Family reunion

On a day when bicycle riding was a definite go I instead yielded, with pleasure, to family obligations. A family grouping from my mother's side of the family met on the old family farm for a bit of a reunion. This is special fun for all of us because on the piece of land farmed by my grandfather from 1907 to 1957 and for a bit longer after that by my Uncle John McCune, it has been established that a historically significant trading post existed for at least a couple of years in the very early 19th century, probably 1802 and 03. The old homestead is now an historic site operated by the Burnett County, Wisconsin Historical Society. There is a visitor's center, a reconstruction of the trading post and of a native village that probably existed next to the post for the years that it was in existence. There are interpretive tours as well.

There is a display inside the visitor's center of the Anderson family who owned the farm and lived on the land for almost all of the years when it was a family farm. The display includes a photo taken in probably about 1954 of the entire, at that time, family. This photo includes all of the people present today who are pictured in the 1954 photo, a couple of younger cousins, and one special guest. Family members will be able to, without difficulty, make all of the identifications.The interloper is a welcome one, the husband of a cousin pictured in the 1954 photo but not today, who has written a book featuring the travels of the family patriarch, my great grandfather, from Norway to Wisconsin and stories about life in Wisconsin. We met today to celebrate the publication of the book and to have Terje Nordberg, a native Norwegian, sign copies of his book for family members. Terje is at the camera right on the bench, John McCune on camera left, that's Charlotte in the middle.

We also met to commemorate the placement of a Minnesota granite bench. Funded by the family, the bench is in what Uncle John identifies as part of the corn field. It recognizes the family and the family's role in stewardship of this piece of land in the period between fur trading post and historical site.Here are two proud sons of this tiny piece of land standing behind a piece of granite which will for a long, long time into the future commemorate their attachment to that land.Almost immediately upon arrival I got a moment with Uncle John and he had a great story about the day when they moved the old log cabin from its original construction site to the place where we usually knew of it in the family homestead area. I recounted the story to my brother and he, slightly older than I, remembered that day. I got the three of us together and made Uncle John tell the story again.

The story involves a stump puller, peeled popple logs for skids, two sets of power to move the cabin, a team of horses on one side and a small John Deere tractor on the other. Both sources of power were necessary because Grampa and Uncle John did not think that either one acting alone would not be enough to make the move possible. Grampa stood on a plank across the skids at the front of the cabin, intending to control the horse team. Uncle John rode on the tractor. It had snowed about three inches the night before the move and in a slightly downhill move the cabin moved on the skids like a sled. The problem was that the horses, urged to start the pull by Grampa Richard, looked back to observe a house following them and spooked, running out of control down the slope. Uncle John stated that not only did the tractor not actually help but that it was being pushed along by the momentum of the horse team and the cabin. He said that he thought about bailing out because he feared that his position had become dangerous and untenable.

Instead he hung on and Richard did his best. The horses led the procession towards the area where everyone wanted the cabin to end up but also towards what had before the move been viewed as a tricky move between standing mature trees. The horses, Babe and Toots for those who know, much to the amazement even at this late date of Uncle John, pulled the cabin between the trees to more or less the area where it was intended to be and then stopped as if they knew that what they had done was what was intended all along.

Here is a photo of the reconstruction of the fort as it existed in those now more than two hundred year ago winters.The university researcher who rediscovered the fort did so on the basis of an extensive written record of life at the fort. However, a certain amount of luck was also involved. The searchers had narrowed the search down to an area where they hoped to find the fort. Without any physical evidence they were at the point where they were just walking through the woods in a area which they viewed as particularly promising. A neighbor across the river observed them and asked what they were doing. When informed of the quest the neighbor suggested investigation of a known to people in the area pile of rocks. The rock pile was unusual in an area of predominately sandy soil. The pile of rocks proved to be the remains of the fireplace at the fort. Investigation in the immediate area turned up charred timber. A full scale archeological expedition followed and the area is now a historic site.

Here is a reconstructed building outside the walls of the fort, part of the reconstructed native village.Eventually the group photo on the wall inside the visitor's center called out to us all and we took a group photo of all of current family members present, some sitting on the family bench.That's all of the cousins and spouses and even an errant creature that we were instructed to refer to as a rabbit. There we all are, acting like a family, which is, of course, what we are.

Progress report

Some, not much.Both yesterday and today I wanted to ride, as is my custom, into the wind. For both days that meant north. Because of the stuff on the streets of Falcon Heights I had to detour around that city before I could head north. This involves west into Lauderdale, south to Larpenteur, back east along Larpenteur to Cleveland, south onto the Farm campus, down off the hill onto the Fairgrounds, south out to Como, east to Lake Como, and finally north on Victoria, swinging back to the west along Roselawn again to rejoin the regular route at Hamline. To accomplish Falcon Heights avoidance I have to ride eight miles before actually starting to make progress towards the north.

