Feel the burn...and hear the smoke alarm

Almost everyone who's ever trained for a race remembers the turning point workout.

In case you're wondering, no, this is not
what caused my smoke alarm to go off

It's the workout when the anxieties you had about the big day -- angst about your fitness level, nervousness about your training schedule -- get overtaken by positive thoughts; the "I can do this!" thoughts.

For me, that workout came early last week in regards to my upcoming duathlon. However, it wasn't a turning point for the reasons that it normally would be.

It didn't come from an all-day training ride, nor did it come from a negative-splits run to the tune of "Eye of the Tiger." It came from a fairly standard 50-minute ride on the trainer bike stand in my apartment, the type of ride I've done dozens of times before.

The aspect that wasn't so standard about it? When I took off my headphones at the end of the workout (with my mp3 player blaring a Metallica mix at full volume the entire time), I came to realize that the smoke detector in my apartment was going off.

Once I quieted the alarm's blare, I did a checklist in my head for reasons when it would've gone off in the first place. Was I cooking or baking anything at the time? Nope. Did I replace the batteries recently on the alarm? Yep. Was it an overly humid day? Nothing out of the ordinary. Were any appliances or electronics overheating? None that I could think of.

After taking all of that into account, I came to conclude something that every exercise addict wants to claim:

I was working out so hard, the smoke alarm went off!

In this case, that meant that the friction of my bike's rear tire against the trainer stand wheel was enough to create smoke and -- literally -- burn rubber. It sort of seemed possible (and awesome) at first, considering I already had to fix two flat tires from riding on the trainer and was told that it wears down tires faster than normal biking.

Perhaps my cycling-acclimated legs were getting strong enough where they could create that kind of friction. After all, Road Runner often left a trail of flames when he sped past Wile E. Coyote. That has some translation to real life, right?

The optimist in me wanted to believe this. However, the realist eventually went to work to disprove it. I spent a solid 20 minutes browsing Google to see if there were similar stories of smoke alarms going off and looked up product reviews on the trainer stand to see if it ever created smoke or burned rubber. Both searches came up empty, though I DID find a story about a guy who set off a smoke alarm by burping into it.

I also came across a couple of stories of people who set their smoke alarms off due to the steam that came from their showers. This is probably the more likely cause of the alarm, seeing as how my living room has poor ventilation and most workouts on the bike leave me dripping with perspiration.

So I guess in a roundabout way, you could say that the harshness of my workout caused the alarm to go off. It's not nearly as cool as being able to say that I burned rubber on the trainer stand, but it gives me confidence that the workouts are strenuous and that I'll be ready for Saturday.

Contemplating a bike route to Target Field

Yep, this seems liked it'd be
WAY better than the Metrodome.

I have a confession to make: I've never been to a game at Target Field.

It's feels absolutely ridiculous to write that. I've been a Twins fan for as long as I can remember, idolizing Kirby Puckett as a kid and even staying loyal during the dark times of Pat Meares, Marty Cordova and Scott Stahoviak.* During my high school and college years, I went to more Twins games than I could ever hope to keep track of and collected Twins bobblehead dolls to the point where I'm ashamed to print the number of them that I have in my possession.

Alas, working life came between me and the newly-minted baseball gem of downtown Minneapolis. My days off varied from week to week while I worked at the Mankato Free Press and it was almost impossible to coordinate anything with friends who worked more conventional hours (also not big on going to baseball games by myself, it's meant to be a shared experience). Aside from that, tickets became harder to come by once the Twins started calling Target Field home.

The closest I've come to attending a game at Target Field came two years ago, when a friend and I biked past the ballpark while the Twins were playing Baltimore. We were exploring Minneapolis bike trails for the first time and stuck around long enough to check out the monuments around the stadium and marvel at the park's accessibility via bike trails, but it was too late to get a ticket and we had many more things to see that day (pretty much fell in love with the Twin Cities' bike trails that instant, blog entry here).

That experience got my wheels spinning to plan a bike trip up to the cities to see a Twins game. I figured the biking would add a sense of adventure to the trip and make the ballpark experience all the more rewarding once I finally got there. Reading about ballpark cycling adventures like that of Darren O'Donnell last year only increased my interest to do the same.

