30 days, 30 posts

It's harder than it sounds.

Today was a little cold according to the standards for riding that I have stated here recently. Then there is the fact that I have declared the season most likely over. But what the heck, it was 9 degrees above average for this date, I have the gear. Plus I checked the BikeLog and I had 494 miles for this month. It seems very unlikely that I will get anywhere near 500 miles in November ever again. Bicycling ensued.

I didn't want to get too far from home in case the cold wimped me out so I did a prolonged series of loops in and around the Fairgrounds. This is another one of those views that is mostly obscured during the foliage season. I like the tower outlined against the grey sky even as sunshine hits the front of the building.I found this one at Northrup Street and Folwell Avenue in the part of Falcon Heights sometimes referred to as University Grove. I haven't seen this particular expression before.In addition to being able to subtract my mileage (but from what he wonders) I was rewarded for being out by coming across this deal. I had never seen one of these in person before and frankly, I wasn't even sure what it was at first.The key for me in making the identification was that this thing has a Minnesota boat license number on its front end (Do you call it a "bow" when it is a hovercraft?).

It was a pretty good ride. My toes were not completely comfortable by the time I got home but it wasn't an extremely big deal. The fronts of my thighs weren't completely happy on the into the wind segments. It was mostly OK and the new record for miles ridden in November is 520.

My bicycle, an appreciation

This is my bicycle. It is very much MY bicycle, when it came into my house it came as a bare frame and a collection of parts.I personally selected every part, everything from the chain to the derailers to the seat post to the handlebar tape.I put it together my self, guided by a basic understanding of what it was supposed to look like when it was done and what it was supposed to be able to do when it was done. I was also guided by usually excellent installation manuals that came with most of the parts.When it was brand new and had never been touched by either lubrication or road grit it stood for a photograph in our living room. That's the hand of TOPWLH. She would not stand (and neither would I) for this bicycle posed in that spot now.The LOOK and I, five years of riding. More than 18,000 miles which considering the average speed reported to me by my bicycle computer at the end of each ride comes out to between 1,400 and 1,500 hours. When I worked the work year was considered to be 2,088 hours. So I spent the equivalent of about three fourths of a working year on that bicycle, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 9 months. It is very, very much my bicycle.

A bicycling story

There won't be any ride today because we have hockey again. I walked up to the end of the street and got a picture of this street sign. It is my own personal sign. Even though we live on a Dead End Street (I like that capitalized, makes it seem more imposingly DEAD END) when we moved in there was no sign. Cars would come racing down the street not realizing there was no where to go down here. Disappointed they would do a high speed u-turn in the cul de sac and go racing away. It didn't seem safe. I wrote a letter to the city pointing out it was a dead end street without a sign and that all of the other dead end streets seemed to have signs. I asked for a sign. Then I went around and got all of the neighbors to sign the letter. Within a week there was a sign. My own personal Dead End sign.Here is a bicycling experience I had on November 12, the day after Veterans Day. I didn't blog about it at the time because I was worried about the dog. I wrote all the details down though, and sent them in an e-mail to my sister.

Wednesday while riding I went past the place where this event occurred. The same dog and its owner came out of the house, the dog on a leash this time as they set out for a walk. The dog came barking and snarling out to the end of its leash, acting for all the world as if it wanted a piece of me. I deduce that the dog is OK. Here is the story as I wrote it on November 12:

A New Experience

After having ridden lots and lots of miles I was starting to believe that I had experienced all or at least nearly all of the things I was going to experience on a bicycle.

Today I ran over a dog.

I was riding south on Pascal just past Larpenteur in Falcon Heights. I ride a lot with my hands on the hoods and a lot with my hands on the bar tops, alternating those positions to avoid discomfort from too long in one position. When I am near or in traffic I am on the hoods to enable me to have my fingers closer to the brake levers. I had just crossed Larpenteur and my hand position was still up on the hoods of which I am now quite glad.

Everyone who rides a bike a lot gets chased by a dog at least once in a while. It is rare in a leash law city but it does happen here although I think it has been a couple of years for me since I was last chased by a dog.

I heard him first, you always hear them first. My first impression was that something was barking and getting closer. My usual reaction to dogs has become to try to give them a command that I hope they understand and hope that they will obey. I give a loud and I hope authoritative "NO". It has worked plenty of times in the past. Today I had time for a single "NO".

I was looking back and to my right trying to locate the dog when the location of the barking made it clear that he had circled into the street and was now on my left and next to the bike. I had only time to look that way and see him when he suddenly crossed in front of my front wheel.

The only direct experience I have with hitting a dog was television coverage of Marcus Burghardt hitting a dog during the 2007 Tour de France.

I am no dog expert but I am pretty sure the dog I hit was a Pug, a smallish dog, not a lap dog, but smallish, probably about 20 pounds, smaller than Burghardt's dog.

I had only time to realize that I was going to hit a dog, he was inches in front of my front wheel as I traveled at 12 or so mph, there was absolutely no possibility of anything other than hitting him.

I had that brief realization that I have always had in the moment before I fall off my bike that I was going to fall off my bike. I absolutely KNEW that I was going down. In the split second that I had I grasped the hoods tightly and braced myself for impact.

My dog was smaller than Burghardt's dog, mine was really more like a really large speed bump. And unbelievably, that was the result. I rolled right over him, right across the middle of his body.

The wheel did NOT taco, I hit him full on, I had maximum leverage from having a hand position as far as possible from the pivot point, I was braced. Unbelievably, I did NOT go down, my bicycle rolled over his body and continued on upright. The dog yelped and ran away.

It took a couple of seconds for me to register that I was still upright and riding during which time I traveled another half block or so. When I looked back the dog owner had come out from her yard to the edge of her driveway and was retrieving the dog. I turned around and went back.

