Capitol loop

We were watching the Stanley Cup playoffs on TV the other evening.  The local professional franchise is participating so when the games are here you get TV footage usually on the return from commercial featuring some sort of local landmark or scenic spot.

The one that caught my eye was a very scenic looking shot of the front of the Capitol building and the beautiful south lawn.  It looked a lot like this photo taken in 2009:

I says to TOPWLH, "That doesn't look right".  Because I happen to know that the beautiful south lawn was turned into a parking lot and I wasn't aware of the lawn being put back in.  Weather conditions cooperated today, I decided to ride on down and take a look.

There are two routes that I commonly take down there, the wind direction today recommended the most direct route.  It is only about 8.5 miles from my front door to the spot where I today took this photo.

Yup, the parking lot is still in place and furthermore the shrinkwrap still covers the entire front facade of the big, immensely distinguished government building.  I did read in the daily news paper today that there was some progress with the figures of the gold leaf sculpture there on top of the main building in front of the dome.

So progress, but mostly, under construction.

I hadn't been down there yet this year so I saw a bunch of stuff I haven't seen for a while.  Here is some sort of modern traffic furniture set up.  This cannot possible work, how are they going to re-train all of the old people to negotiate that, especially in their Buicks.

Some will recognize that I have been to that spot before so at least some of that previous bit was intended as "jest".  I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.

Today I rode 450 degrees of that roundabout, first a 180 or so to get the sun angle and tulip view that I preferred for the photo.

Still tulip time.

Then I rode another 270 and departed the intersection towards the north and home.

I understand from the young people that I have contact with that all activity with this modern means of conveyance is conducted on their smart phones.

Apparently there is an app for that.

I was thinking to myself that perhaps I should do some research on this as the day is coming when I will be out there on my bicycle and recognize that I am unlikely to make it home under my own power.

I know, I know, that day doesn't seem, like, imminent, or anything like that.  But I can tell it is coming.

It would be probably be handy to be able to pull out my phone (which I do carry and which is nominally smart) and locate a motor vehicle.

I was pondering all of that as I rode when within about two and a half blocks I rode past this.

A passing pedestrian and I had fun making jokes about this "telefon" booth.  We both thought it unlikely that there actually is a phone in there but on the other hand if I went in there with my smart phone then there would be.  Further I would be fulfilling my often stated to Wireless belief that people using their phones in public should either have a box over their heads or perhaps should try to use their "inside" voices to avoid the current practice of having every person within shouting distance being party to the "private" conversation.  No wonder these people don't seem to care that the government is engaged in widespread warrantless collection of data about all of our wireless activities.  And as long as I am on a rant, to those of you using "bluetooth"?  Please, shut up, I am not interested in the mundane details of your pointless life.

I probably went a bit too far there.

Here is an exotic flora update.

It appears that at least a fair amount of that stuff is indeed, despite the growing zone here, perennial.

Including some nice yellow tulips.

Tulips in bloom.  Nice day.

Tulip time

I suppose this is not one of the dates of the official Tulip Time Festival but if not someone should have notified the tulips.

This is our local tulip array.

When last heard from I believe I was campaigning for a rest day.  As usual, be careful what you wish for.  I was rewarded with a rest WEEK.

But I was out there again today.  The shoes worked out pretty much OK and the chain lube was a success.  The chain lube removed all of the clicks and creaks that my bicycle acquired when I replaced the cog and installed the new chain.  Quiet.

As expected with new shoes I confirmed that my left foot position had gradually softened to slightly off directly above the pedal.  I am back on top now.  However, as usual, a very, very minor change in position means that the muscle groups are preforming in a slightly different manner.

Sore knee.

Beautiful day, mid-60s, obviously sunny, only a light wind.  And the tulips are in bloom.

New shoes

It has been cold for sure but it has also been extremely unpleasantly windy.  We have also had an occasion of what was probably best labeled as sleet and about 10 minutes the other day when it was flat out snowing and blowing snow, pretty ugly.  The possibility of bicycle content has been pretty low.  But I dug around under the chair and came up with the shoes I bought a couple of years ago when they went on an absolutely crazy price reduction sale.  I knew I would need them eventually.  I have had a lingering period of dislike with my old shoes.  The velcro has gotten iffy and now I am also dissatisfied with the position of my foot with relation to the pedal.  It feels like the left shoe has gotten old and no longer stiff enough to maintain proper foot position.  It feels like my foot has gradually migrated over to slightly not directly on top of the pedal.

Today's no bicycle riding day featured mounting of cleats and preparation of the new shoes.