The trip never quite came to fruition while I was living in Mankato. The aforementioned work schedule got in the way and I kept letting myself get bogged down with other commitments. Eventually, two baseball seasons came and went and I started to wonder if my ballpark pilgrimmage would ever become a reality.

But with a new setting comes new enthusiasm. My new job in Faribault has a much more consistent schedule and pretty much as soon as I accepted the position, I began mapping out routes to Target Field and asking Twin Cities friends what trails to take around the stadium. This year's mild winter also helped stoke the fires of biking for me, as I got an earlier start on long rides and got acquainted with the back roads around Faribault. I did a bike trip to Northfield at the beginning of March and made it all the way up to Farmington a couple of weeks after that.

This past weekend, I took advantage of the gorgeous weather on Sunday and drove up to Farmington to work on another portion of the route: using the bike trails of the southern metro area to get to the more-familiar Grand Rounds trail system in Minneapolis/St. Paul. After browsing Google maps, I came up with this route to Minnehaha Falls.

I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to navigate. In the pre-GPS days, I used to get lost all the time while driving in the cities. It didn't matter if the directions were simple or complicated; I wasn't used to city roads and got rattled in heavy traffic. I figured biking along those roads would be a lot of the same, only without the airbags and seatbelts. However, that wasn't the case at all. There were bike paths on every road I looked at, the trails were clearly labeled and I had no trouble finding Minnehaha or the trail leading from there to Target Field.

Pretty much the only drawbacks of the ride were the long lines for drinks at the Minnehaha diner and the ridiculously steep hill coming out of Fort Snelling on the way back (it was the first time I had to walk my bike up a hill in awhile, I felt slightly emasculated).

The ride probably wasn't necessary from a physical standpoint. The overall distance from my apartment to Target Field is about 55 miles, roughly 1/3 of the distance I rode from Mankato to Lanesboro last summer. It's a challenging ride to be sure, but it's certainly not beyond my skill level as a cyclist.

No, the ride was really more necessary from a psychological standpoint. I've never biked in the Farmington/Apple Valley/Eagan/Burnsville part of the metro area and had no idea how the trails would handle. Getting lost on a back country road with no schedule to keep is one thing, but when you get lost on a busy city street while trying to make it to a Twins game on time, it adds a little more stress to the situation.

After Sunday's ride, I feel like I'm good to go for the trip. I've now biked out all portions of the route at one time or another and have a decent grasp on how long it'll take me to complete it. All I have to do now is put it all together, mix in a baseball game and have a good ride.

At long last, my Target Field drought is coming to an end.

NOTE: I haven't decided on an exact game date yet, but it will more than likely be on a Saturday. I'll post a shorter entry about that once I settle on a day.


---------
*During the 1996-97 seasons, my dad kept telling me that Stahoviak would become the next great power hitter for the Twins and erupt for 40-something home runs someday. He was out of baseball by the end of 1998 and finished with 27 career home runs. To this day, I'm still not sure whether dad was just trying to be funny or was clinging to hopeless optimistism during a dreary time for Twins fans. Not-so-fun fact from that era: The Twins' top home run hitters from 1996-99 combine for less homers (68) than Mark McGwire hit by himself (albeit controversially) in 1998.

Doing the Du

I've competed in a decent variety of races over the years: everything from 5K's to marathons distance-wise with a few triathlons sprinkled in to mix things up.

I've also signed up for stuff for reasons that went beyond traditional competitive motives. I did the Monster Dash as an excuse to see some outlandish Halloween costumes and did the Warrior Dash last year because the obstacle course sounded fun and registration came with a free beer (to be perfectly honest, I have no idea what my time or placing was in either of those events, nor do I really care). Likewise, I signed up for RAGBRAI two years ago instead of triathlons because I was burned out with competing and wanted to do something different.

This spring, I'll be breaking new ground again when I race in my first duathlon on April 28 in Cannon Falls. I juuuuussst signed up for it today after spending the last 6 weeks or so trying to talk myself into it (sadly, the registration did not come with free beer). It's a 2-mile run, 14-mile bike and 3-mile run, in that order. I picked this race in particular for three reasons: 1.) It's relatively cheap, 2.) It's fairly close to Faribault and 3.) The distances seem pretty easy.

It's a little weird that it's taken me this long to sign up for a duathon. After all, the skills required for it fit me pretty well. Swimming has always been my weakest event in triathlons, and by weakest, I mean slow to the point of being embarrassing. I've never been much of a swimmer and, if given the choice, I'd go biking everyday, run every other day and let my swimming gear collect dust in the closet.

