All Hallow's Eve

I had a couple of exciting moments that last two days riding in.  Tuesday's moment wasn't as exciting for me as it was for the dude waiting to cross Hiawatha going eastbound on the Greenway.  We both pulled up to Hiawatha, he going east and me going west, right as the light was changing.  The light changed and we both started into the intersection with the green light.  Unfortunately a driver heading north on Hiawatha didn't realize their light was red and approached the intersection at high speed.  At the last moment the driver slammed on the brakes and screeched to a halt midway through the intersection.  Realizing they were half way through they decided to continue on.  The eastbound biker dude was still one lane over from the car and therefore was not squashed like a bug as he would have been had he been in the car's path.  Had it been me it might have made me crap myself.  As we passed each other in the crosswalk he shrugged and said, "Dialing their cell phone." with one of those "Eh, what are you going to do?" looks.  A cooler customer than I would have been, for sure.

 

Monday's excitement was more exciting.  Monday marked my first crossing of Hiawatha on the new Sabo Bridge.  I know it's not officially open yet, but the signs were pushed to the side and I just couldn't resist.  On first impressions, it's nice.  Not too far out of the way, as some detractors have said, and a nice alternative to dodging cell phone dialing morning commute zombies.  Plus, it's kinda pretty.  There's a grand opening ceremony next Thursday from 4-6 at the western entrance if you enjoy attending such shindigs.  I'm going to try to resist using it until the grand opening.  There are workers out there still, doing last minute stuff and I probably wouldn't bee to pleased if random people kept crusing through my workspace after I'd put up signs asking them not to.  And it's only another week.

 

Date: October 29
Mileage: 16
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Jamis
October mileage: 334
Year to date mileage: 3555

 

Date: October 30
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Trike
October mileage: 360
Year to date mileage: 3581

 

Date: October 31
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Premis
October mileage: 386
Year to date mileage: 3607

I did survive

I had a lovely couple of days off from work, with no kids and no wife around to keep me on the straight and narrow.  Things I did:

• Applied dryloc to one of the basement walls
• Removed non-functional basement toilet and replaced with snappy functional model
• Ate pizza for every meal between Friday evening and Sunday morning, with the exception of a Saturday morning trip to McDonalds
• Cut down a good sized tree
• Brewed two batches of beer (sorghum-based gluten free and a raspberry wheat)
• Watched the Gopher hockey team skate their way to back to back losses
• Drank a few too many beers with the boys while watching Gopher implosion #2

Conspicuously absent from the list?  Anything bike related.  No riding, no maintanence, no project work, no nothin'.

 

I wish I was going on the Friday morning Minneapolis breakfast tour with the boys today, but some of us have 9-5 responsibilites that can't be shirked at a moment's notice.  I'm contemplating the full moon ride tonight (meet at HC at 7:30), but since my 9-5 today began at 6am I might not find the motivation or the energy...

 

Date: October 23
Mileage: 24
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Jamis
October mileage: 292
Year to date mileage: 3513
 

Date: October 24
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Jamis
October mileage: 318
Year to date mileage: 3539
 

 

It's all about ME(A)!

Yesterday began the 5 day Weekend of Pete. I brought my computer home because I needed to finish a couple things up, worked from home for a few hours in the morning and then officially began my MEA vacation. For those of you not in Minnesota, MEA is the Minnesota Education Association, which is for teacher education. For those of us with kids, it translates into a 4 day weekend and sometimes opportunity for a fall getaway. A couple of years ago Nancy and I went to San Francisco over MEA and biked the Golden Gate Bridge.

This year, our plans are not nearly as grand. Or at least, mine aren't. About an hour ago I dropped Nancy off at the airport. She's headed to Vancouver for an extended weekend writing conference. And yesterday afternoon I drove over the river and through the woods to get the kids to their grandparent's place for an extended weekend visit. So as of 1:00 today, I'm alone in the house. I've got no work until Monday and no major plans and I'm just going to wing it for the weekend. I'm planning on brewing a batch of beer somewhere in there, and Saturday night the boys are coming over to watch a little Gopher hockey. But other than that, it's me time.

Date: October 8
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Jamis
October mileage: 126
Year to date mileage: 3347

Date: October 9
Mileage: 24
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Jamis
October mileage: 150
Year to date mileage: 3371

Date: October 10
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Jamis
October mileage: 176
Year to date mileage: 3397

Date: October 11
Mileage: 24
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Jamis
October mileage: 200
Year to date mileage: 3421

Date: October 12
Mileage: 20
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Jamis
October mileage: 220
Year to date mileage: 3441

Date: October 15
Mileage: 24
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Premis
October mileage: 244
Year to date mileage: 3465

Date: October 16
Mileage: 24
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Premis
October mileage: 268
Year to date mileage: 3489

Twin Six sale

Twin Six, a local bike apparel/stuff manufacturer is having a four day, semi-bi-annual sale.  Their t-shirts are on special for $15 (regularly $22) and their jerseys are down from $70 to $45.  So if you're one of those Type A people who likes to have all their Christmas shopping done before Halloween, now would be the perfect time to buy me this shirt.  Cuz it's cool.

 

Date: October 3
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Premis
October mileage: 50
Year to date mileage: 3271

Date: October 4
Mileage: 24
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Jamis
October mileage: 74
Year to date mileage: 3295

 

Date: October 5
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Jamis
October mileage: 100
Year to date mileage: 3321

The donut threat level is currently Sprinkles

My mom always said "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning." And the sky was certainly red this morning heading in to work. I took this shot from Park Ave, just after I'd ridden up the exit ramp from the Greenway. I thought it was a pretty cool shot.

The sailor's warning came true as a(nother) storm washed over the twin cities this morning and into the evening. It was a lovely rain, not too windy and all in all an enjoyable if wet commute home. Until I noticed something strange. Down near my knees. There were white patches developing on my knees. Lather, almost.

I didn't think much of it at first. But when it started running down my legs and onto my socks, I had to stop for a photo. This way I'll have something to show my doctor. Perhaps he can write me a prescription for one of those fancy drugs I see advertised on the TV. But this just ain't right.



Date: September 18
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Premis
September mileage: 212
Year to date mileage: 3039

Date: September 19
Mileage: 12
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Premis
September mileage: 224
Year to date mileage: 3051

Date: September 20
Mileage: 14
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Premis
September mileage: 238
Year to date mileage: 3065

Date: September 21
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Premis
September mileage: 264
Year to date mileage: 3091

Date: September 22
Mileage: 28
Ride type/Bike: Hiawatha/Premis
September mileage: 292
Year to date mileage: 3119

Date: September 24
Mileage: 24
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Jamis
September mileage: 316
Year to date mileage: 3143

Date: September 25
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Premis
September mileage: 342
Year to date mileage: 3169

Date: September 26
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Premis
September mileage: 368
Year to date mileage: 3195

Date: September 27
Mileage: 26
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Premis
September mileage: 394
Year to date mileage: 3221

Date: October 2
Mileage: 24
Ride type/Bike: Commute/Premis
September mileage: 24
Year to date mileage: 3245