An Adventure in Toting Home Fabric on My Bicycle

Here is my latest adventure:

I rode my bicycle 10 miles to Hancock Fabrics last Sunday to check out their going out of business sale. Fabric is 95% off but you have to buy the entire bolt. I figured as long as I was on my bike I wouldn't buy much of anything. So what do I do . . . . I buy 30 yards (whole bolt) of some fabric I have been eyeing every time I went to Hancock Fabrics. I mean if it was still there it was meant for me, right? How could I resist it at 45 cents a yard? Full price was 9.99 a yard. I also bought 5 yards at 65 cents a yard of some other fabric I had been eyeing.

You should have seen me riding the 14.5 miles home with all that fabric on my back. (Note: The cardboard thing the fabric goes around was removed.) The distance was longer on the way home because I missed the turn-off on the trail and wound up taking another trail home which, ugh, is very hilly! The fabric was heavy -- at least 10 pounds! There is a really nice lady there who helped me get it all together and on my back. Her method of packing worked! We put the stuff in a great big triple plastic bag, I put my arms through the handles like a backpack and she strapped/taped it on me like a backpack. I bicycled all the way home and didn't lose it, but my shoulders were pretty sore when I biked up the driveway! It was adventure. And there is still another bolt of fabric I want but is probably gone by now. I don't think I will ride the bicycle if I go see if it still there.

What's very odd is that I had the best mph I have had in a long time. I wonder if it was because I had to sit a certain way to be comfortable! I am going to try to sit that way on my next ride and see what happens.

It's hard to believe that only about 2.5 miles of my ride was not on trails, but on roads with designated bike lanes and through residential areas where I rarely see cars. Minnesota is the BEST for bicycle riding.

All in all, I had a very fun, interesting, and adventurous 24.5 mile ride. :)

In case anyone wonders, I felt very comfortable and well balanced with the weight on my back. If I hadn't I wouldn't have attempted this adventure. In fact, sometimes I felt more in balance than I do without the extra load. Weird, Huh???

I couldn't have resisted a 45-cents-a-yard deal either! I wish I could have seen a picture of you hauling the load home :)

I wish I would have thought of taking one. I had my camera along!

What will you be using the fabric for?

I would have been worried about the bag handles cutting into the front of my shoulders and arms, unless the bag was really big, which I guess it was.

I absolutely loved this post, kajero, especially the image I had of you riding with that fabric on your back. This totally sounds like something we would do. We buy huge amounts of groceries on our bikes, take our laundry to and from laundromats, and my DH even took two car batteries to Autozone to be recycled on the back of his Bike Friday!

LOVE these kinds of adventures. :D

Thanks for sharing -- only wish you'd had a photo to share!

Oh, and I totally agree with you about Minnesota -- we spent 10 days in Jackson County and are now up in Melrose and doing tons of cycling. The storms have been bad, but in between, the cycling has been amazing. It's a very cycling friendly state!

The bag did cut into my shoulders. I just kept saying to myself "It won't be long until I get home." It really wasn't too bad but it was surely a relief when I got home!

:rolleyes: I have no idea what I will use the fabric for. I just like it because it has a really nice musical theme which is very hard to find anywhere. My family, except for me, is very musically talented so I will come up with some ideas! I might sell some of it on eBay, too. After all, I bought 30 yards.

My goodness. I live in New Hope. It would be fun to meet if you have time!
I surely hope you were able to ride the the Medicine Lake Regional Trail, Elm Creek Trails to the Rush Creek Trail, to the Coon Rapids Dam, the Dakota Trail, the Luce Line Trail, and the Grand Rounds. If you need a guide, let me know. I ride slower than you, but we could work something out.

I had to look up New Hope, kajero -- I'm not very familiar with Minnesota other than the few places we've been in the western part of the state. I'm afraid we aren't going to get any closer to the Twin Cities than where we are now; we're traveling in our motor home and are sticking to smaller towns. We're heading north from here on Tuesday to ride some of the Paul Bunyan and Heartland trails, then west into North Dakota, and on a pretty tight schedule since we had to go ahead and get reservations for the next two weeks as we were finding most parks booking up fast!

There are so many trails here! I'm afraid we won't be riding any of the ones on your list this time around, so we'll just have to come back. :-)

Well, if you come back be sure to let me know. I will make dinner for you and show you the neat trails. I won't ride with you though. I am just too slow!

There is a trail in Bismarck, North Dakota that borders along a private wildlife area. It was so funny to see a camel next to to the trail. I mean, since when did camels start living in North Dakota???

Attachment 18105

It is a very short trail but very interesting!

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Originally Posted by kajero

Well, if you come back be sure to let me know. I will make dinner for you and show you the neat trails. I won't ride with you though. I am just too slow!

There is a trail in Bismarck, North Dakota that borders along a private wildlife area. It was so funny to see a camel next to to the trail. I mean, since when did camels start living in North Dakota???

Attachment 18105

It is a very short trail but very interesting!

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Do you remember the name of the trail? We have two nights scheduled in Bismarck! A camel along the trail would be fun to see.