If anything, it's a wonder why I competed in five triathlons and didn't think to myself: "Wait, if I did a duathlon I wouldn't have to swim. That sounds much better!"

Truthfully, disinterest would be the biggest reason why it took me so long to come to that realization. I haven't done a multi-sport event in almost three years, instead opting to focus on road races (my ill-fated attempt to qualify for Boston's Marathon) and using my bike for more adventurous endeavors (RAGBRAI and my Kato-to-Lanesboro trip, to name a couple).

I didn't really have an interest in doing another tri unless it involved racing with friends or doing a relay with friends. It was getting boring doing the training by myself and I reached a point where I knew I could complete triathlons and do fairly well in them. I also had no interest in building up to something like a full Ironman (too much time commitment required for the training).

Really, I just wasn't excited about multi-sport events anymore. To quote B.B. King: "The thrill is gone."

It wasn't until I got an indoor bike trainer for Christmas (again, thanks mom) that I started thinking about competing again. With each passing workout on the trainer, I began to get that old feeling running through my head: the curiosity of how well I'd do if I signed up for a race. After that, it was only a matter of time before I got over the metaphorical hump and actually registered for something.

Signing up for a race is always a big step. It means you've advanced beyond the "talking about it" phase and moved into the "crap, I should probably train for this" phase. You've committed yourself financially to it, so you might as well get your money's worth and commit yourself physically to it.

To be honest, I have no idea how the race is going to go. There are a lot of amazing athletes in those races and I certainly won't be at an advantage equipment-wise (remember, I'm still rolling with an $85 road bike from the '80's, complete with all-steel frame).

But at the very least, I'm excited for it. Considering I haven't been excited for multi-sport events in a long time, that's saying something.

Here's to hoping for some good training rides in the coming weeks!

Article on the Mill Towns Trail

Note: The following is an article I wrote about the Mill Towns Trail for the Faribault Daily News' annual Profile publication that came out today. Consequently, the story and photos are property of the Faribault Daily News (as opposed to normal blog entries, which are my own intellectual property). I would normally just post a web link to the story on the right-hand column of my blog. However, because we are only posting the PDF files of Profile pages (instead of individual stories), I concluded that this was the best way to get the article itself on the web. Besides, I think the article has relevance for people outside of Faribault and I spent WAY too much time writing it for nobody to read it. So, enjoy!

Slow & steady builds the trail: The Mill Towns Trail project is still years away from completion, but it’s making progress 

Map of the proposed trail system
in Southeastern Minnesota,
including the Mill Towns Trail.

By Alex Voigt
avoigt@faribault.com


Forgive Carol King if her answer seemed unrealistic when she was asked to guess when the Mill Towns Trail would be completed.

“2008,” the Faribault city council member said with a laugh.

Obviously, King’s estimation isn’t going to happen. 2008 is long gone and the trail is still years away from completion. However, given the twists and turns the project has taken, it is easy to understand King’s humor toward the topic.


Making adjustments


Since planning began for the Mill Towns Trail in the early 1990’s, just about the only consistency has been the hopeful end result. Once completed, the trail will run from Faribault to Cannon Falls, connect the existing Sakatah Singing Hills and Cannon Valley trails and be the final segment of more than 80 miles of continuous recreational trails from Mankato to Red Wing. Mill Towns will also be part of an eventual planned system of state trails in southeastern Minnesota, including the Prairie Wildflower Trail from Faribault to Austin and the Stagecoach Trail from Owatonna to Rochester.


The more finite details of the Mill Towns Trail, however, have not been as constant. Many planned segments of it have been revised over the years as trail planners have had to adjust to both changing economic times and a shift in the priorities of city officials and organizations.
“We’ve had to reevaluate our plans a lot because the communities are constantly changing,” said King, who has served on the  Mill Towns Trail advisory board through city council since 2000 and was involved before that through the parks department. “Roadways and city plans have all gone through transformations and a lot of the businesses we’re dealing with now weren’t here 10 years ago.”

The Highway 3 portion of the
Highway 21/Highway 3 underpass
project was completed last fall.
The rest of it is slated to
be finished this spring.  

