Wheelie king

The wind was from the south today and I thought that as is my custom that I would head out into the wind. This route would take me over to and past the State Fair.

Well, it was fun to be stopped at the temporary stoplight for pedestrians to cross Como and to see and wave to a neighbor who rides (NWR perhaps?) as he pulled his car out of a parking lot and into the queue. But over all my impression is this:

I won't be doing that again.

There was very heavy traffic but that isn't really what directly soured me on this route at this time. It is the direct result of the heavy traffic. There is much evidence of numerous rear endings from inattentive driving in that heavy traffic. What evidence would that be you ask? Broken glass. Lots of broken glass. And is always the case with heavy traffic areas the broken glass has been cleared out of the car lanes. Into the bike lane. Nope, I won't be doing that again.

But no flat tires, so I continued on over to the river. I must say the usual riders were in short supply today. I did not see the announcement but apparently the season is over.

I rode out to the scenic overlook of the Ford Dam and discovered what I think is pretty interesting evidence of the effect of the bridge collapse on the river. I think everyone knows that the water level has been drawn down, first to aid in the search for the bodies, now to aid in debris removal.

Consider that this past month set an all time record for most rain in August. Here is the dam today.Here is a picture taken from the same place on May 17:Anyway, I think it is interesting.

On the way home I was treated to a casual display by a wheelie king. I was riding along Prior, nearly home. My street doesn't go through to Prior so I turn on the street 2 blocks down from my street and cross up to Fairview, back to my street and then home. The wheelie king was waiting on the corner of Prior, circling the intersection waiting for car traffic to clear. He was a kid, not old enough to drive a car so still young enough to be on a bicycle, but old enough to have pretty much mastered all the tricks that he is going to master on a bicycle in this lifetime. Traffic finally clear, he turned towards Fairview and popped his front wheel into the air and started to ride. I rounded the corner about half a block behind him to discover that his wheel was still up and he was still riding. Obviously I was going faster than he was but I didn't want to disrupt his concentration so I hung around a few yards behind. He quickly became aware I was there and almost as quickly realized I was going to stay back. With no fear of distraction and with an audience he rode that wheelie all the way to Fairview, two full blocks, a quarter of a mile. And when he put the wheel down it was not because of any distress with balance. He put the wheel down because Fairview is a busy street and that was the end of the trick. I finally passed, giving him a thumbs up and a "Nice!" He said, "Thanks." He is the Wheelie King.