Friday, July 31, 2015

Look at that sky!

OOTNDITHOD.

80, pleasant level of humidity, a bit of wind but not any thing punitive.

One radio commentator was calling it a perfect day.
I took a very pleasant bicycle ride.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Longest ride of the year

It DID rain yesterday but it was something short of the major weather we had been warned about.  It rained a fair amount in the morning but by mid-afternoon I was feeling a little sheepish about sitting inside my house.  It was sunny by noon, soon enough after that dry, it looked like a ride was possible.

This time I let the temperature and humidity keep me inside.

But after the storm came the promised shift in pattern.  A little bit cooler, a lot less muggy and, unfortunately, really windy.

I rode over to the city limits between the big city and the smallish suburb that lies between where I live and the big city just to verify and sure enough, the street which would appear to be half in each of those municipalities has been totally treated with oil and tiny pieces of crushed rock.

I retreated and headed north.

With the extra southern detour and the full northern ride I ended up with my longest ride of the year.

I turned around at Highway 96 just past this view of Sucker Lake.
The real reason for today's pause in this spot was not, however, the picturesque park and waters.  With the longest ride of the year under way I had developed a need for additional water.  I needed a public source of water and found one at this park building.
So even with fresh legs, the longest ride of the year and 20 to 25 mph West winds produced fairly profound fatigue.  Once again I am knackered.  A good knackered, but knackered.

Tomorrow promises to be a new day.

Monday, July 27, 2015

8 days a week

It was 83 today shortly after noon with a dew point of 71.

Right, clearly not a fit day out for the likes of me.

But tomorrow's forecast is for 100 percent chance of rain with the possibility of some of the rain occurring in severe thunderstorms.

I sucked it up and decided to get a few miles in anyway even though to do so would be to ride for my eighth day in a row.

Within a mile of the start a heavy cloud bank rolled in.  This kept the sun from severely overheating the moisture laden air that we have around here right now.  A nice brisk breeze was blowing and with the cloud cover and the wind the mercury in the thermometer paused in its upward surge.  It was actually a lot nicer than yesterday.

So I got in the miles that I wanted.  The sun reappeared just as I turned into our street, a block from home.

It is steamy out there now, punitive, ugly, way, way too hot.

I rode over towards where the big city to our south has posted signs threatening to oil the streets.  I just wanted to confirm that the project had started.  Within a block after crossing the city limits I came upon street sweepers.  The last thing before oil is a clean sweep.

I chose another route.  But I ended up in pretty much the same place except for another two block diversion to come upon yet another pretty intersection over there on the south side of the really big city.
There is at least one other photo opportunity in Minnehaha Park, Hiawatha and Minnehaha, just upstream from the edge of the Falls.
This is Midway Parkway just across Snelling from the main entrance to the Fairgrounds.  Oiling in progress.
Eight days in a row.  It would be fair to say that I did not have good legs.

In fact, I am going to come right out and say it.  I did not have good legs.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Too hot

But we went anyway.

I am getting farther and farther off the direct route as I continue this series.  41st and 41st is yet another really pretty intersection in south Minneapolis.
Today we braved the Falls.  It turns out that all of those exotic pedal vehicles are moving really slowly there but they ARE moving and as a result pedestrians mostly have their heads on a swivel.  All one needs to do is travel just as slowly as the 3 and 4 wheelers.
It was too hot and the humidity was high.  We tolerated it though thanks to the miracle of evaporative cooling.

A long bike ride is a good thing for me, it empties out my mind.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

More comfortable, still hot

The temperature was about the same, maybe a couple of degrees higher but the humidity sagged to a point where it wasn't extremely uncomfortable.  I rode.

Here's another look at why 43rd Avenue South is discontinued between 42nd Street and 43rd Street.  There is a school there.
The school and grounds covers two full city blocks between 42nd and 43rd Streets and between 42nd and 44th Avenue.

This is about as close as I cared to get to the Falls while on my bicycle today.
It is Saturday, after all and on Saturday that is no place to try to go on a bicycle.  Frankly, it looks like it might be a bit dangerous on foot.

Friday, July 24, 2015

Two kinds of sticky

Today was mostly cloudy during the time I was out but I got lucky at the turn around point.
I had to wait for a large contingent of the family to stand aside before I could approach the photo opportunity position.

