Monday, April 30, 2007

Soccer hooligans in France

Rain this afternoon, no ride. The month ends without that last day push that I find is something that I commonly do. Missing that push is probably a good thing. I didn't need the push, either physically or for the annual total. After a rough start to the month because of inclement weather I got in lots of rides towards the end of the month. A rule that I often ignore is that rest days are good days. As I was reminded after last week's fall and subsequent day off, I am always a lot stronger after a day off.

This is the Cathedral St. Pierre et St. Paul in Nantes, site of the promulgation of the Edict of Nantes in 1598. The Edict signified a historic moment of religious tolerance during a period of religious wars in France and in Europe.

In other news from Nantes, the following is as reported by the Associated Press:

Barthez fears fans, will leave French club
April 30, 2007

PARIS (AP) -- Former French national goalkeeper Fabien Barthez is quitting Nantes, saying angry and threatening fans have made him fear for his safety. Several fans surrounded his car as he left the stadium and tried to pull him out.

Barthez, a World Cup and European Championship winner with France, has made costly errors in recent games and was jeered by fans during Saturday's game. Nantes is in last place in the French league after a 2-0 loss at home to Rennes.

"I'm not going to play again with Nantes," Barthez said on France-Info radio Monday. "A gang of five or six guys came to block me from leaving the stadium. They were there to rub me out, as they said."

Barthez said fans are free to boo, but he draws the line at threats.

"To whistle me throughout the match, I accept that, that's part of the atmosphere," he said. "With Nantes, I would have gone to the end, but that goes beyond the realm of sports."

Barthez said the team offered to provide security for him until the end of the season, but he refused.

"I am not ready; I will never live like that," he said. "I no longer feel secure like that, so I prefer to leave."

Barthez, a former goalie for Manchester United, retired after France lost the 2006 World Cup final on penalty kicks to Italy. Nantes president Rudi Roussillon persuaded him to change his mind and he signed with the club in January until the end of the season.

Nantes, an eight-time French champion, faces possible demotion for the first time in 44 years. With four games left in the 20-team French league, Nantes has 30 points -- eight points behind 17th-place Nice.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Hero of Labor

May 1 is Labor Day in many places in the world. We were in Paris last year on May 1 and it was a national day of no labor. This is a concept we should seriously consider in this country.

In honor of Labor Day here is a Minnesota hero of labor. This is Floyd B. Olson, Governor of Minnesota from 1931-36. He was a progressive and an ally of Wisconsin's Robert LaFollette Sr. He was elected to the statehouse as a member of the Farmer-Labor Association, a third party which later was merged into and became a pillar of what is now in Minnesota officially known as the Democratic Farmer Labor party.

Olson is regarded by many as the first Minnesotan to be considered to be "Presidential timber". Olson declined to run for President as a third party candidate in 1936 and instead ran for US Senate. It has been reported that he was on a short list of potential replacements for John Nance Garner as Vice-President (Garner had been a rival of Franklin Roosevelt for the Democratic nomination in 1932 and many felt that their alliance was an uncomfortable one for both men) but Democrats and Farmer-Laborites felt Olson would be more valuable as a supporter in Congress of FDR's legislative agenda.

While campaigning for the Senate Olson was diagnosed with stomach cancer and he died before the election. Olson's popularity with his core constituency of farmers and working people never diminished.

Olson Memorial Highway in north Minneapolis is the most visible state memorial to Olson.

In the background is the Cass Gilbert designed State Capitol. Mr. Moohoo takes note of the fact that people in Michigan are posting photos of the Minnesota state capital grounds. Harumph.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Nantes 0: Rennes 2

It was a really nice day for a ride, a bit windy but 75. This is Snail Lake from the picnic pavilion. Looking at the photo I feel the need to explain that Snail Lake will be a lot prettier when the foliage fills in so that the blue dumpsters do not seem so prominent.Snail Lake is a weekend ride as there is a stretch of Victoria which I prefer not to ride in weekday traffic but which is perfectly benign on the weekend.

Nantes falls to Rennes in a home game and relegation becomes more likely. I checked the table and relegation is not yet a mathematical certainty. But with only 4 games remaining les Canaris would almost need to win out and also get some help from the teams ahead of them.

Lots of EuroSports news today. The English football league had a couple of huge outcomes as Manchester United rallied from 2 down to defeat Everton 4-2 and Bolton came from behind to tie Chelsea 2-2. Manchester United expands its lead to 5 points as it continues the bid to deny Chelsea its third consecutive league title.

Liege-Bastogne-Liege is tomorrow, the final of the spring one day classics. The Giro d'Italia awaits, set to begin on May 12.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Got back on

Even though I live in a large metropolitan area I live only about a half mile away from a corn field.

And this is why and how. This is my bike in front of a sign placed at The University of Minnesota College of Agriculture Research Plots. The University plants corn here every year. So I have a slightly better idea than your average city dweller about how the corn is doing this year.

I ride past the corn all year long, keeping an eye on it. This year you get to watch along with me.

