I can feel the end of the season coming. This is a bicycle blog but I do continue to post stuff even after bicycling has ceased for the year. I can feel that coming as I begin to feel the urge to post extraneous material.
Besides, it rained today, no bicycling.
The whole suggestion of a Green Day cover of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" got me to just some mental wandering about and I thought of my personal favorite incongruous cover of a fairly well known song.
Most people of a certain age will recall Joan Baez's 1975 song "Diamonds and Rust". The song is about Joan receiving an out of the blue phone call and then musing about the person who has made the call. Everyone assumes that the caller is Bob Dylan and the time frame of the musing that Joan does is the time when she was already famous and Bob was just becoming famous. I see from the Wikipedia article that Joan now openly acknowledges that the song is about Bob.
Anyone pining for Joan's rendition can follow this link.
It's a folk song, a very soft semi-rocker, acoustic, very, very Joan Baez.
My favorite incongruous cover is by Judas Priest, an act from the other end of the musical performance scale. Apparently it is so widely popular with Priest fans that it is now a staple of nearly every performance by the group.
Here then, not "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" by Green Day, but a live performance at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennesee, on December 12, 1982, on their Screaming for Vengeance tour, the Judas Priest version of "Diamonds and Rust:
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Correction
I had only a 40 percent chance of getting in a ride today. The street seemed damp this morning and the overcast never lifted. But a little after noon Wireless called looking for TOPWLH and seemed surprised to find me at home, wondering why I WASN'T out riding. TOPWLH had suggested earlier that it was warm enough and that it seemed possible but until Wireless spurred me to action I was actually watching Gopher Nation.
How did that come out anyway?
The overcast never lifted and I didn't get any photographs. Conditions seemed OK when I started but after a while I decided I was too far from home and wanted to get back within 5 miles of home so that I could make a dash for it if necessary. There are still lots of ways to compile mileage while maintaining proximity to home.
After a while I wanted to be within 3 miles of home, then even that seemed dangerously far away. I wanted to be on the home side of Snelling. So that's where I ended up and when the sprinkles finally arrived I was 0.2 miles from completing the full two hour ride.
Today 40 percent was enough.
As pointed out by a budding prune juice consumer, that song I was reminded of the other day really wasn't a Peter, Paul and Mary song at all although they eventually did do a recording of it. It was actually the Kingston Trio. There is an interesting side story that I did not know. The Kingston Trio (remember them? anyone under 50 remember them?) recorded the song in 1961 and believing it to be a traditional folk song, they claimed authorship. The real composers gave them notice of their error. The Trio had their name removed and credited the true composers, Pete Seeger who composed the first three verses in 1955 and had made a record including the song, and Joe Hickerson who added additional verses in 1960.
Here then, Pete Seeger, a great American hero, performing his composition in 1991 (at the age of 72):
Special thanks to Marz for pointing out the error.
How did that come out anyway?
The overcast never lifted and I didn't get any photographs. Conditions seemed OK when I started but after a while I decided I was too far from home and wanted to get back within 5 miles of home so that I could make a dash for it if necessary. There are still lots of ways to compile mileage while maintaining proximity to home.
After a while I wanted to be within 3 miles of home, then even that seemed dangerously far away. I wanted to be on the home side of Snelling. So that's where I ended up and when the sprinkles finally arrived I was 0.2 miles from completing the full two hour ride.
Today 40 percent was enough.
As pointed out by a budding prune juice consumer, that song I was reminded of the other day really wasn't a Peter, Paul and Mary song at all although they eventually did do a recording of it. It was actually the Kingston Trio. There is an interesting side story that I did not know. The Kingston Trio (remember them? anyone under 50 remember them?) recorded the song in 1961 and believing it to be a traditional folk song, they claimed authorship. The real composers gave them notice of their error. The Trio had their name removed and credited the true composers, Pete Seeger who composed the first three verses in 1955 and had made a record including the song, and Joe Hickerson who added additional verses in 1960.
