Sunrise, Sunset

Date: March 8
Mileage: 18
Ride type: Commute
March mileage: 86
Year to date mileage: 535

This morning I went past the Franklin Ave stop that I usually exit on, and stayed on the train. I instead got off at the Downtown East/Metrodome station. I rode past the Kirby memorial that had appeared outside the main ticket window. I saw Bob Sansavere (pictured in black) talking to folks and taking notes for his next story. I didn't want to talk to him so I just slowly cruised past the site. I'm not sure what compels people to take their treasured memorabilia and leave it out on the street when a celebrity dies. There were homer hankies, Wheaties boxes, hats, t-shirts and jerseys. Obviously these people cared about Kirby in the way only a fan can. But I would think they would want to hang on to that stuff now that the celebrity is gone. I don't get it. Of course I'm not sure why I felt compelled to go look, so who am I to judge.

On the way home I stopped and took a photo of yet another sign that spring is nearly here. This shot is what I believe to be the U of M rowing club getting their shells out of storage and into a rack by the river. Soon we'll see rowers going up and down the river getting ready for the season.


I'm getting the itch to take the Schwinn out. But I really shouldn't. There's too many puddles. And it could still snow at any time. But I'm getting really tired of riding the Raleigh. So here's my promise to you, interweb: I will not ride the Schwinn until I have repacked the bearings in the front and rear hubs and the bottom bracket. It's the least I should do before I start riding it. Keep me honest, interweb.



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Just keep dragging on

Date: March 7
Mileage: 18
Ride type: Commute
March mileage: 68
Year to date mileage: 517

It was a brutal one tonight. My first clue was that on the ride in I was able to switch up to the high gear, and pretty much had to to keep my ass from bouncing on the seat while spinning. That's a tailwind. Which means on the way home, that's a headwind. Reading that back, I'm not sure the term "high gear" is entirely appropriate. I'm riding the Raleigh this winter, and the salt has been taking it's toll on the components. When this bike originally began life it had 21 speeds. 21 seemed like an overabundance at the time, and it probably is. Though with the new bikes it's middle of the road. Anyway, the shiftig was sort of out of whack before winter began and the front derailleur would only go to the smallest two of the three chainrings. Not a big deal, since I rarely used the big one and didn't plan to increase that usage in the winter. Then as the grime piled on and the rust rusted further the rear derailleur started to malfunction. So now it's to the point where it doesn't shift at all. So I can move from the "low" gear, which is really #7, to the "high" gear, which is really #14. And for this bike, with the studded tires and all 50 glorious pounds, that's about all I need. It would be nice to be able to downshift a bit on the hills, but beggars can't be choosers. Anyway, back to the ride.

When I got home my neighbor made a comment about how it "must have been a wet one" coming home. I told him that I would have gladly traded a little more wet for a little less wind. It really wasn't raining that hard for most of the way, but the wind was killing me. Instead of taking the river road home I took Franklin to Minnehaha Ave. I did this for a couple of reasons:

1. The wind. Minnehaha is a lot more sheltered than the River Road. It may not make much of a difference, but any little bit helps.
2. Distance. The Minnehaha route is about 2 miles shorter. Again, not much of a difference but any port in a storm.
3. The wind. Did I mention that it was windy out? Cripes amighty.

One good thing about the rain, it washed away a lot of the crap that's been collecting around my bottom bracket. And I found out tonight that my neoprene booties are pretty darn water resistant. I wouldn't want to go wading in them, but they did a good job keeping some larger than expected puddle splashes off and keeping my toes dry. Before this winter booties weren't real high on my list of priorities but now I'm a fan. Though the way they get torn up I'll probably go with the cheap $20 ones from Performance in the future. They got a pretty decent review on bike forums too.

Ride on, y'all.



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RIP Kirby

I've never been a huge baseball fan. I usually catch a few games on the television during the season, and every couple of years I go to the ballpark. But it's to see the Saints more than the Twins. The Twins are playing some great ball these days, and any year it feels like they could make a run at the Series. But it's not something I obsess over. I can't keep track of stats for sports. I just don't have the head for it. You can get away with that with many sports, but not baseball. To be a true baseball fan, you've got to be a numbers person. Batting averages, box scores, Earned Run Averages. It's like a statistics class with athletes.

Yesterday I heard that Kirby Puckett had a stroke and had been taken to the hospital. This morning when I checked the news there was little more information. But one thing caught my eye. An employee of the hospital he was admitted to anonymously stated that Puckett was in critical condition. Call it a premonition, call it a feeling; I was sure he was going to die after reading that. And he did.