I have been watching this year since the snow left. I did not know whether to expect any plowing but I thought not. I believe the current procedure with corn is referred to as minimum tillage. With the snow gone the field was still covered with the remains of last year's crop, little bits of stalk still stuck in the ground. There hasn't been any plowing but there has now been some tilling. The ground has been disturbed, I presume with some sort of harrow, perhaps a disc harrow, or perhaps a toothed harrow, but in any case the dirt has been stirred and the remnants of last year's crop have been mostly eradicated. There may have been planting involved as well, I am not a farming expert, but it doesn't look to me like the crop is actually in the ground yet as I cannot see any evidence of any row structure.

And this is the view I intend to give at periodic intervals. The photograph is from near the sign and I have picked out landmarks that I think I can place in about the same place in the camera frame each time. Come and watch the corn grow.

In falling off news I went past the scene of the accident. I looked down the block from the corner without actually riding to the scene. The sign is gone. So I rode there a couple of days before I fell, no sign. I rode past a couple of days after, no sign. But on the day when I rode without paying enough attention, BOOM, sign.

What are the odds?

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Fell off, stayed off

April 2006, Cote Sauvage, on the Atlantic Coast just north of Les Sables d'Olonne.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

FAQ

What's the deal with the blue thing?It was a pretty uneventful ride until the very end when I achieved an important annual milestone. An important milestone but a negative one.

About once every year I fall off my bike. Today I fell off my bike.

It was actually quite similar to last year's fall off. I was riding in an area which I am pretty familiar with and was paying attention to the wrong things. What I wasn't paying attention to was what was right in front of me. I rode there a couple of days ago and there wasn't any road repair sign on the edge of the pavement anchored by sandbags. Today there was. I hit it.

Once is an accident. Twice is a bad habit. Look where you are going dummy.

But I learned plenty from last year's fall. Last year I grabbed for the cross bar that I ran into, hoping to hold on and to save myself. With no hands on the bars the front wheel jerked abruptly to one side and I went down violently. I ended up with a very deep abrasion of the knee and scrapes on elbow and upper arm. This time I saw the sign too late but I reacted differently and kept my hands on the bars. I rode the bike down. I rolled with it and distinctly felt each impact as I hit on my hip, then my shoulder, and then ever so gently, on the side of my helmeted head. Last year I scrambled up. This year I went ahead and laid there for awhile, accessing my condition and composing myself.

Last year was August and I was dressed in shorts and short sleeves. This year I was fully layered up, tights, long sleeve jersey, jacket. More layers equals more protection as I soon discovered when I got up and started to examine myself and the bike. Riding the bike down is definitely the way to go. I didn't even abrade any of my clothes. The bike did not escape unscathed but suffered only a bit. The right lever impacted the sign and has a scratch and a tiny chip in the carbon. The left lever has a very small scratch. The left rear QR has a bit of a scratch. The human took the rest of the impact. The only big deal was that the impact on my hip apparently applied a strong sideways torque and the seat was twisted badly to the side.

On the first or second ride of the year I thought I felt a bit of a wiggle in the seat but upon testing found it firmly attached. Well, maybe not quite as firmly as I thought. Fortunately I carry a multi-tool with me and the seat was quite easily readjusted. The brakes were fine, the wheels were fine, the pedals were fine.

I rode home, about 4 miles, and along the way found out that the shifting was fine.

I got home, undressed slowly, examining the points of impact. Again, clothes fine, no wounds, no visible bruises.

So I am typing, my left little finger (impact side) hurts a little. My hip hurts a little. But I think I got through the fall without any injury. Knock on wood.

Not looking where you are going and running into something while riding a bicycle? Once is an accident, twice is a bad habit.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

The true north, strong and free

Today's wind conditions were similar to yesterday's so I again rode out to the north. I soon enough found myself approaching the radar speed sign. I got myself into the big ring and prepared to sprint. This time the wind was a quartering head wind and I don't think my number was as good as yesterday. But I couldn't tell for sure. I had to wait at the STOP sign for a car and I ended up following it through the speed zone. And another car came behind so I am a little uncertain if there ever was a moment when it was my speed being measured and not one or another of the cars. I was dead on sprinting when I went past the measuring device though and I did pass a hybrid.

Not that big a deal you say? That a road bike sprinting should be able to overhaul a probably non-sprinting hybrid? Well, maybe so. But this was no hybrid bike I passed. Nope, right after the speed sign I caught and passed a Toyota Prius.This is a marker on a boulder near my house indicating the 45th parallel. Since I live slightly north and east of this boulder I live in the northern half of the northern hemisphere. So that's sort of the true north. I live, just for one example, north of Toronto, Canada's largest city (but south of Montreal).

Oh, that's my bike in front of the marker.

Monday, April 23, 2007

I love these things

Apparently they are having issues with cars speeding on this street. In lieu of actual enforcement the county sheriff has set up this radar deal to encourage drivers to police themselves. It doesn't work on me.