It was 85 or so today with a dew point approaching 70.  In other words it really wasn't fit weather for a bicycle ride, a little too hot and muggy, sticky if you will.  I persevered.

I had some trouble locating 43rd and 43rd.  I turned on 42nd and discovered that 43rd doesn't come through that pretty little park.
The avenue only misses that one block between 42nd and 43rd.  I had to go around the block but fortunately I had a bicycle with me and that trip was easy.

It is perhaps worth noting that gremlins have been at work there.  The street going left and right as indicated by the double arrow is actually East 43rd Street.  The street that tees into that intersection from the south is actually South 43rd Avenue.  Someone has switched the signs.

I suspect that in that neighborhood the pump probably don't work because the vandals stole the handle.  Bob said that.

Here is some wildlife at one of the Como neighborhood rain gardens.
That's a pretty butterfly and I am fairly sure it is not a Monarch.  No sign yet of any cardinal flowers.

But I may miss the flowers this year.  All of the east west streets over there have this sign posted on them.
Oil means sticky little pieces of gravel to adhere to my tires.  I will be rearranging my routes to bypass that area for a while.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Beautiful day

Today was really, really nice.  The temperature has dipped a few degrees, the humidity has also declined, the winds were light and pleasant, fluffy cumulus clouds in the sky.

And it just seemed like it was time.

The GRider and I rode out on the reverse 8 lakes tour.  This is near our turn back point at Sucker Lake.
We had thunderboomers and heavy winds one night late last week. There are lots of trees down.  Most have been cleaned up by now, but not all.
It just seemed like time.

Friday, July 10, 2015

Still slightly overdone

This gets harder every year.

I over cooked yesterday and by the time I headed out today I hadn't completely recovered.  I still felt not quite chipper.

But riding around on a beautiful day is more likely to improve how you feel than diminish it.  After a while I felt pretty much OK.

I headed on down to the parking lot on the lawn in front of the Capitol.  They seem to be making progress on the building, the marble looks whiter than I remember it looking so cleaning is part of the exterior work.

 As confirmed by the sign there in the parking lot, the building is closed.
Imagine that, the seat of government is closed.  Fortunately the parking lot is still open.

I found a way to get over to Summit which did not involve climbing the hill up to the Cathedral.  So, OK, there is an alternate route.  But I will probably just be climbing Cathedral Hill in the future.  The alternate is far from ideal and if you climb Cathedral Hill you get a close up look at the other really distinguished old stone building down there.

I rode down Summit and headed back to the north when I reached the point where I could line up a route coming home.  That route leads through Dead Man's Curve.

Of late I have been taking the lane when riding underneath that double overpass with a turn.  Partly this is condition of the pavement which is not ideal over there on the side of the street where bicycles are usually found.  Truth be told, however, the middle of the lane pavement is not a huge improvement.  Part of my reason for preferring the lane is that cars will be cars, they will use whatever pavement is available to them.  Cars routinely cross the center line under that narrow bridge (that's why I call it Dead Man's Curve).  But they also will take the short line coming out of the turn and if a bicycle happens to be present they will just go ahead and squeeze you.

Personally, I find being squeezed to be far more dangerous than being out in the middle of the lane.

So today I was out in the middle of the lane and it was a good thing.  There was some sort of motor vehicle accident over there since the last time I rode through there (yesterday).  In the area where cars expect bicycles to be there was the makings of a bad bicycle experience.
As you can probably also see, the pavement is far from ideal.

85 at the Cattle Barn but the big news over there is that the big horse show scheduled over there this weekend is apparently a paid admission event.  They have rented a fence.
I've been trying to find out a little more about the senior games cycling events.  I did discover that if she had entered the GFR would have finished no worse than 12th in her age group in the 5K Time Trial.  Ride as fast as you can for 3.1 miles.

The results are being posted on line.  The time trial results are not up yet but the 20K Road RAce (12.4 miles) results are up.  My age group went in a time faster than the 60-64 next younger age group, in just under 30 minutes.  You are correct, I would have had no chance whatsoever of hanging with that pace.  Last place time was about 50 minutes.  I probably could have competed for that, but probably would have lost.

Mostly I am just glad that I made it home today, that is always a good result each and every time I set out.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Westward ho!

I think.  Is that the way you spell that?

I tried the western route today.  This leads me over into the really big city and onto the cross town MUT.  I visited a couple of lakes I had not previously been to this season.

