Lake of the Isles

Yesterday there was quite significant morning rain. It stopped before noon and after it stopped there were a couple of interludes during the afternoon when a ride was possible. But it was always very windy and finally I just let it go.

Today dawned much cooler but windy again. It was 68 with a 15-25mph wind when we set off at 10am with jackets on. The wind was pretty much straight out of the west so we tried a completely new route which for a significant portion of the ride was straight west. Obviously, given where we live and start our rides from, this led us into Minneapolis.

We rode the Midtown Greenway for the first time. I will say that for a Sunday morning there were a lot more people out using the trail than I expected.

We reached a turn around on the western fringes of the City of Minneapolis at Lake of the Isles, Guest Rider for prespective. It had warmed enough by this time that the jackets went into our back pockets.The wind was very strong and the ride was pretty hard. After the turn around we both felt exceptionally strong.

As we neared home we had to do some dodging around to avoid road construction, both the projects which we were previously aware of, and a new project that we discovered on the way out while trying to avoid the projects that we were aware of. As a result we rode through the Fairgrounds again. Here is another look at that boat sale.Careful examination reveals a complete absence on these boats of any boat registration numbers. This supports the position set out by the boat girl that these are not used boats at all but are new.

It was actually warm enough once we got out there and we were strong enough to get to the turn around so it was a nice ride. But even with the favorable conditions on the return we ended up well exercised. Which is, of course, the reason why we do it.

Ahhh, summer!

A noticeable change to my schedule as a result of not going to work every day is that the Guest Rider comes along on Friday instead of Saturday. It was beautiful, cool, nearly windless and dry this morning so we headed north.

It may not be possible to ride north very much for the next couple of weeks. The Roseville street maintenance guys are out and they are doing that oil and gravel treatment to the streets bordering on Hamline Avenue north from the city limits to Highway 36 or so. It is my impression that someone in the street department is getting a kick back from the gravel guys because the City of Roseville, when compared to, for example, Saint Paul, lays down about 3 or 4 times as much gravel. And there is also the fact that they extend the treatment well past the end of the blocks they are working on out into the traffic lanes of the intersecting streets. The effect of all of this is that if I want to ride on Hamline I have to ride through mounds of sticky with tar gravel.

I won't be riding that direction much for the couple of weeks it takes until they come back and sweep and scrape up the excess.

But we headed north today and it was extremely nice. We got to the usual turn around at Highway 96 and started back down the chain of lakes on the route of the 8 lakes tour. We rode down the hill to Lake Vadnais and discovered 10 swans cruising the upper end of the lake.We have seen swans there before but never this many at once.

We rode down to the mid-lake parking area and for the first time in memory there was not a single person fishing there. It was a sparkling blue day on the waters of the lake.Before leaving the lake we saw the 10 swans, either 4 or 6 great blue herons, a couple of white herons, and 50 or so ducks but surprisingly no geese. The lily pads are in bloom.

There is a house for sale on Lake Emily. We are not actually looking for a house, even one with "Price reduced", but we were looking for a photo opportunity.GRider is only pretending to be interested by acquiring the listing information available in that little box on top of the realtor's sign. You might be able to spot 17 acre Lake Emily visible down through the trees on the left.

There has apparently been enough rain for the corn.GRider for scale.

Always saving a little bit

It rained pretty hard just before and continuing after dawn today. But it was just a cell passing through, not a front. Once the rain stopped it was always going to be a nice day.

I waited until it was dry before heading out just after 2:30. It was warm but the dew point was only 62. I realize that many would consider that to be an inappropriate use of the word "only". But according to the dew point article on Wikipedia, a dew point of 62 is "OK for most, but all perceive the humidity at upper edge". I thought that the power of evaporative cooling available on a bicycle would probably make the humidity tolerable.

I also set about to make sure that I wouldn't wear out by riding very conservatively, always at every moment saving a little bit to make sure I could finish what I was starting. I never rode hard.

At least one loyal reader is certainly already aware of this but it looks like hard times in the boat business. Here is evidence from Gate 3, the northeast campground at the State Fairgrounds.There is some sort of used boat sale going on. Perhaps the boat expert will be able to identify a couple of the items for sale. There were a handful of people kicking the tires when I rode through but attendance was down considerably from the old car show. Those people kicking the tires today should all reconsider and refocus their attention on a NEW boat. I bet I know someone who agrees.

