Old friends

NNW wind 10-12 mph maximum, temperature rising to 66.

Hooray, hooray, the last of April.

I intended to try a ride to the north, hoping to reach some places I have not been yet this year.  But it is still really early and there will be time for all of that later.  Instead what happened is I was riding along heading south and I just got a feeling for some old friends.

There are no students around so the coast was pretty much clear.  There was one family enjoying the fresh air on the mall there in the background.  But they were on the mall.  I was pretty much alone with the cows.

The color change is starting to occur in the flowering shrubs.  First comes the white blossoms, then come the pale pinks.  Here is a display of each along the side of the mall near the cows.

Finally I did make my way north.  I think this is the farthest north I have been this year, the parking lot of the public library.

Of course we have a coffee shop in our library, doesn't everyone?

Some things are going to reopen next week but mostly we will still be at home.  I will still be trying to get in some bicycle rides.  The results to this point seem pretty promising.

Mister Rogers

It rained overnight but by mid-morning we had a beautiful day underway.  The weather prediction is for the rain to return tomorrow, perhaps with a vengeance.  I had not previously this year attempted rides on back to back days but with yesterday's ride being abbreviated it just seemed like today was too nice a day to pass up.

Many will know that my practice for many years that all of my bicycle rides are of an exactly even mileage.  I know the distances from lots and lots of nearby landmarks to my garage door and with the assistance of the occasional ride around the block or a couple times around the cul-de-sac I always end up exactly to the mile.  Unless it is raining on the way home.

So I reported 8 miles yesterday but it was actually just a sliver under 8.  So today the first thing I had to do was ride that sliver.  After that I rode what has become the standard distance for so far this year.  With sliver added to standard distance I ended up with the longest ride of the year.  By just a sliver.

We have a FB friend who has been posting pictures from HIS morning rides and inviting his public to guess where the pictures were taken.  He used to live on our block and despite having moved is still living within a couple of miles of us.  It is early in the year, his rides are currently shortish.  I have ridden nearly every bit of pavement within 12 miles of my house.  I have been recognizing without difficulty many of his photos.  Yesterday he stumped me.  More on that in just a moment.

One thing he posted recently was an inside joke of our house.  We knew that one.  But as a tribute I post a photo of the house of other friends, the link being the presence in their front yard of a magnificent white pine, the State Tree of Michigan.

There is another link, that house is kitty corner across the street from this distinguished bit of construction.

That is the front portico of Como Park ELEMENTARY School.

I should have recognized it but did not.

I was on the far side of the lake and rode along the closed road on the way home.  I got much closer to the pavilion than the other photos I have posted.

People were not practicing appropriate social distancing.  I did not linger

I got almost home intending no further photography but this shouted out to me.

I pulled off the street into the parking lot of the Petkoff agency to take the picture and as a result passed the first milestone of the year, 100 miles this year, in that parking lot instead of in the street.  Also, of course, the first occurrence of at least 70 degrees F this spring in Roseville.

As Mister Rogers might have said, " It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood."

Two blocks in the rain

It seemed very, very nice when I stepped outside to pick up the Sunday newspaper this morning.  It was sunny and calm, already warm on a day that eventually reached nearly 70,

After lunch I checked my favorite radar weather site and the nearest radar images appeared to be still a couple of hours away.  The newspaper said 30 percent chance of rain but my supposition, based on the radar, was that the 30 percent was for a bit later on.  So I got on quite a bit less gear than I have been putting on and headed out to ride my bicycle.

And it WAS nice.  It seems a bit early for this but the tulip yard in the neighborhood is already starting up.

The weather site said light winds NNE.  My plan was to head out an appropriate distance to the north and turn around, bringing the strong leg of the ride at the end of the ride.

Almost immediately after leaving the tulip yard I noticed that the wind was most assuredly not from the NE.  When I turned to ride east to get to Snelling for the big crossing I discovered a more than tiny bit of a tail wind.  Soon enough I identified the primary wind direction as SW, only about 180 degrees from what the internet said.

I was looking for the big flag just across Snelling that I often use to confirm wind direction.  I was riding south just after the crossing towards the flag and I got a good look at the southern sky.  The very dark conditions there led me to further observe the sky to the west.

I pretty much immediately re-crossed Snelling and spent a half hour or so riding loops in the very near by neighborhoods staying very close to home.

On the first loop I became aware of the odor of wet dirt.  The rain was near.

I was out riding so I wanted to get at least a few miles in so I persevered.  I was two blocks from home when the rain began.

So, eight miles, better than none, I guess.

It didn't rain really hard and it didn't rain really long.  But it did rain long enough to rule out re-cycling.  Eight miles it is then, the last two blocks of which were in the rain.

Heavy lifting begins

Our Governor reports that the State Fair is still possible but that it will be a "heavy lift".

That means that routine must be pursued at the Fairgrounds.  We have reached the time of year when all of the trailers, campers and boats stored over the winter in buildings on the grounds have to come out of the barns and go home.

Here on the parking lot which during the Fair becomes the Midway are some of the items awaiting pick up.

And speaking of heavy lifts, here is a shot originally posted on September 3, 2017, of a very large pig having completed the heavy lift of heaving himself up onto his feet.

The winner that year weighed in at 1,400 pounds, a lot of pork.

We may not see his like again any time soon and we may not see a crowd scene as seen in the background of this photo any time soon.

Today was a pretty nice day, 60-ish with partly to mostly cloudy skies, a nice day for a bike ride.

A ride to a lake

Very nice day today, temperature easily into the 60s with only a very light E wind, good conditions for going to Lake Como.

