Well, that was hard.

I was downtown for a CLE today. The seminar was at the MSBA CLE center in the City Center between 6th and 7th on Nicollet. Usually in the past I have parked at the City Center ramp but the last time I parked there for a CLE the fee was finally so completely outrageous that this time I decided I had to find somewhere else to park. I ended up parked in a City of Minneapolis ramp, what they refer to as Ramp B or as the 5th Street ramp. When you walk out of that ramp onto the Skyway you are confronted with the new baseball stadium. So I can confirm that stadium construction is in an advanced stage. It is an impressive looking structure. As is the usual case, the major source of funding for the stadium is public money, I hope we get out money's worth.

I got home and clicked on the Weather Channel and it said 83 and a south wind at 25 mph. Well, that's a little different.

And it was really, really hard.

The outward leg into the teeth of that wind was one of the least enjoyable bicycle rides ever. I literally felt ill. I was extremely pleased to find baseball again, allowing me to take a short break to watch half an inning. This time it is Saint Thomas v. Augsburg. It was 3-3 when I arrived with Saint Thomas coming to bat in the bottom of the third.It went line out to center, hard single to right, attempted pick-off which went awry when the runner broke for second and beat the throw for a stolen base, a funky line drive (sequence pictured above) that ended up short hopping the shortstop but he came up with it and got the batter at first, runner not moving up, then an infield single to deep short, runner to third, a Texas league single to score the run, runner moving up to third, ground out to second to end the inning, one run on three hits, Saint Thomas takes the lead 4-3 (F8, 1b (SB), 6-3, i1b, 1b rbi, 4-3).

I am going to have to check the league rules but I believe that if I see one more game I become eligible to vote for the all-conference team and other post season honors.

I rode a little bit farther east to get out of the rude traffic patterns and then circled around and started for home. When I get as knackered as I did today on the way out I never, ever feel any good on the way back either. Except today the wind was so strong and so directly out of the south that I did, in fact, feel strong on the due north streets. It was different.

As I approached home I noticed that there has been additional activity in the corn field.Can you see it?

Those tire tracks are new, they were left by the corn planter. The seed is in the ground.

Probable gin and tonic party day

Many years ago but also for a duration of many years, Mr. P used to have a gin and tonic party on the first day of the year that the temperature reached 65 degrees. There were no party announcements, no invitations, no other planning other than that a lot of people knew to show up at his house on the first day of the year when the temperature reached 65. The first reaching of that threshold was significant enough that one year when Sid was in town, Mr. P got married in a ceremony which was totally unannounced and unexpected to all except obviously the participants.

Most of us, including Mr. P, are no longer active in that sort of holiday. If we were, today would have been the party. I am not sure if the official high reached 65 but today was the day.

I rode my bike.

It was a windy day, as spring days often are, with a touchy headwind from the southwest. As all bicycle riders know, the wind only blows from one direction. But as all bicycle riders who live in urban areas laid out in a predominantly north-south east-west grid also know, the wind usually affects two legs of the usual four leg bicycle ride. Today was a head wind heading south and heading west. As is my usual practice, I headed out intending to ride mostly south and mostly west.

Today's quiz is guess the location.Those who can identify the location and who are familiar with Saint Paul-Falcon Heights-Roseville geography will recognize that this is farther south than yesterday's photo and also that it is farther west than anything posted so far in this admittedly brand new season.

My turn around point was the Saint Anthony Park Branch library.My architecture book reports that this is one of three classically inspired neighborhood libraries constructed by the City of Saint Paul in 1916-17. They were designed by the city architect but financed by Andrew Carnegie. These three were among the last to be built under a program sponsored by the United States Steel titan who died in 1919. I grew up in a town which had a Carnegie public library.

The book says that the building has Ionic pilasters, arches, simple parapet and strict symmetry, and that the library is an excellent example of how even small public buildings of this period could achieve a monumental effect.

The library today illustrates two things. One, I know where the libraries are. The significance of this is unknown. Two, this is a for this year the new furthest south and furthest west distance achieved.

Those who were following along with the discussion above of today's wind direction will recognize that after leaving the library I felt strong, I felt fast.

I had hoped to get to a lake today. Como was actually the one I thought I might reach but the roads heading into that part of Saint Paul were still very wet and sloppy. I did not reach an actual lake but I did reach a body of water which these ducks are treating as a for all practical purposes lake.It may not be an actual lake but it is the first appearance in this year's entries of the corn field. It is extremely unlikely that it will be the last.