I am a little disappointed about the turtle. That whole thing had potential to be a lot more fun.

Reversal

It rained this morning and it looked like a day of rest at last. My major accomplishment for the day was staying home to oversee the installation of a new light fixture.Hint: It makes TOPWLH very happy.

I was left speechless by Al the electrician. He installed that light fixture, a new switch for the light and a new outlet on the lower level, all without ever venturing to the breaker box to turn off the power. He did all of that with the circuits hot. That is a powerful amount of experience talking, I was speechless.

But when Al left it was 3pm and the sun had been out for about 3 hours. The streets had dried from the rain so I rode my bicycle. It was hot but not as hot as yesterday. And I am a lot more used to being tired out by a bicycle ride in the late afternoon. It wasn't particularly strong or fast but it felt OK.

I may need to go to work in order to get a day off

I was out noodling around this morning when I came across this on Hampden Avenue in Saint Paul.I apologize to anyone who thinks I am over obsessing with this ash borer thing but I DO have two ash trees in my yard. The survey location is within about a block of the infestation zone ground zero. The tree looks a little sickly to me but apparently it is still healthy, at least, healthy for purposes of participating in the survey. I think that fairly obviously if you remove a foot or so wide segment of bark (I believe it is called "girdling") that the tree is going to die. I don't know all of the politics of what is going on but it seems possible that this brave soldier is surrendering its life in hopes of saving all of the others. That's Medal of Honor category heroism.

It's hot here today. I think that by 5pm it is going to be quite obviously too hot for bicycling. If I went to work I would be off the street until 5pm and would seem to be eligible for a day off from riding. Instead I rode at 8am. It was OK, I guess, but it was already hot and by the time I finished it was TOO hot.

This is the 10am youth tennis class at Langford Park.I had a lengthy stop at Langford. They have water there and I was out. I ate a banana and spent a long time mustering the energy and, perhaps more importantly, hardening my will for the remaining 5.5 miles I had to ride to get myself home. It was TOO hot and I was knackered. Eventually I started for home and, sure enough, the benefit of riding out into the wind kicked in as scheduled. The benefit was particularly pronounced on the last 2 miles when I hit a downhill tailwind section. I rode fast, I felt strong.

Another beautiful morning

Here is a picture of the person who validates my credentials for yesterday's holiday.She bought me that scarf as my holiday gift. It is an FC Nantes fan scarf, not readily available on this side of the Atlantic. She recognized that the one that I had was getting pretty ratty. She is a most excellent dafter.

I had a couple of nice morning rides over the weekend and briefly deluded myself into believing that weekend mornings were a really mellow time to ride. Today reestablished very clearly that Monday morning is a much superior time frame for being out in public. There just aren't very many other civilians around.

This is the first one of these I have seen in person, it is an ash borer trap, hanging in an ash tree near Jefferson on the River Road in Saint Paul.This is a bit troubling because this location is about 3 miles south as the crow, or perhaps, as the beetle flies from the primary infestation site. The tree looks diseased and the whole depressing affair makes it appear that the bugs have already appeared over a fairly wide range.

I rode across the Mississippi over to Minnehaha Falls. There was a very small crowd gathered, a shame as the Falls are looking particularly scenic right now.I rode back on what is for me the seldom ridden Minneapolis side of the river. This is actually a nice diversion for the out and back route as it means that both directions are ridden on the riverbank side of the street. The riverbank side is more scenic.

My main impression of riding the Minneapolis side today is that the pavement is in a bit worse condition over there than it is in Saint Paul.

While on the Minneapolis River Road I rode past the spot where in 1972 on my Schwinn Varsity I passed a car. Obviously I don't pass motor vehicles very often. But a bit earlier I had come up behind one of those new motor bikes that have been in the news of late. I was initially a bit irritated as the operator was outside the white lines on the street, in the area of pavement which bicyclists generally believe belongs to us. But it worked out OK, as I say I came up behind him. He was an older gentleman (at least 60) and he was noodling along at perhaps 10 miles per hour. This was probably a wise choice on his part as he was not wearing any helmet or other protective gear. As fate would have it, the stretch of pavement where the encounter occurred was a downhill tailwind section for me. I gave him a "Howdy" and blew on past. Obviously I don't pass motor vehicles very often.