The Highway 3/Highway 21 underpass currently under construction is an example of that adjustment. The underpass was initially intended to be a pedestrian bridge over the highway, as mandated by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. However, city engineers came up with the idea of the underpass as a more cost-effective and aesthetically-pleasing option that still accomplished the goal of providing safe passage for pedestrians.


King says the switch saved the trail project at least $500,000 and allowed the trail planners to work with other city officials on overhauling the intersection.

“Timing has been everything with this project,” King said of the underpass, “This isn’t just an opportunity to build the Mill Towns Trail; it’s a chance to build a completely different roadway and improve a dangerous intersection.”

Aside from the underpass, other improvements planned for the intersection include turn lanes, traffic signals and a complete realignment of Park Avenue. Total cost of the project comes out to $3.12 million, with $1.53 million of that going toward trail improvements and the vast majority of it being paid for by federal and state funding.

The Highway 3 portion of the underpass has already been constructed and the Highway 21 underpass is slated to be built this spring. If all goes smoothly, it will likely be completed in late June or early July.

Other aspects of the trail’s development aren’t as forthcoming, as the governmental processes associated with such a project are always lengthy and funding has been especially tight with the economic downturn. However, King and other trail planners have learned to take setbacks in stride, think positive and keep moving forward as plans evolve.

“Trail projects are always a work in progress,” said Steve Hennessey, an acquisition and trail development specialist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.  “There’s a lot of components to it and there’s multiple groups involved. You’re going to hit a road block from time to time and you have to be willing to change your plans when that happens.”

 “This has been a rewarding experience for me as an elected official because it has put me together with people I probably would’ve never interfaced with otherwise.” King said. “It’s a collective effort and we all have to work together to get this done.”

Another view of the
Highway 3 underpass.

Community-driven effort


Another reason the project has stayed on track over the years is the substantial amount of local support for it, whether it be government officials, businesses or citizen groups.

Hennessey, a 12-year veteran of the DNR, has seen community involvement in varying degrees with the other projects he’s been a part of. Still, he’s been impressed with the support shown for Mill Towns.

“The momentum for these trails often comes locally and there has definitely been a community-driven force to help make this thing happen,” Hennessey said.

Northfield resident Peggy Prowe has long been one of the most outspoken supporters of the trail. A long-time cycling advocate and former Northfield City Council member, Prowe co-founded the Mill Towns Trail Project in 1992 and was the driving force behind some of its initial developments, including the construction of the three-mile segment between Northfield and Dundas in 1998 and its designation as a multi-use trail in 2000.

“We’ve always kind of been the missing link,” Prowe said of her motivation to make Mill Towns a reality. “Connecting the two trails really just made sense.”

Since leaving the city council in 2000, Prowe has remained involved through the Mill Towns Trail Friends citizen group and Northfield Rotary Club. Those groups have contributed to the Mill Towns effort by lobbying state legislators for funding and organizing the Jesse James Bike Tour, an annual bike ride in Northfield that typically raises more than $20,000 for the trail.

Throughout the project, Prowe said her enthusiasm has been unwavering that the trail would eventually get built.

“It’s currently my life work except for grandchildren.” Prowe said. “I enjoy spending the time trying to help bring the trail to fruition. It will mean a lot to me and when it’s finished and it will mean a lot to the region.”

Prowe’s enthusiasm for the trail is shared by many other community members in the area, including Milltown Cycles frontman Ben Witt. A Northfield native and avid cyclist himself, Witt is excited for the possibility of Faribault becoming a destination for out-of-town bikers.

“I think it opens up a lot of potential for tourism in the downtown area that wasn’t there before,” Witt said. “People riding on the Sakatah trail used to be isolated on the west side of town unless they wanted to cross a major roadway. But once (Mill Towns) is finished, a lot of people who previously didn’t know how to get to the downtown area will be inclined to stop in to do some shopping or eat at a restaurant.”


Related projects

Much of the materials needed to
complete the Highway 21/Highway 3
underpass  are already on site as
construction crews await favorable
weather to complete the project. 

Once the Highway 21/Highway 3 project is complete, City of Faribault and DNR officials will then turn their attention to connecting Mill Towns with an existing city trail along Hulett Ave, eventually integrating it with the rest of Faribault’s in-town trail system. The city also secured a $500,000 Legacy Grant last December to build a trail through North Alexander Park, with plans for it to eventually cross the 2nd Avenue bridge and link up with the Straight River Trail at Two Rivers Park.

