Auto repair

I have now, oh, hundreds of hours of riding a bicycle, almost all in a pretty urban environment. This means many, many iterations of pulling away from a stop sign next to cars doing the same, passing cars and having them pass me. Here is one really strongly enduring observation: How can people drive a car with bad wheel bearings? The noise bad bearings make is unmistakable and, at least to a bicyclist, penetratingly obvious.

Just an observation.

The weather site I read today gave a good explanation of the current weather pattern. The explanation is that a large air mass has stalled just to the west of us. With the mass stagnating we see the same pattern repeating every day. We continue to come under the influence of the counterclockwise rotation of the mass which produces southerly winds. The winds keep bringing up more moist air from further south. The moisture content is not extremely high, therefore the effect produces alternating "slots" of rain and shine. Today I was home for a dry slot. I got to ride my bike.

It was the last ride of the month and like the flat land contingent, I often have several round numbers that I find myself trying to attain at the end of each month. Not many rides at the end of this month so I missed out on most of the round numbers but I did get to one of them, a quite satisfying one at that. Month over, tomorrow I start anew.The rain has been spectacularly good for the corn. It looks to me like it has grown about an inch a day for the past week.

Puddles

Both yesterday and today had extended periods when it was pretty nice. Both days those periods occurred when I was cooped up on the fourth floor of a lowertown office building. By 4pm both days the wind came up and clouds moved in. And both days it eventually rained pretty hard. No ride again today.

The rain is doing very well by the corn. There are very distinct green rows visible when I drive past in my car. Perhaps tomorrow I will get over there on my bicycle and I can share.The last France picture was Parc Monceau while it was lightly raining. This picture was taken later on that day in a more famous park. The puddles remain from the morning rain. An interesting tidbit is that the guide is visibly in this picture. That is her shadow in the left foreground. She holds the universal photographer's pose and snaps her parental units casually acting as though being in the Tuileries on a sunny day in May is no big deal.

Twins 10, White Sox 4

Emily took us to the baseball game.Photo courtesy of Jimboy.

We were in the Genmar corporate tickets, fourth row, slightly stage right of home plate. Close enough to judge what the pitches were. Fastballs pop the cather's mitt, a curve ball is noticeably slower. It was fun.

Thank you sweetie.

Correct choice

I often say you make the decision based on the best information you have available at the time you have to decide. Then you live with the consequences knowing that you did the best you could in making the decision.

So I did not want to go. The morning's fuss over the race had the effect of heightening my interest and I found myself wanting to stay and watch. But the sky was absolutely clear, absolutely gorgeous blue. The temperature passed through the 60 barrier and I found myself knowing that I would be sorry if I did not ride. I got on my bike and rode out.

Really, really nice ride. It was 71 as I pulled back into the garage. And low and behold, it rained in Indianapolis. They are on a rain delay on lap 113. So I saw almost 40 laps before I went and I will see the last 87. So I made the right decision.

Here is a cemetery in Roseville all decked out for Memorial Day. There is nothing unusual about that. This is a pretty common scene all around the country. If anything, this one looks a bit underdecorated compared to many. And it should. If you look closely you will notice that the front two stones commemorate Coco and Bon Bon and that the engravings on the stones are poodles. This picture is of my bicycle in front of the Roseville Pet Cemetery. Yesterday from Ligue 1: Lyon 3:1 FC Nantes. The season is complete and the next game Nantes plays will be against Ligue 2 opposition.

Speaking of France and tulips, I searched around in my photo folder as I thought I had one that might do justice to the Quincy Street tulip farm. I don't think I succeeded but this is the most tulips I had in one image. This photo is from the gardens at Chateau de Villandry. This Loire chateau is famous for its decorative gardens, but mostly for intricately planted and trimmed hedges. I think they also plant these tulips to provide entertainment early in the growing season before the main attractions completely fill out.This photo was taken during our drive across France in late April 2006.

They are getting ready to re-start that race thing. I think I will go watch. I note Tony Kanaan as the current leader and Ashley Judd's husband running fifth. Milka Duno is out of the race. What happened to her? And what health problem is Jim Nabors recovering from which rendered him unable to sing?

Three kinds of weather

It was quite an unusual day today, featuring at least three distinctly different weather conditions, perhaps four.

