Season ends

Today is the last day of the seven months when bicycling seems a reasonable activity in Minnesota. The end of the season.

Well, I am a bit short of the annual mileage goal but I can report that the post season begins tomorrow and that bicycling still seems probable. Although formally not part of the season it certainly seems to me that the part of November when daylights savings time is still in effect is, at the very least, an adjunct to the season.

Therefore even though I concede the end of the season I have not yet formally conceded on the mileage.

I rode today mostly just riding around Roseville looking for the leaf pick up gang. I found one truck vacuuming leaves up from the street gutters but I never actually found the main pick up crews. Also, they did not come to my house.

As further evidence of how absurd leaf pick up FEELS, here is what my back yard looked like late this morning.The afternoon sun made some of those yellows really striking (but hard to photograph). It was pretty out there again today and although a bit cool, it was a day that was quite definitely bikeable.

The season goes on.

Leaf pick up

The city is divided into zones. The pick up schedule rotates through the various zones with each year bringing a different quadrant of the city on to the schedule for early leaf pick up. And so, even though the cottonwood still has lots of leaves, the apple tree hasn't dropped a single one and the weed maples are only starting to look like they may give up soon, despite still having plenty of leaves in the trees, today we assembled the well oiled machine and moved at least $30 worth of leaves out to the designated pick up area.We have had much more impressive piles in other years but even so we all pronounce ourselves to be satisfied with this year's production.

National blog every day for a month month begins in two days.

Troubling new developments

As a person who bicycles a lot (massive understatement) I also spend probably more time than most at internet weather sites. Today the first one I checked had added "wind chill" to its "Current Weather Conditions" page. Equally as disturbing was what I discovered at the second site I checked. If you scroll down past forecast and the local radar you come to my personal favorite regional weather radar. I check that a lot. If you check the legend in the lower left corner you can see that rain is depicted in shades of green, mixed precipitation is shades of magenta and frozen precipitation is shades of blue with all three scales ending in red and then purple when the precipitation is heavy. After several months of considering the proximity and direction of the green blobs before heading out to ride I have begun to discover some disturbing magenta bits. Blue cannot be far behind.

The wind chill was reported as 41 when I started out today. Wind chill means nothing, of course, to a person who is prepared to be outdoors. I mean, come on, the effect of temperature and wind on exposed flesh? Who rides a bicycle at this time of year with exposed flesh?

It was actually a bit warmer today, topping out in the 50s, plenty OK weather for bicycling, particularly with the sun out and the trees still working on this whole fall thing. I rode farther away from home than I have been riding the last several days and ventured all the way out to the full 8 lakes tour. Along the way I found this attractive display by one of the brightly colored maples with a mixture of hardwoods in the background with some evergreens for additional contrast.And a nice blue sky.

At one point we heard some grumbling from Michigan that our lake names are a bit lacking in, oh, I don't know, quaintness. The short answer is that when you have 15,000 lakes you use up all the cute names right away and have to fall back rather quickly on descriptive names. So if there are snails in a lake, it is likely to get named Snail Lake. Those trees are on the corner of Rustic Lane and Snail Lake Road.

Rustic Lane seems pretty quaint.

I almost rode out there yesterday and only the appearance of a massive cloud bank while I was nearing the commitment point for going out there prevented me from doing so. It turns out to be a good thing that I did not, as the parks were restricted yesterday for the annual vermin culling.That particular notice is posted at Vadnais. At Vadnais non-hunting users are still permitted to use the paved areas of the reservoir property. Further up the road at Sucker Lake (I suspect there were suckers in the lake) all non-archers were barred from the park. Note that Sucker Lake is part of the regional park, Vadnais is the property of the Saint Paul city water utility. Slightly different jurisdictions, slightly different rules.

I spotted some non-vermin wildlife near the north end of the lake with some of those attractive mixed hardwoods still showing off in the background.It was a very pretty day and plenty warm enough for properly layered up bicycling, all in all another great day to have an excuse to be outside.