Here then, Pete Seeger, a great American hero, performing his composition in 1991 (at the age of 72):
Special thanks to Marz for pointing out the error.
Friday, October 22, 2010
September returns
With apologies to absolutely no one, what a drag having to work today must have been. After yesterday's too cold, today's temperatures went even past just right up to pleasantly overdone. I had a Guest Rider and we went out with bare legs, a last gasp appearance of shorts.
I think 68 is the official number right now which IS pretty spectacular but it was not absolutely completely perfect. The wind was a bit above ideal but we endeavored to persevere and it was a very, very nice ride. I know I thought last week might be my last trip to the falls but today was nice enough to make the ride another time.
I wore my Euskatel jersey again today and when we arrived at the Falls a nice lady walked right up to me and asked who I rode for. Surely you jest, I THOUGHT. But I was also wearing my orange helmet (Rabobank) and maybe the color coordination caused a brief moment of confusion.
But her name wasn't Shirley and she seemed disappointed when I told her it was just a jersey from a Euro team that I picked up somewhere. I am in good shape for my age, but after all, my age! I did not ever expect to be mistaken for a competitive bicycle racer but I guess it was a compliment.
The sun is now low in the sky even in early afternoon and the sun angle was completely wrong for a photo from the traditional next to falls spot at the time we were there. We hung around and observed a wedding party being photographed and then trundled down to the end of the gorge to get the alternative shot.
We took the preferred route home from the Falls, the Minneapolis side and came across this display next to the back side of the soccer field at Minnehaha Academy.
The extraordinary October continues, we are going to keep on trying to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.
This evening in Nantes, FC Nantes has played a 1-1 draw with Chateauroux and continue to tread water in the general classification. A tie is better than a loss but if FC Nantes is to fulfill their ambitions they MUST begin to take full points in these home games.
I think 68 is the official number right now which IS pretty spectacular but it was not absolutely completely perfect. The wind was a bit above ideal but we endeavored to persevere and it was a very, very nice ride. I know I thought last week might be my last trip to the falls but today was nice enough to make the ride another time.
I wore my Euskatel jersey again today and when we arrived at the Falls a nice lady walked right up to me and asked who I rode for. Surely you jest, I THOUGHT. But I was also wearing my orange helmet (Rabobank) and maybe the color coordination caused a brief moment of confusion.
But her name wasn't Shirley and she seemed disappointed when I told her it was just a jersey from a Euro team that I picked up somewhere. I am in good shape for my age, but after all, my age! I did not ever expect to be mistaken for a competitive bicycle racer but I guess it was a compliment.
The sun is now low in the sky even in early afternoon and the sun angle was completely wrong for a photo from the traditional next to falls spot at the time we were there. We hung around and observed a wedding party being photographed and then trundled down to the end of the gorge to get the alternative shot.
We took the preferred route home from the Falls, the Minneapolis side and came across this display next to the back side of the soccer field at Minnehaha Academy.
The extraordinary October continues, we are going to keep on trying to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.This evening in Nantes, FC Nantes has played a 1-1 draw with Chateauroux and continue to tread water in the general classification. A tie is better than a loss but if FC Nantes is to fulfill their ambitions they MUST begin to take full points in these home games.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Where have all the bikers gone?
The inspiration for today's post is a Peter, Paul and Mary song. Anyone remember them? That is, anyone under 50 remember them?
It was 49, yes that is forty-nine degrees when I headed out the door today. It warmed a bit while I was riding but I don't think it is going to make the average for the day, which unhappily has now descended to 56. So it was cold.
Shortly after starting out I rode past the corn field up on the corner. The harvest is more or less complete on the corner plot (one of several on that nearly quarter section of the agricultural experimentation center). As detailed the other day, the field was combined instead of chopped this year. I don't know who else will notice but it sticks out like a sore thumb for me that combining leaves a much larger amount of what farmer types call "plant residue" in the field. It looks to me like there is too much stuff there for them to continue to do minimum tillage planting in the spring. I think they are going to have to plow.