As for the Mill Towns Trail, projects around Faribault that haven’t started yet but are on the horizon include building a bridge over the Cannon River along Highway 21 and finalizing a trail route between Faribault and Dundas. Rice County has designated County Road 76 as the official Mill Towns Trail route between the two towns, though the exact route is still unknown as the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is negotiating with the railroad about acquiring 6-mile stretch of track that planners would like to build the trail on.

“It’s usually a pretty lengthy process,” Hennessey said of the negotiations. “We’re working with multiple organizations and a variety of different landowners to figure out the best route. We hope to have it worked out soon, but it takes time.”

If the DNR is unable to acquire the railroad property, trail planners have other options in mind for possible routes to Dundas, including having the trail run alongside Highway 3.

Other projects on the immediate horizon for Mill Towns include widening the already-built Nortfield/Dundas section of the trail from eight to 10 feet, constructing a new riverside trail from Second Street to Greenvale Avenue in Northfield and building a bridge across the Cannon River near Lake Byllesby, a project which also includes building three and a half miles of trail west of Cannon Falls.

Despite being a long way from complete, Prowe is encouraged by the recent progress of the Mill Towns Trail and excited for what the future may hold for it.

“It’s an exciting time. There’s a lot of interest in getting it done at this point.” Prowe said. “I don’t know if it’s going to get finished in my lifetime, but each piece is worth celebrating.”

Re-evaluating Faribault's bike trails

I feel that I owe the city of Faribault an apology.

While working for the Free Press in Mankato, I wrote a column a couple of years ago criticizing the Sakatah Singing Hills Trail for being a subpar trail and that it had the potential to be so much more. Among other critiques in the column, I wrote that Faribault did a poor job accommodating visiting cyclists on the Sakatah.

It made sense at the time. I had ridden the Sakatah trail on numerous occasions at that point and the only lasting memory I had of Faribault was the Dairy Queen located on Highway 60 near the outskirts of town. When I did a 2-day bike trip from Mankato to Red Wing (the inspiration behind that column, by the way), my experience with Faribault involved navigating busy roads to get to Highway 3 and narrowly avoiding the wrath of an oncoming semi (ok, it probably wasn't THAT narrow, but still).

The town hardly seemed bike-friendly and there was nary a local eatery or point of interest to be found. I didn't even know that Faribault had a "historic downtown" area until I looked it up on the Web after that trip.

It definitely wasn't the best impression to have about a town and it certainly didn't aid my enthusiasm about moving to Faribault for a new job. When I accepted the position, I chalked up the lack of bike friendliness as an acceptable drawback of the town. I figured I could make regular trips to the Twin Cities if I wanted to bask in a cycling culture. Besides, after last summer's back roads adventure to Lanesboro, I'm convinced I can make any town accommodating to my biking addiction (provided it isn't comprised entirely of interstate roads).

However, after settling in at Faribault for a couple months and doing some research  on bike trails for a story I wrote for the Faribault Daily News' annual Profiles publication (coming out this week!), I've come to discover that a lot of the stuff I wrote in that column was uninformed and misguided.

For one thing, the notion of charging a daily fee for riders on the Sakatah (a suggestion I made in the column after spending some time on the wonderful Cannon Valley Trail) is an impossibility because the Sakatah is a state-ran trail and thus gets maintained by state funding. The Cannon Valley Trail, on the other hand, is a privately owned trail and is maintained almost entirely through those daily rider fees, meaning they don't have to wait in line with other state projects for funding.

For another thing, I've come to discover that the Faribault isn't so bad when it comes to cycling. As a matter of fact, it more than holds its own.

I came across the Straight River Trail during a cold winter run in January near the downtown area. I didn't think much of it at the time, mostly because my extremities were freezing and I wanted to get home. But after browsing through Google Maps (a great starting point to find bike trails, by the way), I discovered that the trail was a lot more than a brief pathway connecting a few city blocks. It encircles nearly half the town, stretches more than four miles and runs right past several downtown restaurants, the Rice County Fairgrounds and the local disc golf course.