It was 14 miles today and it was hard. It was hard but it was a whole bunch easier than yesterday. A general rule of thumb that I always used for the teams I coached was that the largest improvement is made between the first and the second games. I think it may also apply to the start of the bicycle season. The improvement that I made today was probably the largest single day improvement of the season. It was hard, but compared to yesterday, I felt good.

I love the 8 lake tour

We left at about 10:30 while it was still not quite warm enough. But by the time we reached Lake Vadnais what has turned out to be another beautiful summer day had begun to assert itself.We had headed north despite a fairly strong west wind which the weather prediction sites said was going to gradually swing around to northwest. It was slighly southwest on the way out and instead of coming around the breeze freshened a bit. This led to headwind issues on the return trip.TOPWLH is sprawled along the side of the road. She proclaimed that she had spent the last few miles trying to pick out a spot where she could sprawl and this must have looked finally like the spot. Corn for scale.

In her defense, there was no whimpering although I believe there may have been some cursing.

The Oranje are indeed the Dutch.Here Ruud van Nistlerooy celebrates with teammate Joris Mathijsen, after scoring the opening goal against Italy on Monday.

Hammer fest

The corn has been planted. I rode past the corn field yesterday and today. I have been keeping a pretty close eye on what is going on over there. Today there is clear evidence that was not there yesterday of a wheeled vehicle having gone up and down the field in the manner in which a planter of a row crop would be traveling. The corn has been planted.

Today was a nicer day with a slight south wind. On south wind days I usually ride over to the river. On a nice day at the river RACER BOY was out and about, IN FORCE. Racer boy is pretty obnoxious but there is one aspect of the river ride that I like and it is obviously what keeps me coming back.

The ride at the river features long stretches where I can ride without having to stop. A negative factor is that I ride that direction when the wind is from the south so the ride out is into the wind. However, the topography along the river road is favorable for going that direction even against the wind and I always seem to ride pretty fast.

Today was no exception. Racer boy and RACER GIRL zipped past me shortly after I had completed the climb from the Marshall Avenue bridge up to Saint Thomas. First racer boy wordlessly passed just after the turn towards the monument at the foot of Summit Avenue. Very shortly thereafter, at the beginning of the actual downhill, racer girl gave a minimalist verbal indication of her presence and also passed. I take some pride in the fact that they still don't usually dust me off on the uphill. It is usually at the top of the hill when I take some time to gather myself that they, instead of having to recover, instantly accelerate and easily leave me behind. But today I felt pretty strong and the downhill helped me get quickly back up to speed. I found myself hanging fairly even with that duo albeit a half block or so behind as they played out their game of bicycling dominance. Eventually racer girl dusted racer boy on a slightly uphill section and he was unable to gain anything back from then on. She was the real deal, strong and fast.

I rode on to the Ford Dam overlook where I made my turn around, pausing briefly to obtain this photo of a hydro electic turbine:There is a plaque on the other side of the turbine that says: "This is one of four turbines Ford Motor Company installed 1924 at the hydro electric plant located below this lookout. The turbines were replaced between 1992 and 1994 after 70 years of service. This one water driven turbine produced over 1,341,776,000 kilowatt hours (KWH) of electricity in its liftime. This offset the burning of 286,000 tons of coal and avoided 470,000 pounds of particulates, 4,589,000 pounds of sulphur dioxide and 5,340,000 pounds of nitrogen oxide." The turbine is cast iron, weighs 15 tons, had a rotation speed of 100 rpm and a rating of 4.500 horsepower.

Yes, that number is over 1 BILLION KWH of electricity. Pretty impressive, eh?

I checked my average speed before I started back and it confirmed what I felt, that I had ridden pretty fast up to that point. If I finished at that rate it would be the ride with the fastest average speed of the year to date. So I was aware of that and then on the way back I also now had the advantage of a tailwind. But I also had that daunting climb out of the river gorge before I could head back towards home. Still the wind kept giving me encouraging boosts. I checked average speed again just before the big climb and it was still pretty good.

That climb is TOUGH.

But I got out of the gorge and started towards the industrial area, a mostly cross wind ride. I crossed University and for the first time since the climb I turned fully with the wind. I was pleased to find that I had recovered pretty well from the climb and I started to ride fast. And kept on riding fast all the way home.

Eventually I checked the average speed again and discovered that I was in territory not visited recently so I started to work at it. I rode the last 8 or 10 miles for average speed, at all times working hard, hammering, trying to keep my speed at high as possible.

And it is truly a landmark.