There is some kind of law enforcement vehicle conference going on in the back parking lot of the Fair. They have a road course set up using cones and are out there test driving cars. That's sorta interesting to watch for a minute or two but it doesn't make a good photo. I do think this extremely unusual looking tent is interesting though.The whole round about ride is necessary because I don't want to ride even within a block of Falcon Heights. I could get south on Cleveland, for instance, but that's the Falcon Heights city limits. It would probably be okay as no city streets intersect with Cleveland but I really, really hate having to stop to clean off my tires. To get to the next street after Cleveland that goes through I have to ride all the way around the University golf course. Then to avoid Larpenteur next to and through Falcon Heights it is necessary to go all the way around the Fairgrounds. Then to avoid Hamline back next to Falcon Heights it is necessary to go all the way around Como Park and the only way to do that makes sense to me includes all the way around Lake Como.

I got the progress report photo on my only appearance anywhere near the city. I rode about half a block on Roselawn to get across Snelling headed west on the way home, turning instantly off once across main Snelling to take the Snelling frontage road. During that one half block yesterday I picked up four, yes four, new patches of oil on my front tire, including one which included an impressively large sized rock chip which the tar cemented to my tire. I say that there has been some progress because today I only got two new patches and the rock chip in one of them was smaller and not as firmly attached to my tire.

It was a nice day and as a result of the big detour I ended up riding a route completely out of the ordinary ride catalog.

Definitions

I have been riding past this pile of gravel for about a week.The pile is in the parking lot of Falcon Heights Community Park on Roselawn and Cleveland. With a nod to the Geology Guy I am going to go ahead and say it isn't actually gravel, it is crushed stone.

Anyway, it has been obvious that there is some sort of street project about to commence. I feared that it might be Roselawn as I REALLY ride there a lot, I was hoping that it would be Cleveland.

It was neither.

We rode directly into it after crossing Snelling at Garden. I stopped in time but the GRider (yes, she has been riding quite a bit lately) proceeded straight ahead through the oil coating and the crushed rock covering on the street. What we discovered is that Falcon Heights is doing ALL of their streets. That tar and toilet paper patch project from last week was only a harbinger, as of today all of the streets in that city are full on under repair, each sporting a sign "Loose Gravel". No kidding.

Well. This is horrible. I need Falcon Heights to gain access to almost anything and everything. The worst is that cars drive through that stuff and carry oil covered pebbles with them out into the otherwise unoiled streets. The result is that already by noon there are oil covered pebbles everywhere, EVERYWHERE within about a block of Falcon Heights. You get a few of those on your bicycle tires and until you stop to clean them off your ride is punctuated by a sound track of "click, click, click".

OK, this isn't quite BP oil spill in the Gulf oil on the beaches, but it is a royal pain in the butt.

*sigh*

Once we were free of the tar and had stopped to clean off our tires, we rode down into the big city. I was aiming for a specific destination but when we passed this spot the Guest Rider was heard to say, "Oh, our wedding florist." So we stopped and got a picture.Apparently this greatly amused an MTC bus driver as he stopped, opened the bus door and engaged me in conversation. His part went "Pretty as a picture". He was having fun and being nice so I filled him in on the wedding florist back story.

We rode on to Macalester. The campus, like most college campuses, is quite pretty this time of year. LOOK at Macalester.A close examination will disclose the building in the background is the college chapel (you should be able to make out the cross in the overexposed sky near the more centrally located of the two trees). They have a church right in the middle of the campus but I don't think anyone ever thinks of Macalester as a Bible college. Yes, I'll get back to that.

We rode to the Monarch way station. The Guest Rider wants to know when butterfly season is as she couldn't see any butterflies today.Someone should ask Susan.

*pause*

That would be you, lazerquest, if you should happen to be looking in on this one. It is only two cubicles down.

And while you're at it someone who has their phone number should call Central Region Trails and tell them they have a tree down mostly blocking the Gateway Trail.That's between Arcade and Edgerton.

I took that picture yesterday. I did ride yesterday but didn't blog, an unusual occurrence. I rode north and east into yesterday's wind hoping to get all the way to the northeast corner of the City of Saint Paul. I was riding along the north city limits and I came upon a spot that I hoped was the eastern limit. I took a picture. It was hot, I didn't feel like going any farther, it was uphill into the wind if I did go any farther, I had a picture, I turned back.

I got home and checked the map to discover that the eastern limits was still a mile further along from my turn around point.

I was so completely shattered by this turn of events that I was unable to summon the creative energy to post a picture and a few simple words. I feel better today, except for that oil and crushed stone business of course.

