Hoofin' It

Man, I spoke too soon about how easy it is to ride to or from Northfield. On a trip on my bike this past weekend, I not only baked in the sun but got blown about by a wicked northeasterly wind. The worst is between here and Rosemount, where there are hills galore and a wind that actually required me to pedal hard downhill, just to get downhill. Nearly as bad were the open areas between the sod farms around Farmington. There, the wind just races across one sod field to another, and I was the only thing apparently getting in the way. Ugh.

By the way, there was a story in the Pioneer Press this weekend entitled "Hate Traffic? Hoof It." It was about $25 million coming into the region to help promote bicycle commuting and walking. The article noted that:

more than 2.5 percent of Twin Cities residents bicycle to work, one of the highest rates in the nation, said Don Pflaum, a Minneapolis transportation engineer and the city's bike coordinator.

If I had some of that money, we could make a pretty cool bike lane all the way down Route 3, promoting bike commuting between here and Faribault. Just think of all the Faribault Falcons waiting to hop on Schwinns to come up here.