Sunday, July 31, 2005

Biking and Boozing

A coworker of mine invited me out this weekend for some biking and bar hopping with a small group. I guess it's something they used to do back in college, since biking while intoxicated is completely legal. I didn't really know where we would be biking, but he assured me it was all really nice trail areas.

I arrived at the designated starting point in St. Louis Park off Minnetonka Blvd. From there we hopped on some trails, that I have to assume were part of the Grand Rounds. At one point we were riding along (and faster then) a coal train. I think we then went past Cedar Lake and ended up at our first stop, Old Chicago. There everyone loaded up on beer and I filled up my water bottle. :-)

Back on the trails, we did another few miles and went around Lake Calhoun and ended up at Applebee's. We stopped there for dinner, a couple perfect margaritas and more beer. (water and diet Pepsi for me!) After dinner, we headed out again for another hour or so of biking and ended up back where we started.

All said, we did 19 miles, which I thought was awesome. Although there were 2 long breaks, I wasn't even tired the way I get after doing the hills around my house. It made the biking so much more fun, even though it was kind of warm out. It also confirmed my suspicions about hills sucking. I think the next step will be to give up on the south suburbs, buy a bike rack for my car, and always drive somewhere for longer bike rides on the weekends!

After doing 19 miles and still feeling pretty good, I'm convinced I can do the 30 miles for the St. Paul Bike Classic. (with another month or so practice) So I signed up!

2 comments:

Mike said...

At least you have hills. Here where I live, north of Indianapolis, there aren't any!

Shawn said...

Trust me, i'd rather have less hills. There are a few routes around my place that aren't too hilly, but then it just gets repetitive. (3 loops just for 10 mile ride)