Unfinished business. I am willing to concede that Bible College has a specific meaning in an academic environment. I even thought that might be true while I was making the blog post. Please notice that I did not refer to the two institutions as Bible Colleges. I said we have Bible colleges in this town and we rode to two of them. I am not willing to concede that the academic definition applies each and every time the two words Bible and college are used in a sentence. I think there is a more generic non academic usage and by not capitalizing college I intended to refer to the two in that generic non academic way.

But I must say, I am a little surprised that someone who works at an institution which has a mission statement proclaiming its Christian faith and role in promoting that faith would find any fault with an off hand bicycle blog characterization of that institution as a Bible college. That mission statement has Bible all over it.

Lord Monckton

The local newspaper today includes a report of a trans-Atlantic insult contest which has erupted over the issue of global warming. The details of the controversy including video of both parties making their presentations on the subject are available linked at the end of the news story.

What struck me is that the Englisher, Christopher Monckton, who is also Lord Monckton, the Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, is said by the news report to have called the local institution of higher learning, the University of Saint Thomas, a "half-assed Catholic Bible college" and "a wretched little Bible college". Those who know me will know that I am generally not likely to rise to the defense of Saint Thomas but on this one Lord Monckton knows not of what he speaks. We have Bible colleges in this town and today GRider and I took a ride to two of them.

We first visited Northwestern College in Roseville. I know that the college continues to proudly proclaim that Billy Graham was once president of the college. Given Mr. Graham's well known reputation and acumen in the area of fund raising I am going to guess without a shred of evidence and without having done even a single second of research that Mr. Graham's association with the institution is not unrelated to the current idyllic location of the college campus on the east shore of Lake Johanna.

We rode on to Bethel University in Arden Hills. I do not believe Bethel claims any such illustrious figure as a former leader of the college but fund raising has been good there too as evidenced by the current idyllic location of the college campus on the south shore of Lake Valentine.Guest Rider for scale.

Today's bicycle bloggable moment occurred just shortly before we paused long enough for that picture. We were riding through Valentine Hills, a, surprise here, hilly neighborhood just west of the college. We were at the end of a downhill and came upon a family out for a walk. On the flat were what looked like oldest child, boy of 7 or so, walking ahead with his younger brother and younger sister. What looked like mom and grandma were still on the downhill which was about to be our next uphill, pushing a stroller with a still younger sibling.

The young fellow in the lead called out to me, "Cool helmet".

I gave him a thank you and a pouce up.My certified cool Rabobank helmet with water bottles, cycling gloves and George Hincapie sunglasses for context.

Anyone who has recently been to Paris must watch tomorrow's stage of the Tour de France when the riders arrive in Paris. They will be riding on what should be for all of us very familiar looking ground.

Name change

One of the things I love most about bicycling is that time on the bicycle is very exclusively my time. I ride along completely free to think about anything, anything at all. Sometimes I think about things that others might find important, lots of times I am just riding along spending as much time as I want thinking about not much of anything at all, something trivial.

I was riding along today thinking about the bicycle I was riding. I have shorthand referred to it as OldLOOK. I wasn't quite comfortable with that as OldLOOK seems to imply a downgrade in status. This is clearly a very nice bicycle, it doesn't deserve to be downgraded in any way. For example, today I was stopped at a red light. Yes, that's what I do at red lights, unlike far too many of my fellow riders, I stop, I am a vehicle, not a toy. A motorcyclist stopped next to me, took a long look and pronounced, "Nice ride". He was right, it is every bit of that.

So I was thinking about that and decided that OldLOOK just won't do. I was considering alternatives as they popped randomly in and out of my head. I had almost settled on OriginalLOOK which could be abbreviated as OLook when that eureka moment occurred.

FirstLOOK.

We have been buying corn from a person in a rusty pick up truck at the hardware store on Lexington and Roselawn for as long as we have lived in Roseville. There has been a changing cast of young people selling the corn. The last couple of years the young person doing the selling was the chattiest of any of them. Those who know us will know that whenever I go anywhere I am often accompanied by a person who is incorrigibly gregarious. The combination of these two individuals produced a lot more conversation than any year previously and eventually unearthed a back story. The young person said the corn was from her grampa's farm and that she would be there selling corn in the summer as long as grampa wanted to keep up the work of growing the produce.