First up was Lake of the Isles.  That's an island out there behind the water recreators.

I suppose presence of small islands is a good reason to call a body of water lake of the isles but I believe that historical research would reveal that pre-settlement that was a swamp.

There is a public water source at that spot (probably usually referred to by its more common name, water fountain).

I was close enough to doing something signficant that I went ahead and persevered out to the city limits and entered Saint Louis Park.  This means I bicycled all the way across the really big city.  This is my turn around point, an information kiosk on the Three Rivers Park District MUT.
On the way back I was looking for a photo opportunity featuring the recently controversially named Lake Calhoun.  Instead I settled for this fairly giant gaggle of recreation enthusiasts out enjoying a lake in the City of Lakes.
A canoe, I think three kayaks and seven paddle boards, all in the channel between Calhoun and Lake of the Isles.

It WAS a nice day for it.

The MUT over there was mostly downhill and with a tail wind on the way home and I may have over cooked it a tad.  I figured it was OK as I planned to edit the route as I neared home by cutting through the Fairgrounds.  Imagine my chagrin when I discovered, AFTER riding through the Fairgrounds that the far side gate was locked.  We have the National Senior Games going on in town right now and maybe I should have known but did not the venue for the cycling events is the Fairgrounds.  Road races yesterday and today, time trials Saturday and Sunday.

With the gates locked I had to backtrack and ended up riding too far, my longest ride of the year.  Over cooked and then a ride too far.

Oh, well, at least now I know.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

France again

I was watching the TV coverage of le Tour this morning and I was struck by the majestic old stone church in Amiens.

Back in the golden age of Catholicism in France they put up lots and lots of really impressive buildings.  The one in Amiens looks like it should be investigated.

But our concerns here today were actually much more local than that.  It was not quite warm enough today but I had a GRider and generally speaking she tolerates better what are for me marginal conditions.  That means it was warm enough for her and I wore my jacket again.

I made my first appearance of the season at the confluence.  If it was my first appearance it fairly obviously must have been her first appearance as well.
We had a few more concerns on the return trip.  I thought we could ride Cleveland Avenue on the way back to get a look at what the controversy is about adding bicycle lanes on that arterial street from Summit Avenue down through Groveland towards Highland Park.  Riding on Cleveland ended up being a really bad idea.  The pavement down there on the south end of Cleveland beyond Ford Parkway is some of the worst pavement in the history of pavement.  One bicycle ride down there would convince anyone a repavement is overdue.  I won't list all of the defects but suffice to say that I at first was not sufficiently vigilant about the road surface and through that lack of attention I hit one giant gaping gap in the concrete pavement that as soon as my back tire encountered the several inch wide and a couple of inch deep pothole I was certain without any reservation that I had just pinch flatted my rear tire.

Fortunately I was wrong.

Eventually we got across Ford Parkway and diverted over to Finn Street.  Some of the Cleveland Avenue bike lane detractors have said that people should just ride on Finn Street, one block over from Cleveland.  Problem.  Finn Street doesn't go though.  For example, riding along Finn south to north you will quickly discover that Finn ends at Hartford.  We tried an alley, it didn't go through either (although it was an excellent alley, much better pavement than what we had encountered on Cleveland).  Eventually we did find our way out onto I think Niles where we were able to locate the continuation of Finn Street.

Note to bike lane opponents, don't keep recommending Finn Street, it makes you look stupid.

And then later on further down Finn Street we were able to demonstrate our compatibility with European traffic furniture.
Everyone get plenty of sleep, I know we will.  The end of tomorrow's stage is on roads that we in this house expect to be able to recognize based on having been there ourselves.

Anyone else think the Age of Cav is definitively at an end?  I know that's what I think.  In this Tour so far Greipel looks clearly superior in that explosive final short burst which wins the bunch sprint finishes.  And the in my view better of the two German sprinters, Marcel Kittel, is not even here for this race.  It was a great run, it is over. Cav is just so very much Eric Zabel at this point.  Great, certainly great, but great in the past tense.  The Age of Cav looks past tense to me.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Jacket?

It seemed like it was going to be a beautiful day but I had to wait until 1:30pm for the temperature to reach even 69F.  Even at that point I tried only once around the cul de sac before returning to the driveway to retrieve my jacket.

