Minnesota Ironman Bicycle Ride Takes to the St. Croix River Valley on Sunday

In the shadows of a spring full of snow and cold, the Minnesota Ironman Bicycle Ride will catch a break this weekend with forecasted temperatures in the 70s for the annual kickoff to the spring cycling season.

After 13 years in the south metro, specifically Lakeville, the long-standing bike ride has been retooled, and will take place Sunday, April 28, in the St. Croix River Valley.

The new course will start at the Washington County Fairgrounds and wind through Scandia, Stillwater, Afton, Lake Elmo, Marine on St. Croix and Oak Park Heights.

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The ride will host about 4,500 cyclists for its 47th annual event, Ride Director Jon Ridge said, providing routes for all ages and skill levels.

Registration opens and riders begin between 6:30-9:30 a.m. Sunday at the fairgrounds. All riders must begin by 10 a.m. at the latest, and finish their ride by 5:30 p.m. 

Woodbury resident and veteran Ironman Bicycle Ride trainer, Bob McEnaney, told the Star Tribune last week that this year’s ride—full of the valley’s hilly landscape—“offers a greater challenge to skilled cyclists than any other location in the ride’s 47-year history.”

But the hills aren’t the only challenge this endurance ride poses for riders—there’s also the unknowns of April weather.

“One thing about Ironman is that the weather has always been an impact,” Ridge told the Star Tribune. “We’ve had people with sun burns and frostbite on the ride. You never know what late April is going to bring you.”

So McEnaney wrote a blog post published on the Ironman Bicycle Ride’s website this week titled, “A Simple Question: What to Wear.”

Here’s a few of McEnaney’s suggestions:

• Don’t wear cotton, instead, use one of the many wicking hi-tech fabrics currently available.
• Keep your extremities warm (feet, hands and head).
• Wear a windbreaker or vest to keep wind off your body.
• Dress in layers.

Click here to read the full blog post.