A bicyclist coming upon such a device is required, I believe, to sprint all out and try to register something approaching the posted speed limit. I tried my best.
I came away from a STOP sign and around a corner and stumbled on this only a half block away. I was in the small ring. The small ring is preferred but not required for STOP signs. With only a short distance to the radar sign I sprinted as best I could and got an adequate result. But immediately upon passing I started to consider. The radar placement was on a slight downhill with a slightly aiding quartering cross tail wind. Conditions seemed ideal to try for a big number.

So I considered my options, cut off the planned route and circled back through the neighborhood to come up on the sign from another angle. This time I was in the big ring and the sprint was more satisfactory. Then I had to wait around for a car to come by and boost the sign up to my number and try to get a photo of it. All in all, good clean fun.

I keep reading about town line sprints and other deals on group rides. I ride alone nearly all the time and never ride in competition so I am not familiar with competitive sprinting. Even so there are two spots that I come upon with some regularly where I engage in all out sprinting. One is the Sucker Lake entrance to Snail Lake Park. There is a speed limit sign restricting traffic to 15 mph. I feel compelled to pass this sign going at least 20. The second place is at the bottom of the hill along the west side of Lake Owasso where there is a sign advising that maximum safe speed on the turn is 20 mph. It is at the end of a long downhill. Entering the turn at greater than 20 mph is required.

In important football news, FC Nantes is facing relegation from Ligue 1. I am a fan of FC Nantes from a distance. However les Canaris are firmly lodged in the bottom spot of the table. There are only 5 games remaining and they are 7 points adrift from safety, almost certainly an insurmountable deficit. This past weekend Nantes travelled to Parc des Princes in Paris to take on Paris-St. Germain. PSG is also experiencing difficulties this year and was one of the teams Nantes had some chance to overtake. A win was absolutely essential. But the final was PSG 4, Nantes 0.

The French record for longest stay in Ligue 1 is 43 years, held by Nantes. The streak seems to be at an end. Further, relegation may well spell the end of the active playing career, at least at this level, of Fabien Barthez, one of the heroes of France's win in World Cup 1998. Barthez was in goal for Nantes and the result indicates he may be at the end of the road.

Je suis tres bummed out. ALLEZ NANTES.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Election Day in France

The first round of voting is over and projections based on early returns are that Sarkozy and Royal will advance to the final election. Other European news is of course the continuation of the Spring Classics. Today's event is the Amstel Gold race. The race is over but I haven't checked in on it yet. I will be going to the cycling news website to read the live coverage as soon as I finish here.

In honor of the multi-candidate French election this entry will be in three parts.

Part 1 Flora report
Today there are many more plants arrayed in their spring finery. There were shrubs in Como Park and then in other spots along the route with small white flowers. There was a yard on Como Avenue in Saint Anthony Park with some sort of ground cover that was covered with blue flowers. And at the University farm campus there were lots of different things blooming, including some pink flowering crabapple trees. I did not photograph any of these as soon enough there will be lots of flower pictures in this blog. Many places that I ride regularly have entire streets with every yard having some sort of flowering shrub. I will hold off on the flowers for now in anticipation of this coming profusion of flower photo opportunities.

In visiting the farm campus to check on the gardens I discovered that the cow sculptures in fact, ARE out. They are hidden in this little grove of trees and when I was looking for them I was at the other end of this mall.This is my bike posing with larger than life cows. MOO! MOO! perhaps even MOOHOO!

Part 2 The ride
It was a beautiful day for a ride. The weather forecast was for rain developing in the PM and it is, in fact, now raining outside. It was plenty warm albeit overcast early this morning and I started to think I could get a ride in early. It was 10am when I left the garage. The overcast had thinned out and the sun was starting to poke through. Eventually the sun won out, burning off the haze and it was a spectacularly nice day. Low 70s, gentle spring breezes, one of the nicest spring days in the history of days.

Here is my bike on the Stone Arch Bridge with Saint Anthony Falls in the background.On the ride home I was JRA when I was overtaken by a married couple. As I say I was JRA but they were legitimate riders, young enough and fit enough that I felt no disgrace. They looked to be fairly serious cyclists, both riding newer Trek carbon fiber road bikes, I am not sure of the model and I did not take note of whether they were the Ultegra bikes or the DuraAce bikes, but they were nice bikes. They also had the accoutrements of affluence, prize jerseys from charity rides. His was from the Tour de Cure. Hers was from the Tour de Tonka. The were riding side by side but did the appropriate thing and got into single file to pass me. As he went by the husband said, "What a day!" I responded in wholehearted agreement, "What a day". As she went by she said, "Nice bike." I replied, "Thanks." So that's two bike compliments on the young season, one for the Axis and now one for the Look.

In bike maintenance news I have a little chain noise when I am in the 39x18. This is a bit odd as it is completely quiet in both the 39x17 and the 39x19.

Part 3 A dedication
Here's a special shoutout to America's biggest fan of the winner of the 2007 Paris-Nice King of the Mountains Jersey competition:Hey, Voeckler, what do you think of this?

