Heat advisory

I am unsure exactly who is charge of this sort of thing but a heat advisory was declared here today, announced by all of the websites and TV stations.  I suppose it is the National Weather Service, you know the government.  So in the midst of the big Libya cover up and the outrage over IRS investigations it appears that BIG government is still actively overmanaging my existence.

It's OK.  I have reached the stage of life where I fully understand that when they say "heat advisory" they mean ME.  And, in fact, it doesn't really even sting very much any more.  Heat advisory?  OK, I better make sure about this whole bicycling thing before I set off.

The last time I checked the web before setting off at shortly past noon the temperature was still a few degrees below what they had sketched out as possible at  that stage of the day.  We had a semi-threatening front pass through during the late morning and some high cumulus clouds were still hanging around.  It was still only in the 70s.  Notice how quickly I adopt "only" to describe the 70s.

I note at least one website is currently saying 96 which would be an all time record so it IS HOT.  It wasn't too bad while I was out, 89 when I arrived home.  The humidity was under control, the heat index was plenty OK.  Some 89s are worse than others, today's 89 was not that bad.

I experienced for the first time in, oh, about 8 or 9 months that quintessential bicycling while hot experience of riding along completely dry and immediately upon stopping blooming into a full sweat.  The miracle of evaporative cooling.

One of the inevitable occurrences of any large temperature change is turbulence in the atmosphere, also often described as "wind".  It was windy.  From the south mostly, promised to be south and west but when I got out there actually south and east.

South was unavoidable.

That means deadman's curve.  Here's another look at why I call it deadman's curve:

The double curve beneath a double overpass is a classically really bad road design, tres dangerous.  To further the danger most cars do what cars always do, they don't stay within the painted lanes, they just go ahead and drive the shortest distance, right down the middle.  From both sides.  Sometimes at the same time.  With bicycles present.

Deadman's curve.

I have said there is no real alternative but actually there is one.  The University transit way also crosses the tracks in question.  The problem should be immediately apparent.

Deadman's curve goes under, the transitway goes over.  Under is easier.  I went ahead and used the curve on the outbound leg.

But I have over 300 miles on my legs this season and I decided I could do the over on the return.  The only problem was that the web promised south and west, I actually found south and east.  That meant that when I was riding up the longish (but not terribly steep) overpass I was riding uphill and INTO THE WIND.

Who doesn't hate that?

I rode all the way over to Minneapolis.  Here's a look at the actual location of Bridal Veil Falls taken from the Franklin Avenue bridge.

I never noticed that path down there before.  I wonder if bicycles ever use it.

I rode as far as the Sabo bridge on the Greenway.  The bridge is fixed but there is major road construction going on at the street where the Greenway crosses right after the bridge.  I thought it over for a bit and decided to take the hint and turn back.

Into the wind.

*sigh*

I rode through a major swarm of what at first I was going to describe as gnats, always an interesting early season blip.  After careful consideration I am going to change my mind though, I think they were mayflies.

Why wouldn't they be?

I went to the grocery store after getting home, the Cub store at HarMar.  They have a large back parking lot over there much larger than what is required for the Cub store.  During the winter they plow all of their snow up into a big pile back there and apparently also accept some hauled in snow from places with inadequate storage space.

Just business.

If it was a video game I think you would say that the melt this spring has revealed an easter egg from the winter haul in.

Big rock, very big rock.