End

My personal in my head calendar denotes the Tuesday after Labor Day as the first day of fall. So even though it feels much like the end of summer I guess there is still a weekend to go. It clearly is the end of these three months that form the bulk of summer though and an appropriate moment for some reflection.

OK, enough of that, now on with the show.

I had the fewest miles ever for August since I started keeping track. It rained quite a bit and I also ended up losing a weekend and a couple of extra days to illness. I rode fewer miles in Minnesota than I rode in Michigan, something that has never happened before. But I rode today and I felt pretty good and overall I do feel pretty good. I feel reasonably fit, which is the point.

Here is a photo of a building that I pass many times over the course of the riding season, the Roseville VFW, Post 7555.This post sponsored the last two softball teams I coached. We had outgrown the recreation department and went looking for donated money to be able to compete alongside teams in a league populated by teams with organized support, often commercial. The VFW came through for us and I remain appreciative. I always think kindly of this group whenever I ride by. We practiced those two years at the field in the back, behind the post.

The Vuelta a España begins tomorrow. Enthusiasm for professional bicycle racing remains quite low. The big news on the eve of the race is that the UCI announced in a statement Wednesday that it was prohibiting Spanish rider and UCI world champion Alejandro Valverde from starting the UCI championship. Valverde, the 6th place finisher in the Tour de France has also been barred from the Vuelta. He stands accused of involvement with the blood doping ring being investigated by Spanish authorities as Operacion Puerto. So it goes.

The draw was held for the third round of France's Coupe de la Ligue and Nantes will next face a Ligue 1 opponent, Monaco. Monaco is not only Ligue 1 but is in fact currently leading Ligue 1. On a positive note, if I read the schedule correctly the game will be held at Nantes. However, Monaco is a good team from a superior league, a win for Nantes would be an upset.

Wheelie king

The wind was from the south today and I thought that as is my custom that I would head out into the wind. This route would take me over to and past the State Fair.

Well, it was fun to be stopped at the temporary stoplight for pedestrians to cross Como and to see and wave to a neighbor who rides (NWR perhaps?) as he pulled his car out of a parking lot and into the queue. But over all my impression is this:

I won't be doing that again.

There was very heavy traffic but that isn't really what directly soured me on this route at this time. It is the direct result of the heavy traffic. There is much evidence of numerous rear endings from inattentive driving in that heavy traffic. What evidence would that be you ask? Broken glass. Lots of broken glass. And is always the case with heavy traffic areas the broken glass has been cleared out of the car lanes. Into the bike lane. Nope, I won't be doing that again.

But no flat tires, so I continued on over to the river. I must say the usual riders were in short supply today. I did not see the announcement but apparently the season is over.

I rode out to the scenic overlook of the Ford Dam and discovered what I think is pretty interesting evidence of the effect of the bridge collapse on the river. I think everyone knows that the water level has been drawn down, first to aid in the search for the bodies, now to aid in debris removal.

Consider that this past month set an all time record for most rain in August. Here is the dam today.Here is a picture taken from the same place on May 17:Anyway, I think it is interesting.

On the way home I was treated to a casual display by a wheelie king. I was riding along Prior, nearly home. My street doesn't go through to Prior so I turn on the street 2 blocks down from my street and cross up to Fairview, back to my street and then home. The wheelie king was waiting on the corner of Prior, circling the intersection waiting for car traffic to clear. He was a kid, not old enough to drive a car so still young enough to be on a bicycle, but old enough to have pretty much mastered all the tricks that he is going to master on a bicycle in this lifetime. Traffic finally clear, he turned towards Fairview and popped his front wheel into the air and started to ride. I rounded the corner about half a block behind him to discover that his wheel was still up and he was still riding. Obviously I was going faster than he was but I didn't want to disrupt his concentration so I hung around a few yards behind. He quickly became aware I was there and almost as quickly realized I was going to stay back. With no fear of distraction and with an audience he rode that wheelie all the way to Fairview, two full blocks, a quarter of a mile. And when he put the wheel down it was not because of any distress with balance. He put the wheel down because Fairview is a busy street and that was the end of the trick. I finally passed, giving him a thumbs up and a "Nice!" He said, "Thanks." He is the Wheelie King.

