Yikes!

Yesterday I was neither a mad dog nor English.  I observed the TdF rest day and the widely advertised "heat warning" by taking a rest day.  I don't actually know if it was really hot out there as I pretty much did not leave the house, not even out to the mailbox, until the worst was over.

One forecast I saw for today predicted a bit more of the same but that turned out to be wrong.  Today was an extremely pleasant day for a ride.

The northwest wind worried me.  I had a bad experience out there last week with the loose gravel.  Yikes!  Today I discovered that the gravel is moving ever closer to me, now closing off yet another of my much ridden routes.

That's the corner of Hamline and Hamline.  I ride that street around the west side of Lake Josephine, oh, virtually every time I head north.

Not today.

I turned back.

I got over to one of the northern crossings of the extremely busy state highway known at that point as Snelling Avenue.  I hate crossing at those crossings up there for a couple of reasons.  The lights are interminable for the extremely busy state highway, you can sit there for a couple of minutes waiting.  And since there is a right turn lane a wise bicyclist moves over to the left out of the right turn lane to the edge of the straight ahead lane.

Which leaves you sitting out there in the middle of the street for a couple of minutes while cars go by you on the right.

Awkward.  I don't care for it.  And once you get across you are going to have to get back.  The set up from the other side is even worse as you are still sitting out in the middle of the street but also on an upgrade.

So I really don't go that way very often unless, as today, forced to.

I rode into the bible college campus (do you think that guy will show up and harangue me again about how it isn't technically a bible college?).  It's a really pretty spot on the shore of Lake Johanna.  They have a private contemplation island which I have never attempted to visit.  They have a sign saying "Private" and I try to respect that sort of thing.

But today I noticed that they have an asphalt path down to where the "private" sign is located.  I rode down that far to the bridge connecting the island to the mainland.  This photo is from the bridge deck looking out towards Lake Johanna.

They are pretty serious about private, it looks to me like they have planted a hazard to navigation in the channel to keep folks from using that piece of public waters of the state.

Aside:  information available to me from many years of toiling at the plant means that I know they really, really can't do that.

But private means private so I left.

I headed further west and got some north over on that side of town.  I was in Arden Hills, a municipality I visit only occasionally.  But at least even with Shoreview completely not available I still got out of town.

Eventually I got back into town and did a bit of exploration around Langdon Lake.  This looks to me like two extremely large hatches of geese (with a third just coming into view camera right) and an almost unbelievable lack of predation.

Family groups lined up in pecking order behind maman but so, so many getting beyond the duckling snatched by a snapping turtle stage.  Also, we have coyotes in our neighborhood meaning they MUST be over there too.  Are coyotes geese averse.

I thought briefly about riding that path visible camera left out across the isthmus between the two halves of what is also sometimes referred to as Twin Lakes.

I thought better of that plan before I even reached water's edge.

That many geese?  More than a little goose poop.

I turned back.

ESPN has a 90 minute edition of "30 for 30" starting at 7pm (8pm eastern) this evening entitled "Slaying the Badger".  Lemond defeats Hinault.  There promises to be excellent bicycle content.