I rode through the fairgrounds and did not see any of the old cars around. The temporary food stands (mostly trailers) were mostly still there with people cleaning up in preparation for moving the trailers back to their storage area until they are needed again. There were also lots of exhibition tents with workers in the process of taking them down. The old cars are gone and there are already several horse trailers in the parking lot as the more regular users of the grounds move back in. I bet there is a horse show there this weekend.

Two door or four door?1957 Ford Fairlane, black and red.

Holidays invented by greeting card companies

I am not a huge fan of holidays invented by greeting card companies. But as I explained yesterday to my darling dafter, of them all, this is the one I like the most.

Last night after dinner TOPWLH and I walked over to Snelling Avenue to see the show. The street rods go cruising in the evening. Fans come and set up lawn chairs along the side of Snelling and enjoy the free show. There were lawn chairs side by side for as far as we could see in either direction.

I was pleased to note that I could still identify a large number of the cars. I am especially adept at Fords and Chevrolets from about 1949 to 1961 or so. I can also do the other General Motors cars (Pontiac and Oldsmobile) from the same era based on their similarites to Chevrolets. There were a huge number of 55, 56 and 57 Chevrolets, particularly the Bel Air 2 door hardtop. In the cars parked near to the spot where we were watching there was a really nice black and white 58 Ford and this old Plymouth:That car is a little too old to be in my identification comfort zone. Further, I don't think that is the stock grille and there are also missing chrome bits which help with the identification but I am certain that it is a Coupe Special Deluxe, my guess is 1947.

Today's weather forecast was for 71 percent chance of a thunderstorm and I spent a goodly part of the morning sitting around waiting for it to start. With all the crowing yesterday about average distance per ride this seemed like a bad time to have a ride shortened by rain and having my average go back under 25. But I finally headed out shortly after 9am. TOPWLH said I could ride a criterium but actually I got in a really nice out and around the furthest distances I dared venture from home and got to 22 miles before I was back into the immediate neighborhood. It started to sprinkle as I passed the 25 mile mark on an even nearer in loop but I sucked it up and finished. It still hasn't really let loose, at least nothing like the weather in Michigan.

I swung into the parking lot for the Como Park pool. As is probably obvious, there isn't a pool there any longer although the markings on the parking curb still indicates that if you are not there for the pool you may not park.The pool was getting old and maintenance costs had apparently soared out of the reasonable range. With the old pool gone now the neighborhood is divided on the issue of whether or not a replacement pool should be constructed and if so, what the pool should look like. NIMBY, I guess.

I recommend right click and open in a new tab on the link below to start the music.

Here is my favorite Barracuda.1965 Plymouth Barracuda Formula S

Retired bicyclist out for a ride

There was just something about today. It is Saturday and everyone can ride on Saturday. But today my attitude was more like retired bicyclist than Saturday bicyclist. I took a long, leisurely ride, meandering a bit, not riding for distance or speed, just riding. I got an early start, out the door by 8:30am, leaving plenty of time for wandering while still allowing me to be home before 11, home well before the sun became punitive.

The second wave of flowering trees is suddenly upon us. This is a well kept yard on the corner of Sheldon Street that I pass about 100 times per year. The big flowering tree is a contrast as all of the rest of the trees on Sheldon Street are oak trees.I dodged around the car show and headed over into Saint Paul. It was a really nice day for riding. I headed up Summit. Summit can be a problem on weekends as it is a favorite for racer boy. This time I was out early enough that there were only a few other riders. I at least once every year ride to the Cathedral and then up Selby to the Curling Club.This is the one and only place where I buy bread, Great Harvest. There is major road construction going on in front of the bakery.It's a good thing for them, they have already gotten that new tree in front and they are also getting a little boulevard between the sidewalk and the street.

The ride back from the Curling Club always includes a short ride down Virginia Street. This is one of the last remaining brick streets in Saint Paul. This particular intersection also still has the stone curbing.I like to ride down this section of street and imagine myself riding the cobblestones of the spring classics, particularly the Tour of Flanders.