When I got up this morning the day was mostly clear and cool. There were some clouds and that is the pattern that dominated early. By 8am it was completely cloudy and extremely threatening. B. Babe wanted to ride today but when she rolled out of bed the prospects were for cold and rainy and she eventually deferred her season opener until nicer weather. That was plenty good with me because I wasn't riding either.

Around noon it got worse as first a heavy sprinkle arrived and shortly thereafter a slightly more persistent rain. It did not rain for long and it never rained very hard, but definitely weather condition number two, rain.

But by 3pm it was clear and the sun came out and warmed the afternoon to 70 or so. The wind and sun dried out the pavement. Out the door I went.

It was windy, tres windy, but the 70 held on until I was nearly done. I was warm enough, overall I am going to say it was a plenty nice ride.

The wind was blowing hard though, extremely hard out of the south and west. This necessitated a route I don't often ride. This is the hard wind out of the southwest route. It goes much farther west than my normal south route, taking me into Minneapolis, through the UofM campus, across the Stone Arch Bridge and up the river road to the northern terminus of that street, just beyond the Broadway Avenue Bridge. This section of Minneapolis has changed enormously through the years I have lived here, from a railroad yard and industrial area to townhouses and riverfront park. One thing has not changed, however, and that is the Grain Belt sign.It has been a long time since I had a beer but there was a time when Grain Belt Premium was near the top of my list. The brand was sold to G. Heileman, a LaCrosse based brewer and, to my palate at least, the beer lost its signature flavor. Mr. Wold, help me out with this if you are here (gee, I guess I doubt that) but G. Heileman beers, with the notable exception of Old Style, were a little more acidic, maybe even sweet, while the original Grain Belt Premium was a very grainy tasting beer. The brand was later acquired by the people running the Schmidt brewery after it was no longer the Schmidt brewery, Minnesota Brewing I think they called themselves. The brewmaster, I think I have this right, was the former brewmaster from when the brewery was still Schmidt and Grain Belt came to taste a lot like Schmidt, never one of my favorites. Eventually the brand was acquired by Schell's, I think the last remaining regional brewer, located in New Ulm. I suspect the more full bodied Schell's taste may suit Grain Belt Premium more than the Heileman or the Schmidt recipe. But I don't really know.

And this is the end of the road, the farthest north you can get on the river road on that side of the river in Minneapolis. That is the Mississippi River above the Saint Anthony dam. That's a railroad bridge, I think the Soo Line, probably now the Canadian National and a fairly undeveloped looking but not park shoreline.It is Memorial Day weekend and tomorrow is the Indianapolis 500. With the first selection in the driver draft, a selection I traditionally reserve for myself for no other reason than that I hold the draft and therefore deserve the first pick, I select Ashley Judd's husband.

Santini, you are on the clock unless Bianchi Babe beats you to it. Jimboy to follow, again, unless B. Babe gets off a choice. Emily, you can participate if you like. So can Adam and Kelsey, Nancy too, if she wants to. But watch out, at some point if you have not all made a selection I am going to make a second pick and the second round will have begun. My second pick is likely to be A. J. Foyt.

Let the carnage begin. No wait, Jim Nabors has to sing. Then let the carnage begin.

Finally back on the bike

Sunny and 70, a light breeze, a very, very nice day, although it has cooled off pretty rapidly since the sun has started down. After three days away I finally got back on the bike. Just exactly as the adage says, I did not forget how to ride. I had forgotten, or at least failed to remember how nice it feels to feel really fresh and strong after a few days off. I didn't push at all, just rode easily but it was fast and I did feel strong. It was fun again.

This is a picture of one of the places in Saint Paul where I once lived. That's Section 5, Kirk Hall, on the campus at Macalester. My bike is trying to hide in the shadow there in front of the window but that's my window. Charley Welton and I shared a two bedroom suite. Those two windows to the right of the entrance are the two windows in our living room. There are two bedrooms on the other side of the living room, facing out onto the street on the other side of the dormitory. My bedroom was the one on the right, next to the arch.