We willingly bought into the story, the corn was always fresh and delicious and it seemed even a little bit better if we thought of it as grampa's corn. However, a few things have happened recently which have shaken our faith in the back story. First, the young person at the pick up truck is new this year. Last year's salesperson was dark haired and dark complected. This year's edition is blond and fair skinned. Then earlier this week I was there when a resupply truck was also present. The appearance of the person driving the resupply truck clearly indicated that his genetic material is of Asian origin. I was starting to wonder about all the various branches of this family tree. Today my ride took me north and west, towards New Brighton and looping back past Mounds View High School. I have to ride to Mounds View High School at least a few times each year because, as you may note, the location of the weather station for my sidebar WeatherBug widget is Mounds View High School. Anyway I passed this pick up truck at the Arden Hills intersection of Fairview, County Road D and New Brighton Road.The sign, the tent, it all looks startlingly familiar. It just looks to me an awful lot like the set up at our regular hardware store location, maybe not a coincidence. The grampa story was fun to believe but in the end what matters is the quality of the product. And we will both confirm that the corn has been with only a very few exceptions always fresh and delicious. I just hope they are not Moonies.

I complained recently about street work in Shoreview using the tar and toilet paper technique. I found this today on Garden Avenue in Falcon Heights.This is unpleasant as I ride there a lot, using that street for both the main north and the main south routes. There is, as always, a work around but I will be happy when all of that is over.

Here's probably the last look at that big maple tree the stump of which was being pushed over yesterday.Today it is being cut up, loaded, and hauled away.

I ride around thinking about not much of anything at all. Today I decided that I made a mistake in my blogging about the most recent ride of GRider. I said that the answer to GRider's question about the blue tires was that OldLOOK palps orange. Upon reflection I believe this is a mistaken use of language. What I should have said is this (including updated nomenclature):

On FirstLOOK I palp tires in an orange colorway.

Old steed comes back out of the barn

The Guest Rider noticed immediately. I was doing a couple of laps around the cul de sac while waiting for her to emerge from the garage. She didn't even make it to the end of the driveway before she asked, "What happened to the blue tires?" The answer is that the OldLOOK palps orange.

Today I rode the old bicycle. You don't have to ask, because that bike and I have unfinished business is why.

So, a ride report.

That LOOK is a very, very lightweight bicycle. Yet, it is noticeably heavier than NewLOOK. NewLOOK is scary light.

The fit is pretty close to identical but I did notice that the angles are just very slightly different. Both the upper body reach and the leg reach on today's ride were different than what I have been doing. It ended up being good, I felt increased effort from my hamstrings. Any position that puts your larger muscles to work is a good position.

The saddle is a little different from what I rode for the last 2,002 miles but the seat on the OldLOOK and I obviously have a history. The saddle felt, as it should, like an old friend within a mile or two. That's the same saddle I have on the Crown Jewel and on my Michigan bicycle. That translates to more than 28,000 miles on that particular platform, a tried and true relationship. I had NO trouble getting comfortable.

NewLOOK features a rear brake cable running along the underside of the top tube. OldLOOK features a through the top tube placement of that cable. NewLOOK is a compact or sloping frame which means that with less room between the bottle cage and the top tube and with a cable running there as well that removal of the rear water bottle is not always smooth. No such problem exists with the cable tucked out of the way on OldLOOK.

OldLOOK shifts a little bit better. This could be vanity speaking as I assembled OldLOOK, NewLOOK arrived having been assembled by someone else. The way I did it works better, that's all I have to say. Particularly the upshift on the front derailer is better on OldLOOK.

NewLOOK's brakes are in better adjustment. At least they were before I got home from the ride and for I think the first time ever used the barrel adjusters on both brakes to take some of the play out of the brake levers. OldLOOK should be just fine now.

It is a great, great bicycle. It has a lot of miles on it, miles past the expected life of some of the parts. But nothing has actually worn out yet and until something does it and I have unfinished business. After today's ride I have 18,208 miles on that ride. I think we can all see where this is going.

We rode out to Vadnais. There are a few storks still around but in numbers very greatly reduced from our last trip out there.There were quite a few geese today. That set me to wondering exactly what the dynamic is there. Did the storks leave and then the geese returned. Or did the geese return and then the storks left. I don't know.

I rode past the softball field construction site. There was guy out there with a back hoe pushing down the largish remains of the former maple tree.As I prepare to post he has finished his work and the trunk is now flat on the ground.

EDIT: OK, this is kind of late in the day but I just found this on BikeSnobNYC and it seems worth posting and I don't want to wait until tomorrow.

2,002 miles this bike, this year

Today I ended my ride with 2,002 miles on the NEWLook this year. This qualifies me to write a review.

The fit is spot on. The ride is comfortable. It is light as a feather. Nice bike. Definitely one of the three or four nicest bikes I own.I rode into a west wind and ventured all the way to Lake of the Isles. There is a public water fountain there and it seemed like a good spot to review hydration to that point and possible needs on the return trip. And to take a picture.

Or two.

