3,900

As recently as last Tuesday I may have said aloud that I was having doubts about my ability to reach my mileage goal for the year. It seemed to rain every day.

The best antidote to such gloom is the opportunity to ride. The weather has cooperated and I rode my bike again today. Five days in a row on my bike and 102 miles later I now am restored to confidence. Heck, I am starting to feel like there might still be time this fall for another 3 or 400 miles. Who knows? Anything suddenly seems possible.

This is what I was doing at approximately sunset today. This picture is again on Roselawn, this time at the Falcon Heights Community Center. The trees and the radio tower are on the University golf course. Again I am about a mile from home, all on side streets.Also at this time I was composing a newspaper headline in my head to amuse TOPWLH. When I got home I repeated it to her, complete with punctuation and she was amused. Ask her.

Records have been falling

According to the local newspaper the endless days of rain and leaden skies we have just endured washed out a 107 year old record. The total amount of rain broke the previous record for the 3 month period of August, September and October set in 1900.

The paper also said that the climatological observatory at the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus reported that the first 16 days of October were the cloudiest stretch for that time of year in the 45 years the observatory has been measuring solar radiation, measuring less than three-quarters of average.

So yes, it has been pretty rainy and quite dreary this month.

But today was very nice indeed. It was cool, very Octoberish, a high of about 52. But the sun was out and it was glorious.

It was so nice that it ended up making my ride a bit shorter than I intended. The fabulous light conditions made me stop 3 times for photos. The delays meant that I barely made it home before dark.

Here is Garden Avenue just east of Lexington providing proof that at least some of the trees in town are going through leaf color changes.I figured at this point that I had successfully completed my mission of obtaining a photo and continued along on my ride.

But when I turned off Hamline onto whatever that street is along the west side of Lake Josephine I came upon these bushes. It didn't come out quite as stunning as it was in person but I think you can get the idea. The sun filtering through the bushes, highlighting some leaves, leaving others in the shade created a very nice effect.But by now I was too far from home and had to ride hard towards the barn. The dark falls precipitously at this time of year, virtually without twilight. One minute it is still daytime and almost without warning it is suddenly dark. Really dark.

This is over the corn field along Roselawn, less than a mile from home (but with two miles more to ride). I was hoping to catch more of the clouds but with lighting conditions being what they were I am just glad that there was enough light to capture an image.As is probably pretty obvious, it was getting to be too dark to be out on a bicycle.

Today's numbers in the 50s

Yesterday was a nice day. Today? Not so much.

The numbers today were in the 50s. Temperature 52, probability of precipitation 59 percent. Oh, and 18, as in miles per hour out of the NNW. So a bike ride looked like it might be a stretch.

It rained a tiny bit this morning making the driveway wet. But by noon the roads looked dry. The sky had improved greatly to only very dark and ominous. I set out, into the wind, hoping to get in a few miles by circling near home to avoid getting drenched.

But it hasn't rained any more. As I rode I gave it some thought and decided that the probability was actually fulfilled. The actuality of rain today is 100 percent, that bit this morning. So not getting any additional doesn't really make the forecaster incorrect.

I never rode in any light conditions conducive to photography. But I did get this shot at the corner of Gordon and Ludlow. That's an oak in the foreground and some maples further down the street along Langford Park.Ludlow has appeared previously. It is a one block long street and the house at the end is 1 Ludlow. I hope everyone who is interested has heard the story by now. For those who have not, as noted previously, try to get us both in the same room together as there are certainly details known or remembered by only one of us. It is a good story.

Another number in the 70s

September returned with a vengeance today. The temperature outside as I compose this is listed by most of the internet sources as 73. We went for a ride.

We were dressed a bit for yesterday and a bit for the predicted high of 67 so we ended up slightly overheated on the outward leg. The Babe had to remove a layer and I had to unzip. But it was only a tiny bit overdressed, I didn't sweat. I am unable to speak for BB.

This is one of the scenic overlooks along River Road, this one just up from Ford Parkway, about 11 miles from home.This view is looking upstream, Minneapolis on the left, the Marshall Avenue bridge in the background.

