Thumb levers

I was out riding a bicycle today and miraculously discovered beneath my thumbs these little levers which when depressed shifted the gears.

Gear heads will know that after an extremely brief fling with my only locally owned Shimano equipped bicycle that today I resumed my long standing cooperative agreement with Campagnolo and Campagnolo equipped bicycles.  I love my thumb levers.

If I was riding a road bike that means I must have got those tires changed.  I don't know what I was riding around in the last time I was out last fall but the tire change that I completed yesterday was an eye opener.  I usually do a wear inspection of the old tires as I change them out to see if the old ones merit being kept around the garage as emergency tires.  This time the inspection revealed glass embedded in both tires.  The front tire already had a tiny break in the cord and a resultant incipient bulge that I knew about but the glass was a surprise.  Even after removal of the glass bits neither tire looked like a keeper and both went into the trash.

Riding through glass.  Ugh, makes me shiver just to thing about it.

I noted yesterday that the remaining ice in that shard of Island Lake would likely be gone today.  And it was.  That's my first official ice out announcement of this summer.

Since it IS summer I thought I might go by the beach for a view of citizens at play.  Here is the Lake Owasso north end beach.

Down there next to the lake it is actually still pretty brisk.

It was only a tiny bit further out to get a view of Lake Vadnais, undoubtedly the first of many this season.

It was a tiny bit brisk there, too.  I watched for a bit and did not notice any citizens making use of the new multi-use trail between the two lobes of the lake which I take to mean that the trail is not yet officially open.

The real problem at Lake Vadnais today was that to get to that vantage point I had to right a mile and a half outside what had to be considered to be a reasonable riding radius given early season fitness level.  I was officially too far from home.

But I made a stop a the bike shop for a chat and a breather on the way home, and a look at the new fire station going up across the street.

And, made it home.

I love my thumb levers.  And did I mention?  That bicycle is SCARY LIGHT.  It weighs nothing at all.

Here is the long awaited football update:  FC Nantes held first place at the half way mark of the Ligue 2 season but has not fared quite as well since football resumed after the winter break in January.  Nantes had only 2 losses in the first half but has recorded 4 losses in 15 games thus far in the spring campaign.  Meanwhile, AS Monaco, second at the break is on a 16 game unbeaten streak, last losing in week 17 on November 12.  Monaco is now first, leading second place Nantes by 7 points with four games to go.

All is not lost as the top three will be promoted to Ligue 1.  In its most recent outing on Friday FC Nantes picked up a much needed away victory winning 0-1 at Chamois Niortais.  FC Nantes is now 6 points ahead of the fourth place team and only a major collapse could deny them promotion.

Of course, the football news that most people have heard about is the UEFA Champions League upheaval which saw the two German teams defeat the currently much favored Spanish sides by convincing margins to introduce the strong likelihood of an all German final at Wembley on May 25.

Bayern Munich 4:0 Barcelona

Borussia Dortmund 4:1 Real Madrid

Of course, both games were the first of a home and home series and both were played in Germany.  Even allowing for Barca and Real being at home next week it seems quite unlikely that either will be playing in the final.