Tomorrow's bicycle content still seems most likely to be chain lube but resumption of actual riding could well occur by no later than this week end.  In some ways, no worries, I already have more miles this year in April than I had last year in April.

Mid-season?

In some ways it certainly seems like mid-season.  For example, it doesn't seem possible but I have rides on seven days in a row.  That's mid-season like ride repetition.

And I am starting to feel sort of . . . like, almost strong.

However, there are lots of indicators that it is still early season.

Like, just as one example, the first pink flowering shrub of the year.

Very pretty, I thought.  So pretty that I stopped to take a photo.

The one indicator that very, very clearly says early season though is that even if I am starting to have moments while riding when I feel strong when I actually arrive home I am mostly without mistake knackered.

Still, it's pretty nice to be out there riding around thinking I might actually make it back to where I was last year.  And even though I am knackered I am a tiny bit less knackered each day.

I am a year older and not a single thing has gotten easier.

Here's another giant that has left the neighborhood, that makes at least six.

Just looking at the bark and the cross section of the logs and the fact that clearly the homeowner has made an effort to get all of the trunk pieces shortened to fireplace size meaning to me that he wants to salvage the tree as firewood I am going to identify this as the loss of a very large oak tree.  They don't seem to have anything on the house there that looks like a fire place chimney but if I am correct that it is an oak then they have maybe salvaged enough oak fire wood to be sold that may be sufficient to cover the cost of the men who came out and created that pile of former tree parts.

It was a nice day, eventually into the 70s, very light wind, I got all the way to Vadnais for a second time already this season.  That's probably not mid-season though.  I think I need at least a dozen times to Vadnais to declare that I have reached that level.

But it was another very nice day and that cottonwood at Lake Vadnais clearly demonstrates that the trees are budding out.  It is still April but it is no longer even early spring.  I know that it can still be 32 degrees on Memorial Day but for now we will take it.

Another nice day.

Kitchen composition

Most often I compose the most significant parts of my blog post while out riding around.  It is a big part of what I love about bicycling, the opportunity to ride around not doing much that requires significant mental activity which allows me to just think about other stuff.

Today's post on the other hand was mostly composed while cooking well after the ride was over.

TOPWLH declared today that she was interested in having her bicycle prepared so that she too could get out and ride around.  I scoffed.  I have records, I could check but I don't really have to check to know that she probably has zero miles lifetime during the month of April.  She has a handful probably in May but June is when she usually gets out there.

But on the other other hand this year really isn't like most other years.  I myself already have more miles in April of this year than in April of last year.  And of course, I have March miles this year, something I did not last year.

The weather clearly isn't what the weather was last year.  Maybe, just maybe, we will have enough days when it feels warm enough and she will get her wish for an early start to her season.  Stay tuned.  One needs to keep in mind that it snowed just 7 days ago.

Then there is this.

I fully recognize that this is not in the same league as an earlier view of the early spring falls as seen elsewhere on the internet.  But I do have to ride over there on my bicycle in order to get a picture and today was the first time that riding over there on my bicycle was an actual option.  I think it is still a bit interesting as that is probably the last two patches of free range ice and snow still existent in either of the two giant cities just to south of where I live.

It was about 68, not a good snow preservation temperature.

I never noticed this before.

LBJ visited the Falls in 1964 amid some controversy.  There was a drought so in order to provide the POTUS with a spectacle water was pumped into the creek upstream of the Falls.  Apparently this is where he was standing for the photo opportunity.

I find it interesting that he appears to have been wearing square toed shoes.  Remember those?

I passed through University Grove on the ride out.  Maybe these are going to be coming fast and furious.  Here is the first not white flowering shrub.

Hooray for yellow.

When is the next rest day?

The season is officially on when I am starting to look for a chance for a day off.  I have now ridden 5 days in a row including in those days more than half of the miles I have ridden so far this year.  I could use a little help here, April.  Maybe a short round of some of those famous showers?

But I don't really mean it.  I love my bicycle, I love being able to be outside in weather where being outside is enjoyable.  Today I did still feel a little sluggish even before I started and that's what got me thinking about a day off.  But we all know that rest days always, always show up sooner or later.  Long range forecasts are now pointing to rain on Sunday.

We had a southeast wind today.  That happens to be a wind direction for which I have a very often ridden, extremely familiar early season route.  This route gets me home with less than the standard distance, which seemed like a good idea today.  But which also lets me if I feel like it ride the near in loop to get the number of miles I want.

The ride starts off along the extremely familiar almost always ridden route to the south.  And here it is, the first flowering shrub of the year.  Spring has sprung.

That should look a little familiar, I have photographed those exact bushes at the start of at least a couple of other season.

Or it may not look familiar as between the two is evidence that another giant has recently left the neighborhood.

There seems to be an inordinate amount of that going on this spring, I can think of at least 5 very large trees gone since the snow melted.  Personally what I think is happening is that the giant wind storm of now nearly two years ago that killed our front yard spruce also killed a bunch of other trees here abouts but the homeowners are only just now facing the facts and admitting the loss.

Meanwhile the BigNewTree is coming into its second growing season in our front yard.

Near the shrubs I passed one of the numerous in that neighborhood rain gardens.

The volunteers have been out and cleaned out the residue of last year's garden but that thing could definitely use some rain (see above).  It is dry, dry, dry.  Eventually there will be cardinal flowers there if ever enough moisture gathers to get their feet wet.

The southeast route requires a tour de Fairgrounds.  This is another first, the very first thing I have observed that was packed away somewhere for the winter but has now reappeared on the grounds.

Desoto, in need of some paint.  It is at this point parked across the street from where it spends the rest of the season.

That radio station building is one of my personal disappointments on the Fairgrounds.  That's a faux log siding and just aluminum panel structure.  Up until either two or three years ago they used to put up an actual log structure for the Fair every year.  It would be up for the Fair and then dismantled and removed to reappear the following year.  I once asked the crew about it and it was just like Lincoln Logs or something, the pieces were actually numbered and reassembled the same way every time.  An actual log building has considerably more charm than what is essentially a storage building with phony log siding on the front.

Across the Green Line

Another day too nice not to ride.  Yesterday was long pants and a jacket, today was short pants and arm warmers.  The temperature rose during the ride and eventually I pushed down the warmers and my arms were bare too.

A wind shift led me off towards the south.  Chastened by yesterday's punishing overreach I had no destination in mind for today although clearly there are places that I ride to a lot, destinations, off in that direction.  Even without a destination in mind I made it the farthest south I have been so far this spring.  I got across University and a short distance down into the big city.  I took a break on the way back and waited for the train.

Some will notice that I was waiting in the shade in front of a store which caters to the cat crowd.  Others will notice that there is a bicycle sales emporium on the far side of the street.

Then as I neared home I passed this milestone.

I always think round numbers are fun, especially big round numbers.

Achieving that mileage probably crystallizes my mileage goal for the year.  Very clearly I need at least 2,000 more miles on that bicycle before the snow flies.

Today was only hard (which is what it is supposed to be).  Yesterday was excruciating.  Today was better.

Esoteric bicycle content follows.

I ride around looking down at just about that view a lot.  I have often commented to myself but never on this blog about the warning posted on the stem bolts.  Maximum 5 Nm, 5 Newton meters, about 3 foot pounds.  I am always a little surprised by that, that isn't much force at all.  Please note that I am the owner of a torque wrench and when I installed that part I torqued it to 5 Nm.  It has never slipped so clearly that is enough.

Overreach

Yesterday it was 75 and I DID ride my bicycle.  Generally if I ride, I post.  No post yesterday.  The problem was that I had a theme in mind and I spent pretty much the whole ride thinking about paragraphs and topic sentences.  The photograph was going to come near the end of the ride.  When I arrived at the photo spot the guy had moved his trailer.

No photo, no post.

I did also want to report that I found two different websites that were streaming the English language feed for Eurosport of Paris-Roubaix so I got to watch the last hour and a half or so of the race.  Some German guy won in a bunch sprint inside the velodrome at Roubaix, the first bunch finish they have had in many years.

What I got out of the race coverage though was some spicy gossip about one of the leaders being under suspicion for his relationship with a "certain race doctor".

So the bicyclists are still not riding clean (looking at you Froome and Contador).  But on the other hand neither is major league baseball clean.  Baseball just announced the second 80 game suspension so far this year for pitchers testing positive for steroids.  I also note that I recently read a newspaper article about a pitcher for the local club who had very poor results last year but who has returned to the team looking "noticeably bigger and stronger" after as the pitcher reports it "participating in the team's off season weight lifting program".

Baseball still quacks like a duck.

But back to local cycling, yesterday I stretched the ride a bit, that's what one is supposed to do early in the season.  I reached the largest number of miles possible finishing with an even number of miles but being less than what has in recent years become the "standard" ride.  It was HARD, but not that hard.