More new pavement

In a normal year I get to the east side of Lake Owasso quite often. There is a street over there where I like to go fast and there is also a tester of a hill that I like. Earlier this year I discovered a road closed that would have required hiking through the dirt every time I rode that route. Further, the closure was signed in such a way that by the time I became aware of it avoiding the dirt hike would have required a fairly lengthy backtrack and a tester of a hill that I do not like. I adopted a policy of avoidance and have not been back to that route since, until today.

I have been waiting to hear that the construction project was over but have not. It probably was expecting a bit too much to have the completion of the road work reported on MSNBC (you just can't count on Dylan Ratigan in times like this). Today I felt like checking so I steeled myself for potential unpleasantness and dropped down the hill from Rice Street towards the east shore.

Nice new pavement.They have also done some clearing of trees and underbrush around that slough in the right foreground. I have in the past seen a red fox entering that area but with the new openness I suspect Brer Fox has found new haunts. I also suspect that the openness reduces potential habitat for the vermin that is common over there, the white tail.

From the same spot I got this photo of today's still plenty of foliage trees. This is one of those new fangled maples, I believe.It was too cold again today but at least the sun stayed out for almost the whole ride. There isn't any noticeable warming from the sun but at least there was good light.

Still out there riding my bicycle in a gradually declining circle of like minded individuals. I love my bike.

Late fall

The sequence of color changing and leaf falling seems strangely disrupted this year. The yellows changed on more or less schedule but there still seems to be an awful lot of green out there. I spotted some oak trees in Shoreview that are doing their part.It was cold today, only about 46 when I started out. The sun was out for a while and while it was it was a very pretty day. But today I experienced for the first time this year full sunshine with no noticeable warming effect.

It was chilly.

Ride report

Cattle barn:50. Wind ENE 25 mph. Can it get worse? It rained the last two miles.

Sidewalk update

Weekends are OK but during the work week there are, like, workers, like, working on the new sidewalk. This means that there is a, like, work zone out there.

What this means is that cones have been placed across one lane of traffic to keep cars away from the workers. Then the remaining pavement has been divided into two traffic lanes by the placement of another row of cones. The photo illustrates the problem from my perspective.Every bit of pavement has been assigned to the cars.

It is not possible to ride my bicycle away from my house on pavement without riding for at least a short distance on some of that pavement.

*sigh*

It will all work out soon enough, there will be snow.

And that isn't even today's near death while on two wheels experience. I hasten to add that it wasn't my death. In fact, it wasn't even a bicycle.

Today I witnessed a white car driven by a white haired lady doing what cars blithely do, using all of the pavement because it is an absolute right of every car to drive anywhere it wishes on the pavement.

A motorbike, a moped I think they call them now, was approaching an intersection heading east. A car coming to the same intersection heading north just went ahead and turned left to be heading west by cutting the corner of the pavement on the shortest, most direct line. The problem, of course, is that in doing so the car went first into the south heading lane and then, while now heading west, into the east going lane and into the direct path of the moped. I was far enough away to not be personally endangered but I was close enough to smell the fear. The moped had to pile it into the curb where he was lucky enough to not bounce off into the path of the car. Loud cursing ensued.

The car drove away as though nothing had happened, because, for her, nothing HAD happened.

The new sidewalk construction includes the installation of a new curb along the edge of the shoulder separating the street shoulder from the sidewalk. It remains to be discovered by actual use whether or not this makes bicycling on the shoulder more or less safe. Stay tuned.

Only a little above average - but nice, very nice.

The wild temperature extremes seen so far this month can make feeling that whole average thing pretty elusive. Today was just a tiny bit above average and it was way, way nice.

I started the ride having already moved down one magnitude in gear and even so ended up removing a couple of articles during the ride. Some of the nicest days of the season are some of the last days of the season.

I wanted to ride over to the main campus despite wind direction. We had mostly WNW and I wanted to head SW, meaning a head wind on the return. I tried to mitigate the problem by being a bit circuitous both coming and going. On the way out I toured Lauderdale and cut back through the Saint Paul campus. Most will know that they have cows on the lawn there.Pretty idyllic looking, don't you think? A wonderful day for hanging out on the mall if you happen to be a college student.

This one shows what a pretty day it was in the immediate neighborhood. Anyone who wishes is welcome to invent their own caption.Mine goes something along the lines of I didn't even know that the legalization movement had advanced that far in this state.