Why they left those three rows of corn in place is beyond me. In real agricultural settings you see that sometimes (and as recommended by the DNR) as cover and forage for pheasants. I have seen most of the wildlife that frequents this community and even though some neighbors down the street have chickens, I have not seen pheasants here.
Every time a new threshhold of coldness is reached another large group of bicyclists decide that the season is over and are never seen again until what they consider spring (and what for me is about two months into the new season). I thought for a while that today I might not see a single other human on a bicycle. I didn't see any at all for a long time after starting out and in fact, I saw so few that I was prepared to state that I saw no others based on the fact that it was going to be almost true anyway and why spoil a good story just for the sake of the truth? But I saw so few that a recitation of the ones I did see might prove my point better than saying that I saw none.
I was easily able to keep track. The first I saw was a little girl on a 16 inch wheel bicycle, looking like the training wheels had just come off. She wobbled the 10 or 15 feet from one driveway to a next door neighbor's driveway as I approached on a very lightly traveled residential street.
Then I saw a young woman on a comfort bike riding down her driveway as I approached. I believe she probably went onto the street although I turned left and did not actually witness any such thing.
Then I saw a mother and her tiny daughter at the end of their driveway. This little girl still had the training wheels on and may not have actually cleared the end of the driveway. Mama had ridden all the way across the street and was circling back to check on her girl. I don't think they were going to ride very far.
And that was it for the first 21 miles.
I really thought that would be it. But just after mile 21 I met my first confirmed recreational cyclist, a young man with full gear including helmet and tights, riding a white Specialized road bike. By then it was getting to be nearly 3pm and with school starting to let out I started to see some student commuters. The first had one of those plastic milk crate storage boxes lashed to a rack on her rear wheel. That plastic box screams commuter. The next one I met had those after market plastic fenders and a back pack. Two more with back packs and I was nearly home.
I stopped to get an updated photo of the construction at the new softball field.
The concerns that I had before construction began that this might be only a token gesture have disappeared. This is going to be a softball field fully equal to the baseball field used by the boys on local high school team. Funny what the threat of a Title IX complaint will produce.
I headed on towards home and literally two blocks from home I saw a second and final recreational rider, out on his road bike along Fairview. So that's it. Ten, really six or seven actually, it's hard to count mama and the two little girls, and four of those I did see were commuters. Where the bikers have gone I do not know, but I do know that they have gone. Actually, I do know where they have gone. Inside.
It was cold, I have the gear. The sun was out, it was pretty. The wind was greatly diminished from yesterday's near gale, it was very manageable. Nice day, nice ride.
It was 49, yes that is forty-nine degrees when I headed out the door today. It warmed a bit while I was riding but I don't think it is going to make the average for the day, which unhappily has now descended to 56. So it was cold.
Shortly after starting out I rode past the corn field up on the corner. The harvest is more or less complete on the corner plot (one of several on that nearly quarter section of the agricultural experimentation center). As detailed the other day, the field was combined instead of chopped this year. I don't know who else will notice but it sticks out like a sore thumb for me that combining leaves a much larger amount of what farmer types call "plant residue" in the field. It looks to me like there is too much stuff there for them to continue to do minimum tillage planting in the spring. I think they are going to have to plow.
Why they left those three rows of corn in place is beyond me. In real agricultural settings you see that sometimes (and as recommended by the DNR) as cover and forage for pheasants. I have seen most of the wildlife that frequents this community and even though some neighbors down the street have chickens, I have not seen pheasants here.Every time a new threshhold of coldness is reached another large group of bicyclists decide that the season is over and are never seen again until what they consider spring (and what for me is about two months into the new season). I thought for a while that today I might not see a single other human on a bicycle. I didn't see any at all for a long time after starting out and in fact, I saw so few that I was prepared to state that I saw no others based on the fact that it was going to be almost true anyway and why spoil a good story just for the sake of the truth? But I saw so few that a recitation of the ones I did see might prove my point better than saying that I saw none.