Having once photographed a street, it quickly turned into a photograph the pavement kind of day. Here is the corner of Iglehart and Moore where on June 6 a "Paint the Pavement" was held.This intersection is only a block away from the often photographed Saint Paul roundabout. They are starting to get a quite non-traditional street scene going there.

And lastly, a yard from within a mile of my house. These people are definitely not going for the lawn effect.Today's ride included a significant mileage milestone. I rode 30 miles today. After yesterday's ride I had 69 rides for the year and 1,724 miles, an average per ride of 24.99 miles per ride. After today's ride I have 70 rides and 1,754 miles, an average per ride of 25.04 miles per ride. My annual mileage goal is 4,000 miles which I hope to achieve with 160 rides of 25 miles per ride. I start the year without much bicycling fitness and ride as far as I can, always less than 25 miles. By the time I switch over to the LOOK I am most often riding 26 miles. It is a long haul back from average distances of less than 20 miles but today I made it. I have the average, now I need to do the rest of the rides. It is still June, 90 more rides seems easily doable. Today is the first indicator that 4,000 miles is within reach.

GRider confirms absence of squeak

I had a guest rider again today. She is about two and a half times taller than the corn. I guess everyone will notice without my having to point it out that the corn is more than knee high and it isn't the Fourth of July yet. Oh, wait, I guess I pointed it out. OK, everyone notice.GRider's presence today was appreciated as it was her still keen hearing that identified the troublesome chain squeak. With only a small amount of prompting today she rode into a good listening position and confirmed that the noise is gone. I am bicycle repairman, hear me roar.

We rode, as always, into the wind. Today's wind direction meant that we revisited the Stone Arch Bridge and the riverbank nearest to downtown Minneapolis. We paused at the turn around at the park across the river from the Grain Belt sign.I asked her to pose bent over near the working parts with an ear cocked towards the chain to simulate her task as squeak identifier. She did not take my request seriously.

The ride over was punctuated by a passage of the Fairgrounds. It was pretty busy for a Friday morning in June.Just before I took this picture a pink Cadillac convertible went through the gates. It is a shame that I missed that.

New camera

I finally succumbed to the inevitable and got a new camera for my bicycle jersey pocket. As previously reported the old one is gradually giving up functions. We recently shopped for a new camera for Miss Wireless and with what I learned in that process I convinced myself that I should make the upgrade. Here are the old camera and the new camera photographed with yet another of the cameras that I have available (new camera is the slightly darker grey one on the right).Also in the photo is our newest really interesting rock, a largish hematite nodule from near Hibbing, thanks and a tip of the hat to the geology guy.

Yes, after spending most of my life with one camera I now have about six. In my defense I would point out that three of the six are jersey pocket cameras, of which two no longer exhibit all functions. Yet another of the six was my original digital camera and it was too big for the jersey pocket which is how I set off down this path to begin with.

As you can see, I have not strayed too far from what I was using. It is pretty much a newer model of what I had before. I got it on eBay, it is a couple of generations behind the somewhat similar model that we got for Wireless but as outmoded but NOS (new old stock) stuff on eBay I got it for about half the price of what we paid for the new Wireless camera. It is a little smaller than the old one and it differs from the Wireless camera in that this one is the last of that line of cameras to have a view finder. I wanted a view finder because I find that a lot of my photos are taken in bright sunlight and that in those conditions I cannot really see the LCD screen very well making it less than optimal for composition.

It was sunny when I got up this morning (YES, bright and sunny at 6am) but conditions rapidly deteriorated. At one point the weather website I follow reported light rain in Minneapolis but it never actually rained here. Shortly before noon Miss Wireless, reporting from her vantage point more than half way up the tallest building in Minnesota, reported clearing. I went for a ride.

There is a major construction project going on on Como Avenue. The street has been reduced to one lane in each direction for a couple of months now but it was still rideable on the blocked off side by weaving between the cones and roadblock signs. But now they have added an obstacle that clearly changes everything.It is my carefully considered guess that this means that they are going to tear up that side of the street and put those giant pipes under ground. Como is clearly not going to be rideable. This will necessitate the re-routing of several important regular ride routes.