Here is a view of the lake, facing a little north of straight west. Visible on the far shore is the entrance to the channel leading to Cedar Lake.I rode quite a bit on the Greenway multi-use trail. But before I entered the trail I found a couple of streets that I usually ride when I am in Minneapolis have new pavement. So that's good. But I was so enamored of the new pavement that on the return trip I missed my turn and ended up on a street that I usually avoid because the pavement is so horrible.

But it was fun and Minneapolis is always an interesting change of pace.

Tomorrow might be a good day for a rest day.

Fair play flying out the window

I tape the stages while I am watching. I have gone back and reviewed the tape. Contador is a weasel. The mechanical incident happened right in front of him, he saw it, and he attacked. Pollyanna and chief Tour cheerleader Phil continued to rave on about that's bicycle racing while Paul, the person in the booth who has actually professionally raced bicycles, said immediately that what he was witnessing was fair play flying out the window.

But that is all secondary for a group of us, a group that probably includes most of the population of France.The French national champion wearing the colors of his nation is the first within my memory (although Phil thought he remembered it happening once before) to wear the jersey symbolizing that he is the champion of France while winning a stage of the Tour de France.

Allez, Thomas. Bravo.

After the storm

Yet again a stretch of too hot and too humid ended last evening with a violent storm. This one was severe enough to chase us to the basement, a somewhat unusual occurrence. While we were huddled under the stairs, well, OK, not really, but we WERE in the basement, we heard two different media reports of a tornado sighting at Larpenteur and Snelling. That's only about a mile away.

The rain came in sheets for a while accompanied by strong straight line winds but nothing seemed to swirl, at least not in the area that we could witness. We didn't even lose power, the storm quickly passed and we went to bed a bit relieved.

Here's what we found in our back yard this morning.That's a cottonwood tree and a cottonwood doesn't need much wind to throw down a bunch of sticks. Still, that's about the largest one we have had down in quite a long spell.

I set out on my bicycle today to try to find evidence of the tornado. There are lots of sticks on the streets and even a few largish branches down over near Larpenteur and Snelling but no evidence of any tornadic winds at ground level.

This is about the most impressively damaged tree I came across while out riding.I came home to discover that TOPWLH had made a significant dent in yard clean up but she had left all the big stuff for me. I got my trusty Swede saw and after what I consider to be an impressively strenuous bit of manual labor for a retired lawyer, order has been more or less restored to the back yard.Those are different muscles than I usually use and I expect to be sore tomorrow. On the other hand, the bicycling went very well.

It was 90

Really?

Vinokourov?

Really?

For shame!

Today's ride was unremarkable, a familiar route on familiar streets. I did a version of the Shoreview water tower loop, a route I often follow when the weather seems a little questionable and I don't want to get too far from home. What WAS different is that the questionable weather I am usually dodging is impending rain. The sky was clear and blue today. The questionable weather was the 90 degree temperature.

I hydrated much better today. I typically arrive home from the two hour ride with only a couple of swallows of water in each of the two water bottles. Today both bottles went completely bone dry after 22 miles.

There was one aspect of the ride that was remarkable, however. I was pleased and surprised by how effortless the first ten miles were. I was just pedalling along, feeling good, little effort, going pretty fast (for me). Here is a look at my bicycle computer after I finished the two hour ride in just under two hours.I hit a bad spot around an hour and a quarter but rode through it and was feeling pretty good again by the end.

It was 90.

Mid summer

It is said that those things that do not kill you make you stronger. Today's ride therefore must have made me stronger. I admit, however, that I spent part of the early afternoon feeling as though I had achieved the other result. It was hot out there today.

While riding GRider and I both had occasion and opportunity to remark upon the miracle of evaporative cooling. It felt fine while riding but as soon as we stopped there was an almost immediate pouring out of perspiration. As we all know, you are actually sweating that much the whole time. But when you are riding the moisture is evaporating and the rider is being cooled.

So I think I lost a little too much fluid.

Note to self, on really hot days probably drink every four miles instead of every five. I am okay now.

In fact, I am feeling pretty chipper. As GRider says, there is a sense of having accomplished something after having taken a bicycle ride early in the day which makes you feel good and good about yourself for the rest of the day.

As for the photos, they are a trifle overexposed. I am not going to blame that on the heat. That was actually a vision issue. The first picture I took the camera tried to give me an advisory note of some kind but the printing in the camera back LED screen is tiny, I probably can read it if I really try, but I was on a ride, lighting for reading the back of a camera was less than optimal (too bright), I decided to just figure it out later.

The camera was on the "M" setting, manual. Wrong setting for today. I prefer the "P" or the "Landscape" settings. The "Auto" doesn't work properly anymore.

So here is the new softball field, Day 2.I tried to warn everyone who loved that old maple tree that yesterday was likely its last day and as it eventuates, I was not wrong. Even from our house, which is directly across the street from the starter museum visible behind the bare trunk, there is a very noticeable difference in the appearance of that quadrant of vision.