Welton had a TV, I had a stereo, the suite came with a couch and a couple of chairs. Also, this is the first place I had my own phone. The number was 698-1777 and the last people to have that number before me were the Allegrazas and we still got an awful lot of calls for them.The world of professional bicycle racing is in the process of coming apart at the seams. The sport is being undone by a growing scandal which began with an aggressive prosecutor's pursuit of a doping doctor in Spain. The scandal, which has already swallowed up last year's winner of the Giro, has now spread to Germany. The T-Mobile team, formerly known as Deutsche Telekom, is being exposed by its riders as a nest of doping. First Jan Ullrich was implicated in the Spanish probe. Then yesterday multiple Tour de France green jersey winner Erik Zabel admitted to the use of the performance enhancer EPO. And today Bjarne Riis, 1996 winner of the Tour de France while with Telekom, the rider who dethroned Miguel Indurain, and the current director of Team CSC, admitted that he was taking EPO during the 96 tour. This is horrible, horrible news for a sport reeling from the positive drug test of last year's Tour de France winner, a test result still being protested by the ever more guilty appearing Floyd Landis.

I went to the VeloNews website message board and found the following analysis of the 1996 tour, the first after 5 straight wins by Indurain:

What would this list look like if we took out all the dopers?

1996 Final results for General Classification as reported by CyclingNews:

1. Bjarne Riis (Den) Telekom 95.57.16
2. Jan Ullrich (Ger) Telekom 1.41
3. Richard Virenque (Fra) Festina 4:37
4. Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Festina 5:53
5. Peter Luttenberger (Aut) Carrera 7:07
6. Luc Leblanc (Fra) Polti 10:03
7. Piotr Ugrumov (Rus) Roslotto 10:04
8. Fernando Escartin (Spa) Kelme 10:26
9. Abraham Olano (Spa) Mapei 11:00
10. Tony Rominger (Swi) Mapei 11:53
11. Miguel Indurain (Spa) Banesto 14:14
12. Patrick Jonker (Aus) ONCE 18:58
13. Bo Hamburger (Den) TVM 22:19
14. Udo Bolts (Ger) Telekom 25:56
15. Alberto Elli (Ita) MG-Technogym 26:18
16. Manuel Fernandez Gines (Spa) Mapei 26:28
17. Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Refin 27:36
18. Laurent Brochard (Fra) Festina 32:11
19. Michele Bartoli (Ita) MG-Technogym 37:18
20. Yevgeny Berzin (Rus) Gewiss 38:00

Let's see how it breaks down....

1. Bjarne Riis (Den) Doped
2. Jan Ullrich (Ger) Doped, but will he ever admit it?
3. Richard Virenque (Fra) Doped
4. Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Doped
5. Peter Luttenberger (Lux) 5th in '96, never again approached that result, suspicious.
6. Luc Leblanc (Fra) Probably doped, ex-Festina rider
7. Piotr Ugrumov (Rus) Doped
8. Fernando Escartin (Spa) Probably doped, team Kelme
9. Abraham Olano (Spa) Olano could have been clean. Mapei was pretty adamant about their program, but see Rominger, also a Mapei rider.
10. Tony Rominger (Swi) Many suspicions of doping.
11. Miguel Indurain (Spa) Anybody really believe he won 5 straight in the era of EPO without doping?
12. Patrick Jonker (Aus) Could be clean, but rode for ONCE so who knows?
13. Bo Hamburger (Den) Doped
14. Udo Bolts (Ger) Doped
15. Alberto Elli (Ita) Doped
16. Manuel Fernandez Gines (Spa) Best lifetime result, never again placed this high.
17. Leonardo Piepoli (ita) Still active, but the length of his career makes you wonder.
18. Laurent Brochard (Fra) Doped
19. Michele Bartoli (Ita) La Gazetta today reported link to Operacion Puerto doping scandal.
20. Yevgeny Berzin (Rus) Doped

Indurain's doctor for 4 of his tours was Padilla. He left him to go to the Spanish football club Valencia FC where a few of the team players tested positive. After Padilla Indurain used Conconi, regarded as the father of modern oxygen vector doping and teacher of Ferrari and Checchini. Ferrari is the doctor convicted by an Italian court of involvement with doping. Draw your own conclusions.

The Giro d'Italia continues for another week. One wonders if anyone will care.

Still raining

I took a good look at yesterday's picture. If you click on the picture it enlarges and you can read the sign on the fence behind the models.

Velos interdits.

No bicycles allowed here either. It rained all day long. It had stopped by the time I got home and I suppose it was getting sort of dry and maybe I could have given it a try by about 5:30 pm or so. But I didn't.

It reminded me why I usually try to ride every single day when it isn't raining. Because the weather intervenes and provides rest days. Like today. The weather has once again made velos interdits.