I haven't been as inactive as it may seem

Hockey has begun (Gophers 6, National Team of Japan 0, Gophers 7, University of British Columbia 0).  And other stuff.

I missed a couple of days yesterday and the day before due to rain and wet streets but most of those other days I actually rode but did not blog.

On most of the rides I took a picture or two.

Here they are (but they are going to be out of chronological order).

This one is today.

Raymond Avenue between where I live and the big city to the south is under construction.  The car traffic has been diverted to as happenstance sometimes decrees the street where I usually ride anyway.  I get off Raymond and seek the alternate University crossing.

The bicycle detour is the same as the car detour.  I found that a bit amusing.

And as I said, that's the route I usually ride anyway.

It is NOT the prettiest part of my usual ride to the south.

Earlier this week I stayed on the Saint Paul side and rode down to see what if anything is up at the Ford plant deconstruction site.

The fence is up all the way around, no peaking.

No one will be allowed to, as I was earlier in the summer, ride right up to the front of the building for that up close perspective

Everyone stay across the street from now on.

I did find this, though, something I don't think I ever noticed before.

That's some sort of maintenance stairway down from the bluff level to the spillway of the dam.

Lots of steps that the step master has never been able to add to her total.

And notable because down there on the spillway we can see that there is NO water going over the dam.

That means that the Mississippi is not running at a particularly high level.  Which makes the fact that Minnehaha Creek IS still running at a particularly high level, well, peculiar.

I have been over there several times recently, it seems like once school starts that ends up being a pretty nice fall destination.

Note the citizen crouched under the edge of the ledge, I am guessing going for that really unique angle on the flow of the creek.

A really unique angle captured by about 10,000 or so photographers each and every season.

I myself, don't happen to have any from under there.

Chalk that off to concerns about personal safety.  Perhaps excessive concerns about personal safety.

Never mind.

A couple of days ago the wind was so strongly south that I instead rode east and west instead of north and south.  I ended up at Lake Phalen.

I have been there at least one other time this year but I doubt that it was as pretty that other time as it was this week.

I had a pinch flat while riding up to the Lake Street Bridge a couple of days ago.

High speed, major pothole, I felt it happen, expected it, but still very disappointing to reach the top of the ramp, turn onto the bridge and have the tire be suddenly, totally, completely, without the slightest amount of doubt, FLAT.

So here are some places where I rode when my tire was NOT FLAT.

This is a solar/w powered street light at the Fairgrounds.

I didn't notice it during the Fair but I have ridden past it a couple of times since and finally stopped to take a look.

Wind device specifically designed for an urban street environment and solar cells.  With battery back up good for up to sixteen hours.

*yawn*

I stopped for this one because I have never, ever, previously seen a boat at anchor in the main channel of the river near the Lake Street Bridge.

At first I was concerned about the navigational channel (as opposed to the river channel) but examination of the photograph will show that the sailboat is anchored outside the navigational channel markers.

That's just off shore from the University rowing boathouse so I assume that that boat is related to activities of the rowing club.

I did spend some time thinking about whether that boat can achieve a significant speed upgrade by getting up on the foils, and whether or not it can foil tack and any of that other stuff that Oracle can do.

I thought that sailboat racing thing ended up being a pretty major spectacle and lots and lots of good TV.  Who would have thought it?  Coming back from 8-1?

I thought at the end Oracle had a faster boat but they also had a better sailor.  That Ainslie guy kept winning the starts and even when he didn't win the start he always had something somewhere along the line to put his boat in front, impressive.

Interesting that the USA defender also had Russell Coutts, probably New Zealand's greatest sailor of all time and a now, I believe, 5 time winner of the Cup.

New Zealand defeats New Zealand, USA keeps the Cup.

So today I was at the Falls again.  I commented earlier about how much more enjoyable it is for me when I only have to share the park with a dozen or so of my fellow citizens instead of many.

Today it was many.

It was a great day, in the 70s (above average for the day), sunny, medium winds.

And, in fact, some of those people are not fellow citizens.  That group closest to the camera was speaking German when they went past me.

Another September look at the Falls.

Another great day to be on this side of the sod.