Twenty-five percent

Today featured the first morning ride and a little bit of recycling. A morning ride is a sure sign that summer is upon us. It was warm enough this morning to give it a try but weather conditions made a morning ride unlikely. It was still dark when I got up (from the overcast) and it stayed dark as I went about my morning tasks. But about 8:30 it started to lighten up and suddenly the sun appeared.

I geared up and got out into the garage. I noticed the sky was still a bit threatening but I decided to try it anyway. When I was about a mile out from home there was a peal of thunder. Ooops. I headed for home. As I neared home it didn't seem so bad after all so I veered slightly off course while still maintaining a homeward course. Ooops. Another peal of thunder. I hurried for home.

I sat in my garage and lubed my chain (which actually needed it pretty badly). Sure enough, there was an episode of sprinkles, enough to almost but not quite wet down the driveway. I went into the house to give the lube time to penetrate the chain links. After about an hour I went back out.

By now weather radar indicated the rain had passed and there should be a lengthy window of opportunity. I finished up the chain maintenance and set off. It ended up being a pretty nice day.I discovered that it rained a fair amount along the river in Saint Paul. The road still had some damp spots and even a couple of pothole puddles.

I hardly ever ride in Minneapolis. Well, that isn't quite accurate. I ride through about a tenth of a mile of Minneapolis every time I ride to the river. But I don't ride in Minneapolis very much. Today I crossed the Ford Parkway Bridge into Minneapolis and detoured to Minnehaha Park and this view of Minnehaha Falls.

Lots of Euro sports today. The Giro enters its second week without much in the way of resolution to this point. The race seems to be marking time waiting for the arrival of the mountains. The racing so far is just setting the stage for Tuesday when there is a big mountaintop finish which is the first stage of the meat of the competition.

In England the FA Cup went to extra time. Didier Drogba scored in the 116th minute to propel Chelsea to a 1-0 victory over league champion Manchester United. The game was played in the new Wembley Stadium. The new stadium was built at a cost of 750 million pounds. That makes it a 1.48 billion dollar stadium. I hope it is nice.

Nantes has Toulouse at home in its final home game as a member of Ligue 1. The game is underway as I type, no report of any score yet. The league season closes next Saturday at league champion Lyon. Lyon has already clinched the championship, its sixth in a row.

I watched a little Louis Vuitton today but I think I came in too late in this round. There wasn't much in the way of competitive tension in either of the semi-finals and I had a hard time getting very interested. Both series are pretty much settled already.

The corn is up. It came up overnight last night as these little rows of green were not there yesterday. The rows are not very distinct yet. I couldn't get a picture from the vantage point I intend to use. I had to get down close to the ground to get an image but I think it is clear that the corn is growing. At the other end of the grounds the soybeans are already up as is a grain which I cannot yet identify but which I suspect is wheat.

EDIT: Final score from Ligue 1 - Nantes 0:0 Toulouse