Time to get Creative

It has been a few weeks since I've ridden my bike. I had a cold (I really think it was just a cold) and didn't want to push it, plus the weather was not all that cooperative. Then there is the dilemma - where to ride to keep a distance from walkers, runners, and cyclists? I am comfortable riding on roads, but some of my usual ways to connect different routes involve hopping on a path for a short stretch.

So, Monday, when I stood 6 feet away from other customers waiting their turn to get groceries I thought about good streets to ride after work.

The co-op was doing a really good job of controlling
the number of people inside, keeping things disinfected,
and keeping people apart. Really thoughtful approach.

Monday's super creative ride

So, after work, I decided to ride up and down two main roads - with great wide bike lanes to and from downtown, after making a 20-minute stop to say hi to my friends Alison and Ed and their kids, who were out in their yard enjoying the weather. For one brief second, Ed and I were within 6 feet of each other when he handed me a homemade cookie. My route was kind of boring and involved a fair number of stoplights but I rode as fast as I could either way and that was kind of fun because in some stretches I was keeping pace with the cars.

I got home and cooled off after my exertion by inspecting the yard for my daily check on what is popping up out of the ground.

I love the weirdness of chives being one of the first
things to pop up each year. I think I only use about
2 TBS of chives per year, but the plant is cool.

I thought on this ride on Monday, and when in the backyard, about the BikeMS rides. I can't imagine that any of them really will be happening this year. They've only cancelled some so far. As I wore my nice shirt I got from the MS Society for being a top fundraiser last year, I thought that even if the rides are cancelled, I might try to do the distance on my own (and whatever fundraising I can: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/GoMaggieGo), provided that I'm healthy. I might have to break it up differently though due to a lack of places where I can use a bathroom and replenish my snacks.

Photogenic. Ha.

Last night I rode and it was more challenging. I think I need to ride in the middle of the day or when it is dark out to avoid people. There were a couple of places where I rode on a path to connect parts of my route and it was hairy. Too many people walking. Kudos to them for keeping a distance from each other and me as much as possible, but that means that people are spilling onto the bike paths from the pedestrian paths and more people than normal are out walking with earbuds in and don't hear me calling to tell them I'm approaching. On the way home, I avoided this but then ended up doing about a quarter of a mile on what could have been a pretty dangerous stretch of road, I realized as soon as I was at the point of no return on that route choice.

The hills look dramatic, until you look at the scale.
Always read the scale, my friends.

I road to the east side of St. Paul and up to Mounds Park. I'm out of shape. This ride made me tired and hungry! Normally it would not be so challenging. 

Star: the cathedral; M: downtown Mpls;
Circle: the capitol

 I leave you with an unmarred view. There is another part of the park with some pretty great views of St. Paul, but I like this angle because you can see Minneapolis, too. I once rode up here in the fall at dusk and it was one of the prettiest sights I've seen.