Unipacking around minneapolis

Hello all,
After UNICON, I will be staying in the US for a bit more than 2 weeks.
I am planning some unipacking around Minneapolis, but I don’t really know if there is specific things to know, and more important, I don’t know which roads I should be taking.
One option is a trip from Minneapolis to Chicago, but when looking for a road, I find the Mississippi river trail, which is apparently an highway. Are those safe, or should I take a very different road ?
Does somebody have advices ?
Does somebody else plan a similar trip during the same period ?
Is there a trip you would recommend, doable in a big week with 80-120 km days ?

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This video only highlights Chicago to lacrosse Wisconsin but may be of help along part your journey. You may want to reach out to him. He may of made that journey at some point he also has Chicago loop video.

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Thank you, it looks a lot like what I have planned for this part of the trip. I will watch that more carefully pretty soon. I still need to find a path from Minneapolis to Lacrosse, or have a confirmation that the mississppi river trail is safe enough.

the mississippi river trail will be separated from cars until just short of red wing, then it will mostly be improved road shoulder. The US has designated this Bicycle Route 45, which means there will be signs identifying it as a bike route, but unfortunately the federal bike route designation is mostly aspirational, with the idea that the road could be improved with bike lanes. It follows US-61 which from my look on google maps is frequently divided and has slip roads, so i’d be quite hesitant to try to follow it south of red wing, and rather try my luck on the wisconsin side of the river following wisconsin 35. MNDOT says the whole way has a paved shoulder greater than a meter wide, so it’s not the worst but it is high traffic and would be unpleasant. Once you’re in Trempealeu WI you should be smooth sailing on bike route 30 across the state, then lake shore should be good all the way into chicago.

Minneapolis and Madison both have great cycling infrastructure compared to most american cities.

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Thanks for the advices, as a piece of information, this is the first draft of what I am planning.

I will probably check for warmshowers and look for more detail on the sleeping areas later.
If you have any advice or thing to say about it, please do (and if you know a place where I could store my luggages and non-touring unis during the trip, I’m willing to know more about it).

Your route is already avoiding the bad section of 61 I was worried about. I suspect you might find some friendly faces in Madison, since there is a large club there.

You want a place to store your gear in chicago between unicon and your arrival? Or are you thinking storing gear in Minneapolis and riding the train back? I might know someone to check into putting you in touch with either way.

It was not until an hour ago. I saw it was not really good before, but didn’t know if the other side of the river would have been better. I changed it after your advice.

I’m really intersted in meeting them, if you have any contact information, I am willing to know about it.

I am planning the second way. I have a plane schedulded in Minneapolis, so I want to travel light, and just have to return to Minneapolis in time, where ever I end up finishing my trip

Adventure Cycling has some route maps in that area. You can find them here: Interactive Network Map - Adventure Cycling Association

Also, Rails-to-Trails has some routes, but they tend to be shorter and regional which may not help you as much: National Trail Map for Biking, Walking, Hiking | TrailLink and https://www.railstotrails.org/

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Thanks, I have just looked at it, and it seems very helpful

MadUni.com for the Madison group. You should be able to get in touch that way.

I remember driving from the Twin Cities to LaCrosse, Wisconsin after a unicycle meet (42 years ago!) I was hella falling asleep because those were weekend events and sleep was optional. The route we drove was pretty, following the Mississippi river most of the way. Your route may be different though. My grandparents lived in LaCrosse. My grandpa briefly tried my unicycle, and I remember his comment: “Now I can see why they’re hard!”

Bring insect repellent; I recommend “Deep Woods Off”. Alaska has bears, Minnesota/Wisconsin have mosquitoes. They’re about equal. :slight_smile:

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My route should be pretty similar to that, and it seems to be both the best and the worst part of the road.
The trail parts look wonderful while the highway parts (nearly 50% of the distance) seem beautiful, but so annoying due to cars.

I am still planning to do this trip after unicon, but I haven’t planned my nights yet.

Each of my days should end up in places with campings or hotels, in which I will probably rent a place during unicon.

However, if any unicyclist living along my path is willing to host me for a night, it would be with pleasure. I am especially thinking about unicyclists from Madison, since I know there is a club in there.

I am still looking for a place to store my stuff in Minneapolis while I am travelling (one 29er, one 20er, one backpack and one suitcase).

By the way, does anybody know how bivouacking is perceived or what are the rules about it in Minnesota and Wisconsin ?

Have you looked into warmshowers.org
I’m going to become a member for unpacking.

A few weeks (already ?) after, it is debriefing time.

First of all, I won’t give people names, in case they wouldn’t want it to be shared, but if you recognize yourself, please know that I want to thank every single person that hosted me, gave me the contact informations of people, looked for those contact informations, gave advices, cheered on me, or all those other (even very little) things I can’t remember about.

Before telling what happened, I have a few questions to answer.

