The 20 Mile Ride

 

   C and I found out about the Cannon Valley bike trail from friends of ours at church. Ever since he heard about it C has wanted to ride on it. 

   The trail runs from Red Wing through the town of Welch and into Cannon Falls. It's about 20 miles long one way. It runs along the Cannon River through fields and a forest areas.

   C and I stopped by the midway point in Welch to pick up some information and to check the trail out. It looked good. The trail has a small incline, but not anything unmanageable. We decided the best thing for us to do was to get on the trail at Welch and ride to Cannon Falls and back. It's a 20 mile round trip and would give us a good sample of what the trail is like.

   Twenty miles sounds like a long way. C and I have ridden that distance before. When we ride around the lakes in Minneapolis, we go around each lake twice, which is  roughly 20 miles. The big difference is that the trail is a straight shot with out the curves around the lakes. 

   Yesterday was the day. The sun was out. The temperature was going to be in the low to mid 80s. We hoped going on a weekday would mean that the trail would not be crowded. After breakfast, we got into our cycling gear. I got our water bottles ready with fresh water and ice. C put the bike rack on the car and settled our bikes on the rack. Then we went to the computer to buy our wheel passes. 

   Then we headed out. It didn't take long to get to the halfway point at Welch. The parking lot was full but we managed to find a place. We unloaded our bikes, put the rack in the trunk, locked the car and headed out. 

   The trail was nice, smooth and well maintained. It was easy to see where the money for the wheels passes had gone. There were various points along the trail where bikers could stop for a rest and a bit of shade or to look out on the river. We rode though wooded areas with the river on our right. We biked near fields of corn. Part of the trail is cut into the bluff. There is a steep drop into the river on one side and  the bluff rising on the other side.  There were a few other riders on the trail. C and I were pleased to see that many of them were our age. There was a light breeze to cool us as we rode. It was a pleasant ride.

   There were a few times when I wanted to stop just to take a couple of pictures. (And also to get off my bike seat, not going to lie about that.) C seemed intent on moving on. I realized that one thing we do when we bike around the lakes was to get off out bikes and take breaks. There would be no breaks this time. C was a man on a mission.

   Finally we got to the end of the trail at the edge of Cannon Falls. We had to travel a little farther to get to the downtown area. We knew there would be several places where we could have lunch. (More about that tomorrow.)

   After lunch we walked around a little bit. I wanted to get some ice cream. Normally I wouldn't do this on a weekday. (Desserts are only allowed on the weekends.) It was a special occasion and I wanted to celebrate our success. C and I shared a scoop of strawberry cheesecake ice cream. 

   It was time to head back. This time we did stop a few times to drink some water and take pictures. We saw some people tubing in the Cannon River. C saw a large male wild turkey. We kept biking. A few minutes later we saw a flock of wild turkeys ahead of us on the trail. The flock had a few hens and five or six chicks. I had never seen turkey chicks before. We stopped to let them cross. The flock was walking beside the path. C and I decided to pass them slowly and carefully. We had just started to move when it looked like they were going to cross the path again. It almost seemed as if they were confused as to which way they should go. Finally they went into the woods away from the path. C and I were both relieved. We did not want to get chased by wild turkeys, especially hens protecting their chicks.

   The rest of the ride was uneventful. We got back to Welch a bit sore and definitely tired. C put the rack back on the car and put the bikes on the rack. We headed home.

   Once we got home, I did something I rarely do. I took a nap. It was a long ride......