The dog was still occasionally whimpering as a I approached. I apologized to her, telling her that I had run over her dog but explained that I had had no chance to miss him as he had run right in front of my bike.

She asked if I had run over one of his legs, I had to say no, right over the middle of his body.

I apologized again, she said it wasn't my fault. I think she was right, it wasn't my fault. I apologized again and said I hope the dog is OK and I meant it.

She started inside her house with her dog, I rode away.

I was watching my front wheel and it seemed to be OK. But after a couple of miles as some normalcy started to return I realized that I had had a pretty major EVENT. I pulled over and examined my bike. I looked at every spoke, front wheel and back wheel. I examined the junctions of spoke to hub, spoke to rim, front and back, examined the hubs, examined the rims, front and back. I spun both wheels and they both spun true. The bike seemed OK. I rode on and eventually rode 18 miles after the event before reaching home. I think the bicycle is OK.

I wonder if the dog is OK. About 20 pounds, hit by 165 pounds of human and a 15 pound bicycle moving more that 10 mph, force concentrated into that extremely narrow bicycle tire. I rolled right over the middle of his body, although I think far enough forward to be rib cage. It can't possibly have been good for that dog.

But I don't think it is my fault. I hope the dog is OK.

4,000 miles, this bike, this year

Today was a good reminder that there are conditions in which I will not ride. Despite my earlier proclamations that it is not cold that ends the season for me, the truth is that cold is an issue. Today was pretty cold.

But I have the gear. Here's what I looked like today as I left the garage (TOPWLH was required to make an appearance out of doors in her occasional role as photographic assistant). When I am actually riding I can pull the balaclava up a bit more and even cover that tiny bit of bridge of the nose visible in this photo. I can ride covered up completely.Note the Windstopper shoe covers. Today felt like the last ride and although I do not want the season to end I guess I am finally somewhat resigned. Today came too close to freezing the water in my water bottles.

If it was last ride at least I made a point to go and check what the long shadows would look like where the cows are resting.As usual, they look very stately and very sedate in repose.

I got all the way into Saint Paul and rode up onto the Marshall Avenue bridge. I didn't go all the way across (there's Minneapolis over there, don't you know?). This picture is looking upstream towards the University and downtown Minneapolis.Based on that photo I am going to declare the fall leaf colors to be past peak.

But today I rode past 4,000 miles on this bike, this year. It is a nice milestone but it wasn't as important to me as the other recent accomplishments. This isn't the first time I have had that many miles on a single bicycle in a year, in fact it isn't even the first time I have done it on this bicycle (I have four such years all together, so far). This is the second time I have done it on the LOOK. As I stated above, it feels quite a bit like the end of the season here. If it is the end the final accounting would show LOOK odometer 18,156, automobile odometer 17,834.

A rideable Thanksgiving

But not even I am loony enough for that.

We had a relaxed morning around the house. A brief check of the "tubes" has revealed to me that a picture very similar to this one has already been posted. But this is the only picture I have today, so here's my version of the view out our front window.

The Turkey Bowl has been played in the field next to our house on at least every Thanksgiving Day that we have been here to witness it, including at least a few when the game was conducted in fairly deep snow.

The weather today was nice enough that more players showed up to play than could be accommodated in a single game. Therefore, for the first time that I know of since we have lived here and as pictured below, two simultaneous iterations of the Turkey Bowl, one visible on each side of the tree.They were gone by noon and we left shortly thereafter for a family turkey feast. I made pumpkin pie before we went and the gravy after we got there. The cranberry bread was provided by others within my little family unit and the rest of the feast was prepared by others from my larger family unit.

If the weather turns out as is currently predicted I will be bicycling at a little past noon tomorrow.

183rd ride fulfills Code requirement

It is my belief that the End of Season Addendum to the Loony Bicyclist Code requires that every loony cyclist make a vain attempt to hold on to the season as it begins inexorably to slip away by riding at least one time in really sub-marginal conditions. Today I fulfilled the requirement.

After a morning filled with frequent checks of my favorite radar weather site and frequent trips to the front window to check whether or not the driveway and cul-de-sac seemed dry, I finally convinced myself that there was a window of a couple of hours when it wasn't going to rain and that the pavement was actually sort of mostly dry. Off I went.

It was cold. I rode through the Fairgrounds at one point and the always optimistic west end of the Grandstand reported 41. Both Mikey J and the weather bug on my blog report 38 which seems to me to be probably more accurate. It was also dark, the forecast for today is rain turning to snow. Anyone looking at the sky would agree with that assessment. Only an obsessed bicyclist studying the radar weather would reach any other conclusion.

So how was it? As I have said with some regularity, it isn't cold that keeps me from riding. I have the gear. What ends the season for me is when pavement conditions become unrideable. Today was only cold. I have the gear. Admittedly today I rolled out nearly every last item of gear, the only exception being I have winter shoes which I did not wear today. The winter shoes have Speedplay Frog cleats, the LOOK features Speedplay X-series pedals. To wear the winter shoes I need to either change the pedals or change to one of the bicycles with Frog pedals. So no winter shoes but every last other single item went on my body today. I was warm, I was dry, I was completely comfortable.

Hamline Avenue is the sturdy backbone of most of my riding. Both of my more or less regular rides, the north route and the south route, feature Hamline Avenue in an important role. It is how, in both directions, I get away from my house to interesting places to ride. Today I rode to both ends of the portion of Hamline Avenue that I ride. Hamline has another incarnation within the city of Saint Paul but the portion that runs through Roseville ends on the north at an intersection with Highway 51 in Shoreview. On the south leg Hamline leads me through Falcon Heights towards a dead end near MacMurray Field in Saint Paul. I got this picture from very near the south end. When I first became aware of this building it was a part of the Como shops and roundhouse complex of the Great Northern Railroad.It is called something else now but I am going to go ahead and let this beautiful old pile of bricks retain its dignity and just say it used to be the Como shops.