We rode over to the river and then backwards from my usual route, turning back to the northwest towards the University instead of heading further south into Saint Paul. I believe that today may actually have been the very first time I have ridden that route, although, of course, I have ridden that part of town many, many times. We passed through the University campus and emerged on more familiar ground at Ridder Arena.

On the way back towards the Transit Way we stopped by the new football stadium. The 87 counties of Minnesota each have a spot in the exterior wall. We got out of the heat into the shade to get a photo of our bicycles and the GRider near "our" county's spot.The corn is about eight feet tall. That is about as tall as it is going to get though, as a close inspection of the photo will reveal that the plants are tasseling out. The plants will now no longer channel all of that vitality into getting taller and will now set about the process of reproduction for the rest of their life cycle.

Where's GRider?On the subject of annual plants, TOPWLH (note how seamlessly she segued out her role as rider into her role as gardener) purchased a pot of annuals, mostly flowers, to add color to that part of the front of the house furthest away from her now into its second growing season perennial project. She told me that the pot of flowers included, unexpectedly, an egg plant. I was skeptical until today when she pointed out the vegetable growing amongst the flowers.The middle of summer, the middle of the season. It seems too soon, as it always does. The season is just too short. I love my bike.

Serious argey-bargey

That's what Paul called it, "serious argey-bargey". I checked the tape to be sure. But in a post stage interview Julian Dean, the recipient, had no complaints. "That's just sprinting", he said.

On the subject of dopers, while looking for the photo that I published yesterday I had occasion to look at some really old blog posts. It turns out that the picture had NOT been posted previously. I have a print on my refrigerator so I scanned it.

If memory serves, and it doesn't very well anymore, that photo was taken with a disposable camera, remember those?

Anyway, in looking at old posts I came across this bit of information, a quotation from an article published in 2007 by Sports Illustrated:

"If Armstrong is ever proved to have doped, he will have abetted his own unmasking. On Oct. 25, 1996, doctors opened Armstrong's skull to cut two cancerous lesions off his brain. Two days later the 25-year-old cyclist was in a conference room at the Indiana University Hospital. His Motorola teammate Frankie Andreu and Andreu's fiancée, Betsy Kramar, were among some half dozen of the Texan's friends in the room. When two doctors entered, Betsy's inclination was to give Armstrong his privacy, but, she testified at the SCA hearing, he bade her to stay.

One of the doctors, Betsy recalled in her testimony, asked Armstrong, "Have you ever used any performance-enhancing drugs?" Recalling the scene for SI, Betsy says that Armstrong was seated, gazing downward and holding his IV stand with his left hand, as he ticked off five drugs: EPO, growth hormone, cortisone, steroids, testosterone. Frankie Andreu, who married Betsy in December 1996, backed up her testimony."

You can't lie to the doctors who are trying to save your life right after surgery.

This will be one of the last pictures ever taken of this tree. Change is coming to the field next to our house. A new, regulation size, fenced softball field is being constructed by the land owners, the Roseville Area School District. The school district already provides over 20 fields for baseball, including a regulation full bells and whistles field next to the high school. As of this date the school district provides ZERO regulation fields for fast pitch softball. Someone finally complained and the district is preparing to take the very first step towards rectifying this can you believe this is still possible this late in the day imbalance. I have seen the plans, that tree, if left in place, would be just to the right of the pitching circle, in fair territory near the third base line.The removal involves a forestry technique that is new to me but that I suppose makes sense. They are removing a bunch of the roots before actually cutting the tree down.Other activities on the site include moving the fence in on the already existing youth baseball field. This is necessary to shoehorn a full sized softball field into that corner. It does seem just a tiny bit strange that they couldn't just replace that youth baseball field with the new softball field. Still, I have seen the plans and TOPWLH and I are generally OK with it all. If you want to control what happens on that land it is best to own it.

Here is an unusual use of rent a fence.I spoke to that state fair electrician and he told me that the fence in this case is not to prohibit people from coming into that area. On the contrary, there is a horse show going on there this weekend but the majority of the Fairgrounds will be used for another of our annual giant car shows. That fence is to keep the horse people IN.

There was no ride yesterday but that doesn't mean there was no bicycle activity. I complained earlier in the year about a flat tire on the NewLOOK after only 636 miles. I was worried about durability of the tires that came with the bicycle. It worked out OK though, I got to yesterday's mileage of 1,844 without further difficulty. I had those blue ones in cupboard anyway and although I was not yet having the usual wear problems (flat tires) I went ahead and made the change.I think the blue nicely offsets the graphics on the fork and tubes. I might be tempted at some later date to try the red sidewall tires but for today, as I say, I had those already in the cupboard. The result of yesterday's activity is that today I went out and wore some rubber off a new set of tires. Anyone who cares about such things and I for one am certainly in that category will note that the valve stems now line up with the center of the logo on the tire sidewall. I feel better.