I had to open up my spread sheet bike logs and start checking. I discovered that today I achieved the highest average speed that I have recorded since July 27, 2005. That was the day of TRAM 2005 that featured the ride downhill with a strong tailwind to Two Harbors. That day I recorded an astonishing (for me) 16mph average on a 78 mile ride. I had to check even a bit further to find a regular ride day where I exceeded today's average but I didn't have to check much further, as I had a two days faster than today in early July 2005 while I was riding preparation for TRAM 2005. That makes today's ride my fastest in almost three years.

I felt strong, I felt fast.

Last day in shorts?

It rained this morning but then cleared up nicely. It was plenty dry by the time I got home. It was wavering between sunny and overcast. Yes, that is possible, the sky seemed about half of each. It was windy but it seemed warm enough. I headed out in shorts but with a jacket. I thought that would be a decent compromise for the 66 degree temperature.

A front was passing through and behind it was cold. When I passed the time and temperature clock across from the A&W on Rice Street the temperature read 59. I was not warm enough. I hate being not warm enough.

I came home and laid out the tights.

TOPWLH informed me that I was FOS about the geese. She passed the corn field half an hour after me yesterday and reported hundreds of geese. She said I just had missed feeding time.

Well, I am not privy to goose feeding schedules so I suppose I could be wrong. Here's a picture taken today.So belay those stories of all the corn being gone from the field. The geese are still working on it. By the way, that's the State Fair water tower peeking over the top of the hill.

This time I really mean last

Today's weather was a slightly cooler rerun of yesterday. It rained a bit overnight and it was cool and overcast in the morning. But it cleared off again and the blue skies made it almost seem nice by mid-afternoon. The problem was it was not warm.

I rode my bicycle and when the sun started to go down the heat quickly drained out of the day. The last two or so miles on the way home I was not warm enough. I do not like being not warm enough.

And I really mean it this time when I say last. The focus isn't perfect but I am pretty sure you can still get the idea.The geese have discovered the corn. With this many geese the field will be gleaned completely bare in a day or two and then there will be absolutely zero possible reasons why there would be another picture of the corn field.

Or at least that's what I say today.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

It was definitely fall today. The Weather Channel said 71 at the downtown airport at shortly past noon but Mikey J's weather site said 65 in Little Canada. The radar revealed that there was a front lurking out to the northwest and a possibility of something also developing to the southwest. All in all, not an extremely promising day before the ride. We are both pictured in this entry and you can see we both went with long sleeves and neither one of us ever felt overheated. It was definitely fall today.

Here is a view of my cyclocomputer. This is the trip distance setting. You don't get the first digit on this setting but it was also a "9".This is the odometer total setting. This number, seldom seen on a bicycle odometer, speaks for itself.Here's where I was when this occurred. It is at the north end of the Lake Vadnais access road.About the this time I got a really good look at the northwestern sky and didn't like what I saw. We rode down to the lake and I got a good look at the southwestern sky and didn't like what I saw. We rode hard all the way home, no resting. When we got close enough that it was obvious that we had beaten the rain, we stopped for one last look at the corn field, Babe for scale.The remaining corn seems to have reverted to that knee high status. Here in the corner of the field the harvester making turns often misses a few stalks. I gleaned those ears off a couple of stalks that had been run down instead of chopped off. The geese will be along to clean up those ears. And that really and finally is the end of the corn series.

End of a series

It was hot again today and very windy. I pretty much convinced myself that it was too windy. I obviously don't reach that conclusion easily but as I say it was very windy. I got home from work and actually sat down and watched some tennis. The mixed doubles final was on USA and I got interested. Doubles is a version of tennis played more often by older folks and this was the particular version of doubles that I am most familiar with, the version where one member of the partnership is noticeably better than the other player.

And what great doubles players these two guys are! Leander Paes on one side, incredibly quick hands, extremely intelligent player, always in the right spot. And on the other Max Mirnyi, tall, huge serve, quick for his size, also an extremely intelligent player. It was great fun to watch. Mirnyi, who is from Belarus, and his partner, 18 year old fellow Belarussian Victoria Azarenka, rallied from 1-6 in the tiebreaker to win the tiebreak and the set, and the match and the championship.

So about that time I started to think maybe I should ride a few miles. The wind had died down a bit but stormy weather looked imminent. I decided to try it but to stay close to home. This is the first thing I came to.So the harvest is obviously complete, the corn series is over.

It was windier than I thought but I got in some nice miles and I got home just as the weather turned really threatening. Surprisingly enough, as I type this it still hasn't rained but even so, I am glad I came in when I did. It would have been tempting fate to have stayed out with the sky looking like it did.

First day of fall

It was easy to tell that it was fall when I got home from work. It was only 92 with a dew point of 60. To top it off there was a brutal wind out of the southwest. It felt important to ride in conditions like that in July but it didn't seem as important today. But I went, albeit for a somewhat abbreviated ride.