I was gradually getting closer to campus. I knew this street wouldn't take me to TCF Stadium but I wanted to see what was down there anyway. I thought it was a nice sort of edge of town look at an intersection that is actually immediately adjacent to the railroad yards just across the tracks from the stadium. It was pretty there.Here is what I was really looking for. This is the view at about 20 minutes to kick-off at the intersection of Oak Street and University.For those who may not know, the University of Minnesota colors are maroon and gold.

What then, you might ask, is the deal with all of those people wearing red. Red is the color of the Gopher opponent for today, the University of Nebraska. We have often heard tales up here on the tundra about how well Nebraskans support their state university football team and how many of them will travel to away games to express that support. This was Nebraska's first opportunity to show their red in Minneapolis as a member of the Big Ten Conference.

I would say that the Nebraska fans lived up to their reputation. By the way, Nebraska 41, Minnesota 14.

I rode through that crowd and it was harrowing. There were very, very many people who were seriously distracted from their driving and walking (and bicycling). Surprisingly though, it wasn't pedestrians who were the greatest danger. Usually it is pedestrians who scare me the most. Pedestrians are usually totally, like TOTALLY oblivious to the possibility of a bicycle being in their immediate vicinity.

Today it was such a huge crowd with so much going on that pedestrians had to, for their own safety, be hyper-aware of everything going on around them. It translated into them being aware of even bicycles.

Often when I ride I get a comment from someone or another along the lines of "Nice bike". This occurs because when I am riding I am almost always riding a really nice bike. Today my bicycle and I were exposed to a crowd of the sort that saw many, many more persons than usual observing my bicycle and I got not a single "nice bike". I did, however, get a "really nice mustache" from a red-clad Nebraska fan. I was waiting for the light to turn (as was he) and we had time for a short but very cordial chat about my facial hair.

He said he would really like to have a mustache like that. I heard his comment before I turned to look at him (I was intent on the traffic situation). When I turned to look I saw that he had full facial hair with nothing very remarkable going on. I informed him that it doesn't happen overnight and advised him to start working on it.

It was a nice day at the Bank for those dressed in red.

I'll be back

I have ridden to Ridder Arena lots of times before and have even posted at least a couple of photos. However, it is a rare set of circumstances that produces a day on which I can visit Ridder twice in one day, the first on my bicycle.And the second to see a hockey game.

But today was that day. It was warmer today, close to the average, but the same brilliant crisp sunshine hung around. It is still definitely still bicycling season. What is unusual is the overlap between bicycling and hockey.

Big time college athletics requires long seasons. Women's hockey begins about October 1 and won't be done until early March. Today was actually Minnesota's 8th game of the season and their 6th home game.

Minnesota 7, Mankato State 0.

November 2

Today must be November 2 because yesterday certainly felt like November. I rode my bicycle but did not blog. It was cold, in the 40s, a strong north wind, and with leaden skies. I know what average means and those days earlier in the month in the 80s means that over the long run there are going to be days just as much below average in temperature as those where above. I had sorta hoped that they wouldn't arrive so soon.

And today was cold again, still 40s, still a strong north wind. But the wind has blown the clouds away and today was cold, crisp, and beautiful.

I rode out to Lake Vadnais. It has been a bit since I was last there and fairly obviously I missed the big deciduous show. Luckily enough the angle of the sun through the John H. Allison Forest still produced really interesting views.Here's a shot of the lake at an angle seldom photographed by me, that's the northwestern shore line of the eastern lake.Today's news:

Everyone who owns a bicycle go ahead and raise your hand. OK, just about everyone.

Everyone who has ridden 1,000 miles on that bicycle raise your hand. OK, still quite a few.

Everyone who has ridden 1,000 miles on that bicycle this year raise your hand. Now we are starting to cut down the crowd a bit but still a nice collection.

Everyone who owns two different bicycles on which they have ridden 1,000 miles this year now raise your hand.

I still have a hand up.

1,014 miles this bicycle this year.