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Odds and ends

The possibility of morning rain proved to be just that, a possibility. It was always threatening but the actual precipitation passed off to our north. Finally around noon the weather radar indicated that there was going to be a least a couple of hours with a very low probability of precipitation. It was, however, windy, the windiest day yet. 20-25mph winds from the south.

But I rode without any urgency. It is Saturday, Saturday midday a person doesn't have to think about getting enough miles and getting home before dark. You can just relax and ride. You don't have to fight the wind, you have to ride into it to be sure, but you don't have to fight it.

Cleaning up yesterday's odds and ends, here is the first flowering shrub. The flowers look almost like daisies. And they aren't very sturdy either. The strong wind was blowing lots of petals off. It was almost like I would get the flower petal shower from the very first flowers of the year. This bush is in Falcon Heights, I later saw another one of this variety near the curling club.And the answer to the quiz? Bueller? That is an ox cart alright, but it absolutely is not a Red River Ox Cart. Note that the wheels are considerably smaller than the 6 feet wheels described on the historical marker. This ox cart is Cambodian, located in front of the Cambodian culture center near the fairgrounds. Has anyone seen Bueller?
And this is my bicycle next to the Saint Paul Cathedral. There recently was a small furor in this town about, if I recall correctly, the passage of the 100th anniversary since the Cathedral was built. This makes this a very old building in this town. For perspective I refer one and all to the April 10 post (No snow yet) and picture of Eglise de Notre Dame in Cunault, a 900 year old church.

In other French business, I am glad everyone finds LaCoquette as amusing as I do. Also, The Guide informs me that the Mauresmo video of climbing Alpe d'Huez includes in the French commentary the information that this is a regular part of her training, that she makes that climb every year. So that makes her a semi-serious bicyclist.

Friday, April 20, 2007

First flowering shrub

I saw a flowering shrub on the ride home tonight, the first of the season. The light conditions had deteriorated so I didn't get a picture but I will try to get one tomorrow. The shrub had no leaves on it but a profusion of nice white flowers. The lawns are starting to green up, spring is in the air.

Continuing with the transportation theme, here is a photo of my bike at a historic transportation site. This is a marker commemorating the Red River Ox Cart Trail. The text reads as follows:

"More than 100 years ago the famed Red River Ox Cart Trail passed along here, following closely the route of St. Anthony Avenue into St. Paul. The trail began as two early traces -- the East Plains Trail and the Woods Trail -- far to the north at Pembina and the Red River settlements. The trails joined at the mouth of the Sauk River near St. Cloud, and wound south east of the Mississippi.
The first ox cart train was brought south in 1844 by Norman W. Kittson, trader for the American Fur Company at Pembina. Six picturesque two-wheeled ox-drawn carts carried $1,400 in pelts and left some $12,000 in the tills of St. Paul merchants. Within twenty years, carts were annually hauling more than $250,000 worth of pelts, pemmican, buffalo robes, foodstuffs, and other goods to St. Paul. There cargo was unloaded at warehouses, repacked, and sent downriver by steamboat to St. Louis for shipment east.
The sturdy wooden carts had six-foot wheels held together by wooden pegs and rawhide. Ungreased, they set up a squeal heard for miles. Their drivers, the colorful Bois Brules, wore coarse blue cloth, brass buttons, red sashes, beaded caps and moccasins. Caravans left the Red River in June, arrived in St. Paul some 30 days later. The drivers loaded the carts with food, medicines, hardware, liquors, tobacco and dry goods, then headed north again."

And this is a nicely restored ox cart that I passed at another location on the way home.So, today's quiz: Does anyone have any comment? Anyone? Does anyone note anything about the two photos? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

More on that later.

It was windy today, hard riding again. But it was shorts weather for only the second time this season. It was a good ride.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Ten percent

It was warm enough today but very windy. Very hard riding into the wind. That always uses up a lot of energy and I end up feeling not so fast. Of course, the riding downwind is easy but usually comes after I am pretty knackered. I end up feeling not so fast.

I cut through the fairgrounds for this picture. Today's question is was I faster than a ride on the Yellow Slide. Well, as you can see, the Yellow Slide is partly disassembled so I had an advantage, but yes, I was faster than a ride on the Yellow Slide.Today's visual oddity occurred when I was riding through the farm campus after my exit from the fairgrounds. I wanted to check to see if the big cow sculptures were out on the mall yet (they are not). But I got a treat anyway, as as I approached the dairy barns three students came walking up the hill from I have no idea where on their way to the barns. Each of the three had a Holstein calf on a halter and rope leash. These were this year's calves, still small enough for a strapping young student to control, but the young calves were lively and full of spirit. That is they were until they got to the street. Then they refused to cross and had to be urged on with the usual jerking of ropes and slapping of haunches. Amusing.

Probably cattle aren't that unusual a sight in lots of places, in the middle of a metropolitan area of 2.5 million a sighting of cattle is a bit out of the ordinary.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

WOO complete HOO

First off, let me just say that I love my Axis. It is a most excellent bicycle. With yesterday's ride I have over 2,800 miles on that bicycle, a number which I am pretty sure is far in excess of the average mileage for any bicycle. The Axis has been a most excellent tool for what I have used it for.