I rode past the corn field and discovered that harvest has begun. I actually saw the harvester but as I manuevered to try to get a photo the grain wagon bin filled and the tractor pulled off and headed back towards campus.I did get a picture of the field. It looks like bad corn. You expect a lot of dust with a corn harvester as with any kind of grain harvest. But you expect it to be greenish, bits of corn plant blown into the air by the cutting and chopping. This dust was grey looking like pieces of dirt. It didn't look right to me, I think it is bad corn.

I continued on the ride past the fair grounds. I commend the clean up crew for already having run a sweeper down the streets surrounding the grounds. However when you get to the bottom of the hill past Raymond across from Saint Anthony Park Elementary school you come to evidence of several rear end collisions. There is still about a bushel of glass shards completely covering the street all the way out into the traffic lane. Somebody remind me to find a new route.

The wind was brutal, as hard as any I have ridden into this year. It was an abbreviated ride so I turned back before I was completely, totally knackered. I was then pleased to discover that I felt very strong on the ride home.

Summer goes out on top

I checked the radar just as we headed out and for some reason one of the local TV station radars said possibility of a thunderstorm. Upon review from the driveway, there were some clouds in the southwest. I kept an eye on them during the first several miles of the ride as we circled not yet committed to the full route. When the time for committment came the clouds had passed to the south so off we went. It ended up being, like yesterday, a pretty much perfect day.

It was the Babe's favorite route except for some pretty gravelly park roads through Sucker Lake park. We dodged the gravel by riding bike path through that park and we arrived in good time at Lake Vadnais. For orientation, yesterday's image with the sign is about 20 yards to the Babe's left. The pump house is behind the trunk of that tree on the right.As we saddled up to start for home the Babe observed that there was a very pleasant breeze. I replied that it only felt pleasant until you had to start riding directly into it. The Babe came up with the absolutely appropriate response when she remarked that she had felt really strong on the ride to that point.

After riding out with the wind and back into the wind for two straight days, I am prepared to say that back into the wind is fine for the novelty of the effect. But, it is way harder. Into the wind and back with the tailwind is just plain easier.

The corn looks pretty bad. The rain came too late to salvage the crop. The ears are shrunken and inadequate looking. The Babe is for scale but also you can see an ear of corn just off to the side of her left thigh. It is disappointing corn.In England yesterday Manchester United defeated Sunderland 1-0 which resonated loudly today when Aston Villa dumped Chelsea 2-0. Liverpool and Arsenal are even on points now atop the table, Liverpool leading on goal differential. Chelsea and Everton are also even on points but trailing by reason of having played one more league game to this point. ManU is 8th, 2 points adrift of Chelsea but also having played one game more than the league leader.

In Spain Oscar Freire captured stage 2 of the Vuelta and assumes the leader's gold jersey. Yesterday's leader Bennati was in a crash with 1.7km to go and finished well behind. They don't give time bonuses to the stage winners in the Vuelta so after 2 bunch sprint finishes the entire field has the same time. Freire is the leader by the tie breaker of placements. He has a first today and a second yesterday to surpass the results of any one else in the field. Tomorrow again features small climbs with a flat finish which may again produce a bunch sprint. Stage 4 seems certain to produce some gaps in the field, however, as it will have a mountaintop finish, a special category climb, the Vuelta's equivalent of the French "hors categorie".

Just exactly what is normal?

Today on my last day of vacation, life seemed to return to a bit more like the regular routine, aka normal. Rather than launch into the existential debate suggested by the title of the post I went for a bicycle ride to the eight lakes.

It clearly wasn't normal as it is Friday and the Bianchi Babe rode along. This makes three bicycle outings this week for the Babe, well over a normal quota.

It was very nice out, sunny and coolish, feeling a bit like fall, a perfect early September day. We rode into a head wind on the way to the lakes but as the Babe correctly observed, we both felt strong on the return trip.

Here is the corn. I don't think this is actually good. I don't know enough about corn to be sure but media reports are that the weather has been too dry and that the corn crop has suffered grievously. I felt those ears visible next to the Babe's right hip and they felt sort of shrunken, not bursting the husks as I have come to expect.In view of the fact that we think the corn is actually doing poorly, Babe pictured for empathy.

Another idyllic day at Vadnais

I was up early because of the extended coverage of today's TdF stage which began at 6am local time. I was up a bit before that surfing the net. I knew the cyclingnews site would not have live coverage that early so I was looking at Eurosport UK. When you log onto Eurosport they ask you what your location is. If you answer USA you get the usual array of extremely American sport, mostly baseball and fantasy football. On that page I answer UK and get choices from among the various sports that actually interest me.

