How far did you travel today?

[SPR]

With the high number of riders at lebannon Hills how long a commute was it to get there? or did anyone ride their bike to get there?
For me it's a 9 mile trip.

[Lil' Punk]

the only way i can get there is to ride. . .its around 7miles both ways . . . Peace :banana:

[gopherhockey]

About 1 mile to get to Lebanon Hills for me... :etard:

[socrates]

About 16 for me on Saturday....Sunday I rode River Bottoms (twice) so only about 3 miles

[manual63]

I've never measured. Edina by Southdale to Lebanon, however far that is. 494 to 35w to Cliff to Johnny.......I don't know why I always take 35w when I know it would be faster to take 77......habit I guess.

Oh, yeah, now I know why..........I like to take the exit at Cliff from 35w at high speed. You know, all the nice turns right next to the worlds worst VW dealership...........

[GearDaddy]

I'm in Bloomington, so I usually wimp out and drive the car over to Lebanon. Although before they closed down the Old Cedar Bridge, I would ride over on occasion. One time I did the "tour de singletrack" where I hit the River Bottoms, Terrace Oaks, and Lebanon Hills in one ride. It was about 45 or 50 miles of riding and took nearly 4 hours to complete.

[Trevize1138]

Comin' from the ghetto it's about 15 miles, I think. :)

[manual63]

I like the "tour de singletrack" idea. How do you get across the river now? Can it be done?

[GearDaddy]

Well, the choices for getting across the river are pretty much limited to 494 to the east and Bloomington Ferry Rd. to the west now. The 494 route is better for going towards Lebanon et. al. The most direct route would be 494 east to Hwy 13 south to Blackhawk Rd south to Cliff Rd east to Johnny Cake Ridge south. Without Old Cedar, the path to Lebanon is a good 5-10 miles longer now.

Losing Old Cedar is a real bummer, and it doesn't look like they'll even think seriously about funding a replacement for at least 5 years. I used to use Old Cedar all the time for road rides going south. I am beginning to feel landlocked in Bloomington as they're also cutting off a good escape to the North at East Bush Lake Rd (although West Bush Lake is improved now that it connects westward to Valley View Rd).

[funky-funky-chicken]

I live in Roseville and it takes be about a half hour by car to get there. I am not interested in riding my mountainbike on the road that far... I would much rather expend my energy on the trails.

I rode from 5:30am on Saturday until about 10:30am finally ending my day with a second pinch flat. It would have been a LONG, LONG walk home. Time to convert to tubeless.

[manual63]

Was the old Cedar a regular road? I once rode across at either 35 or 77, I don't remember and I went on an old walking bridge to get over. Is that still there and if it is, is it at 35 or 77?

There is some new walking bridge at the other end by the old Bloomington Ferry Rd, but I never took it. Does it cross the river?

[GearDaddy]

Originally posted by manual63
Was the old Cedar a regular road? I once rode across at either 35 or 77, I don't remember and I went on an old walking bridge to get over. Is that still there and if it is, is it at 35 or 77?

There is some new walking bridge at the other end by the old Bloomington Ferry Rd, but I never took it. Does it cross the river?

That "old walking bridge" is the Old Cedar Ave bridge. Once you cross on that then you follow a pedestrian bridge that goes under Hwy 77 to cross the main channel of the river. The Old Cedar bridge is still there, but they removed the decking this spring after they determined that the bridge is unsafe.

The "new walking bridge" at Bloomington ferry replaced the old bridge, which used to allow car traffic. After crossing that you follow a nice new paved path that follows the old Bloomington Ferry road up to Hwy 101. Your only real choice from there is to cross Hwy 101 and follow a sort of frontage road that soon crosses some railroad tracks (Grrr. I have to wait for trains here alot.) and then goes into Savage/Prior Lake/Shakopee.

Both crossings can be prone to spring floods, with Bloomington Ferry being the worst. It would be nice to get another crossing again. It almost seems that something at 35W would be the easiest, as it is the shortest span over the river (to Black Dog road). Oh well - I'm bike rider, not an engineer.

[grizzly adam]

I think the fastest I've ever made it to Lebanon was something like 10 minutes.

It sounds like I'll have to change my route after hearing about the Cliff exit off of 35w! I've hit those exits on occassion just for fun - and fun they are!

Ya - it's a bummer about the Old Cedar bridge. The 494 bridge can be scary sometime cuz it's got a lot of dirt and riders who don't know you're coming and get all freaked out when you tell them you're coming. I almost got run into the "wall" on the outside cuz somebody swerved towards me when I announced my arrival.

[manual63]

We've got this large river and no good way to cross it unless your in a car. Aaaaarrggg.....my political side is starting to boil!!!!!

I better go to another forum.......:)

[ice ice baby]

About two minutes to bike to Lebanon- I know I'm lucky.:banana:

[martini]

On a good traffic day, it takes me about an hour to get to lebanon.:crazy2: Sucks I know. But it is good enough for that kinda trip though!