There were lots and lots of other bicyclists out today. In fact, there was another couple occupying the park bench at this overlook when we stopped for the photo opportunity. It was a beautiful day and a reminder of how nice it is to be out riding our bikes.

74 percent chance

Regular readers may wonder where I have been. Sunday: rain. Monday: rain. Tuesday: rain. Wednesday: rain. Thursday: rain.

Today there was only a 74 percent chance of rain. In fact, it sprinkled as I walked out to the parking lot after work. But I got home and the streets were dry. It was not actually raining. I gave it a try.

The ride was punctuated not by rain but by an emphatic period at the end: dark, dark, completely dark. It was totally completely dark at 6:45. But I was in the house. It was not a long ride but it was ride.

Uh, it was too dark to get a photo.

Ms. Wireless was over on Wednesday and we watched France v. Lithuania in a Euro 2008 qualifier. With the big doings in Paris for the rugby World Cup the usual venue, Stade de France, was not available for this game so they played it in Nantes. It was a chance for me to get a look at what Ms. Wireless has called "a really nice stadium." And it looked really nice, a full oval with about half of the seats under cover. The pitch looked fantastic. It is clearly a big league stadium, obviously not appropriate for Ligue 2. France won 2-0 as Thierry Henry scored both goals to surpass current Fédération Française de Football President Michel Platini as the all time leading goal scorer for the French national team. In an interesting coincidence, and as noted on a sign waved by a fan in the crowd during the celebration, and as translated for me by my guide, M. Henry also scored his very first professional goal in Nantes.

Today FC Nantes took the same field as Ligue 2 action resumed. Nantes hosted Troyes. Troyes is interesting as it is a team which was also in Ligue 1 last season, finishing 18th to Nantes' 20th. Troyes, Sedan and Nantes were the relegated teams. Troyes was in 4th place coming into today's game, obviously needing a win to get back into the promotion zone of the general classification.

Nicolas Goussé opened the scoring for Nantes in the 21st minute. The game seemed to turn against Nantes in the 45th minute when Harlington Shereni was given a straight red card for elbowing the Troyes captain, Gael Sanz. However, the Nantes website characterized the foul as "une grossière simulation" which I think means that Nantes supporters believe that a more astute referee might have noticed that the Troyes player was acting and that no contact had occurred. Entering the second half a player short but leading 1-0, defense was obviously the priority. In the 69th minute a foul on the same Gael Sanz produced a yellow card and a free kick opportunity for Nantes just 22 meters away from goal. Troyes marked poorly and defender Jean-Jacques Pierre, forward on the free kick, notched the second goal for the Canaries. Justice was eventually served when Sanz received another yellow in the 89th minute resulting in the second expulsion of the match. The final whistle saw the teams playing 10 a side.

Nantes improves its hold on first place in the table with second place Le Havre off until Monday night.

October fest

It was cold this morning but the sun came out and the day warmed pretty nicely. It was a nice fall day, a good day for a ride if one is properly layered.

We took the 8 Lakes Tour. The whole Vadnais chain of lakes park is posted for a special archery deer hunt but only on week days, not the weekend. So we visited the lake.The lake did a nice job. The water did a nice job. The trees did a nice job. The sun did a nice job. It was nice.

Babe and flat land rider for scale.

A lesser milestone

Today is the day on which I have often in the past attempted to ride my age in miles. The great flatlands rider points out, correctly I concede, that this is a quest which should be abandoned as the birth certificate has won.

But the intellect can still devise ways of tricking oneself. I set out today thinking long ride, something milestonish. The weather has been so uncertain lately that I have not ridden a whole lot this month. I have ridden enough that my fitness level is still good but I have ridden so little that today I felt very well rested. As I rode along feeling strong, even into the wind, I started doing math in my head.

I rode my age in kilometers.

It is only 62/100ths of the distance of my age in miles but it still ends up being my longest ride in a long time and perhaps the second or third longest of the year. So it still feels like a milestone.

I rode past the Town and Country Club. It is the oldest country club in Minnesota and reputed to be the second oldest still in the original location in the USA.It looks like it has been there a long time. Mature trees, well manicured fairways, the usual golf course stuff. You can tell it is a private club by the warning that if any riff raff think they can steal something the rich people will know about it.