April 15, update: Sunday, April 18 ride postponed (?) The bike ride around the Cedar Lake - Hopkins loop on Sunday, April 18 was looking good but now rain is forecast. If it rains, the ride will be postponed one week to Sunday April, 25 at noon. Several folks were going to ride their recumbents including two trikes. The Hoigaards stop was set up, the route had been checked out: Both Mary Arneson (who rides a Cab-Bike recumbent trike- http://www.cab-bike.com/ ) and I rode the route a few days ago. The one block segment of the trail on the north side of Excelsior Blvd, just east of Hwy 169 has been torn up for construction. At this point it is packed dirt which could get muddy with rain but is passable when dry. The bridge which the path goes under at Wirth Parkway at the NW corner of Cedar Lake is being rebuilt. It is posted to be closed weekdays. When I went by on Tuesday, I went up and over - doable but not great, however after I got around others had come on under and said it was loose gravel but passable. It happened that the person I talked to was riding a recumbent trike - a Terra Trike ( http://www.cab-bike.com/ ) ! Is there a movement afoot? The other trike I hoped was going to make it was Bruce Bruemmer's Leitra - http://www.leitra.dk ) I hope some of these folks can make it on the 25th. Maybe a few folks who could not come on the 18th can come on the 25th? From fholson@cohousing.org Tue Mar 23 13:10:43 2004 Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 13:08:45 -0600 (CST) From: Fred H Olson To: Fred H Olson Subject: April 18,2004 FUS bike ride Hi, This is the initial message for 2004 and is going to the 16 or so people who expressed interest in the April 2003 -- last year's -- bicycle ride around the 'Cedar Lake - Hopkins' 12 mile off-road bike trail loop. That ride went fairly well and we are doing it again this year. The plan to 2004 is to meet at at noon on Sunday April 18, 2004 at Thomas Lowry park ('Seven Pools') across Mt Curve Ave from the First Unitarian Society (FUS) at 900 Mt Curve in Minneapolis. (There are directions on the new FUS web site at: http://www.firstunitariansociety.org/ ) The meeting at FUS is result of the ride having evolved from an FUS Service Auction and about half of the people expected are FUS members. I expect it to be a moderate paced 'family' ride. I encourage you to invite family members to join us. The Jan 2003 Hennepin County Bike/Road map includes the loop. I have extra copies of this map. >From FUS we will bike a few blocks to get on the Cedar Lake trail by the ice rink on Kenwood Parkway. From there we will bike to Hopkins about 5 miles and stop at the Depot coffee shop for lunch. I expect to go clockwise this year. Last year the Depot was not open, some of us ate at Ember's nearby - I will check this out better. Some of us brought a bag lunch at ate it at the picnic tables at the Depot. Consider bringing some snacks to tide you over. Water bottles of course are advisable. I would require helmets if I could. After lunch we would bike on around the loop back to FUS. Of course the whole plan is dependent on the weather and conditions being suitable on April 18th. Last year I predicted we'd get back to FUS at about 2:30 pm. I dont recall when we actually got back. Anyone recall? I'm thinking of specifically inviting some recumbent bike riders to join us so to give us a chance to see these bicycling alternatives. We may even want to stop at Hoigaards (just west of where the southern segment crosses Hwy 100) where they sell a mass produced recumbent and allow test rides. I'll check this out. If we did that we may want to eat there. Again the ride is free but a no pressure donation will be accepted for the FUS social action group (I pass out empty, blank envelopes and collect blank them later.) This year I expect to have Amateur radio ('2 meter') handhelds for communications. Any other 'hams' in the group? Please send me a note with a guess about whether you will be joining us this year. BTW I've recently become the chair of the newly formed North Mpls Bike Taskforce which advocates for bikeways in North Mpls. The prospects for further improvements in bikeways is good despite the current miserly political climate. BTW2 I am hopeful that we will not only beat George W Bush this year but we may trounce him. Few things can motivate progressives to organize like the shrub and his many misguided policies have! Fred -- Fred H. Olson Minneapolis,MN 55411 USA (near north Mpls) Communications for Justice - email listservs. fholson at cohousing.org 612-588-9532 (7am-10pm Central time) My Link Page: http://www.cohousing.org/fholson Ham radio:WB0YQM