Early fall

Just casually flipping through the bike log I cannot recall every losing four days in a row to sickness before. Well, to be fair, it rained at least one of those days but I wasn't strong enough to ride anyway. I awakened during the night Friday feeling a bit punk but did not think a great deal about it. However, when I got up Saturday morning I definitely had the low grade fever, sore throat, sniffles and general body soreness characteristic of upper respiratory infection. I didn't feel horribly sick and I still spent most of the morning trying to talk myself into a bicycle ride. Finally by shortly after lunch I admitted to myself and to TOPWLH that I was sick and bicycling was officially off the schedule. Sunday I was the sickest, a little better on Monday, quite a bit better on Tuesday, and today I was well enough to go to work and to take a ride afterwards. The truth is I felt pretty crappy at work and the bike ride was hard. But life is a series of processes and the sickness process seems to be at an end for this occasion.

I got a picture of the neighbor's early turning maple tree. It is a handsome tree and later it will be quite orange and even more handsome than now. But the early turning maples usually turn early because of some sort of stress. I am no silviculturist so I have no clue what the stress might be in this case but I suspect it is the usual problem for urban trees. They do better in a forest than they do in a city.

On Tuesday before a sparse 5pm crowd of less than 11,000, Nantes defeated CS Sedan by 1-0 to advance to the third round of the Coupe de la Ligue. The game was even into the 59th minute when Sedan's central defender was given a straight red card for bringing down attacker Thomas Dossevi while in the position of last defender. Claudiu Keserü, in a starting role for the first time this season, took the ensuing free kick from 18 meters and found the back of the net for the game's only goal. Sedan finished the game down a player. Keserü had several later opportunities but the Sedan keeper was able to keep the difference to only one.

The drawing for third round opponent and site will be held on Friday, game to be played on September 25. The next round will reduce the field to 16. Nantes returns to league play on Monday on the road against Bastia.

Seventy-five percent

It was sunny and pleasant for most of the day but as often seems to happen to a guy who spends way too many of the nicest bicycling hours cooped up on the fourth floor of a building with windows which cannot be opened, the clouds rolled in about the time I got home. The clouds were dark and ominous but they produced no rain. It ended up being a most pleasant outing. Tonight's miles raised the year total to date to 3,021, more than 75 percent of my annual goal.

TOPWLH had a most successful food procurement expedition.I suspect she paid way more at the grocery than you pay at the James Street roadside stand. And they aren't going to be quite as good in Minnesota as they are in Michigan, they just cannot possible be as fresh. But tomorrow with my oatmeal I will be having Bowerman's blues. Nice job TOPWLH.

Both the Nantes manager and the owner vocally expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the effort made by the Canaries in the Monday game at Le Havre. The owner backed up his displeasure by doing something about it. Nantes acquired two new players this week and both were in the lineup for today's home game against Brest. The new players are Czech international Marek Heinz, acquired from Ligue 1 St. Etienne, and Togoese international Thomas Dossevi, acquired from Ligue 1 Valenciennes. With second leading scorer Mamadou Bagayoko out of the lineup with an injury and leading scorer Nicolas Gousse suddenly out of favor and moved to the bench, the team presented a very different look from the team which dissapointed on Monday. The game summary credits Heinz with creating a strongly offensive character for the team. Dossevi scored 2 goals and Nantes prevailed by 3-0.

In other games Le Havre continued its strong showing, traveling to Grenoble and overcoming the league leader 0-2. Homestanding second place Dijon FCO was held to a 0-0 tie by Chateauroux. With all games for this round completed, Nantes returns to the top of the table. Nantes, Grenoble and Le Havre all have 10 points but Nantes holds first on goal differential, 8-3-3. Le Havre claims second on the second tie breaker, away goals. Grenoble is now third.