But golly, it's fun to be fast.

It occurred to me as I posted yesterday that this is a bicycle blog and that too many photos did not include a bicycle.That's my bicycle in front of (well, actually, off to one side of) the Como Park Conservatory.

I rode my bicycle today and I was what is for me FAST. It was fun.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Axis last ride?

Yesterday I rode the full southern route out. Riding on the River Road is always a little different. Every single person out there is racing. I don't race but with all those people buzzing past I guess I felt some pressure to maintain a decent pace. I chased no one, raced no one, but I rode too hard into a fairly strong head wind. Tired. Really tired.

Today I rode out to the north to Grass Lake in what I think was probably the last ride for the Axis. First, when I was at Grass Lake before the dirt path was still muddy in several places so I didn't go all the way through. Today it was dry and I made it all the way to the pavement at the far end. But the ride out was into a fairly strong head wind.

With the combination of a little run down by yesterday's effort and facing a head wind again I was feeling pretty slow. So it was nice to turn back and get a tail wind. I was fast, it was more fun.

So when I got home the very first thing I did was locate and put out my other shoes. Different pedal system, different shoes. I got the road bike shoes out and put them with my helmet and other stuff. I put the cross bike shoes off to the side, hoping they won't be needed again.

We watched some Stanley Cup playoff hockey but it is now between periods. As soon as I finish this I am going down and pump the tires on the Look and I think I may even put it out in the garage.

My plan is to start the road bike season on my next ride.

Look KG 381i, CSC Team frame:Chorus crank, derailers and brifters, Mavic brakes, Look carbon ergopost and Look carbon stem, Deda bars, Proton wheels, Michelin ProRace2 tires, Fizik Plateau saddle. I bought the bare frame at Erik's Warehouse Sale and accumulated the components and assembled the bike myself. This is, in a way no other bike has ever been to this point, MY BIKE.

EDIT: I just carried my bike out of the basement to the garage. It had completely escaped me how light that thing is. WOOHOO! We're about to be havin' some fun now.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Monday afternoon rush

Here's why you don't live here. This is Monday about 5:30 pm, looking east along I-94 from the Pelham Avenue Bridge.I hasten to point out that I was riding a bicycle so this traffic was really of no concern to me either. Looks bad though, doesn't it?

Amstel Gold, La Fleche Wallone, Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The remaining three spring classics this year. Paris-Roubaix is the Queen of the Classics, l'Enfer du Nord, so I guess I was a little excited. By LBL is la Doyenne, the oldest of the classics, one of the Monuments of European professional cycling. Eddie Merckx won it five times.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Paris-Roubaix

Stuart O'Grady is today's winner in Paris-Roubaix. The season is in full bloom in Europe, this is one of the last, or maybe even the last of the Spring Classics (Paris-Roubaix will be featured at 4 (5 Eastern) on Cyclysm Sunday on Versus). The Giro d'Italia is scheduled for May 12 to June 3. The Tour de France is July 7 to July 29. The Tour this year features a prologue in London.

In other Euro sports news, Chelsea scored in extra time to defeat Blackburn 2-1 to advance to the finals of the FA Cup. Chelsea will face Manchester United, a 4-1 winner over Watford in the Saturday game.

Today's ride again headed to the northeast, the ride out was the same as yesterday's ride. The temperature today actually exceeded the average for this date and in fact eventually topped the 60 mark. Wednesday it snowed, Sunday it was 62 and perfect.

The return ride deviated from the standard ride. We here are aware of the recent chirping from the eastern time zone contingent about the names of our lakes.This pretty little gem is Lake Emily. There is no marking sign but I know it is Lake Emily as I have perused the Official Inventory of Protected Waters as promulgated pursuant to statutory directive by the Commissioner of Natural Resources. I assume there are no complaints about this name.

Today's interesting sights? Well, at the VFW softball field I saw a fairly large gang of mostly guys playing cricket. I have seen cricket on TV, it is a staple of the soccer channel during the soccer offseason. I am fairly certain I have never previously seen it in person. So cricket.

Today's bicycle oddity was a recumbent tandem, side by side. This contraption and a married couple were traveling the same direction I was so I was able to slow down and engage them in a brief chat. I said, "Nice rig." The husband replied "Thanks", the wife replied "We enjoy it." I asked, "Did you buy it like that or did you assemble it?" The wife replied, "You buy the two bicycles and it comes with a kit to put them together." They had a platform mounted between the two bicycles on which they were carrying a cooler, probably full of cold drinks.

And then within a mile of home I observed a grey haired woman washing her windows. I didn't get a good look at her face but it seemed pretty obvious to me from her posture and body movements that her grey hair was not of the premature sort. She appeared not old, but certainly, shall we say, "mature"? Nothing odd about a woman washing her windows except that she was wearing leather pants to do so.

That's all for now, Paris-Roubaix is on TV in two minutes.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Full northern route

We here on the tundra have received word that the great flatlands rider of the dune country has recently completed one of the important northern routes. The seasons seem to be somewhat parallel as today I completed the full route of the most commonly ridden northern route in this territory.