I noticed that TdF coverage hadn't begun even at Eurosport yet but that was expectable because the stage did not formally begin until 5:45 local time. Versus made the decision to expand the show and yet instead of expanding the show only another 15 minutes to show the actual complete stage, Versus made the decision to come on the air after the stage started. They then did that stupid Trautwig/Bobke show until 6:15 and only finally then joined the stage in progress having missed the first climb. It is absolutely insulting having those people making decisions for me about what I want to watch. I believe the solution for me is to move to France.

I also noticed that Eurosport had some interesting graphics not available even on cyclingnews. They had a listing of GC contenders and time gaps actual and then a listing of only those people who actually had a chance to win the bicycle race and the time gaps, this time measured from the first among that group, Klöden. Much more actually useful information.

TOPWLH appeared some time later and we watched the live coverage together until the top of the first category 1 climb. It was getting pretty nice out so at that point we turned the race over to the VCR and went for a ride ourselves. It was another idyllic day at Lake Vadnais. This is a slightly different angle than I have offered before and as you can see, it is nice there.It has been 11 days since the last corn picture and the corn is still doing great. As mentioned previously, the first several pictures were taken while I was seated, the most recent from my knees. For this one I had to stand.Babe for scale. Can you find her? It is almost like Waldo. The corn has tasseled out and the ears are forming, the silk has appeared.

Then we came home and watched the rest of the stage on tape. It was a bad day for Australia in general, for sure, but a good enough day for my Aussie, Cadel Evans. The heads of state were too cautious again and I fear that they may have given Rasmussen too much time. I also fear that he may get even more time in some of the mountain stages to come but if the race is still close enough for the two remaining individual time trials to affect the outcome then Evans could still win. I have this vivid mental picture of Rasmussen in polka dots falling off his bike over and over again the last time he was in contention when the final time trial was run. The race is not yet over.

Did anyone else notice that Vino appeared to be bleeding from the knee soaking through his shorts there at the end? The team chose to have Klöden wait for Vino and try to bring him to the line with as little time lost as possible. By his gesture at the line it seemed clear that Vino recognized and appreciated that Klöden had sacrificed. The race is not yet over.

Today was fun.

Independence Day

The weather deities (mainly rain) provided a couple of rest days. I wanted to ride today, but today is for us, as for many, a pretty busy day. If we were going to get in a ride we would have to start early.

I was out by 7:30am. I was struck again by how unpopulated the city is at 7:30. I crossed Snelling Avenue without a car in sight in either direction, most unusual. I circled back to the house by 8am and TOPWLH joined me and we set out for an Independence Day ride.

The wind was very light but what there was seemed a bit out of the south. With this in mind we headed away from the lake tour towards the river. We rode through the University campus and visited the site of our winter hobby. For the past three seasons we have been season ticket holders for University womens' hockey. The games are played here, at Ridder Arena.Of course, it is normally a bit colder when we visit Ridder. That season will come again soon enough. Just in case anyone is keeping track, my preseason prediction of order of finish in the WCHA is 1. Minnesota 2. Wisconsin 3. Minnesota-Duluth.

We crossed the Stone Arch Bridge and rode out to the end of the road. This is our rest stop shortly after the turnaround. The riverfront is all park land north from Hennepin Avenue all the way to Plymouth for sure, possibly to Broadway, possibly to the end of the road. There is a commercial presence on the river bank immediately after the road ends but I think it may be park all the way until then. This area of the park is opposite North 4th Avenue, quite near to the outlet for Bassett's Creek. As recently as 1985 this was all railroad yard.I had not intended to picture the corn. But in the 4 days since the last picture on June 30 the corn has made amazing progress. For every photo until now my vantage point has been sitting down on the grass. For this photo for the first time I had to rise from that sitting position in order to get a reasonable perspective.This photo was taken from my knees. Babe for scale.

We cleaned up and headed out to Canterbury for the annual free hot dog horse race show with Jim and Herb. Emily won some money, Barbara didn't lose as much as she usually does, I cashed lots of tickets but none for any large payouts and kept my losses well within budget. I think a good time was had by all.

Ten lake tour

I had my first flat in two years about three weeks ago and I have now had another. I noticed earlier this week that the rear was soft but not flat. I pumped it up and it held well enough to ride. I did that a couple of times and my plan was to baby it along until this afternoon when I thought I would throw on a new set of tires. The mileage was short of what I like to get on a set of tires but tire mileage for me is determined not by what I wish for but by when I start having flats.