Next up for Nantes is its debut for this year in the Coupe de la Ligue where they will host league opponent CS Sedan. The game does not count in the league standings as the Coupe is a separate competition. The next league game is Monday, September 3 at Bastia, currently in 15th in the table with 6 points. Nantes has the following Friday open and then on Friday, September 14, the Canaries again host CS Sedan, this time in a game which will count in the league standings. Sedan should be a familiar foe for Nantes as both teams were in Ligue 1 last year and both were relegated to Ligue 2, Sedan by finishing 19th, Nantes by finishing 20th.

Obviously it is a new year and these are new teams, particularly Nantes which is even a new team today from the team they were on Monday. Allez Nantes.

Things you don't see in the summer time

The weather was threatening all day long but unlike the past four days, today the threats went unfulfilled. In fact, the sun came out for the second straight day at about 5pm and I rode my bicycle. Unlike yesterday it was not raining while the sun was out and on what shaped up as a pretty nice day in September I got in a pretty nice ride.

There are definite signs of fall starting to appear here as well. I found a tree with leaves starting to turn. In fact, it was pretty hard to avoid. It is in the neighbor's yard right across the street. I didn't get a picture of it today but I did find this one taken three years ago. It is the tree with the orange leaves behind me and the Crown Jewel.By the way, the caption of that photo in my photo folder is "39 and sunny". So there's something to look forward to. I am sure the proximity of that tree will result in plenty of opportunities to get an updated picture.

But here's today's certain sign of fall, little kids at football practice at Falcon Heights Elementary School.We have had some instances of older persons playing football already, professional football is suddenly everywhere on television and TOPWLH had an encounter with a football team at Tunnel Park. But when little kids start practicing it is pretty clear that fall is not very far away.

Halted by rain

The sky threatened rain all day long. I was sure that I was being rained out for the fourth day in a row. But it seemed OK on the walk out to the parking lot after work. And then the streets were all dry in Roseville. At home I walked out to get the mail and it didn't really seem that bad.

I went in and donned my bike gear. As I opened the garage door to get my bicycle the sun came out. I threw my leg over the top tube, clipped in and started. The sun was out and it immediately started to rain. I don't ride in the rain but the sun WAS out and it wasn't really raining very hard. I rode for a bit and it stopped raining. I rode for a while and the sun went away and the sky darkened again. I started edging towards home. As I got within a mile and a half it started to rain again. As I neared home the sun came out again but it continued to rain.

So I started out in full sun, finished in full sun, and it was raining both times.

In Monday Night Football, Nantes loses 1-0 to Le Havre, falling to third place in the league. The Nantes manager said that collectively, Nantes was not as good as Le Havre. Le Havre had more frequent and more dangerous chances. Nantes returns home this Friday to play Brest.

In England, ManCity captured the first leg of the Manchester Derby, 1-0 over United. Chelsea and Liverpool drew 1-1. ManCity leads the league with 9 points, Chelsea is second on 7, ManU has only 2, already 5 points adrift of Chelsea and it is still only August.

Just exactly what is normal?

Today on my last day of vacation, life seemed to return to a bit more like the regular routine, aka normal. Rather than launch into the existential debate suggested by the title of the post I went for a bicycle ride to the eight lakes.

It clearly wasn't normal as it is Friday and the Bianchi Babe rode along. This makes three bicycle outings this week for the Babe, well over a normal quota.

It was very nice out, sunny and coolish, feeling a bit like fall, a perfect early September day. We rode into a head wind on the way to the lakes but as the Babe correctly observed, we both felt strong on the return trip.

Here is the corn. I don't think this is actually good. I don't know enough about corn to be sure but media reports are that the weather has been too dry and that the corn crop has suffered grievously. I felt those ears visible next to the Babe's right hip and they felt sort of shrunken, not bursting the husks as I have come to expect.In view of the fact that we think the corn is actually doing poorly, Babe pictured for empathy.

