Highland

Wireless called with some news this morning. In the course of the conversation she assumed that it would be too hot today for bicycling. I demurred, insisting that it was a fine day and bicycling was definitely on the agenda.

She was right.

It was too hot. This winter I spent the most time outdoors since, well, maybe since forever, maybe the most time outdoors ever in the wintertime. Certainly I spent more time outdoors than any time since I had a job which required that I spend at least some time outdoors. That was a long time ago. So maybe my perspective is a bit sharper this year. Today was like a completely different planet. No complaints though, there have been too, too many ugly cold days already this year to complain about a little thing like heat. But it was probably too hot in the middle of the day for bicycling.

My plan was to ride down into the big city. The plan was premised on my presumption that I would be able to find many more shady streets to ride on than I would, for example, at the Fairgrounds. I also wanted to avoid the River Road and the spots where I got stuff sticking to my tires last week. I intended to cross the light rail construction project at Cleveland and work my way over to Saint Clair from which I could proceed south on Davern. Saint Paul has great street names, don't you think? Davern is named for William Davern. Davern arrived in Saint Paul in 1849 and owned the 160 acre farm between Snelling and Fairview, and between Montreal and Saint Paul Avenues. Davern Street runs right through the middle, halfway between Snelling and Fairview. Davern's house still stands at 1173 Davern Street. Davern was a farmer and a dairyman and at one time owned Pike Island. I know that Davern is a continuous street all the way from the river to Saint Clair, it seemed like it might be a good ride.

Shortly after crossing Saint Clair on Wheeler I started to wade my way over to Davern and then headed south. I very soon ran into all of this.Construction was everywhere. I avoided one small bit of it by taking an alley from Davern over to Macalester Street between, I think, Stanford and Wellesley, although it might have been between Berkeley and Stanford.

*pause*

Yes, someone naming streets had an affection for academia.

Macalester was also soon enough impassable and I had to take another alley for three or four of the short blocks between about Jefferson and Palace before making my way back over to Macalester, out to Randolph and back over to Davern.

Mostly what I discovered then is that Davern is not that shady. Did I mention that it was hot? I knew I was riding into the wind but even so riding seemed too hard. Did I mention that it was hot? It turns out that there is a good reason why that part of town is called Highland. Every turn seemed to lead to another uphill.

I rode down to Edgecumbe and circumnavigated the Highland glof course. I had reached kind of a high point at Edgecumbe and Snelling and I wanted to be careful about giving up my elevation. One truth about riding down hill is that you are going to have to ride back up again. Sure enough, I continued a long personal bicycling pattern and ended up at a water tower. Here is my picture postcard photograph of the Highland Water Tower.The Highland Water Tower is located at the highest point of elevation in the City of Saint Paul. Somehow or other, without really intending to do so, I had climbed the tallest hill in town.

*sigh*

I have another picture that is inferior in several ways to the picture postcard photo but which I am going to use anyway because it illustrates a story. Here is the historically significant brick water tower and the modern steel tanks which are actually in use for water distribution in that neighborhood.Behind the steel tanks is the glof course. There has been a major renovation since the last time I played glof so I do not know what hole might be back there but there used to be a par 3. The water tower was located slightly behind the green and probably 20 yards to the left, far enough away to be outside the stakes, out of bounds. I was playing glof with the Big Kid and probably Burt and either Nagel or Rod. The Big Kid teed off on the hole by hitting an epic pull. Those familiar with glof will know that a shot going far left for a right handed glofer is usually a hook, not a good thing. The Big Kid was a slicer and this shot was not a hook. He just dead pulled it way, way left. He also way overhit the green. The ball hit the water tower, remember behind the green and at least 20 yards left, clanging off the lower portion of the tower about 10 feet off the ground.

An epic bad shot.

The ball rebounded off the tower and came bounding back towards the green, eventually rolling directly for the hole. It narrowly, narrowly missed going in for the hole in one, stopping on the green, about 25 feet away from the hole.

That much good fortune should be rewarded but in this case was not. The Big Kid, as I recall the moment, three putted from there to take bogey.

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

It was too hot today, maybe I am delirious.

EDIT: To be fair to the Big Kid, he is now a regular glofer and at least as of the last time I played glof, which was with him, he is a very much different player than he was when he was an occasional player. He plays like a guy who plays regularly.

Here is the MapMyRide of today's route. Note the elevation.