This is Sucker Lake. This is at the northern most limit of the ride and also the eastern most limit of what is predominantly a ride to the northeast. It is the turnback point to be sure but due to the vagaries of JRA (just riding around for any non-cyclists who might be tuned in) it is not the halfway point, it is just slightly past halfway. Sucker Lake is part of the Snail Lake Regional Park system. The lake and the surrounding real estate are owned by the City of Saint Paul Water Utility.
And this is Lake Vadnais. Again, the lake and the shore surrounding the lake are owned by the water utility. The utility draws the drinking water for the city (and several adjacent suburbs) from this series of lakes. In fact, the actual pumping station is on Lake Vadnais. There is no development on either lake which makes them quite unusual for such a large urban area. They are no swimming, no wading, no boating lakes, fishing allowed but fishing from the shore only. They are both hey we are going to be drinking this water we would appreciate it if the rest of you would stay out of it lakes. With no development both lakes present a quite northwoodsy sort of ambience right in the middle of the city.
I note that the great flatlands rider comments on the availability of pigs at the Port Sheldon Party Store. There are no pigs available anywhere within several hundred miles of the route I rode today. However I did have a couple of pieces of leftover pepperoni pizza before I departed on the ride. This is not in any way a comparable experience to a fresh pig but it did result in my having a distinct sausage aftertaste in my mouth for most of the ride, which aftertaste seems to me to be one of the quintessential parts of the pig experience.

As I neared home I met an interesting group of riders. There was a husband and wife tandem followed by two recumbents. The first recumbent featured a fairing which is not at all unusual on a recumbent at this time of year. But the guy bringing up the rear had constructed an entire cab, completely enclosing the bicycle. It seems to me that crosswinds would definitely be an issue with such a rig, and, in fact, he did seem to be weaving a fair amount.

I wish I had a picture but sometimes these things happen so fast that even an eyewitness ends up wondering, "Did I really see that?"

It was a beautiful day for a ride.

Friday, April 13, 2007

County Cycles

I knew the back tire was a little soft. I noticed it the last time I rode and I intended to pump it back to the usual pressure before riding again. But with the snow and the 3 day delay between rides, I forgot. So I stopped at the local bike shop and they let me use their pump.I talked to both Ron and Scott. Ron owns the shop, he expects tomorrow to be the busiest day of the year. It is now clearly spring, weather prediction for tomorrow is sunny and finally average temperature or above, near 60. Ron is predicting that customers will flock to the shop with visions of bicycling dancing in their heads.

I had a brief chat with Scott about my brakes. Scott is the person who used to adjust them for me and who still provides perspective on the whole cantilever brake adjustment experience. Scott is one of 3 young mechanics (Joe and Dan are the others) at the shop who do not own cars. As described in information circulated in connection with the shop's spring open house, 3 mechanics, 0 cars, 4 seasons, 23 years accumulated bicycle commuting. That's real hard core.

It was a nice day for a ride.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Curling part deux

It was the league playoffs, our final appearance of the year. Overall, we didn't do as well as we did last year. We had some moments but just never seemed to get the bits of curling luck that we sometimes got last year. All in all, however, our record was probably a fairly accurate reflection of our cumulative curling abilities.
But the main thing is, spring is arriving, curling is a winter activity. It is a good excuse to get out of the house on a winter evening but once the heat has definitely returned to the outdoors it just doesn't make any sense to go inside to a place with ice on the floor.

And spring is definitely making a comeback. Only about 45 today but with the high sun it was plenty to make almost all of yesterday's snow disappear. In fact, the snow disappeared so rapidly that there was even time for the streets to mostly dry out. This morning the outlook for a ride today was that such a thing was at best an outside possibility. In the end it probably could have been done. The hiatus is definitely over, bicycling resumes tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Curling

Curling tonight, and it is a good thing. It has been snowing all day, usually not very hard, but always snowing.The pavement is now warm enough that there is very little accumulation on the streets so driving is no different than if it had been raining all day. But the picnic table on the deck looks pretty forlorn.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

No snow yet

The snow hasn't arrived. It rained lightly off and on while I was at work but on the way home I discovered that it didn't seem to have even rained at home. The street was dry when I turned in. I thought about it for a bit but before I could commit a fairly heavy mist arrived. 42 and a heavy mist? No ride today.This is the 12th century Eglise de Notre Dame in Cunault, a very small town in the Loire Valley, photographed on our auto trip across France, April 2006. I think the guide took a picture that may be better but this is the one I have.

Monday, April 9, 2007

Home of record

Today was a little warmer, temperatures into the low 40s, so another ride seemed in order. Especially considering the forecast for tomorrow is 80% chance of snow, possible accumulation of 2 inches. But today was nice enough.

I rode a stretch of Soo Street right after the street sweeper had been there. The street was still wet, but mostly clean. The streets are coming around rapidly.