I also need to point out that this picture was taken at pretty much the nicest weather moment in the entire ride. I was about 20 miles in, congratulating myself on being out there, on being right about the weather. My riding costume in this weather features not a single square centimeter of bare flesh, I am totally covered. My usual first impression of rain is something hitting me, either in the hand or face. With no bare skin available for that water skin collision, I was able to convince myself shortly after taking the photo that even though the pavement kind of looked like it had started to rain, it really wasn't raining. Finally the round wet spots on my jacket sleeve convinced me that I should sprint for home.

But I rode and completed the full mileage. In so doing I achieved the for me huge riding milestone that I really, really didn't want to let get away. Today I rode for the 183rd time this year. When the final leaf falls off this year's calendar I will have ridden on more than one-half of the days of this year. I am cyclist, hear me roar. I admit there is one more milestone out there that I really want but today's milestone is the one I wanted the most.

It is raining now, acting quite a bit like sleet.

Last one

I really, really want at least one more ride. This morning looked a lot like yesterday except maybe a little wetter. But it looked on the weather radar like there was a chance for an afternoon break. I kept checking all morning and it was never actually raining outside. I convinced myself that the streets were drying. Right up until the very last minute I was committed to go, telling myself that it was only damp, that I would find plenty of dry enough pavement.

At lunch time I went to get my bicycle costume. I took one last look out the window and saw . . . raindrops splashing into the puddles. Not lots of raindrops, but unmistakably raindrops splashing into the puddles. Puddles don't seem much like damp either, actually, puddles seem like wet.

So no ride today.

I should have rationed these sign photos, it looks like I have run out. This is the last one I have.

This is at the corner of Garden and Hamline on the border between Roseville and Falcon Heights. It is a solar powered crosswalk signal.I have two comments. First, we are very green here. Second, it wasn't nearly as nice a day when I took this photo as the day I took the no trucks sign on Summit.

I hope they have some sort of back up power arrangement like gerbils in a treadmill or something because there hasn't been enough sun the last two days to keep even a dim light shining.

Warm enough but wet

High temperatures today were yet again nearly 20 degrees above average for this date, certainly warm enough to ride. But it rained overnight, it was raining when I went out to get the newspaper, it sprinkled lightly and intermittently throughout the day. It just wasn't a day when bicycling was going to happen here.

I desperately want at least one more ride. I would really, really like two more. As of right now it doesn't look good. Tomorrow is predicted to be much like today, intermittent light rain. Then Tuesday night cooling and this all turning to snow. Temperatures in the 30s and light snow for Wednesday, morning snow on Thursday and then turning really cold, temperatures below normal for about the following two weeks. The season here has been living on borrowed time the last couple of weeks anyway but now it very much looks like it may be over. Still, until I can't ride I will continue to entertain hopes to ride. I really, really want one more, two would be the final cherry on top of a great year.

SIGNS: Part III

These are signs which seem to me to be directed at motor vehicles but refer as well to the bicycles sharing the pavement.

This is the corner of Summit and Lexington. Summit has a marked bike lane, quite well observed by the cars for the most part. Here is a spot where the two lanes have to do a weave and merge sort of maneuver. The instructions are for the CARS TO YIELD to the bikes.It was nice the day I took that, don't you think?

A bit further down the same street, Summit at Dale, we come across what I find to be an interesting juxtaposition. Still a bike lane but sharing the same pole we suddenly are informed "No trucks". There just aren't that many places where a well maintained city street allows bicycles while banning the ubiquitous vehicle of commerce, the truck.This one is on the River Road at the Highway 5 (or West 7th Street) overpass. Here is a good reason why I don't ride on this path, a speed limit of 8mph.8mph on a bicycle reminds me of a time when TOPWLH and I were living with Milton Spater at his duplex on Portland. We were sitting in the sun room looking out the side window, I think that's Wilder Street, a slight uphill going north. There was a person of questionable physical conditioning sort of jiggly jogging up the street. With him was his noticeably more toned we assumed wife, WALKING along side. That's what riding a bicycle at 8mph would feel like, you might as well get off and walk.

Infestation news

The day dawned grey and gloomy with a mist hanging in the air. It misted enough to make the driveway damp but it never actually rained and the street never actually got wet, only damp. On a day when the morning low was higher than the average high for the day, bicycling seemed likely if the sun would just be strong enough to dry the mist. It was. The temperature in our front yard is currently 56, a full 20 degrees above the average. Even with the overcast I am going to have to put this one down as a pretty nice day.

A new infestation of the Emerald ash borer pest has been reported by the daily press. It is a bit depressing to think that very shortly these things will not be newsworthy in the slightest. But it is still interesting enough to a large enough group of people to have to location reported. I went looking for the new spot. Here it is on the Farm campus near the Saint Paul Student Center.There's that tree there and then one down the hill a bit near the Fairgrounds. The location is only about a block and a half from the big metal cows which means, yes, the new infestation is more than a mile closer to our ash trees than the previous infestation. But who knows?

This afternoon in France FC Nantes traveled to Concarneau for its opening game in this year's Coupe de France. The opponent, US Concarneau is a CFA 2 team, the fifth level of French football. Conditions were reported to be rainy, cold and windy, the weather that an underdog always wishes for. Concarneau 3, Nantes 0, an embarrassment. What once seemed like a promising season with another return to Ligue 1 now reels rapidly towards disintegration.