I suppose it is still slightly possible to ride there but during rush hour it would too severely strain the patience of already overwrought car people so I shall pass. Speaking of how wildly different expectations of reasonable interactions between cars and bicycles can be, I had an interesting experience today. An older lady (at least 60) in a mini-van honked at me in irritation. My transgression? I stopped, after she had stopped, at a four-way stop and waited for her to go. This was so clearly not what she expected that she honked to let my know that I was wrong.

I always stop for red lights or stop signs when cars are present. It is my experience that the more like a car I act the more respect I get from the people who are in cars. Full disclosure here, I admit that I blow stop signs and even the occasional red light if no one else is around. I believe that is what we in this house refer to as the Universal Pedestrian Rule.* (Note: With that asterisk * I am declaring a new convention never before used in this blog, the footnote. See * below for the footnote.)

I wanted to get down to the river as I have been over that way quite a few days lately but have not actually photographed the river. Here is upstream from the Marshall Avenue Bridge. Visible is the boat club boathouse, the dredge spoils sand below the bluff on the Minneapolis side and the Franklin Avenue Bridge.Also visible, I suppose, is the skyline of the big city located quite near to where I live. That thin dark colored one, the tallest one farthest to the left, is the workplace of Wireless, the tallest building in Minnesota.

Today I learned something else about the car show that I did not know. These people are deadly serious. The fair grounds are closed and admission is being charged.I am guessing that if you can attract 125,000 people that you can get most of them to pay a few bucks to come in and look at the street rods.

*Okay, footnote, here we go.

The Universal Pedestrian Rule is the rule that we adopted for crossing streets the last time we were in France.We would be standing at the crosswalk waiting for homme vert when we noticed that French people would sometimes start walking on homme rouge. We decided that their knowledge of French traffic signals enabled them to anticipate the upcoming change in a way which we could not. We quickly decided that we could go across the street whenever French people were crossing. We believed that the French people were following the Universal Pedestrian Rule, which formally stated is that "Pedestrians are ALWAYS allowed to cross the street at any time when there are NO CARS coming."

MSRA Back to the 50s

The Minnesota Street Rod Association has a big car show every year at the state fairgrounds. Lots of old cars show up and cruise up and down Snelling. Obviously I was aware of the show but I was not fully aware of how big a deal it is.

Today I was riding through the fairgrounds and lots and lots of the temporary food and beverage stands which I have always assumed were present only for the 12 days of the Fair are already on the grounds in anticipation of this weekend's event.I had no idea that it would be possible to dine on pronto pups, deep fried cheese curds and the other Fair delicacies at this early stage of the summer. According to the car show website they are expecting 125,000 spectators. I guess I will be riding in some other direction this weekend.

Lesson (re)learned

With the sudden intense uptick in internet traffic related to Fort Crazy Barley I am feeling a definite respect for my elders vibe. In line with such, I relearned an important lesson yesterday from a respected elder. The lesson? The value of recycling.

Yesterday was a perfect morning, today not so much. It rained a bit over night and the streets were wet with weather radar sites indicating a strong likelihood of additional showers. In other words, a good day to go to work. Instead I set off to do a couple of errands, including one that promises to be a regular once a week chore.It is early in the season and the produce was limited to mostly lettuce of various kinds, chard, beet greens, snap peas and some onion and fresh garlic. Oh, and dill, fresh dill. But at the market there was an older gentleman, probably at least 60, who had ridden there on his comfort bike. I looked at him, looked at the sky and headed for home. If he can do it, I can do it.

With the post from Michigan as inspiration it had suddenly (re)occurred to me that a two hour ride could be done in segments. There was never going to be a time when the radar looked promising enough to set off on a two hour ride, but if it isn't actually raining there isn't any reason at all why a few laps closer to home would not be possible.

The GRider, having been to one professional bicycle race in her life, considered my plan and pronounced that I was setting off on a criterium. Having been to one more bicycle race in my life than she has in hers, I was forced to accept her new definition of loops near home.

I got in a nice one hour ride before lunch, took a couple of hours after lunch and then got in another pretty nice one hour ride at about 2:30. My minimum mileage requirement has been met well before the time when I get off work. Getting off work right now would not allow bicycling as it is raining, and has been for about an hour.