Campagnolo/Minnesota re-orientation ride

Back home in Roseville and back on my main bike it was necessary to readjust to my usual riding environment and my usual bicycle drive train. The Campagnolo part went without a hitch. I started out from the garage in the big ring, rode about half a block and shifted to the small ring to spin for a bit to get warmed up. After about a half mile I came to a downhill and had to shift back up to the big ring. I briefly considered whether I should throw the brake lever to the side or just go ahead and use the small lever. I got it right and after that the shifting came naturally.

Minnesota was a little bit trickier. I rode up through the neighborhoods to Hamline and Como, riding along the edge of Como Park. There were branches along the boulevard along the way but nothing like what I saw when I turned back to the west on Como. Lots of branches, lots of evidence of trees damaged and destroyed. This house is about a mile and a half from my house, at the top of the hill between Snelling and Hamline on Como.It appears to formerly have been an oak tree. Now it is fire wood.

I rode on down Como, through the Park and caught the University busway over to the main campus. The Stone Arch Bridge is now open to pedestrian and bicycle traffic and I rode across. This is about as close as you can get to the bridge collapse, the best view is the one on TV. But I got a couple of photos anyway.

The structure in the foreground is the dam, lock on the right. The stuff in the river on the other side of the dam but still on the near side of the arched bridge is debris from the collapse.I rode back along University Avenue. This is the view from the bridge carrying University over the bridge approach on 35W. The foreground is the north end of the bridge, partly collapsed before the first main support and then completely gone after the support.Visible in the background is the south end of the bridge and the now downward turning northbound lanes.

I rode on towards home and this time detoured through a bit of Como Park. The damage around the West Picnic Area is quite extensive. However, I spoke to TOPWLH later in the day and she had walked around Lake Como and said that she found the damage there to be very disheartening. I may try to get over there tomorrow to get a look for myself.

I spent the rest of the days getting some errands done and then this evening installed new tires on the Look. Both of the bikes I rode this week now have new tires.

Note to T. Tousan about trash sports: Yesterday after arriving home I watched the Fox Soccer Channel and saw Reading 1, Chelsea 2. This afternoon I saw last Saturday's game from Old Trafford, Manchester United 0, Reading 0. This is a bad start for ManU. The defending champions have played 2 games and have only 2 points. Probable main rival Chelsea has the full 6 in its 2 games leaving ManU already 4 adrift after only 2 rounds. Chelsea does face a game away at Liverpool this Sunday while ManU journeys cross town to play at Manchester City. Man City is even with Chelsea in the table with 6 points. So anyway, I didn't have to watch a single minute of X Games.

No bitches

We spent an anxious morning watching the weather on TV and internet. Every time a ride appeared possible some new weather feature would make riding inadvisable. Finally it was noon and after lunch I went for a little lie down. Fortunately Nicki has cable in her bedroom and I was able to keep one eye on the weather. At about 2:30 we headed out for Kirk Park.

The Bianchi Babe (temporarily perched on a Specialized Sequoia) had requested a ride to this county park on Lake Michigan. We made it nicely as all of the riders felt strong. Here is the beach:Babe for, you know this one, all together now: SCALE.

On the way back we encountered a head wind but fortunately there were no bitches and the group arrived back on the mountain in plenty of time for dinner.

Today's Wonderword is "suitcases"

And bon voyage to those who packed suitcases today.

I refer to this as Stonehenge. The land behind this monument has been subdivided and built upon by the many. This reference point to when some single quite wealthy person owned the lakeshore here is still visible from Lakeshore.These rocks were gathered and cemented together at a time when a dollar was a dollar. They don't make them like this anymore.

Eliots, boo; blue crop, yay.

Rumors persist that blue crop will only be available through the end of this week with the inferior eliots taking over the scene next week. *sigh*

Here is my personal blueberry purveyor of choice.On the bicycle today we saw two groups of wild turkeys. Turkeys are way shy and they fled back into the cover before Santini could get her camera to the ready position. Wildlife can be so uncooperative.

