LOOK at Lake Vadnais

I have had this nagging desire to try this for a month or so now.  My average ride has been of a sufficient distance and my comfort in being able to complete that distance have encouraged me to think about the old standard ride that I did so many times when I was just a little bit closer to prime.  The extra distance was sobering, an increase of 20 percent over my previous long ride, and the fact that part of that extra distance would have to be a long uphill made me hesitant.

But today I just decided to go for it.  It was definitely cool, a high temperature of only 50, but I have the gear, and the day was sunny and nearly without any breeze.  As I started my ride it just started to feel like a day when I could do it.

So I took my longest ride of the year and revisited Lake Vadnais.  New gear for today's ride included a full head covering (including my face which of course fit right in in today's world), full fingered gloves, a fleece vest and my heaviest bicycle jacket.  My fingers were not totally comfortable but in general the gear was a success and I rode in comfort.

There were lots of people fishing out there today and many more walkers than bikers but here it is, a LOOK at Lake Vadnais.

Really nice bike at about the 10.5 mile point in today's ride.  I knew I wasn't yet quite at the half way point but I did know that it was time for a short sit down and an energy bar.

I wanted to wait for the sun for a photo of the lake but it was taking too long and the colors aren't vivid yet so finally I settled.  Maybe I should have waited, those clouds were much more dramatic looking when the lighting changed.

The ride was not quite actually the old standard ride, today I rode it in the reverse direction.  That means that I got to the lake before the half way mark instead of after and the uphill was longer but not as steep as the up to Rice Street climb on the south end of Vadnais.

But I did get all the way to the Highway 96 end of Sucker Lake and went around the roundabout in that park as the turn back point, as is the case on the standard ride.

It was too far and I was feeling it in my neck as I ground out the final four miles but I made it home under Gzmoohoo power so I guess maybe it wasn't too far.

Here is a picture I took at Lake Como several days ago on a day when I did ride but for some reason did not post.

You can see the lake peaking through the trees frame right but what I like about this spot and why I took the photo, other than the bench I was sitting on, is there are two paths around this lake, one for pedestrians over there nearer to the lake, and this one, which is marked all the way around with painted bicycle symbols.

And that blue stripe along the away from the lake edge of the path.

I suspect that I am one of many mystified by that stripe.  I wonder whatever it could possibly mean.