Turning the corner

At my stage of advanced maturity I am subject to a gradual loss of flexibility in all of my body parts. This manifests itself in very visible ways like the whole shoe lace fastening problem and in other notable ways like the creaking joints but it is also present in diminished capacity in my respiratory system. Diminished capacity means I have a smaller margin to absorb a reduction in breathing efficiency. What this all means is that when I get a little case of the sniffles the treatment that I followed as a young man is no longer effective. Of course, treatment as a young man consisted pretty much of a nap and a glass of orange juice following which I was usually good to go.

Now I have to lie down for a week.

This point in the rapidly closing season is no time to lose a week off the bicycle but I lost a week off the bicycle. Today I felt better and decided to give it a go. I believe I have turned the corner and bicycling can resume.But my goodness, what a change in conditions since my last ride!

It was about 84 and a touch muggy, uncomfortable for October when last I rode. Today it was 48 when I started. But it was sunny and clearly crisp, the wind was manageable, it was a pretty day.

Today's sign of fall is this fall maturing grass.It is more stunning looking from the other direction when looking into the sun. The sun filtering through those seed tops is pretty spectacular but unfortunately, also pretty much unphotographable, at least with a cheap pocket digital. But actually, the scene is still pretty nice even from this angle.

I haven't posted anything from the flower yard in my neighborhood that I have posted often in years past. It appeared every time I rode past there all summer that something had changed and indeed, something has changed. The master gardener over there has gone with an all fall flowering side yard.Tuesday France tied Bosnia 1-1 to advance to next year's big international football tournament.

But the most surprising corner that has been turned in French football is the turnabout suddenly underway in Nantes. On Friday FC Nantes defeated FC Istres by 3-1. This makes 6 games in a row without a loss, 3 wins and 3 ties. If the disappointing exit from the Coupe de la Ligue is omitted FC Nantes has a record of 5 wins, 4 ties and only a single loss in league play since their two disappointing 2-0 losses to open the season. Despite those early appearances FC Nantes has rendered themselves relevant in the league table, having now risen to 5th, just 2 points away from the promotion zone.

Hope springs eternal.

I win at MegaMillions

Calm down, note that I DID NOT SAY THAT I WON. I had a win.Three of the five "white" numbers and the MegaBall, $150.

No, it isn't mega millions, but as the old saying goes, it's a lot better than a sharp stick in the eye.

I decided that it was too windy today for bicycling. I took a walk instead. It is a good thing I got photos yesterday of the yellow leaf trees as the wind is stripping them today. It looks like October out there.

This afternoon at Stade de France les Bleus had their way with Albania, 3-0. I erred earlier in saying the final qualification game was away. France can grab a spot in Euro 2012 with a victory in Saint Denis on Tuesday against Bosnia-Herzegovina. BosHerz did their part in setting up the final match up by winning today at home against Luxembourg 5-0. France needs only a tie to advance.

Parade of orange

I heard on the radio this afternoon that the predicted low for overnight tonight is within a degree of the average daytime high for tomorrow. With conditions such as this persisting for yet another day I was out riding around on my bicycle.

The morning newspaper seconded my announcement that the leaves are at a peak. The leaves are pretty spectacular and today the sky was too. This is mostly going to be about maples and orange but here is an Ash right next to my house.This one is very close to home, only a couple of blocks away. That tree is close enough to my house that I walk past it several times a week during the winter time walking tours.Not every tree has completed the color transition but some have already dropped their leaves. Peak is an ambiguous term, the morning newspaper, for example, is emphasizing that the leaves are at peak because soon many of the early changers will have dropped their leaves. The one left front is over but the others haven't gotten the message that they should give it up.These are the will make your eyes water trees, still working their way up to peak.I actually went looking for this tree. I remembered that there was a pod of brilliant orange near Marshall and Cleveland last year. This one is at Dayton and Wilder.The cottonwood tree has been throwing down leaves all day long. The configuration of our house and the evergreen wind screen creates a lee spot at the front of the garage. Leaves get exiled into that spot from the main wind patterns and settle down to stay. I have to go out there several times during the fall to clear off the driveway.Independent Fabrication Crown Jewel Special Edition custom build for scale.