Signs: Part II

Today was yet another fabulous day for bicycling. Temperatures were nearly 20 degrees above normal, the sun was out with only light breezes. But we had hockey at 4pm, I (and I think TOPWLH too) like to be at the rink to see the warm up. The home team hits the ice for warm up 37 minutes before face off, followed usually one second later by the visiting team. We leave the house for a 4pm gave at about 3:05. That doesn't leave enough November daylight and warm enough time for bicycling. Its alright though, my sister says the season is over anyway. And the hockey was good, a really good high tempo entertaining game, Minnesota 3, Bemidji State 1. Also extremely pleasing to our bleeding maroon and gold selves was the news from Saint Cloud where the final score was Saint Cloud State 4, the we don't need no stinking Badgers 2. Further more, this just in from Duluth, Minnesota State Mankato 3, the we don't need no stinking Bulldogs either 2.

As mentioned previously, I have some back up material.

These are signs that I have seen while riding around which seem to me to be exclusively aimed at cyclists. Traffic signs for the "interlopers in traffic" if you will.

It looks like Hamline students have a little problem with obeying traffic laws. This red light at SNELLING, for god's sake, includes this additional admonishment for the apparently chronically scofflawing students on bicycles that they are supposed to STOP for the red light.Snelling is the busiest, meanest street in Saint Paul. The basic instinct for self preservation should be enough to keep people from running this red light. I guess not.

I see a lot of these lately. In spite of what I said above I usually wonder exactly who the intended target of this warning is. My experience is that people in cars are WAY better at honoring the rights of cyclists than those 10 percent of bicyclists who act entitled to personal right of way based on god knows what are at respecting the rights of the other users of the streets. And so even though this looks like a sign for automobiles, I usually conclude that this sign is to remind those blockhead cyclists that there ARE cars around and that they should be a little less arrogantly dense.
I also see a lot of this, there are lots of marked bike lanes in Saint Paul. This one is on Como and I think I have even previously posted a picture quite a bit like this one except that one was with the sun briefly appearing on a day when grey ruled. Signs which it seems to me are intended only for bicyclists: the Como bike lane:I still hope to ride 3 or 4 more times, that would make me really happy.

Anyone have any news from Tucson?

Didn't expect to see north Minneapolis again

After morning gloom and mist the sun for some unknown reason reasserted the dominance that the sun is always capable of. It was 51 shortly after noon, 14 degrees above the daily average high temperature. Every one of these rides is a ride that was not planned for back when a temperature of 14 degrees above the daily average high temperature would have triggered one of those old people and people with respiratory problems should stay inside alerts. It was, yet again, a spectacularly nice day out there particularly when one considers the calendar.

Noon+1:30 EG51 CBNR WG62. The message board on the cattle barn which includes the time and temperature display has been shut down, no report.

Here's some things I saw. These people in Falcon Heights have a couple of really nice Adirondack chairs but it seems to me that they are being aggressively optimistic about November to still have them out in the front yard.I do note that their neighbors in the second house down have a not quite as nice set of Adirondack chairs and share the aggressive optimism.

I didn't expect to get back over here again this year but wind conditions took me into Minneapolis where I rode to the end of the West River Road. I discovered one of the main reasons the street ends where it does, a discovery not possible during the foliage season when all of this is invisible from this side of the tracks.I still don't know exactly what they are doing over there but even without knowing I can deduce that it isn't conducive to a through street.

Where have all the hippies gone? There used to be lots of hippies in Minneapolis, even as late as 1991.This strikes me as another one of those it was cool when it happened and the sign was probably considered appropriate kind of signs, like that 1990 Earth Day sign on Nicollet Island. Eighteen and a half years later? Not so much. Where HAVE all those hippies gone? The trees seem to be flourishing.

Fox Soccer Channel is now referring to the Paris hand ball as the "Henry DOUBLE hand ball." Henry himself admits that the ball touched his hand but that his responsibility is to play on, that he is "not the ref". I saw a referee interviewed today who took the position that the referee's job would be much easier if players didn't cheat. And yes, he used the word cheat.

Today's mileage milestone is over 400 miles for the month of November. The season isn't over until it snows, a possibility now being bandied about for as early as Tuesday. No ride tomorrow, early hockey.

Two things

The weather forecast for last night turned out to be correct and today dawned with wet streets in front of our palatial estate. As we all know, (all together now) cold is one thing, cold and wet is two things. The bright side of rain in what just barely still qualifies as MID-November is that it very easily could have been snow. Today is yet another day of above average temperature, if sunless, and the streets are beginning to dry leading me to believe that bicycling may resume shortly.

I knew at the beginning of November that I was required to post every day of the month. I have been preparing. I have some photos that I took earlier in the month with a theme in mind which I introduce today. The down side of so much rideable weather in November is that I now fear I may have more material in storage than there are going to be available non-riding days. Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

Here then, forthwith,

PART I: SIGNS

During that whole Dead Man's Curve project I saw a bunch of signs that I had never seen before. It eventually occurred to me that I might never see them again so I better get some pictures. Who, for example, has ever seen a sign for a "Bike Detour".Included are instructions for every class of individual who might have passed under the overpass work area. Everybody get in the appropriate queue.

Here's where mine starts, the entrance to the University of Minnesota tramway. Stella!It looks a lot like a public roadway but it isn't. I occasionally see a wayward car out there and think it is a violator often to discover that it is the UofM police on patrol or some other UofM official vehicle. Which is not to say I have never seen a car on the route, a green and white taxicab comes instantly to mind, but it is quite rare. Note the quirky little UofM signage indicating bicycles allowed.Here's what the tramway looked like during the detour, including a "(bike symbol) Detour" sign, surely a one of a kinder. I don't really like using the tramway, that taller than normal overpass over the railroad tracks seen in the background of this photo being one of the reasons.The buses themselves are the other reason I don't feel comfortable out there. They are big and they are moving fast. Did you see the 40MPH speed limit sign in the previous photo? Well, they are mostly doing every bit of 40. On days when the University is in session there are LOTS of buses, like every 5 minutes or so. When two of those buses meet and a bicyclist is in the area, well, it's hold on to your handlebars, Bubba, you don't have much margin for error.