Except of course for Hamline. One good citizen waited until the day after the streets had been swept to do a bit of yard maintenance. OK, he lives on Hamline, he gets a lot of sand in his front yard. OK, he has a gas powered leaf blower, what else is he going to do with it when there are no leaves to blow. Yup, blow all the accumulated dirt and grit back out into the street. It is at a particularly bad spot, right after a four way stop at the top of a hill. Drivers are usually a bit irritated and somewhat inattentive when pulling away from the stop and visibility is limited by that hill. So Mr. Lawn Blower covered the area between the fog line and the curb with dirt now deeper and more dangerous than it was prior to the sweeping. Oh, and it extends about 2 feet out into the lane. So a bicylist now has to swing out into the lane, remember the drivers are already irritated by the stop, and compete with the cars for pavement space in a spot where the cars will have limited visibility. Nice. Really nice.

But maybe a good heavy rain will help.

I saw the tall bike guy today. He has modified a regular bike by building more frame above the standard frame. He has mounted the cranks approximately where the seat post would ordinarily fit into the frame. The chain still runs to the back wheel. Overall, he sits about 8 feet above the pavement as he pedals.

I have seen him lots of times and have even ridden a couple of blocks with him once. We chatted about the bike, he generally leans the bike against a street sign for stability and uses a bus stop bench to get up to where the bike is. Obviously he is an unusual guy. If I recall correctly he was smoking a cigarette the time I rode with him.

Anyway, I have seen him lots of times and he also recognizes me. He has one of those squeeze bulb horns mounted on his bars and he gave a honk and a wave when he spotted me today. I gave him a shout out. Sometime during this season I will try to get a picture of him and his rig.

Today I thought about getting the picture and was going to turn around and follow him. Out of nowhere I experienced confusion about which hand shifts which derailer and which lever to push to shift up and down. Confusion is usually the first step in dehydration so I pulled over and stopped. I got this cow head picture while I was hydrating.It is an advertisement for the State Fair. Upon remounting I headed straight for home. Confusion abated and I got home just fine.

There are so many lakes in Minnesota that this one doesn't have a name. Actually I have seen the 1850s original government survey of the area and if I recall correctly this then was a part of what is now called Island Lake. Much like nearby Grass Lake, Island Lake is quite shallow. I think what happened is that in a period of low water they filled some low areas, connecting the various islands to the shore. They are now streets. This area got separated from the main lake and now exists as a separate pond.It is significant because that building at the far end with the flag pole in the yard was my "Home of Record at Time of Entry Into Military Service". I remember this because home of record was on all of my personnel records and in a huge bureaucracy like the US Army, it is just one of those items that you are often exposed to.

The last place I actually lived before I went in the Army was a place with some guys I knew from college. It was known as the Pit. In our defense it was named the Pit by previous residents and in fact it acquired most of its pit-like qualities during their tenure. In their defense we never really did much to clean it up. It was the Pit.

But when you go into the Army they need a Home of Record. There is a place for it on all of the forms. So I gave them my brother's address. I never actually lived there. But because I had a Minnesota home of record I was eligible without any controversy for the Minnesota bonus paid a couple of years after completion of my service.

I do not remember if there was a pond behind the building when it was my home of record. As I say, I never actually lived there. You would have to ask my brother but frankly he might not remember either. I went in in September and by the time I was on leave in January he was living in a hotel in Queens. I had opportunites to change my home of record to something else, like where he lived in New York, or Detroit, or Houston, or to where my sister lived, Indiana at that time. I just never got around to it, lots of forms to fill out don't you know. So Minnesota remained my home of record and I got paid the bonus.

I ride in that neighborhood a fair amount and I knew the place was around there somewhere. Eventually I made a systematic search and "voila", my home of record.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Only the hard core

I love my bike.

Today the skies cleared but it stayed really cold. They are playing the Masters golf tournament in Georgia and one of the recurrent themes that the TV announcers keep returning to is how cold it is in Georgia and in fact how cold it is everywhere in the country. It is a most unusual spring.

But it was 38, not that bad, and the winds were light, only about 9 mph NNW. I thought about it and thought about it and finally out I went. The big news is that Hamline Avenue has been swept pretty much the whole length. Hamline is a main riding route for me so this is a significant milestone each spring. Usually shortly after Hamline gets swept I can start riding my summer bike.

Maybe not so much this spring though. It is so cold that I am going to stay on the cross bike a while longer. The wider tread and lower pressure tires seem less likely to flat than the high pressure skinny road bike tires and I really, really don't want to be changing a flat in this weather. So I will be on the cross bike until the temperatures are consistently in a range where even without gloves I can maintain some finger comfort and flexibility.This is Lake Owasso from the northeast corner public access. I was hoping for a bit brighter and more blue and maybe a bit of the old glistening waters but I couldn't really get a good angle for the sun off the waters. I still think it is a pretty nice picture though, particularly compared to all the grey from the last week. The sky is blue.

But on a day like today only the hard core are out riding. I rode 8 miles before I saw another person on a bicycle and that was a helmet mirror wearing road biker. Then at 15.25 I met the second, a parka wearing comfort biker. Finally out on Como I encountered another person with the bicycle indicating that he rides a lot and the cold weather gear indicating that he rides even in inclement weather.

