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.

Apparently you never forget

How to ride a bicycle.  At least that's what I've heard and today I proved it.

Not very far, alas, and certainly not very fast, but today I rode my bicycle.

This is a very early start for me, I seldom have ever gotten a ride in March.  But late last week we had a day long hard rain.  Out in our front yard the last little bit of winter melted away.

That motivated me to do this.  It isn't actual bicycle repair but it is repair related to riding my bicycle.

The cleat on my bike shoes had slithered all the way up to the toe of my left shoe. This left my foot not in the proper position and may have contributed to knee pain.  The cleat is held on by screws not by the force of god so every once in a while the screws need tightening and the cleat needs to be repositioned.  This would not be necessary if the whole attachment thing was under deity supervision.

That part on the right is how the shoes connect to the pedal.  Those four screws have to be removed to get at the mounting bracket (still on the shoe).  The top screw there was very, very loose and the one lower left was completely unscrewed and being held still on the shoe only by the rest of the bracket.

This isn't the first time.

So I got the mounting bracket reattached in the proper position on the shoe and then screwed the rest of the cleat back on.  Ready to go.

And yet another day in the 50s sent me out on the road.

When you ride only very occasionally or not at all you forget about wind.

It was not a punitive wind today but it was certainly present and a firm reminder that this is the sort of thing that one needs to keep track of when contemplating a bicycle ride.

But any way I got quite a bit farther from my house than I have been under my own power in quite a while.

The trees demonstrate how very far we still are from spring.

Boxing Day

We now almost always have bananas, blueberries and raspberries on hand.  None of these keep extremely well so the most common item on our grocery list is "bananas, b's, and r's."

For raspberries I have come to prefer Driscoll's, they seem to keep the best.

There are several brands of blueberries that seem OK but perhaps because of the raspberry preference we often end up with Driscoll's for them too.

So here is the current batch of blueberries.

As you can see they are a product of Mexico and this particular box is of a limited edition, sweetest batch.

Well, I don't know much about blueberry farming in Mexico at this time of year but I do know that if I was in West Michigan in August that these would be "Blue Crop".

While searching my files for the above photo I came across this beach view 

Happy Boxing Day.

Gino's Christmas card

Merry Christmas to all.

At her Mama's company Christmas party.