S.m.u.g.

The temperature today after work was about the same as yesterday so I decided to give it a try. Conclusion: that Sun thing makes a huge difference in what it feels like out there. Today was cold.

And gray.

But today I really do feel smug. I saw only one other bicyclist while I was riding. That guy was a commuter, bundled up, sporting a rear rack and bag. I was the one and only recreational cyclist out there. S.m.u.g., that's me.

I still felt a compulsion even on a day when natural conditions offered no contrast, only shades of gray, to find a photo opportunity. So, here is a lake: Como.Gray?

Somewhere out there on the edge of the ice in the middle of the lake is an eagle. I noticed it as I rode down along the east shore of the lake after taking the picture. I tried to find an angle where I could get a picture but that eagle was out in the middle of the lake. When the camera equipment that you have available is equipment that was originally selected because it is relatively inexpensive and it fits in your bicycle jersey pocket, well, you have limited options for trying to capture difficult shots. No matter what I did that eagle was going to be, at best, a black spot in the distance upon which you could possibly discern a white head. So go ahead and try to find that on what I have posted, or better yet, imagine it. An eagle on Lake Como is a pretty cool deal.

I ride on days like today when it is hard so that when the weather is finally nice enough to ride I will be fit enough to ride as much as I want to. Today was a chore, hard work, but miles that in June I will be very glad to have ridden.

Sunny but cold

The predicted high temperature for today was 40. At about 3pm it was 38, but it was sunny and the predicted extremely strong winds had not arrived. Obviously 38 is quite a bit outside my advertised guidelines for when I will ride. But I have the gear, and the possibility of several inches of snow looms for tomorrow. Guidelines were ignored and a bicycle ride ensued.

It eventually actually arrived at 43, which is still outside the guidelines. Here's an impression of riding when everyone is expecting 40: Most of those people out riding last week when it was 65 do not ride when it is 40. I rode three-quarters of today's ride without seeing a single other bicyclist.

Very many times on summer rides I have intended to photograph the Shoreview water tower. I particularly wanted to get a picture of it a couple of years ago when I had that water tower series going. In the summer time I always seem to arrive at the water tower when the sun is in one of two bad spots, either requiring a photo into the sun, difficult to pull off, or casting an unfortunate shadow which affects composition. Today with the leaves off the trees I reached a vantage point which allowed this angle.I photograph water towers because photos of water towers illustrate what I think is an interesting phenomenon related to bicycling in Roseville: every route I ride seems to end up on top of a hill. So that's the answer to the question, "What two things do you find on top of hills in Roseville?" Water towers and Gino.

I rode only a few feet more, literally to the road at the base of the water tower where I was confronted with a contrast shot. Last week I posted this arm of Island Lake completely ice covered. Fairly obviously progress has been made.I think that building across the lake and on the right is 3525 Owasso Street.

As I approached County Cycles on the homeward leg of the ride I was starting to get pretty smug about being the only rider out there. I was climbing up the hill to the stop light at the County Cycles corner and was just realizing that I was going to miss the light when a gang of cyclists coming up the hill from the left timed their climb successfully and swung a left turn to be in front of me and across the intersection, now heading down towards the Roseville VFW.

One of the last of the group called out, "Hi, Gene." It was Scott from County Cycles. I replied, "Hi, Scott." Actually it was nice to see someone I knew but being recognized by another bicyclist and having to respond aloud to said bicyclist is not the story that I had planned.

But actually I still feel pretty smug. It was nice enough to ride, sunny but cold, but okay if you were properly dressed.

True story

We went to Disney World when Wireless was a child. Disney is a cultural touchstone, a winter vacation that seemed like something that reasonably responsible parents would do. Besides, it was winter and who doesn't want to go to Florida in the middle of a Minnesota winter? We went.

We stayed at a Disney Hotel on the grounds of Disney World. We got the Disney pass for the theme parks and the Disney transportation pass for the Disney buses.

Our usual routine was to leave the hotel early in the morning with the intention of arriving at the Magic Kingdom at the hour of opening. This allowed us to enter the park well before most of the crowd. We were first in line for the attractions, avoiding the Disney lines.

By about noon crowds started to amass. At that point, instead of fighting the crush of bodies we would use our transportation pass and retreat to the Disney hotel for a Disney nap and associated recreational opportunities in the vicinity of the Disney hotel.

