Monday I ended up doing another easy 5 mile run in the morning. Tuesday I ran 11 miles on the trails, along with 6 strides.
With gas prices around $4.09, I have been considering biking to work once a week – at least to start. Mondays or Fridays make the most sense, because they’re my easy running days. I figure if I bike an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, that’d substitute for a recovery day. The problem is there’s no real easy way to get across the Minnesota River. I’m thinking of two options; 1) Drive to Lake Nokomis and then bike along Minnehaha Pkwy, around Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun and then hook up with the Greenway and head west. 2) Drive to Minnehaha Falls and then bike to the Greenway and then head west.
Anyone out there familiar with these options? Any suggestions? It looks to be about 16 miles for both options. Option 1 probably makes more sense as far as driving there, but option 2 would probably be an easier bike ride.
Finally, Eric sent me this NYT article on a Japanese guy who has made shoes for a bunch of Olympic marathon champions.
Quote of the day;
“Samurai cannot fight without their swords. It is the same for runners and their shoes.” – Hitoshi Mimura
2 comments:
You could write a letter to Jim Oberstar regarding the lack of an easy bike route over the MN river. He loves to pork barrell money for bike related projects in MN. He's been talking about bike racks and a bike trail into the airport (although one has to wonder how you could bike to the airport with your luggage!)
Until a few years ago, the Old Cedar Avenue bridge was a great way to cross the river, but then they closed it. Something about gaping holes and rusty beams. It's going to be replaced though. You might also look into the Bloomington Ferry footbridge, right under 169. Otherwise I guess you're left with the footbridge along 494.
Otherwise, of your two metro routes, the West River Road / Greenway option is probably nicer biking with fewer stops. Minnehaha parkway may be pretty heavy with traffic in the morning and biking around Calhoun can also be kind of busy. They are probably both worth trying though.
If you are biking into West Bloomington (or so I gather from the references to Hyland and Normandale Lake), I'd check out a route using the Bloomington Ferry Bridge.
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