Deja vu all over again

The day was a close copy of all the last few days. TOPWLH was enamored of yesterday's route description, it was places she had never been. So today I rode the same route (except for the bridges) with a GuestRider. Here she is after we emerged into the south end of Minnehaha Park, river gorge in the back ground and some hints of the Ford Bridge may show up in the overexposed far background.We rode to the Falls again but this time instead got a photo from the other side of the pavilion of what is happening in the main park.The peak is coming very rapidly, the oranges and reds, the yellows are all here now, some still only mixed with the greens, but the colors are all here now. If it isn't the peak right now it will be within the next couple of days.

So anyone who loves autumn should get out tomorrow and find a spot with mixed hardwoods and that low in the sky sun angle and soak it all in.

Another gorgeous day in Minnesota.

Conte de trois ponts

Wind conditions today convinced me to stay close to the river rather than venture into the heart of the big city. We have a ways to go before reaching what the tourism board calls peak color but the trees along the river are a'changin'.

I had to add some extra foofarol at each bridge as it was necessary to get off the River Road, get up on the bridge, try to line up an interesting photo, and then figure out the least painful way to get back onto the River Road.

Here is the Marshall Avenue bridge looking upstream. All photos will be facing upstream as the sun position dictated photos taken in that direction. Here the problem of lining up the photo was that I was trying to line up the Franklin Avenue bridge between the spans of the railroad bridge in a way that would be visually interesting.The sky was a not as blue today as it has been. Those wispy clouds are a harbinger of something, probably something cold.

Also note that I have gone with the Saint Paul centric naming conventions here. People in Minneapolis have another name for the Marshall Avenue bridge. *sniff* They are wrong. Note also that for the Franklin Avenue bridge, that is Minneapolis on both sides of the river, so it is Franklin Avenue on both sides. For that bridge people in Minneapolis are correct.

I rode on down past the big new house (some will know what that means) and repeated the whole up onto the bridge thing at the Ford Parkway bridge. Actually for this one I think even a lot of Minneapolis people call it the Ford Parkway bridge.The Marshall Avenue bridge is visible in the distance.

My final bridge was the Highway 5 bridge at Fort Snelling. This one is tricky as it involves having to dismount, put my cleat covers on, and then carry the bicycle down about 25 steps from the River Road level to the freeway level while wearing bicycle shoes (with rubber cleat covers). Then the photo is a little tricky because it is a freeway, which I guess means that the railing on the bridge has to be about 7 or 8 feet high with closely spaced bars, I assume to discourage jumpers. The other two bridges make no such provisions, I wonder why they did it here.I had to almost completely cross the river to get to the vantage point to take that photo so as long as I had gone that far, I went ahead and completed the trek. Note: far end of bridge? cleat covers, 25 or 30 steps again up to the level of historic Fort Snelling.

I knew there was a bike path along the side of the bluff from Fort Snelling State Park down to Minnehaha Falls city park so I rode around the historic old stone Fort and descended the steep trail down the bluff into the state park. I found the path I was looking for easily enough and started down it towards Minneapolis. There was more traffic on that path than I expected but that was because I expected no one. There were only a few.

The result of riding that path was that I found myself passing this place again.And it was pretty again today. TOPWLH and I were examining the photos and video taken over there a few days ago and were puzzled by that white line through the photo just below the top of the falls. We thought it might be a piece of grass or a trick of the light or something. Today I took a close look, it is a rock layer. If I was a geologist I would explain it. I am not a geologist, I just pretend to be one around my family. I do know from having geologist friends that the rock that the Falls goes over there is sedimentary rock, rock laid down in layers. So one of the layers is quite light colored. Thanks and a tip of the Hatlo hat to Dennis and Heather. Some will recognize the Hatlo hat reference.

I had crossed back on to the Saint Paul side and was riding along the River Road on my way home. There are several stop signs for major streets heading off into the city and as I approached one I could hear brakes squeaking on a vehicle approaching me from behind.

I totally paused at the stop sign and was expecting the noise making vehicle to pull alongside and be revealed as either a rust bucket pick up truck or maybe an about 1992 Ford Escort.

Lamborghini.

I rode along in gape mouthed amazement.

Dude, it's a Lamborghini. Your brakes squeak.

Checking the news from elsewhere on the internet I see that even though bicycling season is not yet over that I am now free to start working on evening up this really silly looking tan on my left hand.This is good news.

