Gateway To Where, Exactly?
Minneapolis’ recently gorgeous weather stuck around for Sunday’s 42-mile out-and-back ride on Minnesota’s very nice Gateway State Trail — which was good, because after a stressful week I was not in the mood for a rainy ride. Even more welcome was the company (and St. Paul navigation skills) of David and the Ellster. At first we had to stop every few minutes to pull each other out of one of the enormous concrete potholes that roam downtown St. Paul, but soon we stumbled upon the inconspicuous trailhead nestled snugly by a highway overpass…
…and suddenly, not a mile from the capitol, we were zipping along through the woods. The trail follows an old rail line which the city grew around, leaving a buffer of forest like protective scar tissue. Every half mile or so we would stop and blink, a bit bewildered, at the road intersections that reminded us we were still very much in the city — but otherwise it was a very peaceful ride, with surprisingly light traffic for such a nice Sunday afternoon. As the intersections became less frequent the trail provided, through the trees, glimpses of rural Minnesota: a dairy farm, a small sampling of the famously abundant lakes, and signs suggesting that we “announce our approach” if we were to encounter any horses on the trail (we did, but I think they were too preoccupied dealing with their cargo of city slickers to notice us).
42 miles felt pretty good at an average speed of 14.1 mph. I’m already more comfortable on the Trek than I was last week, and my legs were quite willing to spin for as long as I needed them to. However, I made the mistake of not riding (or doing much at all) for the three days before the ride. It didn’t seem to make much of a difference in terms of endurance, but it did mean (as I probably could have predicted) that I received a visit from my friend Mr. K. Nee Pain.
Mr. Pain showed up shortly after our rest stop at the halfway point and took up residence in the outside of my right knee, which is by far his favorite spot (I think that’s my lateral collateral ligament?). I get this occasionally when cycling hard after a few days of very little activity — so I guess there’s a pretty obvious way to avoid it, huh? It hurts but there’s no popping, grinding, limited motion, or other scary mechanical sensations, so I just kept going, took it easy for a day, and it’s back to normal. Still, it’s something I need to keep in mind, because if it started up at mile 50 of a century I’d have to either start munching on ibuprofen or call it a day.
Other lessons learned: Gatorade is good stuff; Powerbars will freak out your glucose levels if you’re not used to them; and don’t take such long rest stops, dammit!
August 31st, 2006 at 11:11 pm
I like that scar tissue metaphor, Andrew. It’s quite apt.
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