Down at the main campus end of the tramway I came across what seems like another bicycle only unique sign. This is a stop sign for cars with a reminder to not turn onto the tramway. And a warning that bicycles (and buses) do NOT stop. Bicycles (and buses) have the right of way.The buses in particular definitely intend to utilize the right of way that this sign reminds that they have.

PART II: SOME MORE FOOTBALL

The post title says two things and you all thought that I was only referring to cold and wet? Here, forthwith, is the second thing, the second second thing.

Upon further review: I watched Fox Soccer channel this morning. First I watched the USA based Fox guys themselves reviewing the hand ball doings at the end of the World Cup qualifying game yesterday in Paris. After that show FSC runs the Sky Sports Evening Update show, an English TV sports show. The English have a much more mature view of the hand ball incident than that displayed by the USA commentators, perhaps needless to say.

I have seen replays of the goal about a dozen times, I have seen computer animation recreations of the positions of the referee and the assistant referee. I have seen the head of the Irish federation demand a replay. I have seen Irish school kids forgive Thierry Henry. I have seen half a dozen coaches and players interviewed. I have seen Thierry Henry interviewed as he admits that the ball touched his hand.

Here's what a dozen viewings of the replay in super slow motion indicate, at least to me. It was a split second thing to be sure, but he definitely put his hand out. Whether he did it on instinct or deliberately, no one knows, but HE EXTENDED HIS HAND. Super slow motion isn't an accurate reflection of what really happened in real time. But he definitely extends his hand. The ball hits his outstretched hand and then HE TOUCHES IT AGAIN. He cups the ball delicately and drops it onto his foot. With a stab of the foot he passes across the front of the goal to the wide open William Gallas who heads the ball into the net for the goal that sends France to the World Cup tournament.

This goal is, to me, several steps removed from the Hand of God goal by Diego Maradona but it is most definitely a tainted, badly tainted goal.

Having said that, even the Irish themselves are now saying that the real fault lies in defensive deficiencies which allowed Henry even the slightest opportunity to possess the ball that low in the box and the greatest defensive deficiency of all, every single Irish player standing around appealing for a hand ball rather than even one of them defending against the wide open Gallas. It is a tainted goal but as usual, the goal itself isn't the whole story.

Got back on

Today I followed protocol again, adhering to the popular aphorism that if you fall off you should get back on. Note: I decided to embed this as opposed to recent use of a link with a request to right click and open in a new tab. I do this in recognition that not everyone is going to want to listen to Chumabawamba.

I was a little unsure but with temperatures again above normal I wanted to ride. I landed heavily on my side yesterday but it isn't actually my shoulder that was injured, it is my upper chest, as if I jammed the whole thing over. I set out and discovered that I was indeed tender but that there wasn't any real pain.

I wanted to ride because I am entering rare air in both number of rides and total mileage ridden. I would really like to get a few more rides in and this late in the season doesn't seem like a good time to pass on a rideable day. The weather forecast is for drizzle developing overnight which means that tomorrow is likely to be wet. As we all know, cold is one thing, cold and wet is two things. Saturday we have early hockey. That means likely two of the next three days off anyway, I decided that today I wanted to ride.

Yesterday I did not encounter another bicyclist until about mile 8. After that I saw quite a few others. Today I met my first bicyclist at about mile 17 and saw not a single additional rider, not even children riding in the driveway. My take is that yesterday people looked out the window and saw sunshine and decided that it was warm enough for a bike ride. Once they got out there they discovered that it was COLD. Those same people looked out the window today and stayed inside. It was a nearly private ride.

The sun is very low in the sky producing very unusual shadows. This is the scene in my driveway at just very shortly after noon, sun as high in the sky as it is going to get.Shadows stretching all the way across the cul de sac.

A cold, clear November day once again producing spectacular scenery. Here is a tree I have ridden past a couple of times recently but today I stopped to get the still golden tree top backed by the cerulean blue sky.That tree is about a block away from where I took the picture. I had to backtrack and ride around the block to try to get a proper identification. As usual, keeping in mind the caveat trees not my field, I am confident that it is a willow.

Nice blue sky, eh?

I rode out to Vadnais with the idea of getting a photo of my tire tracks at the scene of the accident. I got the picture but it is insufficiently dramatic so I won't post it. I did discover that those ducks are mostly still there but they have divided up into two groups, one of which was quite close to shore down by the parking area.I felt OK I guess but the absolute truth is that after I left Vadnais I again today followed the path blazed yesterday of minimum hills. My shoulder is tender.

Today's mileage milestone is that I have ridden more miles in November than I rode in October. This has never happened before. As with yesterday's record number of miles for the month, this accomplishment in and of itself is not that startling considering what I had to overcome to do it. What is a little startling is that these monthly totals are being achieved on the 17th and 18th of the month.

This evening in Paris Ireland defeated France 1-0 in World Cup Qualifying. The result meant that each team won one of the two head to head games, each scored one goal, and each scored an away from home goal. As a result the game went to overtime at Stade de France. In what the BBC characterized as an absolute robbery, France scored the decisive goal off a pass following a clear hand ball. The game is over, there is no appeal, France advances to the World Cup.

I was watching the game on a "tubes" stream. Webstreaming is a little hit and miss. I had the video all right but the audio was in Japanese. I watched the video and when things looked darkest for France the camera kept finding the sitting together heroes of France's 1998 World Cup championship, Zinedine Zidane and Fabien Barthez.