Construction update

The official high yesterday was only? 79. I have heard reports of 80 and I believe it. Today promised more of the same so I planned on a bicycle ride.

The wind was ESE and I thought I might do the Capitol loop. I was still riding in the neighborhood getting warmed up but had started off in the usual direction that I travel for this route (south) when I found the headwind a tiny bit troubling. It occurred to me that the Capitol loop is a triangle and that the direction I was heading would lead me to doing two of the three sides into the wind. I changed my plan.

Instead I headed directly into the wind figuring to do the upwind part while I was fresh and hoping to get tailwinds on the other two legs. This meant that I rode down Como to the Capitol. I stopped at the Capitol overlook to get a view from that elevated position of light rail construction in Saint Paul. I took this picture which is not a picture of light rail construction, but it does include a crane, which therefore does indicate construction. But the reason why I took this photo is because I think I see the place where I used to work. Every day that goes by makes that part of my life more remote from my current existence.I miss my friends but on a day like today I am totally at peace with riding a bicycle instead of sitting in the office.

When you ride a familiar route in the opposite direction from the usual it is a completely different ride. For example, that exhilarating downhill from the Cathedral to the Capitol is a bit of a tester when done in the uphill direction. But I rode up to Omnium on Cathedral Hill to check in with Dan. The proprietor, Dan, has always been an admirer of the yellow bicycle and has on several occasions asked me when we would see it again. I was riding the yellow bicycle today so I stopped off to show it to Dan. The P-ster calls him Fuzz.

The photo yesterday was taken at Summit and Albert. The artist intended to display that the Marathon was over but that clean up was only in the early stages.

This is going to be one of the prettiest spots in Saint Paul some time in the next couple of weeks. It is a spot I have photographed before. The leaves on those maple trees are going to go to a sublime shade of orange and when the autumn sun hits them at just the right angle it is going to be pretty enough to make your eyes water.I have to start riding past there as often as possible to try to catch that moment. Today it is too early, the maples have only just started to change. I think they actually look quite attractive, though, and it only gets better.

I rode through the Fairgrounds on the way home, also something of a change, that is usually a part of the ride out.

EG: no report, apparently they noticed -196F and have shut that one down until repairs can be made.
CB: Lots of people at the cattle barn today, moving stuff out after the big weekend horse show. 73.
AOWG; 86!!!!!!

Cows:When I did have a job I used to say that there were not enough days like today in any one person's life to justify spending very many of them on the fourth floor of a building with windows that do not even open. With apologies to my friends who still have to do that, I spent today on the right side of the inside/outside divide. It was another OOTNDITHODs.

Marathon Sunday

It was probably a bit too warm for the runners this morning participating in the Twin Cities Marathon. It was even a little bit surprising for bicyclists as I saw several riders dressed for yesterday. Above average temperatures, sunny skies, light breezes, an excellent first Sunday in October.

By the time I got over to the marathon course they were taking things down. This is on Summit Avenue at the corner of either Albert or Pascal, I'll have to check the next time I am over there to be sure.In important football news FC Nantes scored a late goal and has tied Havre AC 1-1 in le Havre. All road points are good points and Havre in particular has been a thorn in the collective sides of the various editions of FC Nantes all through this Ligue 2 ignominy so this is double rewarding.

No game next week as all domestic leagues take an "international break". France will be continuing qualification matches for Euro 2012 with a Friday home game against Albania and a Tuesday visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina. France is currently first in Group D. Only the first place finisher in each group earns automatic qualification. Tuesday's game is big as Bosnia-Herzegovina trails France by a single point and has been very good at home.

Fall Falls

We had frost again over night but by riding time the day had warmed quite nicely and bicycling broke out. A southerly wind enticed us down into the big city and we ended up crossing the Mississippi into the even bigger city. The niceness of the day had not gone unnoticed by other citizens of the metropolitan area, it could just as well have been July considering the size of the multitude at Minnehaha Falls. Still, we were able to corner just a tiny piece of the stone wall with enough tree to provide a little shelter for the camera lens for an otherwise directly into the sun photograph.As with many things in life, it is all about location.

In what many will consider to be an upset, I actually MEANT to take this video.

My video skills are clearly up the upswing.