Today I am going to use the word "Wowsers"

Wowsers, what a nice day!

There was a pretty strong south wind so I knew a northern ride was not going to happen. Even so, I rode out to the Hamline portal zone and checked street conditions. There is still no sign of sweeping so any northern rides are still slated for the Axis.

Neighborhood Watch note to Basketball Season Ticket Holder: There was a guy with a brown goatee putting something inside your screen door when I rode by your house at about 1:30. It looked harmless. By the way, can you get someone of at least Assistant Director level to get back to me with an official explanation for the patently outrageous claim that the Minneapolis paper reports was made by someone in the Legislature that the state doesn't even know how much land it owns? Actually, of course, never mind, I know the answer. I haven't been retired THAT long.

I discovered a three step solution for the strength and endurance problem still plaguing my bicycling. Here it is:

1. Remove about 50 percent of the weight of the bicycle.
2. Replace the high rolling resistance low pressure, wide tires with something with less rolling resistance, maybe high pressure narrow tires?
3. Have at it.

The Axis actually doesn't usually ever completely escape its storage spot in the rafters of the garage. I ride it less than a couple of dozen times a year and for the last couple of years at least I have hoisted it down for each ride and lifted it back up when that ride is over. It spends virtually all of its time hanging upside down like a bat waiting for the sun to go down. But because I hoist it down and lift it up regularly I have a pretty good feel for how much it weighs.

Today I carried Lightasafeather out to the garage. I says to myself, "Self, this is a whole different deal." I knew I was heading south, I knew that the streets in that direction are almost all OK for high pressure narrow tires.

Here is a NewLOOK at Fairchild, the official mascot of the Minnesota State Fair:Well, now, this is a REALLY, REALLY nice bicycle. I have been out on the new bicycle. Closed circuit to TOPWLH: THOSE are my summer cycling shoes.

And how was it? It was a first ride, that unique moment when the daily ride odometer agrees completely with the total miles odometer and it was FINE. As I suspected the fit is spot on. Whether the saddle is comfortable remains to be seen but it is the same brand I rode on the OldLOOK so I feel fairly confident. It felt a little different today though because it is a different brand than what I have been riding on the Axis. General impression: Wowsers, this is a REALLY, REALLY nice bicycle.

It was a great, great day and I was riding my bicycle. Somebody find something in that for me not to like, otherwise I am just going to say, one more time, "Wowsers!"