessible, easy, and enjoyable. The paved trail wound through parks and neighborhoods, had plenty of shade, was well-marked and well-mapped. It also seemed to intersect with a lot of other regional and local trails in the area, providing for some really excellent cycling opportunities for people up in that part of the metro (or for those of us who like to bike 30 miles to get to a place to go biking!).

Elm Creek Park Reserve boasts a single track park for mountain bikes that Aaron really wanted to check out. Our bikes are not exactly built for single track, but they aren't exactly not built for it, either. With MUCH hesitation, I followed Aaron into the woods for my first attempt on some single track trails. 

My assessment? It's not my kind of riding. At least, not yet. We were on some supremely easy trails, and I would not be comfortable on anything more challenging. I also think part of what made me so anxious was not knowing how to appropriate interact with other riders. I wasn't sure what to do if a faster rider came up behind me or if I met a rider in a narrow part of a two-way trail. I also didn't know who was supposed to yield when our trail crossed the paved trail or joined with another mountain bike trail. I am not always a rule follower, but I like to know the rules before I decide to break them. Especially rules of safety. I still had a fun time and was glad I tried it. We biked into Champlin for lunch (at Pizza Ranch!) and afterward we came back to the park and Aaron wanted to try our some more difficult trails. I politely declined and said I would meet up with him later. And that worked perfectly! He even admitted that I would not have enjoyed the trails he went on.

We set off for home as the clouds started to fill up the sky.  I was doing pretty good until we got about 10 miles from home and especially as we headed into downtown Minneapolis. My legs were definitely feeling fatigued, my back was starting to hurt, and pedaling went from 'auto-pilot' to 'so much effort.' At one point, Aaron was sharing some trivia and I just snarked back, "I am not in the mood for small talk right now. I want to be home." Luckily, it was nothing a shower, 2 movies, and some tacos couldn't fix. 

The big picture lesson: 60+ miles in a day is a lot, but not impossible. But when we are out west it will be 60+ miles a day... and then again the next day... and the day after that... and so on. And up some much steeper inclines and more rugged road. So, I can only speak for myself on this one, but I have a lot of conditioning to do!