Saint Paul Classic, not

Today is the first Sunday after Labor Day and that has been for at least the time that I have been paying attention the day on which the Saint Paul Classic is held. They close the river road and the grand round parkways to set up a grand day of bicycling. It is an extremely large event with literally thousands of riders. I have ridden either in the event or at least over to where it was being held to observe every year beginning in 2001.

I was up early enough to ride it this year if I had wanted. But the streets were a little wet from overnight rain and it was, wait for it, 50. Yup, 50. Officially cold. I stayed in the house.

I was a little disappointed that this weekend is a weekend reserved for international team competition in European football and the only game I was remotely interested in was yesterday (Iceland 1, Spain 1 in Reykjavik). I waited until noon and American football filled the void. I pretty much watched the whole game Minnesota v. Atlanta.

But by 3pm I was on my bike. The day had cleared and it was a beautiful blue sky day. It was still a bit chilly, 65 or so when I was out, but it was a beautiful day.

When I ride to the north I follow Hamline to the end and then drop through the neighborhood bordering Lake Josephine. There is a long but relatively gentle climb up to Lexington. The problem with this climb is that it continues after Lexington and then gets steeper. Riding the whole thing can be a bit of a tester. This is a view of Carlton Drive taken from the top of that climb.This is the look down the street on the other side of the climb. As you can see, beautiful day. Carlton goes downhill to the end of the block where another street crosses. You might be able to see one of the houses down there. Those houses back up to Judy (thy true name is Mud) Lake.

No big mileage milestones today, just a really nice ride through Shoreview.