This went on for a while as I kept checking the radar and kept contemplating a nap. Finally a point came where I either had to risk the 50 percent chance or hide my face in shame if I was on the wrong side of the 50-50.
And mostly it went OK. At least it didn't rain.
A south wind started me off in that direction but my intention was to ride to the Fairgrounds (five miles on the usual ride route), take a full tour of the grounds and then maybe try something off to the east.
So I rode the Tour de Fairgrounds.
Two things.
One, there is a concrete slab on Underwood a couple of building sites north of Randall. I consulted the cookie maker's website and they have now corrected the map there of locations and are now showing an under construction site on Underwood just north of Randall.
So that pretty surely is where it is going to be. It is out of the main traffic flow as that flow has existed in the past but I expect that the cookie place will create a new traffic flow. Lots of people parked in the main north side parking areas will now not be purchasing their bucket of cookies early on and carrying them around for the duration of their Fair excursion. They will now be passing by the new northern location on their way out and getting their cookies then.
From my perspective I think this is the best possible outcome. I already don't spend much time over there on that street so this won't be a problem for me.
Item two, there will be lots and lots of times during the Fair when there will be far fewer people in front of the DNR Building than the throng over there today playing that new video game.
I passed a mini-van (note to non-cyclists: except in le Tour de France, bicyclists do not pass motor vehicles on a regular basis) with four individuals inside all pretty much glued to their phones. With due deference to the driver, she seemed somewhat less distracted by her phone than the others. She was at least occasionally glancing at the road. She seemed surprised to see me going by but on the other hand at least she saw me going by.
After riding the Fair a break in the foreboding clouds encouraged me to head farther south. Eventually I actually got quite a ways, making my final turnback point at Summit and Macalester Street (right in front of Wallace Hall for anyone who might recognize that reference). That's about 10 miles from home by any reasonable riding route, a bit too far from home on a day when the clouds never really gave up on being threatening.
But in the end it wasn't the clouds that provided a sour note on the ride. It was the north gate.
I was on my way home doing the numbers in my head. I wanted to get in the standard ride and I didn't want to have to do it by riding up and down the street in front of my house. I detoured through Saint Anthony Park and crossed over onto the Farm Campus.
Cows.
What finally happened was that I was heading out the north gate needing a little over two miles for the standard ride only to discover that the north gate was NOT open. I have an opinion about why it was not open and if I am correct the reason for it not being open is just another brick in the wall of the horrible event of early this month which brought the City of Falcon Heights, previously most known as the site of the Minnesota State Fair, into the national consciousness for another reason.
But it wasn't open. I had to circle back out through the northeast gate on Hoyt. A bridge too far, I wasn't able to get home within the mileage of the standard ride.
I'm not really trained for anything longer.
But it was OK, I made it without great discomfort.
And then there is the fact that I needed a couple of extra miles somewhere along the line to set up something big for next week, two rides from now.
Stay tuned.
2 comments:
Cows!
Somebody had to say that! Nice post with well-written narrative and cows AND benches.
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