I got almost all the way home and was congratulating myself on being hard core when a family of 6 swung out in front of me, parents and 4 children aging from, oh say, 10 to 17 or so. They were on a variety of family bikes, a mountain bike or two, a comfort bike or three. They were dressed in a variety of mostly pretty winter wear, not a bit of bicycle wear visible on any of the six. But each and every one of them had a helmet.

So who is hard core here? Me? Or a family with at least 6 bicycles in the garage and 6 helmets in the closet to fit the 6 people who might be looking to ride on a day when virtually no one else is out on a bicycle?

Family Hard Core Bicyclists, I salute you.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Bianchi birthday

No biking here today, more on that later. Here is a birthday present for the Bianchi Babe. This is Gino and Voeckler, preparing for a Michigan bike ride. Those matching jerseys are Vendee jerseys, the Department, or region of France where Voeckler lived in France. It is also, interestingly enough the home region of the professional team (Bouygues Telecom) that the real Voeckler rides for. Voeckler is a big fan of Thomas. She says he is plucky.And the biking Legend has submitted another entry. This is the deck on the Bay house, an actual photo taken this actual day, April 7, 2007. Once again, this is not any sort of prank or tomfoolery. It seems that the very cold weather that we have had here is contributing to lake effect snow where the Legend lives. The snow in my front yard that I was complaining about the other day doesn't look so bad anymore.
Bicycle season remains on hiatus.

Friday, April 6, 2007

August on the deck

It was sunny today and if judged from inside through a window, it seemed like a pretty nice day. The problem of course was that it was 22 degrees with a 25 mph wind. This is not a nice day. It is a very cold day.So this is a photo of a day that was a nice day. Sunny and August on the deck, a sailboat in the background, pleasant shade . . . ahhhh . . .

No biking today.

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Snow flowers

This is a nice picture:Thanks and a tip of the hat to a biking Legend.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

No biking today

In order to grasp the significance of today's image it is necessary to remember that just last Monday it was 81 degrees. I went biking wearing just shorts and a short sleeve jersey and got sweaty doing it.This is an actual picture taken this actual afternoon in my front yard. No April Fool, an actual picture taken in my actual front yard.

So too cold to ride. It is supposed to stay cold for the next several days. The bicycle season is on hiatus.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Another trip to the archives

So today it actually is snowing. Not an April Fool. Actual snow. **sigh** So another trip back into bicycle history. The TRAM thread below does not contain an image from 2003. So here is a picture from that year:
This was bicycle brand jersey day from that year. There's the Bianchi Babe in her Bianchi jersey emblematic of her Bianchi Veloce. There's Santini doing double duty in her Specialized jersey from Cross Country Cycles emblematic of her Specialized Elite purchased at Cross Country Cycles. And there is Gino wearing an Independent Fabrications jersey emblematic of his one of 5 specially built for Mavic for use as a neutral support team bike (Mavic Service Courses, my bike rode the yellow car) at professional bike races in the USA including the San Francisco Grand Prix during 2002, one built in each 2cm increment from 52 to 60, and sold off at the end of the season by Mavic and Gino stumbled onto the sale and purchased (for less than the price of the frame, less than the price of the components, in short, a really good deal) the 56 which fits me like a glove Independent Fabrication Crown Jewel Special Edition Custom Build complete with the sterling silver headbadge, Mavic Ksyrium SL SSC wheelset, Mavic brakes, mostly Campagnolo Chorus with some Record 10 speed components mix, painted in Mavic corporate yellow and black, a really, really nice bike, the last guy who rode it before me was a professional bicycle racer.

Obviously there is another story in there somewhere.

Monday, April 2, 2007

Another weather report?

It honestly is my intention that this be a bicycle blog. But the weather this spring, except for that one day, has been so awful that every day seems like another description of how bad it is. I honestly intend to take a photo each day to illustrate the ride. The problem is that every day is so grey that the photos are all greyed out, lacking any sort of vibrant color, dull background, every picture the same. I am getting tired of it.

Today the sun was out when I got home but it quickly turned ugly. A system is moving in which the weather geeks predict will dump a goodly bit of snow here tomorrow. The temperature dropped, the wind picked up, my ride turned into another iteration of a familiar theme: not quite warm enough, too windy, too grey.

I wanted to take a picture but it was just too grey.

But I did happen to find this interesting pile of rocks around a tree in a front yard somewhere.
Let me see, there's a banded taconite, some sort of igneous rock with ferrous intrusions, a couple of fairly interesting looking granites, and there's a quartz intruded gabbro. OK, I made that up. I don't really know if it is gabbro or not. The banded taconite is banded taconite though, that one I know.

Sunday, April 1, 2007

April 1 daily photo blog submission

So I've been checking the various city photo blogs that I like. And I have discovered after the fact that today is a theme day. They have all posted photos of public mail boxes. Well, I went right out and photographed our mailbox and here it is:
See, it has been raining for several days and overnight the rain turned to snow . . .