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Whoa, another one, a really, really nice day. I rode in the morning establishing once again that Monday morning is THE best morning. Here it is, the middle of September and I rode today, in fact, rode IN THE MORNING today and still was out there is my summer costume. Sleeveless jersey, no base layer, no change in dress at all from the middle of July. It was 72 when I started, not much warmer than that when I finished, but it was a spectacularly nice day for a ride.

There was virtually NO wind at the start. I very strongly considered just going ahead and riding to the north, it has been so long since I have seen my regular haunts in that direction. A light breeze appeared before I reached the point where I would have to commit to north or south and it was from the southwest. I committed to a ride to the south. I headed out, yet again, past the Fairgrounds. This ended up being a very good decision as on the way back the wind had freshened enough that I was glad to be riding with the wind at my back and not on my front.

Today I rode down to the U campus to see what it looks like over there with school in session. I wanted plenty of west in my ride so I nipped across the Franklin Avenue bridge and found the midtown bicycle path.

I wanted to see where that thing goes so I rode a little farther than I wanted to seeking the end. You don't actually come to an end, you come to a change in striping on the pavement. When you are on the Minneapolis path there are three lanes, one pedestrian and one each direction for bicycles. When you leave the Minneapolis path there is only a single stripe separating right from left.

I recognized that something had happened and stopped at an information kiosk to try to figure out what was going on.

I was HERE.Who doesn't love a sign that informs you that "You Are Here"?

I turned around there. I rode out to the street trying to gather some more in person visual evidence of where I was and found myself next to the Minnekhada Country Club at France Avenue and Excelsior Boulevard, way, way farther west than I am used to being. I started back.

A little bit after that I rode the wrong way down a one way street to try to get this photo. It is a lake never previously featured on THIS bicycle blog, Lake Calhoun.I got home in time to watch the live stream from France of Monday Night Football. Tonight's game was Strasbourg at Nantes. Nantes did not play last week as all leagues world wide were suspended for national team play, World Cup Qualifying. France tied Romania 1-1 in Paris and tied Serbia 1-1 in Belgrade.

During the time off Nantes suffered what may or may not be a significant blow when Croatian forward Ivan Klasnic left the team (translation: was sold) to Bolton of the English Premier League. Klasnic was leading Ligue 2 in scoring at the time of his departure.

But tonight FC Nantes improved their home record to three wins in three starts with a 2-1 victory over Strasbourg. I had a little trouble locating the stream and didn't go live until the 6th minute of the game. Strasbourg already led 1-0 at that point, having scored (according to the FC Nantes website) on their first penetration into the FC Nantes end of the field. No matter, FC Nantes was much, much the better side thereafter. Le Canaris scored twice before the half to lead 2-1 and that was enough. Final score: Nantes 2:1 Strasbourg. FC Nantes rises to second place in the league table, one point adrift of Ligue 2 leader SM Caen.

After the football I watched, first on the same Eurosport stream where I was watching the football, but eventually on good old American over the air TV, the US Tennis Open. I am happy to report that several days ago I predicted the result.

As I said at that time, four words: Juan Martin del Potro!