The drawback of this approach is that Disney scheduled some of the premier events at hours which found us not at the Kingdom. One example of a premier event at Magic Kingdom was the candle light parade. The candle light parade was a shortly after dark parade of all of the big Disney characters down the main streets of the Magic Kingdom. Lots of flashlights and spotlights, marching bands, it looked, all in all, like it might be a pretty good time. Eventually we succumbed to the temptation. After having dinner at the Disney hotel we took Disney transportation back to the Kingdom, and remember that we had Disney passes so we did not have to pay another admission, we re-entered the Kingdom for the big evening twilight parade.

The parade was various Disney characters on dimly lit floats. We stood next to the parade route and pretty much enjoyed the show.

However, as luck would have it . . .

As the parade was passing us there was one of those parade delays which occurs in every parade. The parade stopped and the characters had to interact with the audience in the area of the parade where they were stopped. The Disney character stopped in front of us was Alice in Wonderland.

At this point you should click the video to start the music.
So there in front of me was Alice, ten feet tall.

I asked her.

"Alice", I shouted up at her. And "Alice", I shouted again.

From ten feet above me she noticed and turned towards me and asked, "Yes, what is it?"

And I said,

"Alice, one pill makes you larger.
And one pill makes you small.
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all."

And Alice responded to me, as she had to, it was a parade.

She said, "Well, boys and girls, I have no idea what he is talking about. Do you?" Just then the parade started to move again and our little moment was over.

True story.

Losing momentum

Rain on Monday.

Rain on Tuesday.

Snow on Wednesday.

Snow on Thursday.

Here is what is often referred to as the first music video. It is the trailer for Don't Look Back, the D. A. Pennebaker documentary film covering Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour of the United Kingdom.

Pennebaker is also the film maker for Monterey Pop, the film documentary of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.

Note to any young people looking in. Before there were "hippies" there were people called "beatniks". The balding person standing off to Bob's right during the video and then exiting across the street at the end is Allen Ginsberg, originally a New York beat, but probably best known as a San Francisco beat poet, one of the originals.

It may seem a bit hard to believe in 2009, but at the moment of filming of this clip, Ginsberg was considerably more famous than Bob. He was lending his personal fame and cachet to an upcoming obviously very promising talent.

Everyone should be reminded that art is hard work.

First iteration for this year of the Auckland rule

Windy. Really windy.

The women's national championship game in Division 1 hockey was played today. Our favorite team did not participate. Our least favorite team thrashed Mercyhurst 5-0. Color us disappointed.

In other hockey news, yesterday at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York, Neumann College captured the men's Division III championship by downing Gustavus Adolphus 4-1.

This photo seems to me to pretty clearly illustrate that hockey is over in Minnesota.That's Langford Park, home annually of some of the best outdoor ice in town, currently home to some snow but home to no ice whatsoever.

Today's wind was ESE. I rode mostly south and ended up farther to the south than I had previously been this year. My turn around came near the Town and Country Club in Saint Paul. The wind was getting stronger as I rode and by this point in the ride it was so powerful that I wanted to get home without having to ride eastward back up Como along my usual route back from that area of town. Instead I went over the top of the hill in Saint Anthony Park and dropped down past Bob's house (brand new screen porch on the front) to trace a route through the farm campus on the way home.It was too windy to ride but I did anyway. With the miles accumulated today I smashed through the all time record for miles ridden in the month of February. This accomplishment is somewhat diminished, obviously, by the unfortunate fact that this is March.

Bicycling becomes sole diversion

Here's a summary from my bike log with some additional comments:

Wednesday: curling (final outing of the season)
Thursday: too cold
Friday: hockey (our favorite team loses to end their season)

So curling is over and hockey is over, it looks like this bicycling thing is going to take center stage.

I'm okay with that.

It is Saturday and I tried to ride my mid-season Saturday ride. I am not ready.

I did not have to lay along side the road and call for a ride home but I did have to take it pretty easy on the way home. I had totally forgotten that hills are hard.

Last year I rode out to Vadnais and back at least once at about this same point in the very early season. Last year the first time I went through there the road in Sucker Lake park was still ice covered in one spot. Today the park is still not officially open, I had to ride around the gate to get in. There were lots of walkers, though, and even a couple of other bicycles but no ice on the road.