Don't cry for me Argentina!

Or Pakistan either for that matter.

Here in all its glory at its one and only location worldwide is the West Olive One Stop, aka PPS. Santini for scale.I purchased what I consider to be one of their signature items, the single serving large dill pickle in individual cellophane wrapping. It is currently being chilled for consumption at the next appropriate dill pickle occasion.

It was a most excellent ride but later on I had an opportunity to re-cycle with the French National Champion.We also had a nice ride although it was threatening to get hot and we did seem to manage to catch a headwind in both directions. At the end of the stage I used traffic at the corner of Perry and Lakeshore to get a gap but was then inattentive. She jumped me at the bottom of the Idlewood hill and I had no answer. She swept away effortlessly to capture the spotty jersey points. Drat!!!

FC Nantes disappointed the home fans by only drawing with Clermont Foot, 2-2. Nantes scored first but allowed Clermont to equalize before scoring again for a 2-1 half time lead. Clermont again drew even in the 80th minute.

The classement général after 3 rounds of play in Ligue 2 finds Nantes even at the top on points with Grenoble and Sedan at 7 but still holding first place in the goal differential tiebreaker.

Next up for Nantes, at Le Havre. Le Havre is currently 8th in the table at 4 points following today's 3-1 loss at previously zero points Libourne Saint-Seurin.

More stuff unseen in Roseville

Well, for one thing, the road kill is of completely different species. Most of the road kill I see in Roseville is racoons and squirrels. It is worth noting at this point that squirrels are vermin. The road kill in Michigan, at least to this point, seems to be exclusively opossums.

But here is something unseen in Minnesota except for at the Como Zoo: peafowl.I saw the brightly colored fellow first, which I believe is the point of that coloration. I was scrambling to get a picture of him and afraid I wouldn't when I noticed the girls hanging out further back in the clearing.
Before we got to the peabirds we stopped at Pigeon Lake. I observed that when they built this coal fired power plant that it probably seemed like just a fine location. Obviously, if they wanted to build a power plant within yards of the shore of Lake Michigan in today's political world it would have difficulties getting through the environmental review process, particularly the plant siting. But as Santini observed:
What's the deal with that blue thing?

Things you don't see in Roseville

Like the Port Sheldon Party Store.I was kinda hoping to get Santini for scale but she has moved just off frame right seeking shade to make a cell phone call.

The Bianchi Babe tried to convince me that the citizen hanging possibly inebriated out the side window of his automobile, then accelerating noisily into his estate, after which gunfire erupted was a bloggable moment. I maintain that if she wants that in a blog she should blog herself. That very clearly is something I have never seen in Roseville.

After we got back from bicycling we had lunch and then I was taking a shower. While I was standing in the shower a good government, good citizen, good neighbor type walked up and engaged me in conversation. To her credit she acted completely nonchalant about the showering business. She had some stuff from the neighborhood council and a directory of residents that she was dropping off. She failed to recognize me as an alien and engaged my showering self in conversation as though I was actually someone who needed the information she was passing out. I pretty much acted the same and pretended that standing soaped up in the shower and engaging in idle chit-chat was not as big a stretch as it actually is. She put the stuff down on the ledge and we had a pleasant but brief conversation and then she was off.

That is something you don't see in Roseville.

Travel day

Greetings from Lake Michigan.

Nantes maintains its position "la tête du classement" with a 2-1 win at Châteauroux. Nantes continues tied for the lead on points and also continues to lead in the first tiebreaker, goal differential. Châteauroux scored first on a penalty at 25 minutes but Bagayoko got his third of the year at 32 minutes as the Canaries drew even before the half. Goussé got his fourth of the year at 52 minutes and Nantes held on to capture the important 3 road points.

All is well here

I got a late start on my ride today. The Babes and Cuppy had tickets to Spamalot. I wanted to stay at home until after they left for the theater. I got recruited as a pre-event photog.Don't they look spam-tastic?

While I was out riding a bridge fell down.