Allez les Bleus!

As of today I need above average temperature

The Pioneer Press weather page reports that the average high temperature for today is now only 39. I really don't think I will be riding in the 30s so I am going to need above average temperatures.

Today I got it. It was about 42 when I started and with the sun fully out there was a promise of some additional warming while I was out. It is worth noting that these clear, crisp November days make up what they lack in warmth with spectacular beauty. Today was a day when it was well worth being outside on a bicycle.

I rode out to the north again. The archery deer hunt is going on at the lakes out there but I knew that one can ride on the paved road through Vadnais. I went all the way to Highway 96, the usual north limit of that ride, then bypassed the closed off Sucker Lake by finding a way through some previously unridden in neighborhoods on residential streets and dived down the road to Lake Vadnais. Just inside the gate I exchanged brief pleasantries with three camouflage wearing hunting types who were perched on the open tailgate of a facing the wrong direction pickup truck, presumably taking a break from the strenuous task of waiting for Bambi.

Once I got down to the lake I discovered that there was some sort of major duck convention going on at the north end of the lake.They are congregated near where the creek from Sucker enters the lake, but other than that I have no explanation for why they are all gathered there.

I suspect everyone saw this one coming from a mile away (including me). Freed from the shackles of daily labor and further assisted by spectacular November weather I today rode the miles necessary to establish a new personal record for most miles ridden in the month of November during the modern era. Pushed aside at last is the 2002 total (one of the two years when I rode all the way through the winter). I say modern era because I have owned a bicycle continuously since 1972 but only started riding a lot (and keeping track of the mileage) after we became empty nesters when Wireless went off to college. I say modern era fully aware that there isn't any need to do so as I never, ever, rode that many miles on the bicycle I owned prior to the modern era.

Another thing I have taken to saying during the modern era is that I fall off my bicycle about once a year. Actually I am pretty sure I hadn't fallen off for over two years, I think the last time was on Spyglass in Michigan. It had been a long, long time since I fell off this bicycle. I am sure you have all noted the use of the past tense.

I had an event last week where I should have fallen off but didn't and today the bicycling gods got even. I pulled off the pavement at Vadnais to the road shoulder to frame today's photo. The ground felt and looked firm so when I turned to go back on the road I just gave a big push on the pedal and aimed myself towards the only a few feet away piece of tarmac. The ground wasn't firm, my front wheel went sideways instead of forward, shifting my balance to the side of the bike where I was clipped in. Down goes Gino.

I followed protocol. First I laid there for a while, taking inventory. Once down there just isn't any reason to pop right back up. I hit pretty hard, my shoulder hurt and I felt slightly breathless. Inventory went OK though so I proceeded to step 2: Get the bicycle off me with that awkward no leverage side lift to get the frame far enough off the ground to allow me to unclip from the pedal. Step 3, stand up and take inventory again. My shoulder hurts. Eventually I was plenty OK to start brushing myself off and gradually I started feeling better, maybe even well enough to ride. Actually at 12 miles from home I wasn't going to have a choice about whether I felt well enough to ride. But I decided that I did feel OK so I started for home.

Roseville is hilly, one of the reasons I really like riding here. I usually enjoy the hills and parts of all of my regular rides are in those rides for the opportunity provided to tackle one hill or another. As soon as I started riding away from Lake Vadnais today I started planning my route home to avoid the hills to the maximum extent possible.

But a 12 mile ride is plenty of time to work out the kinks. I wouldn't say that I am completely pain free here, after all, I fell off my bike. But everything seems to be working, no sharp or shooting pains. I think I lived through another one and can begin again to say, now more accurately than before, that I fall off my bicycle about once a year.

Winter hours

Probably no one will believe this, but this is not a deliberate attempt to steal an idea. Really. I was on my way out of the garage for today's ride and stopped for this photo before I even got on the bicycle.This is interesting to me because that is a perspective we never get on the religious symbol at the top of the pyramid shaped church nearby. Something about the late in the season low sun angle and brighter than expected sun light caused the sunlight to reflect directly back to me and made the cross stand out in a way I have never seen before.

It was warm enough, five or so degrees above the average high, as already noted, the sun was out, breezes were fairly light and from the NE. I headed north.

That archery deer hunt is going on at the usual turnaround for the north ride so I improvised. I rode on the multi-use path leading from Highway 96 south into the wetland park area between Snail and Grass Lakes. I personally think it is more a part of Snail than Grass, but I don't actually know, maybe it has its own identity. If I were still employed I could check the Protected Waters Inventory. I do know that this swamp is part of Snail Lake Regional Park. I don't ride paths very often because of the extremely dangerous conditions one usually finds there (pedestrians and roller bladers). Today the walking the dog and jogging traffic was pretty low and reasonably attentive. Here is a view from one of the benches along the east side of the swamp looking across at a two bench viewing area on the northwest side. It looks like pretty good deer habitat to me but apparently the area is too small to support a hunt. I know it is large enough to support a deer population, I have seen them there at least a few times.Shortly after resuming riding I met a truck coming the other way on the path. Yup, the pedestrians were totally reasonable but there was a county worker out doing something or another which involved driving his pickup around the swamp on the six foot wide path. Actually, it wasn't too bad, he was alert to the presence of others and moved as far to the side as a pickup can move on a six foot path to let me pass.

I rode down through Grass Lake on the dirt path through that part of the park, making one of my very, very rare forays off the pavement on my road bike. Up to this point in the ride I had not yet seen another bicyclist (Monday is my new favorite day). The first one I saw was a road bike coming towards me just having come off the dirt portion of Grass Lake. OK then, thus reassured I continued on.

