Ride around Medicine Lake

A great picture of Medicine Lake from the path. Photo Credit goes to TwinCitiesRealEstateBlog.com

  

With the weather changing and summer finally coming biking season is on. Plymouth has no shortage of bike paths, but my favorite in Plymouth is the medicine lake loop. The ride is perfect for a summer afternoon. Its about 8 miles long and there are good sidewalks for most of the way.  The course is slightly hilly but not terrible.  It’s a highly populated path and you see people running, biking, skateboarding, rollerblading, and even doing those crazy cross country skis on wheels.

Plymouth Locals enjoying a ride around the lake on bikes and blades.

A few highlights on the course:

You pass by 3 great parks: East Medicine lake Park, West Medicine Lake Park, and French Park all of which have beaches for swimming playgrounds for the youngsters.

You can travel up into the “City of Medicine Lake” if you want to take a quick detour. This is a fun area that is a peninsula completely surrounded entirely by the lake. There is a park and some interesting homes.

You get to go over 2 really long bridges through the wetlands and swamps. They are really fun to ride over but tough on rollerblades and skateboards. Also the gnats are pretty thick on this part of the trail.

The famous turtles of East Medicine Lake Park

The portion of the trail that conincides with East Medicine Lake Boulevard is super nice. There are no homes in between the road and the lake and you really get a nice scenic view of the lake from here, especially at sunset.

The trail is easy to find. It’s a loop so it doesn’t really have a start or finish but I always kind of think of the starting point as 36^th ave and Zachary Lane. From there I usually head in a clockwise direction following east Med Lake BLVD to South Shore Drive and then to West Med Lake Road. Then you head around the horn to Northwest Blvd and either around or through French Park. If you get confused just follow the shoreline.

Play some Hockey

Here in Plymouth winter is long as I'm sure you know.  Well as long as everything is frozen make the most of it! Hockey is everywhere here in the state of hockey.  Even if you never played its not too late. The best way to play in Plymouth, in my opinion, is on frozen lakes.  Its free and hockey in it's purest form.  Sure the ice is cracking and shifting the whole time but that's just part of the magic!

The Chiefs, city champions 2007-2008

While outdoor hockey may be the best, indoor hockey allows the puck to be played all year long! Many parks and rec leagues, drop in games and open skate times are available in town at both the Plymouth Ice center and New Hope Ice arena.  

Boot hockey on Lost Lake in Plymouth.

Another great option if you don't feel like going out on the lake is down at the park! zachary Playfield and plymouth creek both have awesome free outdoor rinks. As do many parks in town.

And if you don't feel like going to the park or the lake, just flood your yard and let it freeze!

Also I'll put in a plug for my favorite hockey shop near by: Way to Go Sports, which is in Golden Valley. (8028 Olson Memorial Hwy) Its all used stuff so its cheap but still works just fine. Either that or I knock on my neighbors door who has a garage full of gear and they are kindly enough to let me use it.

 But no matter where you play or who you play with, be sure to end your game with a victory slide for the fans!

Drive on the Ice

Nothing says Minnesota like a nice drive across the lake.  Here in Plymouth this is no exception! Medicine Lake has ice roads plowed all over the place which means any old beater car can challenge the tundra and if you've got the capabilities to forge through the deep snow you've got no limits! Many take their cars on the lake for ice fishing purposes. Ice fishing isn't my cup of tea per se but throwing donuts and power slides always has been, and the frozen lake is like a blank canvas waiting for you to roll a few tight ones.

My rule for lake driving is wait till I've seen some other crazy guy drive across the lake first (preferably in a 1 ton diesel), because people die every year when their cars go thru the ice, so know your underwater car safety precautions. (and dont be the last one on the ice in march, thats dicey too, but you knew that).

Gettin' ready to ghost ride the whip on Schmidt Lake on the way to twins fest

Some locals ice road trucking the windstar on Medicine Lake

Whipping donuts in the suburban.

Some times you roll the dice and they come up snake eyes!

The good old boys figuring out how to get this beast out before she goes down any further.

Just know this if you play with fire you can get burned... Safety Pays in Many ways.

Wakeskating

Dan Taylor going big on the CWB skate on Medicine Lake.

Since were deep in the heart of the Land o' Lakes I would like to describe one my my personal favorite activites: Wakeskating.  For those familiar with watersports you already know how fun this can be, for newcomers to the world of wake allow me to introduce you.

The Wakeskate is a board to be ridden on water and it differs from other boards because it has no bindings.  Thats right you just wear your old sneak's and tennies or you go buy a fresh pair of vans if you wanna get serious.

The allure of the wakeskate for me is it's accessability.  The wakeboarders and waterskiiers crave a big fancy boat, but on your wakeskate you're slashing behind your jet ski, your pontoon, your fishing boat, or whatever ghetto-rig you've got on hand. You could even ride behind your car if you can find somewhere to drive along side a flooded ditch!

Plymouth's own Jamison Metzger laying a nice wakeskate power slide. observe the classic Nike sneaks.

Hitting Rails on wakeskate at Plymouth's Schmidt Lake. Photo Credits to Seth Halsey and Geri Halsey

The wakeskate allows for a lot of creativity.  Watch some videos on Youtube, get some Ideas, do whatever you want, hit some rails ride across the grass, bring along some homies and make a day of it.

The bomb drop on the old SF Giants wakeskate.

Well this may all sound like a real blast but you may be saying to yourself: "Yo, dogg, i'm flippin burgers at mickey D's, where am I going to come up with 100$ to get a wakeskate?" Well your worries are over because I was once in your shoes as well: Check out Plymouth's top skater Stu J rocking the plywood skate:

First cut your piece of wood in the shape you want it...

...Then drop in. (Stu Jackson Plywood Wakeskate)