Thanks to Hokan and Snak Shak for coming out! It was a fun ride.

We went clockwise instead of counterclockwise, forgot to turn off for Lake Nokomis, and stopped at Caribou Coffee for donuts and coffee because the route irresponsibly bypassed Mel-O-Glaze. There was a little rain, but it was fine (just made my brakes super-squeaky). Also, we raced the train on the Greenway and won! Lunch at Sea Salt was tasty as always and we were joined by Snak Shak's partner & friend.

I hope to do this again next week!

When: Saturday (8/11) morning, let's say 9am.
Where: Minnehaha Falls (be sure to do a lap of the park building -- we almost failed to meet up).
What: Lower half of the Grand Rounds and maybe some lunch or ice cream at Sea Salt afterwards.
Why: Because.
How: On a 3-speed (or a bike you don't mind riding at a 3-speed pace).
Dress: Please.

Timing is negotiable -- if something else works better for people, let me know! I could also do Sunday. Route is negotiable, too; it's just easier to set something up if you set something up. If nothing gets set up, I'll probably do the ride above anyway.

Also, if someone doesn't have a suitable bike but wants to ride, PM me.

I'm a moron for posing the question about the weekend of the 4th and then failing to check back and see that giddything was nice enough to set something up I'm glad to see it went on with other riders and was a good ride.

I'm committed to a ride on the Cannon River trail this Sat but will try to remember to keep checking in to see if the day changes or other rides are posted. I may have to bite the bullet and join FB or something so I'm more up to date.

FTFY



No worries! I will probably keep doing it as long as people show up. Or let me know if Sunday works, because I have set up this ride for maximum convenience to me and can therefore do it any time I'm not actually busy with something else.

Hey, we were talking about this on the Elk River ride:

Bicycles could give Northstar a kickstart

Wow, that just gave me an idea how to make bike camping 'oop nort' a lot easier to pull off. Big lake makes a nicer launch point than the parking lot of my building.

Anyone got any idea if the bike facilities could accommodate an extracycle?

Probably! They have the extra-extra-long wheelbase, yes? I think maybe the straps will reach, and if not, a couple of bungie cords should probably make things secure enough for the train attendants. If you're bringing a friend, no problem -- if your bike doesn't fit, put their bike in the given straps, and bungie-cord yours to theirs. They were totally ok with the bugie-cord stack when we went.

It might be worth bringing your bike by one day to check it out.

Watched the video, I'm already pretty confident that the bus rack won't work.

The train storage where the front wheel attaches via a strap to the wall would have the back end of my bike blocking the stairway.

The vertical train storage could only hold one wheel at a time, which would have the back sticking out somewhat into the walkway, but it might be the best option.

I measured the axle-2-axle wheelbase once, seem to recall that it was 48-50". Total bike length is probably just a bit over 6'.

I use the bike catchers on the buses all the time. No, they won't work for you.

The vertical storage is only on the Hiawatha light rail. However, when the rail isn't too crowded, it might be easier just to hold the bike. I think that's one of the things you're not really supposed to do, but no one knows or minds. (My bikes and I are both short enough that it's sometimes hard for me to lift them up into the hooks.)

The straps on the wall are what the Northstar has. I didn't think of blocking the stair. It's possible that some combination of a) angling the bike away from the stair and b) maybe taking off the front wheel might make it work? Can you remove the rear wheel of an extracycle?

While they don't want you just holding the bike on the Northstar, the attendants were pretty nice about us bungie-cording five bikes together where there were straps for only two, and I think the other car had just as many bikes if not more (there were two bike groups on the train, the roadies and the 3spds, which was where the whole conversation about repurposing the Northstar on weekends came from).

The real question is: are the Twins in town on the weekend you have planned? If the train is busy, there's a lot less wiggle room.

You can, but it's kind of a pain, and doesn't make the bike any shorter.

What would make it shorter is, put the back of the bike against the wall. I could use the wall strap to hold one of the vertical bars of the rack. I could take the front wheel off, but then there'd be forks digging into the floor, probably not ideal.

Don't know if having a front wheel partially blocking the stairs would be a problem for the staff.

Perhaps the best might be to make sure I've got some kind of small straps that I can use on top | seat tube to hold the bike vertical against a handrail or something.



Don't have any plans that involve the Northstar yet, but you make a good point. When I do, I'll have to remember to check the Twins schedule.

Should I look for anyone tomorrow? I'll probably stop by the Falls anyway.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high in skies of blue,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
Of skaters, runners, bikers, too
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Exercising in the breeze.

The nice thing about the Grand Rounds at a 3-speed pace is that going much faster is kind of difficult anyway... Enough people posted or pm'd that it was just this weekend that was out, so I'll try again:

When: Saturday (8/18) morning, let's say 9am.
Where: Minnehaha Falls (be sure to do a lap of the park building -- we almost failed to meet up).
What: Lower half of the Grand Rounds and maybe some lunch or ice cream at Sea Salt afterwards.
Why: Because.
How: On a 3-speed (or a bike you don't mind riding at a 3-speed pace).
Dress: Please.
Bell: You know you want one.

PM me if you'd like to come but don't have a suitable bicycle.

I'm out camping the weekend of the 18th - darn! I think 25th should work for me if you have any interest giddything.

Ayup!

When: Saturday (8/25) morning, let's say 9am.
Where: Minnehaha Falls (be sure to do a lap of the park building -- we almost failed to meet up).
What: Lower half of the Grand Rounds and maybe some lunch or ice cream at Sea Salt afterwards.
Why: Because.
How: On a 3-speed (or a bike you don't mind riding at a 3-speed pace).
Dress: Please.

The weather says showers and thunderstorms are likely, so I may bring my commuter (which has much better brakes) instead. But I'll probably do the ride, because I kinda like biking in the rain. And, hey, it means the lines at Sea Salt will be shorter.