Not a single thing demanded to be photographed

Geez, what a nice day.

As usually happens about the time I start to get a little stale on potential rides in one of the two main directions, the wind shifted around to the other side and today I headed off to the south.  The Fairgrounds is officially off limits until after the Great Minnesota Get Together but the State Capitol is still accepting visitors.  I went that way.

But not a single thing demanded to be photographed and I returned without any pictures.

Almost.  I was only about a mile into the ride when I spotted the first harvest activity at the farm campus.

I am a little reluctant to identify that machine.  It looks like a grain swather but it is really tiny.  The modern versions of that machine are HUGE.  The crop there is clearly wheat but it appears to have been planted in tiny square plots with room left between.  Then there is the fact that the wheat having been mowed down has been gathered into bundles and left on top of the truncated stalks.

My guess is that there is some very serious experimentation going on there at what is, after all, officially designated as the Agricultural Experiment Station.

So I was out riding and I was having a pretty nice ride, cruising down Summit Avenue, downhill with a tail wind.  I turned on Cretin by Saint Thomas and got over into the middle lane for the turn onto the river road.  From there I generally hook right at the first opportunity, I think it is Exeter, and then after a one house width on that street turn left onto Otis.  Imagine my surprise, without warning Otis is covered in oil and gravel.  I kept going straight and at the next intersection there was gravel going in both directions.  I continued on and kept finding the same deal all through that stretch.  I ended up having to cross Dayton even though that entire intersection was graveled, no where else to go.  I then turned left on Marshall seeking some relief.  Alas, down at Otis the gravel has been extended across Marshall to the north side.  Just before the bridge I found the river road and then eventually Pelham to be sans gravel.  I wanted to head over to my usual hill approach but that whole area sort of west of Pelham where I usually take the hill was more of the epidemic.  Pelham (long ugly hill, not terribly difficult but long and ugly) got me back up over the freeway and then I caught a break at the light at University and I thought I was home free.  But then it turns out that all of the streets in South Saint Anthony and Saint Anthony Park have also been treated.  Huge, huge area of gravel.

Como Avenue was gravel free and I at long last escaped and made my way home.

Horrible, horrible gravel news from Saint Paul.  What this means is that all of my usual routes to the south are gravel threatened, all of my usual rides to the north are gravel covered.  West is nothing at all attractive for riding.  Looking east, I am probably reduced to riding to the Gateway Trail or perhaps Lake Phalen, both OK rides but never on my list of favorites.

*sigh*

The big bicycle news for the day though is new tires.  I have been riding this year under the it turns out to be mistaken assumption that I started off this year with new tires.  I was checking the cumulative log for some other purposes when I glanced at the "new tires" column.  It turns out that I rode about 450 miles last year after putting those tires on.  I put the new tires on this afternoon after the ride and only then did the calculation.  I always, always get at least 1,600 miles, I am pleased with 1,800 and 2,000 miles is generally cause for some minor celebration.

Total on this set of tires was a to me astonishing 2,222 miles, a new record for any two tires.  And those tires went all of those miles without a single flat.  It almost seems like a shame to throw the rear tire away as maybe it should go into the tire hall of fame or something but throw it away I did.  I keep the front tire as an emergency back up should something go wrong with the current tires before their time is up.

Michelin Pro 4 Race Service Course.