St. Paul Classic Bike Tour

Lilydale Loop plus the St. Paul Grand Round
Comments: Ride Time was 3 hours 1 minute, average speed: 12.8

17^th Annual Saint Paul Classic Bike Tour

The Saint Paul Classic Bike Tour is an annual cycling event and will be held in Saint Paul on September 11, 2011. Enjoy 15 to 39 miles of traffic-free routes, featuring great rest stops, ride support, delicious food and beverages, live music and much more!

The Classic has the best rest stops in the business! Beautiful views, great live music and refreshments to match. Savor delicious baked goods -- cookies, bagels, muffins, lemon bars and rolls -- from local bakeries. Enjoy fresh organic fruits including bananas, peaches, plums, grapes and, as always, watermelon at the finish. And don't forget to grab the traditional cup of hot java at the first rest stop. And of course, we can't forget to mention the fabulous live music that will "move you" at every rest stop.

Our drive to the Classic began at 4:30 a.m. on a beautiful Sunday morning. As we pulled out of our driveway, we noticed a body lying along our road. We backtracked to check it out and were relieved to realized it was a cyclist curled up along the gravel shoulder resting—pretty freaky. He waved us on and we continued our journey north. This was our first year biking the St. Paul Classic and we weren’t sure what to expect for parking when we got to the ride start. We were relieved to see an empty parking ramp waiting for us when we arrived at the ride start on the St. Thomas campus and all ramp gates were wide open indicating no charge for parking. We drove in and watched others arrive giving me time to calm my nerves. This would be my first mass start steering on my own and I was shaking. We lined up to register after walking around the campus lot tasting the delicious fruit and baked goods being served before the ride start.


At 7:15 a.m. the crowd began to ready their bikes and move towards the barricades and shortly after 7:30 the group was let loose to enjoy this day of riding. Many cyclists rode with flags on their helmets and on their bikes in remembrances of the tragic event that took place 10 years ago on this date. All riders were very respectful of each other and made room for those of us dealing for the first time with such a swarm of bicycles. Once I began moving, I felt more relaxed and began to enjoy the sights and sounds around me.
The beauty of the skyline was breathtaking and I just had to stop to take some photos. I was missing the tandem in this aspect as it was difficult to pull over in such a crowd to get that perfect photo and there were many images that would go un-captured.


We stopped at each rest stop along our route to enjoy the music and snacks. There were 4 of these stops along our 39-mile route. We biked down Mississippi River Blvd and onto Shepard road before crossing the Mississippi River and onto the Lilydale Loop. This was the hilliest portion of the ride. Going up and over the bridges was a challenge but I made it up each one on my two wheels. Dennis would always be waiting for me at the top. We joined the Grand Round Loop which took us to a beautiful rest stop at Como Park. Music by the Roe Family Singers was playing in the shelter and again we were served baked goods and fruit. Many cyclists were enjoying the park grounds when we arrived. We were now over the half-way mark for this journey and the temperature was rising into the 80’s making us glad that we started early.


We made it back to the finish around 11:00 a.m. and packed the bikes in the van before returning back to the staging area to check out the vendors set up in the campus lots and sink our teeth into the juicy watermelon that was promised at the end of our ride. This was a fabulous event and a definite repeater. The organization of this group was unbelievable. 500 volunteers were used to make this event a tremendous success. On-route announcers were stationed at every turn and in between our turns stood Explorer Scouts and Academy students to make sure we stayed on route and had no problems. The police force was out at every intersection where traffic crossed but we mostly rode on traffic free roads blocked to motorized vehicles.


We truly had a wonderful day biking through and enjoying the urban setting of St. Paul, MN. This event will also hold memories of reaching my first 1,000 miles on my Bacchetta and taking part in my first mass start piloting my own human-powered vehicle.

Total registered riders: 7,000
Police officers employed: 70
Explorer Scouts employed: 60
St. Paul Academy students employed: 70
St. Paul Classic Volunteers: 500


Dennis and I completed the red and green routes