I stopped and got a picture of the lake, looking north towards a patch of open water.On the way out of the park I passed by the most dangerous place to park in the Twin Cities metro area. There is a parking lot tucked into a grove of trees on the south side of the lake. It is hidden from the street by the trees and is furthermore somewhat isolated from the nearest houses. It seems like every time I ride there I see a new pile of car window glass in that parking lot where another car burglary has occurred. Today there were two new piles, indicating two recent smash and grabs. Don't park there is my advice.

Vadnais was also closed. This park is completely fenced so there would be no riding around the gate to gain entrance to that park. However, there is a pedestrian gate and that was open so in I went, hoping that the gate at the far end would also be open. There were two patches of completely ice and snow covered road, the first a span of about 30 yards just inside the gate, the second a span of perhaps 50 yards as I neared the parking area. I had to get off and walk my bicycle for both of those hazards. The gate at the bottom end was open and I got out of the park, and as many of you will know, immediately plunged into the hilliest portion of the ride. Hills are hard.

I am pretty sure walking my bike across the ice means I am pushing the season. I do know that it plays havoc with your average speed. I make no apology, I love my bicycles and as of last evening, bicycling is my only diversion.

Today's spring climate lesson

*sigh* These things apparently have to be relearned every spring.

Today's temperature was mid-50s again, similar to Sunday. On Sunday I was on the edge of overdressed at this temperature. Yesterday I dressed differently and I was fine, but the temperature WAS mid-60s. For today I considered adopting a layering approach somewhere between the two previous days.

But it seemed windy and I would way rather be too warm than too cold. My final decision was to go back to what worked on Sunday (long sleeve base layer, long sleeve jersey, jacket).

The wind was brisk from the northwest. Sunday the wind was from the southwest. And I learned yet again, as I apparently must, once each spring, that at this time of year, given approximately equal ambient air temperatures, a wind from the north carries along a considerably higher chill factor than a wind from the south.

The wind was cold but I was dressed appropriately, I was never even close to overheating, I was comfortable.

I added a new city to the list of cities I have visited this year on my bicycle, making it all the way to Shoreview. Here is the turnaround point, a point pictured several times previously, that arm of Island Lake that sits behind my home of record at time of entry into military service.Radio tower for reference. Also noteworthy for reference purposes is a telling indicator of why the northwest wind was so chilly today, ice is still present on the lakes. This also goes a fair distance along the path to explaining why all of those ducks are hanging around in the big puddle on the corn field.

I ended up with 18 miles, a bit more than I intended. When I got home TOPWLH asked me if I was cold. I replied that no, I was not cold, but I was tired.

But a good tired. I love my bicycles. Mostly I felt the beginnings of the return of strength, I felt good.

Probable gin and tonic party day

Many years ago but also for a duration of many years, Mr. P used to have a gin and tonic party on the first day of the year that the temperature reached 65 degrees. There were no party announcements, no invitations, no other planning other than that a lot of people knew to show up at his house on the first day of the year when the temperature reached 65. The first reaching of that threshold was significant enough that one year when Sid was in town, Mr. P got married in a ceremony which was totally unannounced and unexpected to all except obviously the participants.

Most of us, including Mr. P, are no longer active in that sort of holiday. If we were, today would have been the party. I am not sure if the official high reached 65 but today was the day.

I rode my bike.

It was a windy day, as spring days often are, with a touchy headwind from the southwest. As all bicycle riders know, the wind only blows from one direction. But as all bicycle riders who live in urban areas laid out in a predominantly north-south east-west grid also know, the wind usually affects two legs of the usual four leg bicycle ride. Today was a head wind heading south and heading west. As is my usual practice, I headed out intending to ride mostly south and mostly west.

Today's quiz is guess the location.Those who can identify the location and who are familiar with Saint Paul-Falcon Heights-Roseville geography will recognize that this is farther south than yesterday's photo and also that it is farther west than anything posted so far in this admittedly brand new season.

My turn around point was the Saint Anthony Park Branch library.My architecture book reports that this is one of three classically inspired neighborhood libraries constructed by the City of Saint Paul in 1916-17. They were designed by the city architect but financed by Andrew Carnegie. These three were among the last to be built under a program sponsored by the United States Steel titan who died in 1919. I grew up in a town which had a Carnegie public library.