So thanks, and a tip of the hat for reminding me to re-cycle.

An absolute done deal.

The Calhoun Isles Community Band played at the Como Park Pavilion last evening. This is tuning up before they actually launched into their program.The band played for about an hour and the person in the third chair of the flute section had her grandpa and grandma (and Mom and Dad) present for the occasion.

To the extent that there may have been lingering uncertainties about this new course of action upon which I have embarked, this morning absolutely smashed them. I am retired.

The day dawned already warmer than some of the high temperatures we were having less than two weeks ago. It was 72 by 9am and I was on the road by 9:30. It was just exactly the kind of morning I have been complaining about missing but today I was out in the perfect morning instead of behind sealed windows. It was a gorgeous, warm morning, light breezes, one of the nicest mornings in the history of mornings.

Monday morning turns out to be everything I expected for bicycling, light automobile traffic and light bicycling traffic as well. I rode over to Summit Avenue, a route which has often led me to irritation from the rude bicyclists I often encounter there. But on Monday morning there is no evidence of racer boy. I was passed by one bicyclist and met only a handful coming from the opposite direction. There was plenty of space to enjoy the ride and I pronounce the entire experience to have been most satisfactory.

I rode the Capitol loop, passing through the State Capitol grounds at about the 15 mile mark of the ride. I used to work for the guys in this building.I am a reformed former over maintainer of bicycle chains. I used to slavishly try to keep the chain clean and moist from lubrication. Over the last 2 or 3 years I have come around to the opposite extreme. No matter how clean you keep the thing it is still a greasy mess whenever you have to actually touch it and furthermore I have become convinced that too much lubrication leads to premature wear. I am now of the school that if it is shifting OK and if it isn't making any noise it doesn't need any lube.

This was all working really well for me until yesterday when the guest rider reported that my chain was making noise. Once she pointed out the fairly sibilant squeak I was also able to hear it. I blame my own failure to notice it first on the location of the chain, below and mostly behind me. Or perhaps it could be related to that Rolling Stones concert at the Civic Center (if I recall correctly, it was the Goat's Head Soup tour) when I came out of the concert and was unable to hear much in the way of normal conversation for about the next hour or so.

In either case I lubed my chain last night. When you lube your chain all the time you have to be careful to put just the one drop of lube on each link. If you over lubricate the excess ends up attracting dirt and, voila, messy chain. When you only lubricate about twice every three years you can just go ahead and dump the lubricant onto the chain with great abandon. I took a rag and wiped it down after the lubrication part was done and, hoo boy, that chain was DIRTY.

We will need GRider again for definite verification but I thought that when I rode today that the chain was quiet.

Does that thing say 80?

Yes, I believe it does, and it looks like it is going even higher.

It was so warm this morning, above 70 by 9:30am, that the guest rider and I were able to depart on her weekly ride by just shortly past 10. As a result we finished at around 12:30pm, which as everyone knows is 11:30am sun time, meaning that we rode 25 miles before noon.

The wind conditions were similar to yesterday so we rode a very similar route to what I rode yesterday. See yesterday's post for photos of the poppies and stadia which today two of us rode past. One of the deviations from yesterday's route was that GRider requested a viewing of ash borer ground zero. Aside from noticing how poorly the grass is doing in this area of town, you can also see three bare dirt patches.These were all trees the last time we were there. The procedure at this point is complete removal of the tree and complete removal of the stump as well. The bare spots are all that remains after the stumps have been ground up, all fragments collected, and whatever was still there has been covered with dirt.

We counted 15 of the bare spots, including one house that had five (two on the boulevard and three in the yard). That house is the recipient of the unfortunate distinction of being the biggest loser to the emerald colored beetles in this round of the invasion.

We rode down to the Stone Arch and across and out to the end of West River Road. We paused for a photo at Orvin "Ole" Olson Park. This is significant because Ole Olson Park is a significant tribute to GRider's heritage. She is, as she has informed me numerous times, 100% Norwegian.Oh, wait. Except for that one part. Oh, and yeah, there's also that other part. Never mind, in fact, Ole Olson could just as well be Swedish as Norwegian when you get right down to it.