I was easily able to keep track. The first I saw was a little girl on a 16 inch wheel bicycle, looking like the training wheels had just come off. She wobbled the 10 or 15 feet from one driveway to a next door neighbor's driveway as I approached on a very lightly traveled residential street.
Then I saw a young woman on a comfort bike riding down her driveway as I approached. I believe she probably went onto the street although I turned left and did not actually witness any such thing.
Then I saw a mother and her tiny daughter at the end of their driveway. This little girl still had the training wheels on and may not have actually cleared the end of the driveway. Mama had ridden all the way across the street and was circling back to check on her girl. I don't think they were going to ride very far.
And that was it for the first 21 miles.
I really thought that would be it. But just after mile 21 I met my first confirmed recreational cyclist, a young man with full gear including helmet and tights, riding a white Specialized road bike. By then it was getting to be nearly 3pm and with school starting to let out I started to see some student commuters. The first had one of those plastic milk crate storage boxes lashed to a rack on her rear wheel. That plastic box screams commuter. The next one I met had those after market plastic fenders and a back pack. Two more with back packs and I was nearly home.
I stopped to get an updated photo of the construction at the new softball field.
The concerns that I had before construction began that this might be only a token gesture have disappeared. This is going to be a softball field fully equal to the baseball field used by the boys on local high school team. Funny what the threat of a Title IX complaint will produce.I headed on towards home and literally two blocks from home I saw a second and final recreational rider, out on his road bike along Fairview. So that's it. Ten, really six or seven actually, it's hard to count mama and the two little girls, and four of those I did see were commuters. Where the bikers have gone I do not know, but I do know that they have gone. Actually, I do know where they have gone. Inside.
It was cold, I have the gear. The sun was out, it was pretty. The wind was greatly diminished from yesterday's near gale, it was very manageable. Nice day, nice ride.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Punitive
It was stone grey overcast when I started today. When I finished it was clear as a bell, sunny and gorgeous. I was at about the half way mark when the change occurred.
When a change that great occurs in cloud coverage it is a good bet that there has been an air mass change. When one bunch of air moves out and another bunch moves in it is normal for there to be a lot of wind. Today's wind was extreme. I found it to be probably the hardest wind to ride in since the TRAM ride to Saint Peter, if anyone remembers that. It was always warm enough and mostly pretty pleasant except for the wind. The wind . . .
But I was stopped reading this sign at the rain garden. That's the place where the cardinal flowers grow, although the growing season is over at this particular garden.
A cheerful fellow in approximately my peer age group (although maybe a little not) was walking past and inquired if I was having a good ride. I replied that it was very windy, but, yes, the ride was good.
When a change that great occurs in cloud coverage it is a good bet that there has been an air mass change. When one bunch of air moves out and another bunch moves in it is normal for there to be a lot of wind. Today's wind was extreme. I found it to be probably the hardest wind to ride in since the TRAM ride to Saint Peter, if anyone remembers that. It was always warm enough and mostly pretty pleasant except for the wind. The wind . . .But I was stopped reading this sign at the rain garden. That's the place where the cardinal flowers grow, although the growing season is over at this particular garden.
A cheerful fellow in approximately my peer age group (although maybe a little not) was walking past and inquired if I was having a good ride. I replied that it was very windy, but, yes, the ride was good.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
4,004
The marathon which began March 14 with 16 miles ridden on the Axis today reached its goal. With 26 miles ridden on FirstLOOK, I have now ridden 4,004 miles so far this calendar year.
A post focusing on a number is going to have to have some supporting numbers.
155th day with a ride.
9th straight year with at least 4,000 miles.
The date of achieving this goal this year is the median of the 9 years, 4 times earlier, 4 times later.
Of 4,004 miles, 2,002 ridden on NewLOOK, 1,462 on FirstLOOK, 306 on the Michigan bicycle, and 234 on the Axis.