Jacket weather in July?

I rode out to the north and I willingly admit that at every turn towards the north I congratulated myself for having the proper gear.

Chilly and 69.

But it was pretty.
It was pretty and rideworthy especially when placed in context of yesterday's air quality index figures.  Yesterday was historically really, really bad air.   It was officially not only unhealthy for the likes of older people with diminished respiratory capacity, it was officially unhealthy for every single living breathing human being in most of Minnesota.  The issue was mostly particulates in the air as a result of several major wild fires in Canada.  Any one in the metro area who walked outside was immediately exposed to having to breath something that just did not feel good entering their lungs.

But today?  Today I love the ride that I took through the reservoir lakes.  I have mostly taken it north to south, this year has been more often south to north.  New perspectives and all of that, it is an excellent ride in either direction.

There are two major sporting events going on right now that require my attention to morning TV.  The whole bicycle race thing is at last starting to get to the part I love the most, the travelogue of France.  I note that on Thursday the race will visit Dieppe and then travel down la Côte d'Albâtre which as we all know est située sur la Manche.  The race will again travel along the exact old roads that we visited in when we were last in France in 2012.  You can all pretty much guess correctly that we will be tuned in.

Then there is the whole grunt fest going on in the suburbs of London.  I am watching it, I want to like it but the screaming out loud when you strike the ball is not only unsportsmanlike, I believe it is an actual violation of the rules.  I wish I could like Serena v. Sharopova but for me the tennis is certain to be overshadowed by the screaming.  Just for good measure I note that in today's match Sharopova engaged in marginal conduct by moving after her opponent had made her ball toss for service.  Some are accusing her of unsportsmanlike conduct.  Well, maybe.  The screaming when she makes contact with the ball on each and every one of her strokes looks to me to be way, way more unsportsmanlike than a side step during the toss towards where you think your opponent is likely to serve.

I will be watching the bicycling.

I predict that in every, every French town there will be a large stone church, possibly even some where I already have a photo.

I love le Tour.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Looks like you really can't park there today

We went to the race track yesterday for the free hot dogs and some gambling.  I believe the FT and her dafter may have come out ahead.  Male members of the traveling party did not.

But it is just purchasing entertainment and I personally felt like I got about the right amount of entertainment for the currency that I turned over to the parimutuel clerks.

We can now see a very nice fireworks display from our yard so we did that, all in all a fine celebration of the national birthday.

Today I watched some bicycle racing, it looks to me like Froome has clinched le Tour.  It smells very bad even from here but it was a pretty interesting day what with the giant rain storm in the middle of the stage.  It was at least something out of the ordinary.

There is an organization of Laotian people here in town that holds an annual 4th of July weekend cultural and sporting event.  It draws people and futbol teams from all around the country.  We even had one of the early round games on the field next to our house on Friday.  But most of the event is held over at Como Park.  Many, many people attend and I guess parking has become an issue.
So first off, you cannot park there at all during the State Fair.

And then due to proximity to Como Park a special residents' only permit parking restriction is enforced from May 1 to September 30.

And then today even if you have a permit you can't park on this side of the street.

I think no really means no this time.

A bonus for everyone is a view of one of the decorative street light posts still in use in the Como neighborhood.

But the big news here today is that the power went out in our neighborhood this afternoon and stayed off for one hour and nine minutes.

I wasn't home for the event but TOPWLH recorded the times.

I didn't even have to be home and that is part of the rationale for the reason why the neighborhood power failure inconvenienced us not even slightly, this thing.
Located at the corner of our house and rigged with a switching mechanism that causes it to turn on as soon as the electricity goes off and providing enough power to run the entire house, our natural gas powered generator.

The utility company's power was out for a couple of seconds, just long enough to reset the digital clocks in the house back to flashing.  Then our generator comes on and power is restored.

I love it when a plan works out.

Friday, July 3, 2015

Missed this yesterday: Hooray, Hooray, the first of . . . oops.

It was a beautiful day for a ride today and what with my recent feelings of returning fitness we may have worked a little too hard.  It was fun, for sure, but as the day winds down we are both a little past peak.  It is OK though, the day is winding down.  Further, working hard and getting knackered is actually the entire point of it all.  Work (as in physical work, not employment at the plant) is good.