While out biking the other day, I also discovered that one of the side extensions of the trail links up with some of the paths on the south end of the River Bend Nature Center. I didn't take the time to explore the park's trail system extensively, but judging by the maps,  the RBNC will definitely be seeing a lot of me this spring/summer. Aside from the Straight River Trail, I've also found a few other smaller recreational trails in town, most notably on the north end of town between Hulett and Park Avenue.

Really, the infrastructure is in place for Faribault to be a great cycling town. There's good scenery, good points of interest and a logical mapping to avoid the traffic of major roadways. I don't see it topping Mankato as the best cycling town on the Sakatah Trail (sorry, I have a soft spot for that town), but with a little work it could easily turn itself into another Northfield, a town that has made cycling and pedestrian-friendly walkways a point of emphasis in its downtown area.

The biggest step forward from here for Faribault is to link up its in-town trail system with the Sakatah in a way that invites cyclists to spend some time downtown. As I've learned from both my research for the story and getting a general feel for the town, that step is already in progress.

According to an article last fall in the Faribault Daily News, the construction of a pedestrian underpass between Highway 21 and Highway 3 is in progress and will be completed sometime this summer. The project also includes linking the underpass with the trail near Hulett Avenue and overhauling the intersection with a traffic light, turn lanes and a realignment of Park Avenue.

Once that project is complete, city planners will turn their attention to linking the underpass with both the Straight River Trail and the Sakatah Trail. Future projects related to those goals include building a trail through North Alexander park (funding is already in place for it) and constructing a bridge over the Cannon River to reach the Sakatah Trail facility (no funding in place, but I'm told its in the "design phase").

Beyond their goal to link all the trails of Faribault together, these projects are also tied to the Mill Towns Trail, a planned recreational trail between Faribault and Cannon Falls that will eventually link up more than 80 miles of trails (factoring in the Sakatah and Cannon Valley trails).

At the risk of rehasing the story I wrote for Profiles (I'll either post a link to it or post it directly on my blog after it's published) and making this blog entry longer than it already is, I won't go into too much detail about Mill Towns.

Still, after taking all of this into account, it's pretty safe to say that my first impressions of Faribault were incorrect.

So Faribault, I hope you can accept my apology. Your town definitely isn't a black hole for cyclists that I thought it was, and I look forward to exploring more of you in the future.

An open letter to Minnesota: More snow, please

Oh Minnesota, why have you forsaken me?!

Dear Minnesota,

In my 27 years of existence, I like to think we've grown to know each other pretty well. I've camped in your parks, I've fished in your lakes, I've biked on your trails and -- begrudgingly -- rooted for your Vikings in good times and bad. While others clamor for the big cities, big mountains and ocean views, I've remained loyal to your river valleys, rolling hills and abundance of lakes.

I've stuck by you through thick and thin. I toughed out the Halloween blizzard of '91, pressing on for more candy in my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costume while other trick-or-treaters cowered in your snowy wake. I've also endured your hot n humid summers year after year by keeping myself cool with regular trips to the lake and icy cold beverages in the malted hops variety.

Like a spouse in a marriage, I've grown to appreciate you for both your strengths and your shortcomings. I don't ask you to be perfect; I only ask you to be yourself

It is with that in mind that I come to you with this simple request: Enough with the wimpy weather, send some snow this way.

Most would agree that you've been pretty easy on us this winter, more so than most even. There's been an occasional cold day from time to time, but those have been lost amid a steady stream of days in the "sunny and upper '30s" variety.

Even worse, the snowfall has been substandard. In Faribault, it's been downright abysmal. My sled hasn't come out of my closet all winter and the snowshoes I got for Christmas have yet to be used. Meanwhile, friends of mine in more southern locales have been posting Tweets about snowstorms and photos of snowmen on Facebook. I even saw a post about a sizable snowstorm in -- gasp! -- Texas.

This is unacceptable, Minnesota. One of the things I've always appreciated about you is your tough-love approach to winter. While other states baby their residents with mild temperatures and brown landscapes, you barrage us with sub-zero temps and white-out conditions to toughen us up. Instead of shying away from you wintertime fury, we've learned to embrace it with activities like ice fishing, skiing, curling and polar plunges.

Heck, Paul Bunyan never complained about it being too cold in the winter. He just put on a flannel, grew a beard and started chopping wood to keep warm. If he tried to do that this winter, he'd probably die of heat stroke.