And I too wanted to achieve a destination ride.  I figured today was the day, a little bit more stretch and I could do it.  It was 75 yesterday, only about 55 today but the still extremely punitive wind had switched around from pretty much cardinal South to pretty much cardinal West.  I convinced myself that I could ride the 10 lakes tour.  That ride is mostly north, leads absolutely to a DESTINATION, but does feature some time riding cardinal West on the very end of the return leg.

So I made it today to Lake Vadnais.

I was hoping for wildlife but saw only a single loon.

A bit earlier in the ride I passed by the former beaver dam site.  The water looks very suspiciously high.

There doesn't seem to be any current at this spot, the culvert inflow.  I rode along and took a good look at the creek on the other side of the culvert and it seems about the same height and about the same lack of flow.  So if there is a dam it is somewhere else, somewhere farther downstream.

This was a surprise though.  The east side of Owasso vermin herd has expanded from three to five.

And they are absolutely bold.  That photo is taken without any zoom whatsoever.  I am sitting on my bicycle, stopped within about 30 feet of those animals and they fear not even the slightest amount.  Mostly they didn't even raise their heads to take a look a me.

So I did it, I got the "standard" ride, a destination.  And it was a pretty big mistake.  I started doing the caluculations fairly soon after leaving Vadnais and I quickly figured out that I had nearly 4 miles of West with a bit over 2 miles of due West very near to the end of the ride.  Before I started the ride I expected that I would be fine with that but it turned out that I was not.

Really hard.

Really, really hard.

Home now.  Not a single thing gets any easier.

Start and stop

The season where I live has been start and stop.  I believe I mentioned that it snowed a couple of days ago.  But today it was 60 at the Cattle Barn and the wind was only punitive in that one direction.  I am not really strong enough yet to get a l-o-n-g ways from home so the ride options continue to revolve around loops near home.  I rode the down hill into the west wind Lauderdale loop, the tour de Fairgrounds, a Como loop and then the optional through the neighborhood loops when I got near enough to home.  All in all, enough, I felt pretty good.  At about the 12 plus 1 mile mark I actually rode up on a party of 3 (2 recumbents and 1 road bike), chatted with them for a bit and then went on ahead.  Today I was faster than a middle-aged couple on recumbents and their riding partner.  It is probably important to note, of course, that they were NOT racing.  But then again neither was I.

Isn't Paris-Roubaix tomorrow?

Late last year I first discovered and then revisited with the GRider a boulevard display of exotic horticulture.  When the two of us were there we discussed how much of it could possibly be perennial and what ever did they do with the large plants which seemed like they had to be annual in this growing zone.  Today I rode past the same boulevard and got a better perspective on spring time in the exotic flora world.

Expect periodic updates.

I was over there in the neighborhood and I was mostly riding east and west to avoid that one direction where the winds were punitive.  A little bit further east I came across our local public artificial turf soccer fields in use.  See, it must be spring after all.

Careful observers will no doubt note that it is lacrosse, not futbol, on the fields today.

I have read some stuff about the bridge reconstruction but I had not actually been there myself yet this spring so after crossing Lexington I took the long way around the lake and cut back over to see what I could see.

It truly is a major reconstruction, it looks to me almost like they have kept the cement arch and virtually nothing else.

Too nice a day to stay inside and anyway I love my bicycle.

With bicycle racing starting to pop up on my radar, here is an interesting piece on former rider, Lance Armstrong.  As I believe I said at the time, I easily believe that he cheated but I forgive him.

Snowing

Pretty hard to photograph snow but this one came out OK.

No ride today, all day rain and cold eventually turning to snow.

Here's some bicycle content though, here's the new chain immediately after installation.

At this point I haven't even lubed the new chain.  Personally I like the contrast of the new chain as it passes over the cassette.

Ksyrium Edition Speciale Dixieme Anniversaire wheel set featuring the one red spoke just for fun.

My thoughts on being undefeated

It was overcast and kind of clammy today, I decided not to ride.

But shortly past noon the temperature emerged above the 50 line and a glance at the weather radar convinced me that the 20 percent chance of precipitation advertised by some outlets was not going to occur.

Yesterday was not quite warm enough, today was a tiny bit warmer and just for good measure I dressed a bit more warmly.  Specifically I took measures to assure that I would preserve more heat for my head and my hands and arms (light weight balaclava, mittens and long sleeve base layer for those keeping track).  I rode pretty much the same route as yesterday and I am pleased to report that even though yesterday's ride seemed quite a bit too much like a near death experience, today I survived quite nicely, thank you very much.

But it was grey out there, really really grey.  It was so grey that as occasionally happens there was never even the slightest motivation to produce a photograph.  Grey doesn't make a very interesting image.

