Corner local shop

Hooray, hooray the first of June. Summer arrived today without us having passed though the usual introductory period known as "spring". Obviously there is nothing to be done except perhaps utilize this one last opportunity to complain.

But with the return of summer came the return of the morning start to the ride. After waiting until after noon for the midday rise in temperature on each and every ride up to this point, today I left the driveway at 10:30. It was a tiny bit cool for the first couple of minutes, only about 64, but it quickly was just fine. The other advantage about the morning start is that most of the ride can be completed before the nearly midsummer sun reaches directly overhead and dispatches rays which can create serious problems for a person with a fourth of his genetic material from north of the Arctic Circle. A morning start is much safer for a person with "Miller skin" (probably more accurately referred to as "Hanson skin".)

This is a lake not previously posted. I know this because I only rode out there once last year and I distinctly remember bumbling the photo. This is Otter Lake.Otter Lake is at the corner of County Road J and Otter Lake Road. It appears just shortly after the first turn back point on the ride out to the Ramsey-Anoka County line. The first turn back is the furthest north penetration, this is the second turn back point, the point furthest east.

I know that I only rode there once last year because this ride is actually an abbreviated version of the Bald Eagle Lake ride. I only did that once last year. Today I omitted the loop around Bald Eagle Lake and just continued south on Otter Lake Road until I intersected Goose Lake Road (quite near to but not actually in sight of Goose Lake) which leads over to the underpass which gets me back onto the home side of 35E.

Even with the omission of Bald Eagle Lake, this still made today the long ride, perhaps obviously, and I got to 40 miles, as planned. That's a bit over 64 kilometers for those keeping track so that age in kilometers thing gets checked off the summertime list.

On the way back I photographed my corner local shop. Located at the corner of Woodhill Drive and Lexington Avenue is the best bike shop in the Twin Cities area, County Cycles.The photo opportunity came at about 30 miles into the ride and I had a bit of difficulty getting the photo. I couldn't find the camera. I was feeling around in the middle pocket of my jersey when I always keep the camera in the right rear. The middle pocket contains the mini-pump and the multi-tool so I should have recognized immediately why there wasn't any camera in there. But I didn't, a slight bit of confusion I attribute to hydration issues.

I took the picture and immediately rode over to the shop to refill my empty water bottles.

And had a nice conversation with the three young people perhaps barely visible next to the building under the awning. They were fund raising for something called Two Wheel View. The fellow is an employee of the organization and the two girls are high school students who have qualified for a bicycle trip this summer in Argentina. It is a two week ride of approximately 300 miles, riding and camping. It seems like an extremely valuable experience for the young people who participate. I heartily endorse the idea and invite any and all bicyclists to do whatever additional research they think is necessary before making the decision, but to consider donating something to keep this program afloat.