  • Why ?
    • Plane tickets cost a lot of money, and I didn’t want to go to the USA “just” for unicon. I also have a custom frame made for unipacking, and even though it is also really good for road race, I wanted to use for its intended use.
  • How did I choose the goal ?
    • Since I didn’t want to have problems with my gear, I decided that my trip would start in Minneapolis, in order for me to let my stuff in the city, and just take what I needed for the trip. From there, I looked what was around Minneapolis. At first, I wanted to follow the Mississippi, but there was no end goal (maybe going all the way to New Orleans, but it isn’t a 1 week trip). But, there was a big city that was not too far, allowed me to follow the Mississippi for a while, and had trains to go back to Minneapolis. That is why I chose to go to Chicago.
  • How did I choose the daily length ?
    • I wanted to see as much of the US as possible, one week seemed like a good duration, and I wanted to stop around 4 pm max everyday. I also decided that I wanted to push myself and go “semi ultra” mode. So I said 100 to 130 km a day was a good amount (hard but not too much).

Now that the questions are answered, how was the trip? Let’s go for a day by day story (There is only seven of them, so it shouldn’t be too long).

  • Day 1 : Minneapolis - Chicago - Jour 1 | Strava
    I originaly planned on leaving Minneapolis at the south of the MSP airport, but the family which hosted me offered to drop me in a better part of the trip, which shortened the day and allowed me to start with a “warm-up day”.
    I started by following the south side oh the Mississippi for 40ish km, until I reached Hastings, where I ate my first meal in a Mexican restaurant.
    Then, I crossed the Mississippi, did a few km of trail, and reached the Highway 35. It was a 2 lane highway with a big shoulder and not that many things. It was really beautiful everytime there was an overview over the river. I stopped once in my first gas station of the trip (not the last though).
    By the end of the day, I arrived in the first camping in Maiden Rock. I quickly installed my hammock and tarp, before realizing there was no shower. I could recharge my phone, ate something in the closest gas station and went to bed for a really bad night due to the wind, coldness and sweat.

  • Day 2 : Minneapolis - Chicago - jour 2 | Strava
    This was my longest day of the trip with 148 km. It started at 7 am with 90 km of highway 35 (the same one I followed for 50 km the previous day). After it, I arrived on a beautiful trail which I followed until Lacrosse. Once arrived in Lacrosse, I followed advices and went on grandad’s bluff. The climb was pretty hard with 140 km already on this day, but the view was worth it, and then I went to my hosts of the night place. The warm shower, good meal and real bed were heaven.

  • Day 3 : Minneapolis - Chicago - jour 3 | Strava
    On day 3, I followed the Elroy Sparat trail. It was not that memorable, except for the tunnels which were really beautiful, fresh and basically the highlights of the day. They are defintly a must go if you are close to them.
    The most memorable of those tunnels was the first one. I was climbing a hill for quite some time, with a really hot weather (the day started with cold mist, but it heated really fast). And suddenly, I saw water on the side of the trail, and as I was thinking that it was really beautiful, the temperature dropped suddenly, mist appeared, and then the tunnel entrance appeared. I loved it. This day was 108 km long, on a lovely trail which only lacked view points.

  • Day 4 : Minneapolis - Chicago - jour 4 | Strava
    That was probably the worst day of the trip. It started with 30 km of trail, which was really great, and then it was backcountry roads with no shade, sun, and no gas stations. I ended up running out of water after 80 km, thankfully really close to the next gas station. It was also a pretty long day with 119 km, especially with the heat. I ended my trip in Madison for my second night being hosted (first one using warmshowers).

  • Day 5:
    At not so memorable day. I followed trails from Madison to Milwaukee with a lot of heat and humidity. I was extremely sweaty, and all my clothes were soaked with water for the first half of the day. I met a cyclist which I ended up riding with for like 10 km. I finnaly arrived at my hosts place after 137 km.

  • Day 6 : Minneapolis - Chicago - jour 6 | Strava
    During the previous night, there was a big storm, which flooded trails. The first one I came across had like 20 cm of water which made my feet wet, but it was not that bad. The second one was way worse. At first, it didn’t seem that bad, but at some point I had water above the hub, and couldn’t go back to the unflooded part of the trail. I ended up UPDing in the water.
    After that, I followed the lake border without seeing it once. I also got a pretty bad fall on a uphill (a pedal unclipped and I fell on my knee before rolling on my back and sliding on my camelback).
    I ended my day by arriving at some other unicyclists place. They were a bit far from the lake, and I had to follow a big highway which felt really unsafe. But they had access to a lake, which was a blessing. It was a 120 km day.

  • Day 7 : Minneapolis - Chicago - jour 7 | Strava
    Last and shortest day, with only 82 km. Not so memorable. There was quite a lot of trail, but also a lot of city. I enjoyed the lakefront trail, but there was too many people, which felt unsafe because of passings.

Overall, I loved this trip. It was 819 km long over 7 days.

If you have any question, feel free to ask

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Thanks for taking the time for this write-up. Hope your knee is ok!

Well… It healed perfectly, but since then, I’ve fallen one more time on it, which leaved me with damages on my posterior cruciate ligament. It seems to not be that bad though, so I should be allowed to ride in the upcoming days / weeks.

Ouch, wish you a fast recovery, then. And ride carefully! :wink:

Thanks, I will ride a bit more carefully from now on.