On the Road Again
Just back from a rollicking road trip with the fam, to Minneapolis Minnesota. Malls, waterparks (I have seen hell and it looks a lot like a waterpark), hockey game, and the requisite movies with talking animals. Thankfully all of this was broken up by shoe shopping, hot tubbing with wine, and excellent restaurants with no kids’ menus.
But let’s talk cycling, shall we? Say what you will about the Yanks, but they sure do make pretty roads. Perhaps it was the proximity of my recent Arizona trip, but as I was driving the Subaru Wagon down the highway South to the big M, I found myself gazing at the shoulder of the road. Smooth, wide, and fully equipped with rumble strip to alert you of errant drivers. Yes, even driving in my station wagon loaded with kids, hubby, snacks and plenty of diversions, I was checking out the grass on the side of the road to see if we had a tail wind (we did). The American highways are, for the most part, very cycling friendly. It’s like they had cyclists in mind as they planned and built them. Rising and falling, weaving to and fro across the countryside, with the odd charming farmhouse or perfectly positioned tree to punctuate the landscape. Now, lets not kid ourselves. Minnesota is no Arizona, nor is it very far or much different from Manitoba. But man, those roads are smooooth. Smooth enough to make the mind wander and create a peleton of nearby cars, slingshotting and weaving, working the corners, racing and coasting (all within perfectly safe driving standards, of course). As the kids played their GameBoys in the back seat, I guess I was kind of playing mine in the front.