One important goal is still out there and a couple of things that would be fun. The important goal is 160 rides.
Today I discovered the corn harvest going on over at the corner. This year is interesting in that every other year in at least the time I have been taking photographs over there the main harvest process has been to chop the corn. Chopping produces silage. This year the corn is being combined. This produces corn in kernel form.
Here is a quintessential corn combining photo, the grain being off loaded from the harvester into the grain hauler.
I had to ride off road onto the gravel and grass roads over there to get a decent vantage point for the photograph. A caution, there have been an extremely large number of geese over there lately. However, a stick and 25 more miles of riding remedied the mess on my tires.
And here is the other quintessential corn combining photo. Almost always you will come to a point where the bin on board the harvester is full but the hauling truck has not returned to the field. The corn is dumped on the ground and other equipment is used to get it up and into the hauler.
They better get that stuff up before night fall because it won't take those geese long to find it.
I rode down into Minneapolis and ended up following the trail from the Greenway bridge down along the light rail to downtown. I had never been there before so it was all new. There are a couple of interesting vistas never previously seen by me. The trail dropped me off near the Metrodome and I found my way over to the Stone Arch Bridge to start the trek back towards home.
I have photographed the Falls a couple of times this year but this is the first time in my memory that the door to the lock was open.
That's the lock on the left.
It was southwest wind and that bridge is south and west of where I live. On the way home I felt plenty strong.
Another nice day, temperatures slightly above average, a little overcast at the start but clearing to become sunny by the end of the ride.
A post focusing on a number is going to have to have some supporting numbers.
155th day with a ride.
9th straight year with at least 4,000 miles.
The date of achieving this goal this year is the median of the 9 years, 4 times earlier, 4 times later.
Of 4,004 miles, 2,002 ridden on NewLOOK, 1,462 on FirstLOOK, 306 on the Michigan bicycle, and 234 on the Axis.
One important goal is still out there and a couple of things that would be fun. The important goal is 160 rides.
Today I discovered the corn harvest going on over at the corner. This year is interesting in that every other year in at least the time I have been taking photographs over there the main harvest process has been to chop the corn. Chopping produces silage. This year the corn is being combined. This produces corn in kernel form.
Here is a quintessential corn combining photo, the grain being off loaded from the harvester into the grain hauler.
I had to ride off road onto the gravel and grass roads over there to get a decent vantage point for the photograph. A caution, there have been an extremely large number of geese over there lately. However, a stick and 25 more miles of riding remedied the mess on my tires.And here is the other quintessential corn combining photo. Almost always you will come to a point where the bin on board the harvester is full but the hauling truck has not returned to the field. The corn is dumped on the ground and other equipment is used to get it up and into the hauler.
They better get that stuff up before night fall because it won't take those geese long to find it.I rode down into Minneapolis and ended up following the trail from the Greenway bridge down along the light rail to downtown. I had never been there before so it was all new. There are a couple of interesting vistas never previously seen by me. The trail dropped me off near the Metrodome and I found my way over to the Stone Arch Bridge to start the trek back towards home.
I have photographed the Falls a couple of times this year but this is the first time in my memory that the door to the lock was open.
That's the lock on the left.It was southwest wind and that bridge is south and west of where I live. On the way home I felt plenty strong.
Another nice day, temperatures slightly above average, a little overcast at the start but clearing to become sunny by the end of the ride.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Swans return
With apologies to all who still have jobs, Monday is the best day of the week. With double apologies, the reason is that all of you go to work. 55, sunny and light winds makes for a really, really nice day if you are dressed properly for those conditions. I was more than willing to share but the truth is there weren't very many others out there enjoying today's wonderful late October day.
Here's an illustration of why Monday works so well for me. The giant inflatable jack-o'-lantern that I featured yesterday has proprietors that work. When I rode past it today the air pump was not operating and the yard ornament was lying in an orange pile in that front yard. Next door to that event was the display that I really wanted to post yesterday. The problem was yesterday the people who own this house were home, the garage door was open and they were putzing around in the yard. I didn't feel like introducing myself and asking for permission to photograph this nice pumpkin display.