And it is pretty sunny at Ole Olson so we rode just a bit farther for our sit down and refreshment break. I know this park area has a name but for now it shall be just Not Ole Olson Park along the Mississippi in North Minneapolis.That's a pretty interesting looking park across the river too.

It was starting to get warm and the sun was rising higher in the sky. We were both glad to be home but before pedalling the final 0.38 mile we stopped to show everyone how well the corn is doing.Orvin "Ole" Olson for scale.

Poppies and stadia

I ride a lot and inevitably, not every ride is fun. Sometimes it seems more obligatory than entertaining. Today was not one of THOSE days.

It is about 77 now in the late afternoon. It was for the first time this year warm enough in the morning to begin the ride before noon. Most of my rides are in the late afternoon, after work, before dinner. It has not been uncommon to start feeling strong but to finish pretty well knackered, out of energy.

With a morning start I was throughout the ride riding at a time when my energy level was high. I felt strong, maybe the strongest I have felt this year. It was fun.

Shortly after starting out I passed some orange flowers on Como Avenue. I doubled back to get a photo and discovered poppies.I like orange poppies. Who wouldn't like orange poppies. There was another planting of the same flowers about three houses further along.

The University football stadium, to be known as TCF Bank Stadium, is scheduled to be opened on September 12 for a, what else, UofM football game. Construction seems to be into the final stages.It is actually a fairly attractive looking pile of bricks. It better be, it is costing us plenty. Go Gophers, I guess.

I rode down across the Stone Arch Bridge to the near north side turnaround featured on that route. On the way back I deviated from the River Road and headed into downtown to get a shot of the other new stadium in town. This one isn't scheduled to open until the opening of baseball season 2010, next year. Construction is not nearly as advanced as the Bank Stadium.This one will be Target Field. Call me old fashioned if you will but I find both choices for corporate sponsors and therefore naming rights to be drearily boring. But it is the golden rule, the ones with the gold get to make the rules and in this case the rules are name one stadium after a bank and the other after a discount retailer.

I didn't get a picture on the way over to Minneapolis but the pedestrians had thinned out a tiny bit by the time I was headed back so I stopped and got a photo of the Falls of Saint Anthony.Actually, it was the locks which attracted me as an announcement of a barge entering from the upstream side made my head turn toward the sound. The lock doors can be seen nearly completely closed on the left edge of the picture.

Before I got off the bridge my attention was drawn to another pile of bricks, this one considerably more ancient that the stadia. This is the Platteville limestone Pillsbury A Mill. I liked the juxtaposition of the ancient old building (by American standards) and the fixtures of modern industry.The mill held the title of largest flour mill in the world for 40 years. Completed in 1881, it was owned by Pillsbury and operated two of the most powerful direct-drive waterwheels ever built. The mill is no longer in operation, its future being as housing, loft style apartments, the article says. As with the stadia, that strikes me as drearily boring, but as another application of that golden rule.

Bicycle news

Today was another of those days where it was pretty nice all morning but where the overcast rolled in shortly after noon and it looks like rain after 4pm. Oh, wait, that's not a problem any more.

As previously promised, here's the other Odd Fellows Hall that I ride past with regularity.Tom Zirbel and Kristin Armstrong continue to lead the local bicycle stage race, the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Meanwhile the major leagues of professional bicycling is holding a race in France this week, the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. This is the final tune up for most of the major stars of the sport before next month's Tour de France. It is notable, in part, because the race often climbs many of the same mountains that are climbed often in the Tour. At this point in the race the leader is Alejandro Valverde with Cadel Evans second and Alberto Contador in third.

This year's race on Thursday went over the Col de la Madeleine from the far easier northern side (only a Category 4) before the stage had a mountaintop finish on the out of category climb up Mont Ventoux, the Giant of Provence. Today's stage was dominated by the hors categorie climb of the Col d'Izoard. Tomorrow's stage features the hors categorie climbs of the Col du Galibier and the Col de la Croix de Fer with a just for good measure second whack at la Madeleine, this time from the hard side, although substantially tempered by a finish five kilometers from the top. Sunday's finale has only a category 1 as its hardest climb but the stage (and the race) end in the very mountainous sounding Grenoble.

Le Tour de France begins July 4 with an individual time trail 15 kilometers in length within the Principality of Monaco.

