Northern Minnesota Biking Vacation

Friday June 3 to Monday June 6

We began our 4-day bicycle trip on Friday with 29 miles on our single recumbents. We biked the Paul Bunyan Bike Trail from Jenkins to Merrifield, MN. Another bike was added to our collection this past week with the purchase of a Rans Recumbent V-Rex for Dennis. It sure was fun riding side-by-side along this well-kept trail as the V-Rex made its maiden voyage. We had shelter waiting for us at the AmericInn of Pequot Lakes following our ride and we planned to make good use of the hot tub throughout this trip.


On Saturday, we were registered for the Tour of Lakes bicycle ride. The tour was gathering at the Pequot Lakes High School when we biked up at 6:30 a.m. We collected our route map and began pedaling the 68-mile route that would take us on quiet back roads around Pequot Lakes and Nisswa reaching Cross Lake to the north before turning back south towards our finish at the high school where root beer floats were awaiting our return. The tour was well worth the $50 we paid and very well organized with rest stops planned every 10 miles and stocked with fruit, snacks, cookies, roast beef sandwiches, hot dogs, beverages…we had no worries about going hungry or thirsty—a definite repeater.


Because the weather was so beautiful today, we decided to continue biking on the Paul Bunyan Trail towards Brainerd. The trail is very well kept and because of its length, congestion is never a problem. We enjoyed our visit at the Pickle Factory in Nisswa and at the Last Turn Saloon in Brainerd which gave us time to rest and visit with the locals. We made it back to the AmericInn by 6:30 p.m. 12 hours after our early morning start. We were tired but proud to say we set a new record for our books—really, who bikes 119 miles in one day? Gotta love this sport!


Sunday was to be a day of “leisure” biking. After our 119-mile ride yesterday, we decided to drive to Walker, MN with the tandem and bike the Paul Bunyan trail north to Bemidji. It was another great weather day making it easy to put on the 74 trail miles and reach our goal of 15,000 on the bike since its purchase in August of 2005. We were also thrilled with our speed of 14 mph as we set out with plans to just take it easy today. We made it to Bemidji at lunch time so stopped at Applebee's for some nutrition and a much needed rest after pedaling 37 miles without a break.


As we neared the end our our ride for the day, a bald eagle swooped over our heads to land in a pine tree along the trail. The sights and sounds along our rides always seem to amaze us. It’s hard to describe the feeling of being surrounded by the beauty of nature as we quietly travel on and become part of these natural
surroundings.


Monday is day 4 and the last day of this mini vacation in northern Minnesota. We had 3 wonderful days of biking and were now planning on driving to St. Paul, MN to visit daughter Amy and our new grandbaby, Kennedy. We then planned to get out our single recumbents and ride the beautiful trails this big city has to offer. We didn’t, however, plan on the 100° temperature so opted to head for home after our visit with plans to bike in the evening once the temperature cooled some. That never happened so we decided to set off south on CR 35 at 6:00 p.m. to finish our 4-day bike ride with some miles on our single bikes. The temperature was still quite hot, registering 101 at peak and didn’t begin to drop until after 7:00 p.m. We were exhausted after this short 18-mile ride but biking a total of 240 miles during this 4-day mini vacation was still more than we expected. We had a great time again on our 2-wheeled vehicles and anxiously look forward to our next bike event in Lanesboro, MN.