Biking in High Waters on the Mississippi

I went on my usual bike ride today on the St. Paul loop trail that starts at Harriet Island and ends on the other side of the Mississippi River on Shepard Road.  It's a beautiful bike ride and had I not fallen in the river on my way back, it would have been the perfect ride.

After giving inaccurate directions to a lost couple looking for Fort Snelling (not on purpose), I rode onward over the 35E bridge.  As usual, I was feeling exhausted and upset that my cardio wasn't up to snuff.  This might have had something to do with the 6 cookies I ate earlier in the day.  I'd rather not blame them though.

Once over the bridge, I was rewarded with a wonderfully long downhill section of the trail.  It was great and the car that had to follow slowly behind me felt my joy, I'm sure of it.  That's why he honked and sped around me.  Who says motorists and bicyclists can't get along?

Now I knew part of the trail was washed out - I had ridden through it just the day before.  I knew I could peddle through it and not get my feet wet.  And so, here's the start of the washed out trail:

Check out my stylish Mickey Mouse ear handlebars! 

   And so I started to slowly peddle through, when suddenly, I peddled off the trail and into some kind of pot-hole, which caused this to happen:

When I pulled my foot out of the dirty, murky Mississippi River water, I was horrified to discover I had grown a 6th toe.  That's what happens when things get dipped into the Mississippi.  Luckily my head didn't go under, or I'd have an eye in the back of my head.  Which would actually prove more useful than a 6th toe, but oh well.

After the river conquered me, I snapped this photo of what I left in my wake.  I warned 2 lady bikers headed that direction, but they didn't seem to care.  In fact, they didn't even respond to me.  Does that happen to other people?  Like if you say "hi" to someone on a trail and they just don't say anything back?  It happens to me so much that sometimes I wonder if there's some kind of invisible, sound-proof force shield around me.

After my swamp experience, the trail turned into this picturesque scene:

And then of course, you are rewarded with the wonderful Harriet Island: 

Harriet Island clean up of River's Edge Festival

And on your way over the Wabasha Street bridge you get the to see the gorgeous Mississippi River from a safe distance: 

So get out there and start biking!