And thank you for the invitation; that's really nice! I am slow too, but DH is not, so I usually push to keep up with him as best I can. Often I'll fall back and then he'll loop back around and pick me up later. Seriously, on utilitarian rides on my Bike Friday I only average 11.5-13 mph, and just a little higher on my road bike. Of course it depends on terrain, too.

I don't remember the trail, but it is along a river. Maybe that can you find it. We went to visit my daughter while she was a student at U of Mary. This was a little side trip.

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Originally Posted by kajero

I don't remember the trail, but it is along a river. Maybe that can you find it. We went to visit my daughter while she was a student at U of Mary. This was a little side trip.

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Thanks -- we'll be researching cycling opportunities there, and it seems like the campground where we have reservations is on a river, so we might be right there! We'll only have one day to ride, but we'll certainly take advantage of it, weather permitting. :-)

If you'd like some trail suggestions in Bismarck, let me know. The two nearest campgrounds are General Sibley in SW Bismarck and Ft. Abraham Lincoln State Park south of Mandan... both are on or close to the Missouri River. Lincoln has some good single-track trails, but both have easy access to the area's MUP system.

Donna S

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Originally Posted by DonnaS

If you'd like some trail suggestions in Bismarck, let me know. The two nearest campgrounds are General Sibley in SW Bismarck and Ft. Abraham Lincoln State Park south of Mandan... both are on or close to the Missouri River. Lincoln has some good single-track trails, but both have easy access to the area's MUP system.

Donna S

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Thanks, Donna! We have reservations at General Sibley Campground for two nights, so will have one day to ride. I'd be happy for any trail suggestions that we could access from there. We ride on roads too, so long as they aren't terribly full of traffic and bike-unfriendly. We'll get single-track in Teddy Roosevelt NP so don't need to ride that in Bismarck; would prefer paved trails or roads. My DH is really good at doing internet research to find trails and roads we can ride, but if you have any particular suggestions, I'd be happy to take them!

Easy to get on the MUP from Sibley... just bike north on Washington Street to Burleigh Avenue, where the trail starts. Two fun options, or you can combine into one ride with a little backtracking.
1. Ride the trail north, hitting Sertoma Park, Riverboat Park, Keelboat Park, and ending in Pioneer Park. A great option from the trail end at Pioneer is to cross River Road and get back on the trail and climb the hill... tough 1/2 mile climb but totally worth it for the view of the Missouri River from the bluff. Backtrack down the hill and retrace your route. The camels can be found along the Sertoma Park loop. Total round trip mileage is under 20 miles.
2. Ride across the river to Ft. Abraham Lincoln State Park. Both the Expressway Bridge and Memorial Highway Bridge have paved MUP paths. Round trip is about 25 miles. Great things to do at Ft. Lincoln... museum, Indian village, Custer Home tours.

Maps of Bismarck and Mandan trails can be found on the Bismarck Parks and Rec web site and the Mandan Parks site. For the Ft. Lincoln trail, check the TrailLink web site.

Thank you, Donna; that is great intel! I will definitely hang onto it and use it when DH and I are planning our riding. Can't wait!

Donna,

Thanks again for taking the time to write up some great Bismarck cycling tips. I hate to say that we kinda did our own thing, because we needed to make a few stops (Best Buy, as I needed a new camera), liquor store, grocery store, and farmer's market. So we rode north from the campground, got on the trail, and basically did a big loop all over the city, on the paths and s a few roads. Really fun! We especially enjoyed the farmer's market on Sweet St. (don't remember which park it was of the many we passed) and bought some nice produce; and we also went to the Capitol for photos and the sidewalk art show. And ate a lot of food at the food court!

I hate that we missed the camels (I totally forgot!) but we still had a great time riding around Bismarck. We ended up with only 27 miles, but were out nearly all day (10 am til around 3:30 pm) with all the stops.

Thank you again!

P.S. I'll eventually be blogging our ride, though I am behind on my blog. I'll post it here once it's published, though. We took lots of photos!

Glad you made it to the Capitol Art Fair... that's always lots of fun. Thought I saw you two trucking up the hill towards the interstate (at least it was someone on a small bike) when I was out running errands. Hope you enjoy TRNP and the Maah Daah Hey Trail... I've hiked parts of it years ago, along with canoeing on the Little Missouri in the spring. Keep your distance from the bison!

Donna S

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Originally Posted by DonnaS

Glad you made it to the Capitol Art Fair... that's always lots of fun. Thought I saw you two trucking up the hill towards the interstate (at least it was someone on a small bike) when I was out running errands. Hope you enjoy TRNP and the Maah Daah Hey Trail... I've hiked parts of it years ago, along with canoeing on the Little Missouri in the spring. Keep your distance from the bison!

Donna S

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It could have been us! We were riding our Bike Fridays. :)

Speaking of Bison, when we were taking our after dinner (but still light) walk with Paisley, our Boston Terrier, after dinner tonight, we came around a bend in the campground road, and there was a bison! Sheesh. We quickly turned around and went back the way we came. Paisley didn't bark, thank the gods. They wander all over the campground, and although we saw none yesterday, the day before they were everywhere, even on our site. This one tonight was the first one we'd seen today. I have huge respect for them, but they seem to be pretty acclimated to people here. Still, I'm not taking any chances!