Traffic energy test

The sun came out today even as the temperature remained somewhat below the average. But by noon or so I felt like it was plenty OK for a ride.

So here's what I think of traffic at 12:30pm: It was a little disappointing actually. It was still pretty active.

I rode past the library. Construction has reached a new stage, they have started to tear the front off the old building.Actually I guess it looks more like DEconstruction has reached a new stage.

This was about 5 miles into the ride and by the time I finished with the photo about 25 minutes had passed since I left home. 12:55. Suddenly, miraculously, almost as if a switch had been thrown, traffic calmed. As the teenagers used to say, and maybe they still do, like, totally, completely calmed.

I rode to Vadnais. This is the first weekday ride to Vadnais in a couple of years, usually I wish to avoid a heavy traffic stretch on Victoria near 694. No problem at all at 1:30.

I believe I may have to rescind my earlier bird species identification. With less human activity the big blue birds were spending more time nearer to shore and I got a better picture.It is a little bigger than I thought and it does have the yellow bit on the underside of the beak which is supposed to be characteristic of the great blue.

I tried to get a couple more pictures but eventually decided I should stop harassing the wildlife and come home. I was home by 3pm just as traffic started to regain its nervous energy.

Minnesota Bicycle Festival

I followed some of the advice, sort of. My 8:30am appointment today was to go to the Nature Valley Grand Prix bicycle race as presented by the Minnesota Bicycle Festival. This morning's event was the Saint Paul Riverfront Time Trial. It was a shortish six miles, just under 10km. But after running extremely flat for the first 5.5 miles, the course rose dramatically nearly 200 feet in the last half mile, an approximate 8 percent grade.

We parked near the finish and watched a couple of the early female finishers and then walked down to the start house. Here is a view of one of the early female finishers on one of the ramps up Ohio Street.We arrived at the start in time to watch the first several men start. We were able to move right up next to the athletes as they rolled down the ramp. As is apparent from this Campagnolo component and full carbon rear wheel equipped Pinarello, this is a professional road race with racers equipped with the full gamut of modern racing gear.We left the start and walked back up the hill hoping to see the finish. Here is a view of another stretch of Ohio Street, this time with a couple of male racers struggling against the hill.Here's winner Tom Zirbel of Bissell Pro Cycling stopping the clock with the first place time.And here's celebrity Floyd Landis shortly after he stopped the clock with a time good enough to place him only 27th overall.As for me, this ride lots thing has gotten off to an uncertain start. It rained lightly for most of the morning. It stopped for a while but made a return appearance just after noon. Still by about 3pm it was dry enough even if a bit cool so I rode my bicycle. I finished a bit after 5pm (2 hour bicycle rides are saving my life). My main impression of finishing at 5pm is that it reminds me of why I don't want to start at 5pm anymore. At about 4:30 pm the streets being to fill with really, really large vehicles, a large percentage of which are being driven by angry appearing people in an enormous hurry. 3pm is better than 5pm, more impressions as they happen.

I waited for TOPWLH to get home and then we headed out to Stage 2, the Downtown Saint Paul Criterium. We were too late for the women's race but luckily enough the star was still hanging around. This is defending race champion and 2008 Olympic Time Trial Gold Medalist Kristin Armstrong.She did not win this evening's Stage 2 but her time margin established in this morning's time trial was sufficient for her to remain the race leader after the second stage. In this photo she is wearing the race leader's yellow jersey.

This is the complete women's podium after Stage 2, Armstrong the race leader, a "hill" points leader, a sprint points leader, a most aggressive rider and best young rider.Here is the start of the men's race.A group of four got away early in the race. As so often happens, it certainly seemed as though they had built a big enough lead that as time started to wind down in the race, that they would be able to stay away. However, a crash with only a couple of laps to go trimmed the group to three and Floyd Landis did a long, hard pull at the head of the pack and the break was caught literally at the final moment, on the last short straightaway of the 45 lap race.

Note to TT, that Italian guy that we directed to the start this morning was the guy who emerged from the pack on the last lap this evening to catch the final breakaway rider to win the stage. He was interviewed after the stage and spoke in Italian with that mechanic who was talking to him this morning doing the translation.