Yesterday we took advantage of the fabulous Fall weather by riding the Dakota Trail in it's entirety. I had done about 90% of this with a co-worker and his family last year, but Molly had not ridden it yet, so we made plans to tackle this on Saturday.
I posted a
trip report on my first Dakota Trail ride last year. When we did that first ride, we started in Wayzata and found there to be little parking. I do not recommend that; the trail is also very poorly marked in Wayzata and there is not much parking. We found the trailhead, but we also helped a few others that were trying unsuccessfully to find the trailhead as well.
This year, we started in St. Boni. I was pleased to see that they have a parking lot for trail users right off of Hwy. 7. I was also pleased to see that there is now a restaurant at the trailhead as well. The St. Boni Bistro looks like a decent coffee shop/breakfast/lunch place, and with their location at the end of the trail, I have no doubt they will do well. That's a good example of how a bike trail can be good for business and benefit the local neighborhood.
Sadly, Molly was finished before the trail was, so she stayed at the Minnetonka Drive-in while I time-trialed back to the truck for about 6 miles on my single speed mountain bike and picked her up.
She had been interested in a better saddle for awhile, so after a little back-order induced wait, we got her a shiny new Brooks B-64 on Friday. Spurred on by her Dakota Trail experience, I installed this on her Breezer today. It's smooth and creamy, that's for sure. I think she'll really like it, and it looks great on the bike. That bike has 26-inch slicks and shock absorbing seat post, so between the the fat tires, the seat post and now this saddle, it's like riding in a Cadillac.
While I was wrenching, I also put a 20-tooth cog on her 3-speed (up from the stock 18) and took off the ass-hatchet saddle that came on the bike and put a better saddle on there for her as well. That should make that bike a lot more comfortable for her as well.
Just in time, too. It looks
our next 3-speed ride will be on October 10.
I like the Dakota Trail. I've only ridden it once (last year) and had the same experience.. fumbled around trying to find the trail after parking in Wayzata... But it's a pretty nice trail, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteHey Rueben - welcome back! I do like the Dakota Trail. A lot. I think it's much better set up for riding from St. Boni rather than Wayzatta, however. It's interesting to see St. Boni welcome the trail (parking area, porta-potties, bike trail extension under construction) and Wayzatta seems to be ignoring it for the most part. I think St. Boni is going to win the bike dollars because of that.
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