When I rode past County Cycles yesterday I noticed that they were closed. I assumed this was because they have begun winter business hours. As I rode past today I pulled into the parking lot to see if I could confirm this.Winter business hours, closed on Sunday, out riding when it isn't too cold. Nice new America's bike in the window, they sell a lot of Treks.

If the bike shop says winter hours, I guess it is winter hours. The season must be very near to being over.

But I got in a ride again today. The first picture with this post was taken before I got on my bicycle before leaving the garage. These two were taken after I got off my bicycle before putting the bicycle back into the garage.

I have tried to get this picture a few times and on the 18th time that this display appeared on my odometer I have finally been successful.There is a slight discrepancy between the two odometer displays. I didn't ride another inch, just clicked the cyclocomputer over to the next display.Prepare for the possibility of a deluge. If conditions allow more riding, the likely result is more mileage posts, lots more mileage posts.

Clear, cold . . . November

It was clear and cold today. It really, really felt like November. But the sun was out, there wasn't much in the way of wind and even though it felt cold the temperature was actually a couple of degrees above the average high for this date. I guess this is what November feels like.

The temperature was a couple of degrees above average, I am pretty sure that any more riding I do this year will have to be with temperatures above average. If it is very much colder than today it will be too cold.

But I have the gear and today was OK. I rode out towards the north. I ride to Vadnais a lot and it felt to me today like this might be a last chance to ride there this year. That archery deer hunt resumes again tomorrow and runs Monday through Wednesday which means I won't be riding there for at least the next three days. Those days are predicted to be above average temperatures but after that who knows? The season is almost over, I may not ride there again until spring.

I have a lot of pictures of Vadnais, this is Sucker Lake, looking north from the picnic area. Sucker Lake was pretty today.I have a lot of pictures of Vadnais, I was going to leave it out today. But these ducks were right next to the shore when I rode by.There have been lots of photos of mallards lately. Truthfully this isn't the best one I have seen lately, it is just the best one I have taken. It would have been better if the ducks were feeding on the shoreline in an area which was not in the shade. Stupid ducks. I took what was available.

It is getting cold (and dark) but I remain hopeful of another few rides. I have ridden a lot in November and it is evident to me that October's poor weather and lack of riding cost me considerably in my fitness level. I am starting to feel stronger again just in time for the season to end. I will miss the bicyclist when I am no longer able to ride, I feel strong, I feel good.

Probably most people are not going to find this terribly interesting but I have provided exhaustive coverage of the corn crop. I may be a little weak on soybeans but I have personally seen corn harvesting, my knowledge base is more comprehensive. I was riding past the corn field and saw evidence of another step in the harvest over there. The earlier harvest photos I posted were of corn being chopped. Chopping corn for silage uses up pretty much the whole plant leaving very little residue as in the foreground of this photo.
Next to the still standing corn is some corn that has been combined. Combining corn involves separating the cobs from the plant and also separating the kernels from the cobs. You end up with kernel corn. The process leaves quite a bit more plant residue in the field, as with the standing half stalks next to the standing corn in the photo.

Why they are doing this I don't know. And why there is still some corn standing I do not know. Maybe they are leaving it standing for the wild life. Over the winter pheasant survival is rumored to be improved by leaving some corn standing in the field.

It was a nice day for a bicycle ride.

Jackrabbit Saturday

I was sitting around late this morning watching our beloved football Gophers tussling with the previously unknown Jackrabbits (the game came on TV at 11am). The day had dawned still looking pretty wet and I was pretty much resigned to no ride today either. But the talking heads at the football game put up a weather graphic and proceeded to discuss the game time weather. The temperature was 44 with a WNW wind at 12-14 mph. The lead announcer pronounced this to be cold and windy.

Well!

I knew that the cited temperature was above average for this date and 12-14 mph doesn't seem that windy to me. I started looking out the window.

The overcast was heavy and the trees were moving around a bit but the pavement was mostly dry in the cul de sac. Off I went.

The November question is always "Where you warm enough?" Having already dressed successfully for temperatures lower than today's I had a good idea what to do. At this point you put on every single thing that you have put on before. It was grey, very grey, but I was warm enough.

The wind was described as WNW but it might have even been a couple more points west than that, it was almost a pure west wind. The thing about a west wind is that it doesn't hurt you going north, it doesn't help you going south. Most of my rides are predominantly north or predominantly south. In view of the nominal N is the WNW I headed north. I didn't want to get too far away from home and hearth with that temperature, it seemed as if the Shoreview water tower loop was the called for route.

It was grey, very, very grey but even so on the way out I discerned two nice photo opportunities. The first came near Lake Judy in Shoreview when the sun suddenly burst through the overcast for the first time. The change in lighting immediately created lots of interesting shadows. I stopped almost instantly and reached for my camera only to discover that I had forgotten to put it in my pocket. I was cameraless. It hurt to have been so thoughtless but it didn't hurt that much as the photo opportunity was extremely brief and I probably would have missed it anyway.

A couple of minutes later I was stunned by a view of the Shoreview water tower that appeared over the left side of my handlebars. I immediately pulled to the side of the street and reached for my camera. Only to discover that I STILL cameraless.

OK, we'll wait a minute while all of you slap your foreheads. DOH! I already slapped mine.

I thought about stopping one other time on the way home but didn't. I went directly home. The Shoreview water tower loop is a loop, not a complete ride. Straight home from the water tower got me home at about the 16.5 mile mark of my ride. Fairly obviously, if a person intends to average 25 miles per ride the best route to that average is to always ride at least 25 miles. 16.5 wasn't going to do it. I went in the house, retrieved my camera and set off on a 9.5 mile loop.

It is a bit early but I wasn't that surprised to come upon this Christmas display.OK, Christmas, but I just don't get the turkey. Please note that the sun is OUT. Those are shadows, people.

