1,020 miles this bicycle this year

It was definitely not a good day to be closed up on the fourth floor. The day was sunny and warm and fall produced spectacular light, ideal for outdoor color photography.

This was obvious to me even before I got out of my own driveway. This is the neighbor's ash tree silhouetted against the cerulean blue sky.I tried later to line up one of our own ash trees for a similar shot but sun angle and the realities of landscaping in the two yards means that I got a much better picture of the neighbor's tree than I got of our own. Suffice to say that in person our tree looks pretty much the same as theirs.

Once I started to ride I rather quickly passed a significant mileage milestone. This is the second bicycle on which I have ridden at least 1,000 miles this year. I have never done that before. I also venture to say that most people have never ridden 1,000 miles on any bicycle in their entire lives.

I am plenty OK if that last bit sounds a little boastful, I meant it to be.

I took a new route around Sucker Lake, looking for a geographic feature that I had noticed on Google Earth. I found what I was looking for and also came across this striking display by some sumac.Of course, we all know that sumac is a weed. Still it makes a nice show once each year.

Did I note that it was pretty out there today? The jewel of the northern lakes seemed pretty outstanding today.I have two odometer functions on my bicycle computer. One notes miles up to 1,000 in 1/100 miles increments. The other notes miles up to . . . well up to at least as many as I have so far. This leads to a moment once every 1,000 miles when the two odometers display the same digits. Here is where I was today when one said

191.91

while the other said

19191.

Exactly the same display except for the decimal on one. I thought it was fun and stopped to photograph what I could see from that spot. The pelicans are still in the lake. This is the other half of Lake Vadnais.Then down at the corner of Lake Vadnais there is a shallow spot where a great blue heron has been hanging out most of the summer. This bird has been in this spot long enough to become a bit acclimated to the presence of humans on the road at the edge of the lake and no longer spooks and flies away if you try to get its picture. Instead it seems to stand and pose.Here's some more color, this is another neighbor's tree, a maple this time. This one sprung into my field of view as I neared home and demanded to be pictured.Done.

While I was trying to get a picture of our ash trees I instead got a nice photo of our sun dappled backyard and deck. You can also see a tiny bit of the foliage on both the back and front ash trees.I had a small mileage month for September, the second lowest recorded since I started keeping track. But of the miles that I needed at the start of the month to reach my annual goal I managed to ride half of them in September. This means I need only an ordinary October and I will reach my goal. In checking the log I also noticed that I have nine straight Novembers when I have at least some miles.

I rode my bicycle today on OOTNDITHOD. I hope everyone else enjoyed their day as much as I enjoyed mine.