Does this constitute a mash?

It's a very unusual day for August 1. The mercury is struggling to reach 70 while the wind continues to howl. I have other obligations later today so if I was going to ride I had to suck it up and head out into the cold.

I often say that bicycling in Minnesota is dependent on road conditions, that the weather shouldn't keep me off my bike. I have the gear, it's just a matter of proper layering. Today I went with a tee-shirt over my jersey, arm warmers, a light jacket and a light helmet liner. I thought seriously about tights but eventually I opted for bare legs. That turned out to be a good decision but more on that a bit later.

I rode out to Lake Vadnais. The ride today went a bit better than the one after work yesterday, I felt a lot better. On the way out the gear felt about right but after reaching the turn back point and beginning to ride with the wind instead of into it I began looking for a spot to stop and remove a couple of layers. I stopped just after the parking lot at Vadnais and pared down to a more summer like costume. I took this picture while I was stopped, hoping to illustrate how fall like the day was and also to show the new road up the hill on the far side of the lake.I was on my way home, making the short jog that I take on Victoria heading towards Woodhill Drive for the trek up and over the hill by County Cycles. As I approached Woodhill I noticed a woman sitting on the bench at the corner waiting for the bus. She was not young but she was a lot younger than I am (an accomplishment which is not too difficult to attain), she was wearing I guess you call them scrubs and appeared to be an employee of the senior facility located at that corner. I was hoping to turn left off Victoria onto Woodhill so I was riding slowly waiting for traffic to clear. As luck would have it I had to wait a bit for a couple of cars but as is my custom I just continued to ride the direction I was heading, waiting for the gap. This meant that I rode away from the bus stop bench, exposing my back, increasingly by far my good side, to the waiting woman. I circled back as soon as possible and rode up to Woodhill and made a right and started up the hill.

She called something out to me that I admit left me momentarily without a response. Here is what she said:

"You have beautiful legs."

Every now and again I get some sort of comment from another bicyclist, the occasional "Good legs" when some one pulls up behind me as we wait at a stop light. It is extremely rare to get this kind of response from a just casually observing pedestrian.

I recovered my composure enough to say thank you and that I work hard, which absolutely I do do. She added some additional comment which I was now too far away to understand, the words being garbled by the wind.

Opting to ride bare legged today was a really good decision.

Ominous news today from France. FC Nantes played the first game of the new season. Ligue 2 games begin next weekend but today Nantes played at Troyes in the first round of la Coupe de la Ligue. When Nantes was initially relegated to Ligue 2 following the 2006-07 season, Troyes was one of the teams that came down with them. When Nantes returned to Ligue 1 Troyes slipped quickly to mid table in Ligue 2. Last season Nantes was again relegated to Ligue 2 but Troyes has fallen on even worse times, being relegated out of Ligue 2 to level 3, to the only semi-professional Championnat de France National. Today's game was the opening match of the League Cup, a competition only open to professional teams, a status which Troyes will be in danger of losing if they cannot rise out of the Championnat.

Nantes was drubbed 4-0. This could get ugly.