Nine brave riders showed up at the Cabin Coffeehouse at 1PM on New Years day to pursue cycling passion on the first day of the year! Earlier in the week it looked like we were going to have warm temps and clear roads but Minnesota came through just in time with several inches of snow, 17 degrees, and a 33MPH wind driving the windchill to minus 1F. After all it wouldn’t be as much fun if it was easy!
We started out on the nicely plowed trail by the lake to the Green Mill, the wind at our back, ahhhh! Then things got interesting. The portion of the trail from the Mill to Sanford had been used by fossil fuel powered vehicles and we quickly learned that snowmobile tracks make cycling nearly impossible. Once we abandoned them and plowed through the snow we could at least make slow and steady progress. I was very impressed with the performance of the 1970s Schwinn Tandem in the snow! At Sanford the three young guys headed off around the lake. They took to the road and made it around in less than two hours! Way to go. Sean Crampton got some awesome video of the feat.
The rest of us turned around into the wind and made it back, cold and proud, ready for the sugar cookies and half price beverages provided by Noemi Ayelsworth of the Cabin Coffee House. (She and Harry did the ride too! Second year for each of them!) All riders received prizes from Shifting Gears. Noemi and I took the opportunity to do some planning for an exciting upcoming event: In July Bemidji will be host to the The Ride Across Minnesota (TRAM) 2012. More on that later. Now, check out some pics of winter riding in MN!
Noemi and Diane planning for the next Bemidji bike event...
Shifting Gears Bemidji 
Ya hoo, so glad to see all of you out biking in every season.
I wish I could have made it.