But that's okay, this is the photograph I was always going to use anyway.

As I say, given the widely reported on bouncy ball squeaky shoes (that's what hockey fans call basketball) event of late last evening this seems like a moment when I should revisit my thoughts about being undefeated.

The person second from left in the back row of the photo can recite this although probably with a slight roll of the eyes as she has heard me say it many times.  I think TOPWLH maybe can also give the full version.  It is a two part statement, I will provide the first part and maybe someone will complete the sentence for me.

If you want to be undefeated . . .

Not quite warm enough

This morning TOPWLH looked out the front window and pronounced it to be a very pretty day.  The sun was out giving that clear crisp blue sky that often appears when it isn't quite warm enough.

It was 48 when I headed out and I guess I should wait for 50.  It wasn't quite warm enough.

I have the gear so I wasn't actually chilled.  But I never really got warmed up.  And as we all know, riding in the cold is harder than riding in the 70s.  It was hard.

Then the clouds rolled in.  So it was already not quite warm enough and then the radiant heat from the sun was removed.

The positive element of today's ride was that the gale force winds of the last couple of rides were considerably subdued.

I headed north for the first time.  My previous miles this year were all ridden in Roseville, Lauderdale, Falcon Heights and Saint Paul.  Those communities are all quite nearby, all within a couple of miles.  Today I went to Shoreview.  That big new building out there on the shores of Island Lake turns out to be apartments, now available for rental.  Shoreview water tower for perspective.

I didn't make it all the way to Vadnais, that is probably going to have to wait another week or two.  Vadnais is still a teensy bit outside of my range.

I did visit another of the northern lakes for the first time this year though.  Here is Lake Owasso from the south end.

Winter is over but the greening up aspect of spring hasn't really kicked in yet.

Except at the neighborhood tulip patch.

The greens are future tulips, the flowers are not.

I think the yellow are croci, I am unsure of the white and the two shades of purple.  Whatever they are it was pretty refreshing to see this display on April 4.  As I noted earlier, last year on April 4 we had a foot of snow overnight.

This is better even if it was not quite warm enough for a bicycle ride.

Early start continues

I keep a BikeLog so it is a snap to look stuff like this up.

Last year I got my first ride on April 9.  The log also notes about a foot of snow overnight on April 4.

This year?  Well yesterday did reach a new record high of 83.  Today the sun continued, as did the very high winds.  It wasn't 83 but something in the 60s with sunny sky is a big improvement over a foot of snow overnight.

I was up early.  Around the time that the plant opens I heard a bunch of unfamiliar noise outside.  We had this a couple of days ago as well when it turned out to be yard guys working on the two lawns behind us.  Parenthetically, to me it seems a bit early for yard work.  The deal is though that these are hired yard guys and bidness is bidness.  Today's unfamiliar noise turned out to be . . . the street sweepers.

Last year this event occurred in late April although lamentably the BikeLog doesn't note the exact day.  I can still determine approximate date by other matters that are pinpointed in the log.

For example, many can probably guess that if the streets have been swept that I now have one fewer bicycles in the basement.

Last year that bicycle didn't make it outside until April 24.

All of this means that the season is pretty much on.  And on at a much earlier date than in recent years.  Spring riding is hard but it is a teensy bit easier when the work required to ride is reduced by dint of riding a bicycle that weighs nothing, nothing at all.

The Big New Tree looks nice, I think, although both of us eagerly await the new growth.

Hooray, hooray, the first of . . .

Still not I guess.

But I checked the BikeLog and last year on April 1 it snowed.

Today it was 80.

So that's different.  The morning newspaper reports the record for the date was 82 and it is at least possible that we got more than that today.

For example:

Everyone knew it couldn't be long before that venue appeared in this space.

It was extremely windy though, so windy that I came as close as I ever have come to being blown over by the cross wind.  It was close to the end of the ride and I was getting tired so that may have had some effect but the wind along an exposed section of Larpenteur made it impossible for me to maintain right straight ahead.

I have been out a couple of times recently, here is a couple of days ago at Lake Como.

There is still a patch of slush out there in the middle of the lake but that was gone today making the lake officially totally ice out.

I have been examining the roadways as I ride about and it looks to me like at least some of the main streets have already been swept.  I finished the installation of the new chain on NewLOOK over the weekend meaning that winter maintenance on that bicycle is complete.  With the streets starting to look clear it appears likely to me that I will be riding the summer bicycle soon enough.  Certainly today I was out riding wearing a summer costume.