So instead I went past again today and today the homeowners are at work. I just stopped at the end of the driveway and photographed at my leisure. Which is pretty much what I have plenty of, leisure. That's six pumpkins and some orange flowers. There is another small pumpkin in the yard to make seven but its placement at the end of that brick wall moved it out of the shot that I wanted.
I rode all the way out to Highway 96 today and as I started on the return trip past the series of lakes I discovered large white birds at Sucker Lake. It was new white birds, however, not the ones that hung around out there all summer. This is the fall large white birds, the swans. There were seven on Sucker Lake. I got a couple of pictures that I was pretty satisfied with but when I came to lake Vadnais I found these two posing with a gaggle of geese just off the parking lot point.
All that talk about a freeze that I heard from Sven yesterday turned out to be incorrect. Instead we had a small amount of moisture on the street this morning indicating a light overnight sprinkle. The yard display flowers are still doing just fine. This one is quite near to those grasses featured a couple of days ago with GRider.
It was the GRider who pointed these out to me. I still haven't found the one she described to me but I have found another one. There is a new trend in Halloween yard decorations, really, really large cobwebs. Yard size cobwebs.
In France this evening FC Nantes has travelled to Boulogne and played another nil nil draw. A nil nil draw on the road is a significantly better result than the nil nil draw they played at home last Friday. In any case, FC Nantes holds its place in the table. They play again on Friday, home to fourth place Chateauroux. Meanwhile Team France has scored matching 2-0 home victories over Romania and Luxembourg in qualifying matches for Euro 2012. France holds first place in Group D after having played four of ten qualifying matches. To this point there have been no controversial hand balls in any of France's matches.
Here's an illustration of why Monday works so well for me. The giant inflatable jack-o'-lantern that I featured yesterday has proprietors that work. When I rode past it today the air pump was not operating and the yard ornament was lying in an orange pile in that front yard. Next door to that event was the display that I really wanted to post yesterday. The problem was yesterday the people who own this house were home, the garage door was open and they were putzing around in the yard. I didn't feel like introducing myself and asking for permission to photograph this nice pumpkin display.
So instead I went past again today and today the homeowners are at work. I just stopped at the end of the driveway and photographed at my leisure. Which is pretty much what I have plenty of, leisure. That's six pumpkins and some orange flowers. There is another small pumpkin in the yard to make seven but its placement at the end of that brick wall moved it out of the shot that I wanted.I rode all the way out to Highway 96 today and as I started on the return trip past the series of lakes I discovered large white birds at Sucker Lake. It was new white birds, however, not the ones that hung around out there all summer. This is the fall large white birds, the swans. There were seven on Sucker Lake. I got a couple of pictures that I was pretty satisfied with but when I came to lake Vadnais I found these two posing with a gaggle of geese just off the parking lot point.
All that talk about a freeze that I heard from Sven yesterday turned out to be incorrect. Instead we had a small amount of moisture on the street this morning indicating a light overnight sprinkle. The yard display flowers are still doing just fine. This one is quite near to those grasses featured a couple of days ago with GRider.
It was the GRider who pointed these out to me. I still haven't found the one she described to me but I have found another one. There is a new trend in Halloween yard decorations, really, really large cobwebs. Yard size cobwebs.
In France this evening FC Nantes has travelled to Boulogne and played another nil nil draw. A nil nil draw on the road is a significantly better result than the nil nil draw they played at home last Friday. In any case, FC Nantes holds its place in the table. They play again on Friday, home to fourth place Chateauroux. Meanwhile Team France has scored matching 2-0 home victories over Romania and Luxembourg in qualifying matches for Euro 2012. France holds first place in Group D after having played four of ten qualifying matches. To this point there have been no controversial hand balls in any of France's matches.
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