Naturally, the three of us try to ride on the shoulder, and always in single file when there’s ANY traffic present. But there are times when the shoulder is so narrow, or so pot-holed, that we’re forced to ride the white line or even a hair left of it.
Despite what you sometimes hear about all the malicious drivers who buzz bikers by inches, our experience has happily been just the opposite. The number of inconsiderate jerks that we’ve encountered can be counted on one hand. When you realize that we’ve been passed by thousands (if not ten thousand) cars and trucks, that puts the bad guy percentage at less than .001. And while the vast majority of all those vehicles pull over to the left, most of them pull completely into the left hand lane, if possible. With the occasional supportive toot-toot of a horn (as opposed to the very rare “get-off-the-road” blasting honk), in general it’s really a very pleasant riding experience.
Despite all that, it was an unbelievable treat to ride 100 miles of pure bikepath over the last couple days. Kudos to Minnesotans for their Central Lake Trail and Lake Wobegon Trail (among others, we’re sure).
Even though it was almost dead flat, our average speeds dropped from 18 or 19 to something closer to 15, just because it was so relaxing. When we weren’t chatting with two or three abreast or stopping to take pictures, we were sort of doing our own thing ... almost never riding in our traditional pace-line of the road shoulder. What a delight!
You experienced "Minnesota nice!" It's a thing! So glad you had a lovey day. ;-)
So nice you guys have the trails to relax ride a bit. beautiful photos. have a great ride today !
What a great adventure! Thanks for sharing it with us. Im loving your posts. Good on ya!