I went out this morning to pump the rear again so we could take the eight lake tour. It was not as soft as it has been the last couple of days so I was optimistic. Ooops. I pumped it up and I could hear the air escaping. Best laid plans and all that, we had to delay the ride while I patched a tube.

Then this afternoon I planned to do the new tire thing. I went to the basement to retrieve the tires and tools and discovered that I had a spare used tire that I had forgotten about. When I change a set of tires I always save the less used front tire to be used as a spare if something goes wrong with the new tires. So instead of new tires I put the spare on. The only down side is, as I told TOPWLH, I had blocked out most of the afternoon to complete this task and it only took about 20 minutes. More time to blog.

We rode out towards the eight lakes but deviated again at Highway 96. We continued north to Turtle Lake County Park, an additional 1.2 miles.A careful examination of the photo will reveal a water tower on the other side of the lake.

A controversy erupted at the lake when the model declined to be in the photo. She said she only wanted to be in one and she anticipated that her participation would be necessary for scale later on. I told her that this was certainly her call but that any failure to conform to the norm would be reported later. So there you go, a full report on why the model is not in the Turtle Lake picture.

Including Turtle Lake in the ride slightly alters the route. We travelled back south on Hodgson Road and cut behind the commercial development on the northeast corner of the intersection with Highway 96, left on 96 and on down to Rice Street. We got back on the route there, swinging in at the entrance to Sucker Lake park. Once back on familiar territory the steeds seemed to sense the barn and we completed the tour without much difficulty. I note for clarity that the eight and/or ten lake tour is not always exactly the same lakes. We don't always pass Wabasso, we often pass Emily, we occasionally get to Willow Pond or Lake Johanna, sometimes to Grass, or even once in a while Lake Valentine. Today I believe we counted ten.

I think it safe to say that today, June 30, the corn looks to be a prohibitive favorite to meet or exceed that knee high by the Fourth of July thing.Babe for scale.

NEWS FLASH: BB sights eight lakes

The day dawned to a complete overcast. However, radar weather showed no nearby precipitation. It was just an overcast, perhaps a high fog bank. But it was coolish so we waited it out a bit. About 10am we geared up and the sun peeked through for the first time as we left the garage. By the time we got home the day had gradually morphed into one of the nicest days in the history of days.

There was too much traffic coming and going from the Fairgrounds so despite a prediction of wind rising out of the SE, we headed north towards the eight lake tour, BB's first attempt at this major ride. One of the problems for this tour is that the preferred Vadnais pit stop is more than fourteen miles into the ride, a couple of miles past the half-way mark. But here she is at Lake Vadnais.The concentration of fisher people has gone way down and we had only a few other people present while we enjoyed the calm and beauty.

It was a major wildlife day. We saw OUR first deer. Like the Michigan deer this one was crossing the bike path. We had just turned off Victoria onto the steep downhill to Snail Lake when I noticed the young doe. She moved off in the general direction of Grass Lake before any possibility of a photo presented itself.

Then as we left Vadnais I noticed an eagle on the exposed flats out from the south shore of the lake. There was also a white heron and some other creatures who may have been cormorants. I could not pause for a photo or for more complete identification as BB had already launched herself into climb mode for the hill up to Rice Street and she scolded me for stopping. *sigh* But we got home before any adverse winds picked up so I am going to label the excursion as a nice ride.

I need also to make a brief mention of yesterday's ride. I got home early and desparately wanted to ride but it absolutely felt like rain. Finally I decided to go out anyway but to stay close to home. I rode fifteen miles without crossing Snelling or Larpenteur. This means I had ridden at least once on most of the streets available within that corner of Roseville and Lauderdale. Eventually I got up a bit of courage and ventured over to Saint Anthony Park. I was riding past Langford Park when the sun briefly poked through. All in all a pretty strange ride but also strangely satisfying.

Another I need to mention is that last week BB noticed ground disturbance in the corn field. I took a look and it appeared to me that the corn had been cultivated. I am sure that will be the only time as the crop has now exceeded the height at which you can drive a tractor over the plants without damaging them. The corn looks good don't you think?Babe for scale.

Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré

Frenchman wins bicycle race in France.

Christophe Moreau of the Ag2r team (ahh zhay deux err) today crossed the finish line in Annecy in a group with the other contenders to retain his lead and capture one of the last major prep races for next month's 94th Tour de France.

Alexander Vinokourov of the Astana team was perhaps the strongest rider in the race and in fact was the winner of the final stage. But Vinokourov deliberately let seven minutes escape on the midweek climb of the legendary Mont Ventoux, won by Moreau. Vinokourov, who was in the lead at that point, elected to let the stage leaders go to save his strength for le Tour.