These are always kind of fun.  Today we had to pull over on Raymond, 8 miles into the ride, right directly adjacent to a lost hub cap, to record this milestone.
We observed but did not interact in any way with the lost hub cap.

I note that my bar tape is starting to look like 13,000 or so miles since it was last changed.  The part you can see here is dingy, out towards the hoods where my hands are most often the tape is both dingy and getting frayed.

The Great Flatlands Rider once stated that the only people with clean bar tape are people who don't actually ride.

That might not be the exact quote but it captures the idea.

My bar tape is getting dingy and I am living with it.

My route to the Falls now features a ride down 46th Avenue South with a jog over to 44th for the crossing of 46th Street.  There is a curb cut and a path at the end of 44th leading directly over to a crosswalk across Minnehaha Parkway.  This means that I ride regularly on 44th anyway.  I had to turn a block early to ride over to 44th but this got me to this intersection:
That's the last easy one, the last one actually on the route.  Riding to 43rd and 43rd is going to be a detour off of the regular route, extra mileage.

I am intrigued by that stop sign which appears to be mounted off center on the pole.

We got to the Falls.
But we didn't stay long.  The crowd was huge with very many members of the M-family present.  We escaped with our lives with the GRider only a couple of times admonishing other citizens for at best inattentiveness and at worst clear stupidity.

We escaped with our lives and were soon riding happily back along the river road.

Those four person pedicab things are a bit of a problem out there on the riverside path but we managed to miss having to meet one on the narrowest bits.

It was all fine.

We had fun.

July 3, time for a knee high by the 4th of July corn report. 
Where's Waldo?

It is fairly obviously a good year for corn.

The Tour starts tomorrow, short time trial in Utrecht.  Netherlands?

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Jamaican-German improves to 2-0 lifetime against one of the greatest of all time

With a victory in their only previous meeting and with nothing at all to lose some tall skinny guy born in Germany to Jamaican parents went all in, full effort smashing every ball and then coming to the net to seek a follow up put away.

The last German to play like this was Boris.

Very entertaining tennis.  2-0 may be the best record for ANY player against the king of clay.  Also, great, great hair.  It is going to be replayed at 8pm CDT on Tennis Channel.  If you have Tennis Channel and have not seen this you should watch.

Hooray, hooray, the first of . . .

Ooops, missed it yet again.

Yesterday was only about 60 at noon.  I ride at 60 in April and even in May but definitely not on the first of July.  I hung around the house for a while but by the time the temperature improved to 70 (which it most assuredly did) the moment was gone and I rode not.

Today was 74 at noon, I can do that.

We finally got a south wind and I headed down into the big city.  And then across the bridge into the even bigger city.  I guess officially the drought is over.  I know the northern lakes are still at a very high level but this seems like an awful lot of water over the Falls for almost the 4th of July.
It was very pretty over there today but that park is an absolute hazard for a guy on a bicycle.  Today's biggest problem was the pedi-bikes, the four people carts with pedals.  They DO belong on the bicycle path, I do not dispute that.  But so very many of them have one adult pedalling and one adult not pedalling very much and a couple of kids pedalling not at all.  As a result they cannot make much in the way of headway up even the slightest of slopes.  The result is that this leaves the family pretty cluelessly blocking the path.

The second problem is that there are actually two paths inside the park and most of the pedestrians prefer the path next to the edge of the park.  You know, the one that is actually the designated bicycle path.

So, both in and out of the park, be careful are the watch words over there.

I got away from the park without committing any arrestable offenses.  On the way away from the park I came upon this.
You don't see that much anymore.  I took a pretty close look and I am reasonably sure that that is an elm tree.  It has some sort of advanced problem which will lead to its removal at some date coming up fairly soon.  We used to see that a lot, although my recollection is at the height of the elm removal process they got just a red stripe around the trunk.  And then within a couple of weeks they would be gone.

I will say, however, that in looking at the tree although it is definitely diseased it doesn't appear to me to be Dutch Elm disease.  With Dutch Elm the tree dies from the crown down.  With this one some of the worst looking parts of the tree were down towards the bottom.

And then there is this which if wind conditions lead towards my getting over there more often as the season goes along could develop into a theme.
I have previously featured 46th and 46th.

Fairly obviously this is 45th and 45th.

Not every number is going to be represented at an intersection but there are LOTS more intersections available to continue this theme.

This one is a very pretty spot in south MPLS.