Checking off Vadnais

Lake Vadnais is a destination ride for GZ and BDE.  It's also a benchmark.  The first time you ride that far every spring is symbolic of returning fitness, for one thing.  It's also my favorite ride in the cities -- the scenery is more rural that urban, and the lake itself is in a beautiful setting.  It is, however, a long and hilly ride to Lake Vadnais from where I woke up that morning last week.  I would also like to note that at this point in time,  my bicycling fitness is mediocre at best.

I'd taken one bike ride with GZ and BDE already that week -- it was the Sunday ride that was mentioned here, a nice ride to Como and the Fairgrounds. On the way back to the house, I think there was general surprise when I mentioned that the ride to Lake Vadnais was a bucket list ride for me.  At 20+ miles, it's farther than I'd said I was capable of riding on St. Paul's hilly streets, for openers.  Weather forecasts were scrutinized, and it didn't look good.  Monday was a raw, cold and windy day.  There were other, more important things to do that day, as well.  But Tuesday looked possible.  Cooler than normal, but sunny and with a fairly light wind from a decent direction.  We geared up -- I had to borrow some extra layers, and some warmer gloves.  As the photo below proves, it wasn't too far after all.

You gotta ride 'em before you can count 'em, of course.  We were doing well enough when we got to the desired destination (pictured above and below) that we added on a loop to ride the gorgeous trails through what I think is called Vadnais-Snail-Sucker Lake Regional Park.

The bike?  It worked fine.  Some user errors here and there.  The gear?  Perfect.  The hills?  Manageable, except for one or two that made me swear under my breath.  (No hike-a-bike was necessary.)  The weather?  Perfect, except for a pesky little headwind on one leg of the return trip.  The pace?  Well over my average, but it seemed okay.  The company?  It doesn't get any better. The mileage?  22 and change.  Check.