In other cycling news Iban Mayo and Leonardo Piepoli of Saunier Duval and Alessandro Petacchi of Milram, the points classification winner, were reported to have returned "non-negative" test results for banned substances at the Giro d'Italia. Mayo has subsequently been cleared but Piepoli and Petacchi remain under suspicion. Piepoli confirmed that he takes the drug in question, salbutamol, but averred that he takes it for asthma, the commonly prescribed use. Other sources report that salbutamol is commonly taken as a masking agent for EPO.

Today is Fathers' Day and here is a photo of the two people who constitute my validation as a Father.This photo was taken in our house on Seminary, probably when Wireless was 3 or so. They are sitting in the baby rocking chair. Isn't Wireless sweet?

The Babe and I got out early enough for our ride to avoid the heat of the day which is now building and promises to be oppressive. We left about 8:30 when the weather sites predicted a 39 percent chance of a thunderstorm by 10. 39? Where do they come up with these things? It did not rain but the weather was unsettled enough that it completely changed two times while we were out and we ended up riding into a head wind on the way home.

We also started out in a direction away from the eight lakes. The first weather change convinced us to turn back and try to make it to at least Owasso.It was so uncertain when we started that we decided to get the corn picture at the very beginning of the ride, just to make sure that we got the photo.The corn looks good, doesn't it? Babe included for scale.

Bignewhouse

It feels like summer at last. It is 89F (30C) right now and feeling a little steamy besides. We have had a day or two earlier in the year when the temperature exceeded 90 but this is different, at last. The plants are in full growth mode, it doesn't feel a single bit like a hot day in spring. It is a summer day.

It is also spouse ride day and we got out early, leaving the garage by 10:20. The wind kept us from trying the Bianchi Babe's much preferred northern route with the eight lakes. We rode south to the river and along the river road.

There are a couple of candidates for Lucas Davenport's bignewhouse along the River Road. Followers of the Prey series will know that his old house mostly burned up when it ended up being a crime scene at the end of one of the novels. The next book features a lot of talk about architect and builders and the bignewhouse.This is the Babe, this time with her own bicycle, the Bianchi, in front of one of the primary candidates. It is a tear down and re-build which was in progress about the time those two books came out and it is obviously a big house suitable for a software millionaire, albeit a software millionaire still working as a homicide detective.

Going all the way to the bignewhouse was a substantial increase in distance for the Babe but she held up very well and only once complained, and that was about a lack of shade in the industrial area that I now ride through on the way out and back to avoid riding through the from a bicycle perspective somewhat sketchy intersection of Raymond and University. She was chastised for complaining and thereafter acted contrite.

The weather has been marginal for bicycling (our neighbor Betsy who nearly every year rides TRAM recently reported that she has 34 miles so far this year). But it has been great for the corn.The geology guy at work is always including a hammer or a ball point pen in his rock photos. The geology people always say this is done for scale. Today's photo is of the corn with the Babe included for scale. As you can see, nearly knee high by the 10th of June. I suspect this bodes well for that 4th of July thing.

I think I may recycle a bit later.

Auto repair

I have now, oh, hundreds of hours of riding a bicycle, almost all in a pretty urban environment. This means many, many iterations of pulling away from a stop sign next to cars doing the same, passing cars and having them pass me. Here is one really strongly enduring observation: How can people drive a car with bad wheel bearings? The noise bad bearings make is unmistakable and, at least to a bicyclist, penetratingly obvious.

Just an observation.

The weather site I read today gave a good explanation of the current weather pattern. The explanation is that a large air mass has stalled just to the west of us. With the mass stagnating we see the same pattern repeating every day. We continue to come under the influence of the counterclockwise rotation of the mass which produces southerly winds. The winds keep bringing up more moist air from further south. The moisture content is not extremely high, therefore the effect produces alternating "slots" of rain and shine. Today I was home for a dry slot. I got to ride my bike.

It was the last ride of the month and like the flat land contingent, I often have several round numbers that I find myself trying to attain at the end of each month. Not many rides at the end of this month so I missed out on most of the round numbers but I did get to one of them, a quite satisfying one at that. Month over, tomorrow I start anew.The rain has been spectacularly good for the corn. It looks to me like it has grown about an inch a day for the past week.

Twenty-five percent

Today featured the first morning ride and a little bit of recycling. A morning ride is a sure sign that summer is upon us. It was warm enough this morning to give it a try but weather conditions made a morning ride unlikely. It was still dark when I got up (from the overcast) and it stayed dark as I went about my morning tasks. But about 8:30 it started to lighten up and suddenly the sun appeared.