A ride today would have been just wrong

Today you could almost drink the air.

The dew point this morning was 79!!!

In response to this photo, here's one from 2006.It's just another picture of one of those celeste bikes. Also note that those sun glasses feature "ram air surge ports" and are constructed of "unobtanium".

Bob is the gold standard but Drew isn't that bad

The two skinny climbers went at it again today as the ranks of those who can reasonably contend for victory was reduced to two. The recent success of the Spanish football team has reminded me of the many divisions in Spanish society. I decided that referring to the skinny climber in blue as Spanish was not politically correct enough so I did a bit of Wikipedia research. I believe it is safe to say that the skinny climber from Luxembourg has taken the yellow jersey with the skinny Castillian climber proving to be equal at least on this day and moving into second place. It is a good thing I did the research as I was slightly inclined to believe that the Spanish guy might be Basque.

The Luxembourger will be awarded a NEW CAR.

In other football news FC Nantes has already played two friendlies as preparation begins for the new Ligue 2 season.

Tuesday 10:45am is almost as nice as Monday 10am being only a tiny, tiny bit more busy. I rode mostly southeast into today's wind. I have noticed of late that the south wind seems to bring humidity. The north wind brings the dry and cool Canadian air, that stuff blowing in from the south isn't quite as nice. Today's ride took me through Como Park near McMurray field where I discovered the Mounted Police preparing for some patrolling.There wasn't much going on in the park today (see above comments about Tuesday 10:45am) so I think the horse police appearance was probably more for the benefit of the horses than for actual law enforcement purposes.

I appear quite likely to be out of town on primary election day next month so I need to vote early and absentee. In preparation for voting I rode past Roy's yard for information about which of the candidates is preferred for some of the lesser races.We don't live in Lesch's district so that one is irrelevant but the others are Sheriff, County Attorney, Governor and U.S. House of Representatives, all offices for which I have a vote. This photo is also posted as an aid to TOPWLH.

I came across this cow on the hill on the way up from Lake Como.That cow appears every year about this time. I assume it is related to the Fair but I do not recall ever seeing it over there. I will be watching more carefully this year.

Best time for bicycles

The best time is about 10am Monday morning.

Where did everybody go? There aren't even very many cars out.

The forecast promised partly cloudy and warming to the 70s, a perfect day. And it has worked out that way. The only complaint is that the time when I was riding was the cloudy part of partly cloudy. It was pretty grey most of the way, but cool and pleasant.

When I first starting riding to the Sucker Lake end of the Snail Lake Regional Park this was a softball field, complete with one of those crushed lime infields and a backstop.I cannot recall ever seeing anyone actually play there but I can recall riding through there shortly after a rain event and noting that the field did not seem to drain well.

Natural processes 1, Softball 0.

GRider was out there with me just last Friday and we always, always check so she can confirm in case anyone doubts, but this is a new appearance.

Guess what? Guess where?The storks are still hanging out at Vadnais. I got a closer look at those black water birds as a flock of a couple of dozen rose from the water at the near shore and scrambled into flight upon my approach. They usually are at rest in the shallows at the far side of the lake so this is as close as I have seen them. I lack credentials as a bird spotter but I am more sure now than previously that they are cormorants. I am currently on the look out for a video of cormorants taking flight. The take off of this morning's flight was distinctive.

The departure of the black flock also spooked a couple of storks so I got to watch those big birds lift off as well.

Here is my best stork photo to date:The exposure is a tiny bit short of ideal but the framing and context are both much improved from previous shots.

I caught only a couple of snippets of "The Price is Right" this morning but I am pretty sure that they gave away a NEW CAR.

Schleck! Spain!

A skinny doper rose up and stamped his authority onto the bicycle race and in a surprise to some it was the Luxembourger, not the Spaniard. I admit to being a bit surprised. But Schleck is the one I predicted to win.

We rode into a quite strong SW wind. That wind often leads us here:The Spanish football team had a better result than the bicyclist, prevailing 1-0. Spain scores in extra time to hoist the Cup for the first time in history.

Tomorrow is a Tour de France rest day. The football is over. There isn't any tennis. It seems like it has been at least six weeks since there wasn't at least one of those sports available for viewing. There was a very short break between the French Open and the beginning of the World Cup but that was over a month ago and the briefness of that pause causes it to fade in memory.

Tomorrow I may have to watch "The Price is Right".