A 9.5 mile loop gave me time to visit the Fairgrounds. The Fairgrounds is south but as previously noted, it was a west wind, north and south were not extremely relevant today. In a major upset the sun was becoming dominant in the sky. I decided to get a photo of a major Fairgrounds icon with enough blue to fashion a pair of pants for a Dutchman in the background. This photo was taken from near the cattle barn.I like it, part of the grey overcast is still visible on camera right. Lesser clouds are visible on camera left. Lots and lots of really nice blue sky framing the Space Needle. I like it.

Noon+2:45 EG44 CB42 WG50.

It was a nice ride. I knew before I started and know now that before the year is over I will ride in less favorable conditions. Today was above average temperature. Very soon riding is just not going to be possible. Especially considering the spectacular sun breaking through as I finished the ride I am very glad to have gotten out there. I would have been sorry if I missed this one.

This evening in Dublin at historic Croke Park, the Republic of Ireland and France began a two game home and home series to determine which of the two will qualify for the 2010 World Cup. France got the only goal to win 1-0 and enjoy an enormous advantage going to next Wednesday's game at Stade de France in suburban Paris.

Finally, thanks and chapeau to the Michigan chef who reminded us here of Uncle Gene's pizza. We passed on Davanni's delivery this evening and went with the home concocted.

Delicious.

Leaf pick up

I was pretty sure all morning that I was going to get in a ride today despite heavy overcast and cooler. I had lunch a little early just to be sure that I could get an early start but as I turned to go upstairs to don my bicycle apparel it was apparent that the drizzle predicted to develop "in the afternoon" had developed at noon. It didn't really rain but the pavement is wet and the drizzle is likely to persist and recur. Cold is one thing, cold and wet is two things.

But I already had my photos for the day, here goes.

They arrived earlier than I expected, the first photo is time stamped 7:47am. I wasn't expecting government workers before 8 but this is outdoor work and all outdoor work at this time of year has to obey the rules of daylight. The sun rose at 7:08 and will be setting at 4:46. It will be pretty dark by 4:30. It is best to start work as soon as it is light because no matter when you start it is going to be dark when you finish.It is now apparent to me that there are at least three crews doing leaf pick up as that truck is not either of the two that I spotted yesterday. Both of yesterday's trucks featured front mounted vacuums. This one has a trailer mounted vacuum being separately towed by the receptacle truck.

It's a four man crew, one guy stayed in the truck to move it up as necessary, two guys on rakes, the foreman on vacuum. It is also a two truck job, one raker riding in the vacuum truck, one riding with the foreman in that pick up across the cul de sac.It's a dirty job. Note the cloud of leaf dust forming in this photo. In the next photo note the dust obscuring the light on the back of the foreman's pick up across the street. I was surprised that none of these guys had dust masks or ear protection. One or the other of these is likely to be an OSHA violation.The guy in the truck has been given a signal and moves the whole parade forward to allow the vacuuming to continue. They're almost done.All right, let's move on. We are the house on this street that has mature trees, we are the only ones who pay the municipal fee to have these guys come and get our leaves. The crew is going to have to move at least off our street before they come to their next pile of leaves.The last photo is time stamped 7:51 am. The whole thing is over in less than four minutes. I compare the four minutes and the $25 I paid to the hours of bending over to pick up leaves and happily wave good bye to the crew. All they leave behind is a giant spot of leaf dust.Short story, I was at the grocery store after yesterday's ride. I find that I go to the grocery store a lot more often now, like 3 or 4 times a week, so I seldom have much in my cart. I always qualify for the express check out lane so yesterday I was standing there with my less than 15 items waiting my turn. A guy shows up a second or two after me with only a gallon of milk. I offer to let him go first, he has only the one item. He says, no, no bother. He said, "I got nowhere to go and all day to get there."

Even though I didn't get in a bicycle ride, I am going to put today down as a day well spent.

Waiting for the man

Today moved closer to November, although it was still a day out of early November even as the calendar informs us that mid-November is nigh. The temperatures were above average but today only by a much smaller amount.

The bigger weather news was that the south wind freshened considerably, blowing often at 20 mph. Along with the stronger winds came a dense overcast meaning the sun would not be able to help the temperatures. Cold and very windy, the ride promised to be hard work.

I was saved from having to make too deep an excursion to the south by the municipal leaf pick up. We have a post card from the city informing us that our leaves will be picked up on November 10, 12 or 13. Both TOPWLH and I recall that in the past we have almost always been picked up on the first day of the pick up window. When the 10th passed without any movement of our leaf pile we started to get a little antsy. If we have to revert to bagging that monster pile out front we are both going to have very sore backs.

The 11th also passed without action but we expected that. 11th month, 11th day, 11th hour . . . we are not fooled, it is a holiday (by the way Wireless, it is extremely unpatriotic of your employer to not recognize a moment of this immense significance). Even so, the passage of another day didn't make us any LESS nervous.

So today I consulted the post card for the boundaries of our pick up zone (Southwest) and spent the first part of my ride going up and down the streets looking for the leaf crew. I found them.That vacuum truck and those guys with rakes make extremely short work of even the most monster pile of leaves.

As I rode away I discovered that there are at least two trucks and crews and at one point I was able to see them both at the same time. One seemed to be taking the north south streets and the other was on the east west. I rode through an intersection where I could see one of the crews crossing headed east in front of me while down the street to my right (west) I could see another crew crossing headed south.

It wasn't extremely productive but it allows us to know that leaf pickup looks on schedule and we can probably expect a visit from one or the other of the trucks tomorrow.

It was a south wind, after all.

Noon+1:20 EG53 CB51 WG55

I suspect that the west grandstand sensor must be in full sun as the temperature discrepancy was considerably less in today's overcast conditions.