I geared up and got out into the garage. I noticed the sky was still a bit threatening but I decided to try it anyway. When I was about a mile out from home there was a peal of thunder. Ooops. I headed for home. As I neared home it didn't seem so bad after all so I veered slightly off course while still maintaining a homeward course. Ooops. Another peal of thunder. I hurried for home.

I sat in my garage and lubed my chain (which actually needed it pretty badly). Sure enough, there was an episode of sprinkles, enough to almost but not quite wet down the driveway. I went into the house to give the lube time to penetrate the chain links. After about an hour I went back out.

By now weather radar indicated the rain had passed and there should be a lengthy window of opportunity. I finished up the chain maintenance and set off. It ended up being a pretty nice day.I discovered that it rained a fair amount along the river in Saint Paul. The road still had some damp spots and even a couple of pothole puddles.

I hardly ever ride in Minneapolis. Well, that isn't quite accurate. I ride through about a tenth of a mile of Minneapolis every time I ride to the river. But I don't ride in Minneapolis very much. Today I crossed the Ford Parkway Bridge into Minneapolis and detoured to Minnehaha Park and this view of Minnehaha Falls.

Lots of Euro sports today. The Giro enters its second week without much in the way of resolution to this point. The race seems to be marking time waiting for the arrival of the mountains. The racing so far is just setting the stage for Tuesday when there is a big mountaintop finish which is the first stage of the meat of the competition.

In England the FA Cup went to extra time. Didier Drogba scored in the 116th minute to propel Chelsea to a 1-0 victory over league champion Manchester United. The game was played in the new Wembley Stadium. The new stadium was built at a cost of 750 million pounds. That makes it a 1.48 billion dollar stadium. I hope it is nice.

Nantes has Toulouse at home in its final home game as a member of Ligue 1. The game is underway as I type, no report of any score yet. The league season closes next Saturday at league champion Lyon. Lyon has already clinched the championship, its sixth in a row.

I watched a little Louis Vuitton today but I think I came in too late in this round. There wasn't much in the way of competitive tension in either of the semi-finals and I had a hard time getting very interested. Both series are pretty much settled already.

The corn is up. It came up overnight last night as these little rows of green were not there yesterday. The rows are not very distinct yet. I couldn't get a picture from the vantage point I intend to use. I had to get down close to the ground to get an image but I think it is clear that the corn is growing. At the other end of the grounds the soybeans are already up as is a grain which I cannot yet identify but which I suspect is wheat.

EDIT: Final score from Ligue 1 - Nantes 0:0 Toulouse

Fast and strong

I have been a bit worried about average speed. I do not race, even against myself, but a comparison of average speeds so far this year to average speeds for most of last year was starting to make me feel, well, slow.

Today it got all better and in the process reminded me of why it got all better. I am a whole lot faster when there are no issues of heating and cooling to be dealt with. For example, staying warm takes energy. I have always found that I am slower when I ride in the cold. The converse is also true, overheating takes energy. I don't like being cold, probably I overdress. I don't overdress enough to perspire but I do overdress enough that it saps my energy. I am slower when I am overdressed.

Today was the first day when it felt like summer and when there wasn't any problem with staying warm or with staying cool. It was warm enough that I was dressed in only a sleeveless jersey and shorts, cotton socks and shoes, helmet and gloves, sunglasses. It was warm enough that no base layer, no jacket, no arm warmers, none of that stuff was needed. It was warm enough that I got that evaporative cooling thing going so I was not overheated.

I was fast. I was a full 1.1 mph faster than my previous fastest average speed for so far this year. WOOHOO. I feel fast, I feel strong. I came home, walked into the house and burst into a nice sweat. It felt very good.

I rode the full southern route, all the way to the Highway 5/West 7th Street Bridge across the Mississippi. Here is Fort Snelling, the Mendota Bridge and I am guessing a Northwest Airlines flight landing.The corn has been planted. I did not bother to photograph it because the only evidence that is visible is a new set of tractor and planter tracks in the field in a distinctly row pattern. There is no mistaking that work has been done in the field, but no green shoots poking though the soil just yet. I think it won't be long now, though. If I recall correctly from my tenth grade biology seed sprouting assignment, that corn will be fully sprouted within just a few days and should be peeking above the ground within 2 weeks.

Chelsea 0: Manchester United 0. Both sides presented something less than their top squads and played an apparently uninspired scoreless draw. After all there was nothing of consequence to contest today so they will wait to test each other in the FA Cup final.