Winter Rides
Mark Kranz reminded me that Saturday is Global Fat Bike Day, so I thought we should celebrate with a ride on the Minnesota River Bottoms Trail. This is an easy, flat trail that anyone can ride. We won't have snow to ride on this weekend, so you can also use a mountain or cycle-cross bike, as many other riders did last Saturday. I think I even saw someone on a road bike last week, so conditions are good for just about any kind of bike.
We will meet at the parking lot on Lyndale Avenue, by I-35W in Bloomington. (We've ridden through there many times, so you should be familiar with it.) We will start riding at 9:00 and ride east toward Cedar Avenue and beyond. You may also join us on the north side of the Cedar Avenue bridge around 9:20 to 9:25. If you ride from Eagan make sure you cross the river and then look for us on the trail north of the river. We'll decide from there where we should ride next.
Read MoreRide Saturday, October 21
Saturday, at 9:00, we will be riding from Rosemount to Edina via the Minnesota Valley State Trail in a clockwise direction. This should be a beautiful 54-mile ride, especially with this week’s peak Autumn colors. I’ve made some minor route changes in Edina and into Bloomington. During the ride, it will be windy, with temps from 51 to 56, and mostly sunny skies.
Read MoreRide Sunday, November 6
On Saturday, we are hopefully going to get some much-needed rain, so I’ve set up a Zwift ride for those of you who want to do a virtual group ride. You can chat with the group via Discord, which makes the time fly. We’ll continue to schedule Zwift rides for the club on Saturdays until next spring.
Sunday could be the last outdoor group ride of the season. It looks like it will be relatively warm in the morning and windy in the afternoon, so our Orchard Lake route counterclockwise would be a good ride for this late-season ride. It will be 42 to 47 degrees with partly cloudy skies and 7 to 12 mph winds.
Read MoreRide Saturday, November 13
This week’s group ride will be indoors on Zwift at 08:00. We’ll ride the 43-mile Big Foot Hills route, which should take about two hours. More than 40 of you who follow me (Cory Wagner) on Zwift, have already been invited to the ride. If you didn’t get invited, check your group events in Zwift, follow me so I can invite you, or contact me.
Read MoreRide Saturday, September 18
Saturday, we will leave Rosemount at 08:00 and ride to Cannon Falls counterclockwise. There will be a short stop at Hi-Quality Bakery and then we’ll return to the start. The weather Saturday morning will be sunny, with temps from 50 to 65, and winds SSE at 4 to 10 mph.
Read MoreRide Saturday, November 28
It’s going to be unseasonably warm Saturday afternoon, so we’re going to have another road ride, which will leave Rosemount at 1 PM and follow our Orchard Lake route. It will be sunny and 47 degrees with a 9 mph SW wind, although it will feel like 42 to 44 degrees. Jack and Martin will be leading the ride, because I have a hike planned with my wife and daughter.
For those of you who ride Zwift, I will continue hosting group rides Saturday mornings at 08:00 throughout the winter. So far this year, we’ve been getting groups of about a dozen riders and we use Discord to chat about cycling and other things during the ride. These rides are about 2 hours of endurance riding, like our outdoor rides, except you can stop any time you want, because you’re always at home.
Read MoreRide Saturday, October 31
This week, we will be able to ride on the road outside. Starting at 1:00 PM, we will leave Rosemount and ride west to Prior Lake. We’ll skip the jog in downtown Prior Lake and stop at Cleary Lake Regional Park instead. This is a 45 or 55-mile route that we haven’t ridden since July 2019. We can choose the length at around mile 40. It will feel like 40 degrees, with partly sunny skies, temps from 45 to 47 degrees, and west winds at 15 mph.
Read More(Zwift) Ride Saturday, October 12
The poor weather this weekend is going to prevent us from doing an outdoor ride, so I’ll be hosting an indoor ride on Zwift. I’ve invited my followers to a 40-mile ride on the London Pretzel route, so look for your invitation for ride at 09:00 Saturday.
Saturday afternoon, I’m going to volunteer with Free Bikes for Kidz and I’d love to see some other RCC members join me. I’ll be there from 12:00 to 15:00, and maybe longer. They have 3 shifts on Saturdays, two shifts on Sundays, and four shifts on weekdays, so you can help out almost anytime you want. You don’t need mechanical skills, because they have jobs for all skill levels. If you’re a bit rusty at the mechanical stuff, you can practice on bikes for the kids, so you’re more comfortable working on your own bike. They provide everything you need, so come out and help share your love for cycling with some kids.
Read MoreRides Saturday and Sunday, Oct 5 & 6
It’s a busy weekend and we have three opportunities for you.
Saturday at 08:00, there’s a meetup on Zwift. We’ll ride the “Dust in the Wind” route in Watopia and talk via Discord during the ride. I’ve invited the club members who follow me and rode together in the game last winter. Follow me on Zwift to get invited to my meetups.
Saturday 10:00 to 16:30 is Free Bikes 4 Kidz annual bike-collection day and they are looking for volunteers to help out with unloading and categorizing bikes. Their volunteer coordinator told me that “any shift, any amount of time would be so helpful.” Their Collection Day signup form has shifts that start at 10:00, 11:00 and 12:30. Breakfast bagels and pizza lunch will be available and you’ll get a FB4K t-shirt. This year, their warehouse is in the south metro at the Southtown Shopping Center in Bloomington at I-494 and Penn Ave. Sign up now.
Sunday at 8:30, we’ll do a group ride from Startbuck’s in Rosemount to somewhere west (Prior Lake or Skakopee). I’ll change up the route to keep it fresh for this late-season ride.
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