Nice bike

I had a CLE today so I was downtown Minneapolis at the Minnesota CLE Center. The CLE center is kitty-corner from the IDS Center. This gave me an opportunity to have lunch with the person who used to live with us (TPWUTLw/Us). I had been inside all day but she walked over from her high rise place of employment and therefore had information about what an exceptionally nice day it was outside. We had a nice lunch and then quickly decided to sit out on Nicollet Mall for the few extra minutes before she had to go back to work and I had to go back to school.

It was exceptionally nice out and we had a nice chat. Over the course of the chat she conveyed to me the information that we had succeeded in an important aspect of raising her in that she has only two pairs, or perhaps only a single pair of shoes that the wearing of causes pain. Actually I was really hoping for zero pairs of shoes with this characteristic but she assured me that two pairs, or perhaps only one pair, was actually quite good. She said that most young women of her age have many pairs of painful shoes. As we observed footwear of the passing crowd she further pointed out that there is even a subset of women her age who as part of their employment costume wear painful shoes each and every day.

Well, a parent has to take his successes where and when they arrive so I guess I am proud to have imparted at least this one lesson. Now if I could only convince her to learn to play guitar.

I got home in plenty of time to ride. Did I mention that it was exceptionally nice out? I rode the LOOK and took for the first time this year the full southern route. The turnaround point varies somewhat but often is the overlook across the river from Fort Snelling. Here is a shot of the overlook with the fort and the Mendota Bridge in the background, LOOK for scale. There is also an airplane in there which may or may not be visible. I am not sure if it is a Northwest airplane or a Delta. Apparently in a very short time I won't be able to tell the difference.This picture is of the Mississippi River and the head, or upriver end, of Pike Island. I couldn't get any deer to pose for me. The river passes to what from this vantage point is the left of the island. That channel leading off to the right goes to the Minnesota River. This is "a" confluence point but "the" confluence is at the foot of the island. However, since Pike Island IS an island, there is a commingling of the waters at this end of the island too. All this by way of admitting that it isn't as cool as a picture of the actual confluence but it is the best I could do.This LOOK is a really, really nice bike and I was enjoying the ride. I think last year I bragged about not having had a flat tire for over a year of actual riding. Well, that claim isn't going to be made this year. First ride, first flat.

It was fairly disheartening when the increase in effort to pedal clued me in that something was amiss. I was only a couple of miles from home and I thought about walking home. But eventually I found a flat piece of somebody's lawn and started in on tire repair. I wrestled the tire off the rim and located a tiny piece of glass still lodged in the tire exterior. I couldn't find anything on the inside of the tire but with the location of the piece of glass on the outside of the tire as a guide I fairly quickly found the hole in the tube.

The repair was going OK and actually I am sorta glad it happened as the flat tire led to two really nice neighbor encounters. Now this wasn't actually the neighborhood where I live (remember, 2 miles from home). But I ride there a LOT and it is possible that the three people who stopped did so because they recognized me. Whatever the reason, it was nice.

The first was a lady walking her dog who came right over and asked if I was OK. I said, "Sure", told her that I had a flat and showed her that I was repairing the tube and that in fact at that moment I was waiting for the glue to set up for the patch. She got a pretty big kick out of the fact that I was doing maintenance. She remarked that I was completely contained. I thanked her for checking to make sure I was OK, that seems like a pretty good neighborly thing to do.

Then a really old guy and his wife riding by on bicycles stopped to chat. Well, hers wasn't actually a BI-cycle. She was on a 3 wheel recumbent, but he was on a 2 wheeler. He said he used to have a race bike but that he was 6'1" when he bought that bike and he was now 5'9". He wanted to chat and I was wrestling the tire back onto the rim so I had plenty of time for chatting. It was nice. I hope to be riding a bike at his age. I wonder how tall I will be and how many wheels I will have on my bike.