I’m so proud of Surya and myself for completing one of our biggest bike rides to date and crushing the 612 POAP Challenge put on by @jthingelstad! This challenge features a city wide scavenger hunt to visit some amazing places around Minneapolis and collect digital badges called POAP’s (pronounced: poh - app). Here is one for example that I received when visiting the Grain Belt sign with the POAP Home app.

If you are interested, I highly recommend you check out how the challenge works by clicking here, but back to our chain pedaling adventure!

After getting well caffeinated and carb loaded with an American Tea Cake at Northern Coffee Works and Bakers Wife, we set sail at around 12:30 PM CST. Following Minnehaha Parkway we wrapped up around Lake Harriet and Bde Maka Ska Lake. As coincidences would have we ran into a familiar face on the parkway. Lenny was missing out but glad we got to stop and chat. Then jumped on the Greenway to head east we made light work of the beginning of our ride. This was my second time on the Greenway and I have to say it is a great path for city bikers.

Off of the Greenway we stopped at two breweries, Lynlake Brewery and Arbeiter Brewing. Had a couple of lighter beers to stay refreshed and got to chat with some random people along the way. Always love striking a conversation with others at breweries, the venues always attract a friendly crowd.

Great conversations behind us we realized real quick that we dilly dallied to long needed to get this train back on the rails. We ping ponged all over downtown hitting some amazing feats of engineering that make up the skyline of Minneapolis, as well as the Walker Art Center and Basilica. First Ave was our last stop downtown and after about 25 miles in our energy was beginning to fade, but like a beacon in the night we unknowing stumbled upon a Jimmy Johns. I’m a big fan of the sub shop but it felt like a moth to a flame the way body was drawn in at the prospect of a Bootlegger sub and chocolate chip cookie. Saying this revitalized us and restored the vibes is an understatement.

Now for the final stretch we went up to Lowry Bridge on the west side of the river and came winding back down on the east side, hitting all the bridges we could and ending at the University of Minnesota. This was my first time seeing the campus and man is that a pretty college. Both Surya and I joked about wishing we had gone there. We took a little detour to visit a friend and rest, before getting the final POAP on our way home at the Witches Tower.

I haven’t been giving you time stamps, but we got back to were we started at 10:45 PM CST that night… it was a long day. Just like I said at the top, I can’t stop thinking about how proud I am of us for doing this and how cool it was to run around the city on our bikes collecting badges as proof of our madness. After ending our ride both Surya and I sat on the couch with sore legs staring at our Strava route in awe of what we accomplished. Also I believe that we are the first to speed run the 612 POAP Challenge in one day!

Strava Activity

My favorite pictures from the ride: