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?