2,000 miles

I began the year with the goal of riding 4,000 miles before the snow flies. An important way station on that quest has to be 2,000 miles by the middle of the season. The middle of a seven month season comes after three and a half months, July 16. Six days ahead of deadline I have arrived.

A bit of reflection: it was really hard this year at the beginning, harder than I can ever remember it being before. I suppose there is a good reason for that. But at long last I feel fit. I know from past experience that I feel most fit when I am averaging 20 miles per calendar day. It has been 38 days since I got back from France. The total for that period is 766 miles.

At long last, I feel good.

There are three explanations that I can think of for this photo, from Vandalia and Energy Park Drive:The first is they meant to do that.

The second is quality control issues at the seed company.

My favorite is the third, someone alert Gregor Mendel, there is an experiment going on here that he should take note of.

Here is a sneak peak at things to come.

Good year for corn

The standard training schedule for bicyclists at the start of the season is to increase mileage by no more than ten percent above previous longest ride. As I thought might happen, GRider was highly motivated by yesterday's stork photos and today wanted to try the more than ten percent longer than her previous longest ride trip to Lake Vadnais.

With apologies to our dafter's English friend, she was a bit knackered but made it without complaint.

And, as usual, the crown jewel of the northern lakes did not disappoint.We had a close encounter with a great blue. One was perched on a branch behind some trees at the edge of the right side lake just a couple of feet off the pavement. I caught a glimpse and we stopped within about 10 feet of the bird. It hesitated briefly but then took flight, first out over the lake and then back across the road and almost directly above us to the lake on the other side.

GRider pronounced it to be "huge". Compared to the other birds in Minnesota it is every bit of that.

Here is my best stork picture. The photo lacks the elements of a good photograph, no framing, no context, but of the pictures I have it shows the stork most clearly.We estimate that there are about three dozen storks, at least a dozen great blue herons and a smaller number of white herons currently on the lake. Most years there are geese but there are not very many this year. There are plenty of ducks, mostly green heads, and some other blackish birds that I think are cormorants. Here's perspective on the storks.It was a mighty fine day. As we neared home we paused for the highly traditional "Where's Waldo in the corn field?" picture.You can see her hand fairly well.

GRider spun off at this point, headed for the barn. I rode on a bit and in an event of interest only to those who have actually lived on our street, I was accosted at the corner of Roselawn and Tatum by Baby Kyle and his entire family, mother, grandmother, brother and sister. They paused, rolled down the windows of the giant SUV and we engaged in a quite pleasant exchange.

Nice day, nice ride.

Exotic fauna

I didn't say he was dead, I said he was mortal. Today he was the fastest mortal at the line.

Still, a cautionary note. Petacchi was coming. Watch the finish again if it is still available by the time you read this. Petacchi makes a move along the barrier on the right. Garmin is leading at this point and Tyler Farrar makes what he admits after the stage was a mistake. He moves to the outside of his lead out man, Julian Dean, when the correct move was to the inside. Farrar's move to the outside closes the door and Petacchi cannot get through. Out in the middle of the course Cavendish is the fastest.

We had a bunch of rain again yesterday afternoon, and it finally, FINALLY moved the muggy air mass out of here. Today was warm and sunny and quite pleasant. I think it might be just a tick or two short of being . . . wait for it:

OOTNDITHOD.

But it was plenty nice.

GRider indicates she might be interested in her weekly ride some day soon so I rode out to the lakes to once again provide some motivation. Along the way I came upon some street repair in Shoreview. Mine, and everyone's least favorite form of street repair is the extremely bicycle unfriendly oil and gravel. The tar and toilet paper patch is, if you get there too soon after application, nearly as objectionable (from a bicycle riding perspective only, obviously). Today I was out there enough after the fact so that the street was only interesting instead of a caution.I wish I had had this photo for that strange sign theme day. It strikes me as another example of people wanting to control property that they don't own. I am a little bit sympathetic, those train horns can be loud. But the railroad was there first. You mean you didn't notice the tracks when you built that house?Vadnais was spectacularly scenic today. I was looking towards the lake on my left as I rode through lining up potential shots. I glanced towards the usually less photogenic lake on my right and stopped immediately.It isn't completely out of question for us to get storks but it is without question unusual. There were about three dozen or so storks on the lake, you can see a big gaggle of them off in the distance behind the main stork in this photo. I believe that this is the more or less common wood stork.

Down at the end of the lake here are both a blue and a white heron in the same frame. The blue is a little hard to see but white is frame left, blue is frame right. There are also a few storks out there in the background.I was just sitting there admiring the birds and all I had to do was pivot to get this other white one. I think the white ones are commonly referred to around here as egrets. Once again, several storks in the background.Here is what will be regarded in certain circles (inside my house) as the biggest news of the day: The sweet corn girl has returned to the hardware store parking lot.