Minnesota, the fact of the matter is that we've come to expect a certain level of performance from you in the winter and you simply haven't been delivering the goods this year. Texas, Oklahoma and other wimpy southern states should not be stealing headlines for their massive snowstorms. You're supposed to be the top dog for harsh winters and even got recognized for it in a Leslie Nielsen movie.

In my opinion, your title as heavyweight champion of winter weather is in jeopardy. You're also running out of time to turn this wimpiness around. Temperatures are expected to be in the 40s and 50s this week and we're drifting closer and closer to those spring/summer months, when the expected norm switches to hot, humid temps, swarms of mosquitoes and the occasional rainstorm.

You made a solid effort to buck that trend last week with a snowstorm that blanketed parts of the state with close to 10 inches of white, powdery goodness. However, the effort wasn't consistent as Faribault got nothing but rain for those days. Instead of breaking out my snowshoes for a long-awaited maiden voyage, I went running in a long-sleeve shirt and shorts and skipped a rock across the near-flooded ditch by my apartment.

The ball is in your court, Minnesota. I know you have at least one more big snowstorm in you.

Sincerely,

The frustrated guy in Faribault who wants to go snowshoeing

Going nowhere fast

Been getting plenty of use out of this lately.

Winter months are normally the time of year when my road bike collects dust in storage and I pursue hobbies that are more conducive to the weather.

It's not necessarily a depressing time for me. I still utilize the outdoors for things like sledding, running and darkhouse spearfishing, plus I look forward to breaking out my new snowshoes once Mother Nature finally decides to send some real snow in Minnesota's direction. Beyond all that, it's also a time when I do a lot more reading and go on multiple Netflix binges (currently working through all nine seasons of "Scrubs"). I've always been a person with multiple interests in life; obsessing about biking year-round wouldn't really be true to my nature.

However, I have to admit that by the time spring rolls around, I find myself longing for my two-wheeled companion. It's the hobby I dedicate the most time to and, judging by the topic of most of my blog posts, it's also the hobby I have the most interest in.

But this year hasn't been like years past. In addition to an unusually mild winter, my biking interests also got a  year-round boost by way of a thoughtful Christmas present from my mom: A Schwinn Indoor Bike Trainer.

I've been getting good use out of it pretty much since the end of the holiday season. I pedal about 40 minutes a day on it in the mornings and will occasionally use it to unwind after work. In fact, I've been using it so much that I already had to replace a flat tire from it (I guess bike trainers wear down your rear tire a lot faster than normal riding).

Now, I'll admit that I've never been a huge fan of stationary bikes. The biggest reason I got into cycling was because of the travel one can do with it; the fitness benefits were simply a nice perk. It's the reason why I decided to bike across Iowa or do a 3-day trip to Lanesboro instead of signing up for races. My bike is a tool for adventure as much as it's a tool for fitness.

By that logic, it would seem that an indoor trainer wouldn't be much of a Christmas present for me. After all, there's not a lot of travel that comes with biking in one spot.

On occasion though, logic gets tossed to the wayside when you find yourself yearning for something. When the winter months hit, I miss being able to hop on my bike, turn up my mp3 player and hammer away on those pedals for awhile to help clear my head.

There's a certain level of release I get from biking that, for one reason or another, I'm unable to get with other physical activities. Running is too hard on my joints and swimming is a skill that eludes me (seriously, it's pretty awkward).

I could likely get a lot of the same feeling by going to a gym and hopping on exercise bike, but it wouldn't be EXACTLY the same. For one thing, it requires the effort of going to the gym. It also means being more inhibited with other people around (I confess, sometimes I like to sing along to my mp3 player, don't judge). 

But beyond all that, the basic reason that it's not the same is the simple reason that it's not my bike. As avid cyclists can relate, when you ride a particular bike as often as I do, you form a level of comfort with that bike that can't be matched with different equipment. You know every nook and cranny about it, right down to how it shifts, how it handles and what gear you like to be in for a particular situation. It's no different from a baseball player preferring a particular glove or a distance runner preferring a certain brand of shoes.

Thanks to the indoor trainer, I can keep that comfort level going year-round.

Thanks again mom!

*Note: I realize that I could make biking a year-round hobby by buying studded tires and bundling up for rides. But I have two fears about wintertime biking: motorists that can't deal with icy roads and the prospect of having to fix a flat tire in the middle of nowhere out in -20 weather (my reaction to that situation would be something like this).