Villard-Glenwood Trail Map
My whole side of the family got together last week at a neat little mom and pop style resort in Villard, Minnesota. There are 20 of us...10 adults, 10 kids. We all now have bicycles and we spent a good portion of the four day event using them.
My folks (Dad is 67 and Mom is 64) have really gotten into cycling. They have invested in good bikes and tend to vacation in areas that have good, safe trails to ride. In fact, I like to use them as good examples of how many baby boomers are embracing biking and how economies can be enhanced by bike facilities. The rest of the gang (kids and grandkids) are between 3 years and 40 years old. I am probably the only daily cyclist, but as a faithful follower of this blog, you know that is a very recent thing.
Near our rented cabin was the Villard-Glenwood Trail, which is administered by Pope County. It is on a former railroad bed, is paved, and is very good shape, with much of the trail being only 4 years old. It passes near lakes and through woods on the east end and through farm fields on the west end. It is about 7 miles long. As is implied by the name, it connects the cities of Villard and Glenwood. Villard is quite small with limited services but plenty of lake shore lodging. Glendwood is bigger and has most of the services a visitor would need.
My folks went up to the resort a day early and biked the whole trail there and back from Villard. They couldn't go further into Glenwood because a stopped train was blocking the trail at its dedicated crossing. They liked the trail's scenic east end. I biked the trail on my own on Monday. From Villard it very gently but steadily rises to the Glenwood end, with virtually no coasting and three gravel road crossings. I also turned around at the railroad crossing just before Glenwood, although it was no longer blocked. The return to Villard was much faster with a tailwind and the steady decline. In the end I did 14.21 miles in 1 hour and 10 minutes, my longest ride yet. It was mid-afternoon and I only saw two other riders and one walker.
Later in the vacation I did the east end of the trail with my daughter on the trail-a-bike and my wife, along with my sister and her youngest son. And on Wednesday, all twenty of us hit the trail together, 16 people on bikes and the four youngest in Burly trailers. We took up the whole trail, which wasn't an issue as we met no other users that morning. Some turned around after the lakes and woods section and some continued for a bit longer. My dad and I explored some gravel roads off the trail and checked out a campground nearby. He and I did 8 miles that day. It was a lot of fun to get the whole crew out.
It was a good vacation and a good spot for a beginning cyclist.
Crash Course
A bicycle mystery. When I arrived at the resort after the 4 hour drive from Duluth on Sunday, I opened the back of the truck to find my bike helmet was not the same as when I put it in. All of the non-foam parts of the top of the helmet had come off. I thought that the heat of the truck bed in the sun (I have a tonneau cover on it) melted the glue of the helmet. But here's the mystery...I still can't find the biggest piece of plastic that came off the top of the helmet, including the sun visor part! It wasn't in the back of the truck with the other pieces. I still have no idea where it could have gone, there isn't any gaps in the pickup bed and cover to let something like that fly out. It's a mystery... And it means a trip to the bike shop to discuss replacement.
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