I passed this house on the way.  This house and its shrubbery have been featured here many times before.  This is often the very first place I see shrubbery in bloom.

This is a very early stage of the bloom, a reminder that we are actually still quite early in the season.  That whole Hooray Hooray day is still nine days off.

I rode down past the pool and across Lexington and up to a corner of the lake for a view back towards the north and the Pavilion.

Lots of things seem pretty unlikely right now but a band concert there sometime later on this summer would be a welcome sign of movement back towards the way we used to be able to live.

There used to be a church here.

A private school purchased the old building and used it as it was for a time but that time is past.

Soon there will be a more usual kind of school building there.

On the way home I spotted this example of the way a certain number of our fellow citizens feel about social distancing.

They were playing football.

I don't know all of the details and I certainly didn't stop to ask but it is possible that there is a benign explanation.  I hope so.

Gap in the clouds

Earlier today I heard Gloria Vanderbilt's son Anderson report on cable TV that today's closing price for oil was a negative $38 per barrel.

I am pretty much without a clue on crude oil pricing but I am pretty good at arithmetic.  This looks to me like if you drill up some crude you have to pay somebody $38 per barrel to haul it away.

This is NOT going to be good.

I also read in the newspaper that in several states, including Michigan and Wisconsin, gasoline is selling at some outlets for less than $1 per gallon,

I snuck in a bicycle ride today during a gap in the clouds.  It looks really nice in this photo but I arrived home just as the rain began.  But as I say, I did arrive home just as that occurred.

Anyway, the price of gas at a station just over a mile from home.

That's about a dollar less than the last time I personally purchased any gas but then again I don't purchase gas very often any more.

Easter Sunday

Well, no bicycling today.

Yesterday was May, today appears to be March.

We can easily estimate today's snowfall by looking at the table on the deck.

Looks like about 5 or 6 inches at 4:30pm with snow still falling.

Still feeling like May

It was a bit too chilly for me yesterday but today was another splendid day for the middle of May.  Or April.

Over the years I have ridden by a lot of inflatables decorating the yards of my neighbors.  Usually this occurs around Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas.  I feel certain that this is the first time I have seen one of these.

I rode through the Fairgrounds again today.  I think it is the most bicyclists I have ever seen on the grounds.  It was an unusual group though.

There were very few of the serious hobbyists who are the people I most often see out and about when I am riding.  Today it was a large number of family groups, getting some outdoor exercise in the time of COVID.

In line with my reporting of what I see over there I noticed a new grain storage bin shaped stand outisde of the Agriculture-Horticulture Building.

A local bank.

Rumors continue to circulate that the whole thing isn't going to be held this year.  I don't suppose that bodes well for the State's largest boar although I suspect the crazy pumpkin people will still be out in their pumpkin plots trying to produce a really giant squash.

Nice day for a ride, no maintenance issues today.

Strong in one direction

Any day when you can ride your bike is a good day, I suppose.  But today really wasn't.  It was not as warm as I like but I have the gear.  The problem today was the wind.

It was a quite strong mostly west wind.  I took an initial spin around a nearby block.  One block in each of the four directions is a good way to gauge direction and velocity.  I headed west.

West is problematic in certain conditions.  It is all downhill, which is, of course, fine while you are going that direction.  The coming back is the problem.

Well, today the wind was strong enough that on the way back I was in the big ring and steaming uphill at 15+ miles per hour.

So it was a strong wind.

I took a water break at Stout's.

After that I circled around trying to get home.

This is the state of the local bicycle economy.  Eric's is a chain, 7 or 8 or maybe 9 local stores.

They are quasi-open, accepting curbside drop off and pick up.

Leave your bike, call the shop and speak to the mechanic about your problem.

Oh, well, actually that probably works just fine.

Tour of Flanders

Apparently the pro cycle tour rode the Tour of Flanders yesterday virtually.  They set up their bicycles on rollers with a computer attached and showed everyone a video of the course and went ahead and rode.

I won.

It was too chilly yesterday but today was low to mid-50s with a very nice sun, a fine day for a spring ride.

The wind was a bit more southerly so I tried something a bit different.  It isn't exactly a destination but I did get to Lake Como today.

There were a fair number of people in the park and at the lake, not all of whom were practicing social distancing.  But I stayed away from them all and rode home.

There is no way to accumulate any miles if you don't ride at least once in a while.

Today I rode a bit.

Nice bike

Second ride of the year today, first public affirmation of my ride.

I was outside the garage doing last minute details (cleat covers in pocket, garage door closed, hands in gloves).  A father and his young son passed by in the street on their way to the tennis courts.  The son said something to his father that I did not catch but the father replied, "Yes, it is a nice bike."

It was a grey day, always seeming just a little bit away from rain.  But the length of ride I am trying to get in right now requires a smaller window than when I was riding out to Lake Vadnais all the time.  So I only needed an hour and I was confident of that when I headed out.  Plus, if you only intend to ride ten or so miles it is quite unlikely that rain will arrive and catch you more than five miles from home.

I note that Wimbledon has been cancelled for this year.  Another cornerstone in the new reality I guess.  I have begun hearing rumblings that the Minnesota State Fair is quite likely to called off for this year as well.

See, the kid was not wrong.

In a shameless attempt to boost traffic I dip into the archives for July 4, 2017.

Already a determined stride.

Special addendum especially for those who love Paris:  I have been checking Google Earth every few days since the Cathedral burned.  The satellite photo has been unchanged until now.  The view of Notre Dame showed the church intact.  Today I checked it again and the photo has now been updated.  The spire is gone, canvas covers the area where the wooden attic was located.  The new image is sobering.