The book says that the building has Ionic pilasters, arches, simple parapet and strict symmetry, and that the library is an excellent example of how even small public buildings of this period could achieve a monumental effect.

The library today illustrates two things. One, I know where the libraries are. The significance of this is unknown. Two, this is a for this year the new furthest south and furthest west distance achieved.

Those who were following along with the discussion above of today's wind direction will recognize that after leaving the library I felt strong, I felt fast.

I had hoped to get to a lake today. Como was actually the one I thought I might reach but the roads heading into that part of Saint Paul were still very wet and sloppy. I did not reach an actual lake but I did reach a body of water which these ducks are treating as a for all practical purposes lake.It may not be an actual lake but it is the first appearance in this year's entries of the corn field. It is extremely unlikely that it will be the last.

It was 14 miles today and it was hard. It was hard but it was a whole bunch easier than yesterday. A general rule of thumb that I always used for the teams I coached was that the largest improvement is made between the first and the second games. I think it may also apply to the start of the bicycle season. The improvement that I made today was probably the largest single day improvement of the season. It was hard, but compared to yesterday, I felt good.

A little too far from home to have walked there.

Some things I did today:

I made TOPWLH move her car before she was ready to. I needed the car moved because my spring bad roads low pressure tires bike hangs in the garage during the non-riding season, in the area of the garage blocked off to foot traffic by the presence of TOPWLH's Toyota. She protested ever so briefly but when she discerned the reason why I wanted her car moved she complied with alacrity.

I went to Walgreen's. It turns out that batteries are not forever, and the one in the cycle computer on MSBRLPTs bike had given up. A new battery and re-formatting was required.

I found the clothes that I wore the last time I rode. I got dressed and went out and pumped a couple of tires. At long last I was on the road.

It was about 55 by the time I got home which is in the general area of what it was the last time I rode. I was dressed appropriately, comfortable on the into the wind leg, but perhaps trending towards overheating during those times when I felt really strong.

I didn't get really far from home, but I did get quite a bit farther than I am likely to ever walk. I explored the streets in the neighborhood for 3-4 miles or so in 3 of the 4 cardinal directions, finding where it is OK to ride and also finding some places where there is way too much snowmelt still on the roads for my style of riding.

This is the furthest extent of northern penetration, the Ramsey County Library on Hamline and County Road B, MSBRLPTs bike for scale.Some things I saw:

I saw a bicyclist dressed for last week leaving the library. He had on a parka and a scarf over his face, full mittens. He looked too warm.

I saw a unicyclist dressed for next month. A unicycle is a toy and he was appropriately riding on the sidewalk (where toys belong but not bicycles) in just a t-shirt. He didn't look to be suffering that much but I suspect he was within whistling distance of where he lives.

This is the furthest southern penetration, Hamline and Midway Parkway. This is the location of one of the entrances to Como Park. I thought I might ride a bit in the park but the roads from this point further into the park were extremely wet and sloppy. I turned and faced away from the park and took a photograph instead, State Fair Space Needle for reference.It was only 12 miles but anyone who thinks 12 miles is not hard probably has taken a bicycle ride some time in the last four and a half months. I have not taken a bicycle ride in that period of time and I found the ride, towards the end, to be hard.

Our favorite hockey team has qualified for the Frozen Four national championship tournament next weekend in Boston. We pretty strongly considered going. It is now pretty definitely out of the question though. It might be nice enough to ride and at this point in the season I certainly don't want to miss any rides.

The season has begun, I love my bikes.

DST

When we got home from the hockey game today it was extremely evident that there was plenty enough light to take a bicycle ride.

The streets are still too snow covered and too shoulder bicycle riding space impaired to actually ride.

And the temperature is still not sufficiently Gino friendly.

But there is plenty of light.

Bicycling will resume shortly.

Don't lose your instructions for helmet making

Feta fish with TCWUTH.When the laundry was mostly done she went on home and as reported elsewhere on the internet, came upon this:So I guess everyone should be keeping track of their supply of Velostat and no one should misplace their instructions for making thought screen helmets. At least not just yet.

March theme day: Glass

Glass paperweight in the sunlight on hardwood floor.