The Vikings went to the Superbowl four times and always came home as losers. The North Stars made some admirable attempts, but their names never went on Lord Stanley's cup. Neither has the young Wild team, yet. Wolves, nope. The Twins are one of the few hometown teams we have here in Minnesota that got it done. They went to the big dance and came home a winner. Not once, but twice. And a huge part of that was thanks to Kirby Puckett. Thanks for the memories, Kirby.

Date: March 6
Mileage: 20
Ride type: Commute
March mileage: 50
Year to date mileage: 499



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Non Sequitur

Date: March 3
Mileage: 10
Ride type: Commute
March mileage: 30
Year to date mileage: 479

I cut my ride short today because the school nurse called and said my girls were sick. So I rode 6 miles in the morning by riding from home to the Ft Snelling light rail, then getting off at the Franklin station and riding the additional 2 miles into work. When I left work I took the LRT from downtown to Ft Snelling and then booked it home, got my truck and picked up the girls. They laid on the couch for a couple of hours and then, like a miracle, they recovered. Grrrr.



I saw this bumper sticker the other day near the Franklin Ave LRT station. I'm not sure who Bertha is, or why I should be eating her mussels. My brother-in-law used to have a Volkswagen Golf with a bumper sticker that read "Eat My Fish" We were never sure whose fish it referred to or how to find out. For some reason people in this area are compelled to give seafood recommendations from the back of their car. I'm not even going to try to understand. But Bertha, if you're out there, give me a holla' and I'll try your mussels.



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Party Animal

Date: March 2
Mileage: 20
Ride type: Commute
March mileage: 40
Year to date mileage: 469

I swear to god, there was no posing. I found him, and the can, exactly like this.


Perhaps he was depressed and like his smelly brethren the skunks, he committed suicide. Perhaps after a few too many Lites he staggered in front of the wrong moving vehicle. Either way, as the weather gets warmer it's gonna get smelly riding past this party animal.



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What is it with the meat theme this week?

Date: March 1
Mileage: 20
Ride type: Commute
March mileage: 20
Year to date mileage: 449

For the first day of March, not bad at all. The promised freezing rain/rain/snow never appeared and even though the day was overcast it made for a nice commute home. I did have one interesting problem getting ready to go home. I normally don't blog about work, but this is related. I've been helping another project manager out with some tasks for her project for the last few months. She keeps telling me that she's going to buy me a steak as a way of saying thanks. One day last week we were talking about brisket, and I honestly couldn't tell you why. But it inspired her. Today, she brought me a brisket.



Now this is a piece of meat. 4.12 pounds. And I'm riding my bike. The single pannier I use for commuting (the other was run over by my wife) isn't the largest bag on the market, but it usually does the job. Though in the winter I'm usually pushing maximum capacity with all the warm clothes. So quitting time rolls around and I go and get my brisket from the fridge. Huh, that's funny. It's wider than the opening of my bag. I had to squeeze it in just so. I could barely get the top closed. And while four pounds may not sound like much, coupled with a full day's worth of work clothes, a repair kit, a 3/4" socket, a spare tube and various other sundry items it makes for one heavy as hell pannier. When I attached it to the bike it caused the bike to lean so quickly I almost dropped the whole thing. I was amazed that it didn't fall off on the way home. But the brisket is now safely in my refrigerator at home. Now I need to figure out what to do with it.

As long as I'm breaking the "don't blog about work" rule, here's what else happened today. A few years ago (this is backstory, hang on) when we first moved into our new building there was a urinal in our bathroom that was out of order. It remained out of order for over 7 months. Dust settled on the thing. The people in charge had clearly forgotten all about it. My friend Tim called building services and got the thing fixed. So I nominated him for an award using our company's internal recognition program. In that nomination, I made sure used the word "urinal" as often as I could. It was a proud moment when our team leader got to read the entire nomination in front of our department. She turned several shades of red. It was beautiful.

Fast forward several years. Tim and I are now in different departments, but we've both moved from the 7th floor to the 8th floor. There was now a urinal on 8 that would flush for well over a minute every time it was used. Once finished, you zip up and walk away. Most urinals are done flushing before you're done washing your hands. This one was still flushing when you walked out of the bathroom. It has the autoflush sensor thing, so there was no avoiding this. What a waste of water. I mentioned it to my buddy Tim at work, and he had noticed it too. So he promised to call building services if I would submit another nomination. The terms were agreed to. He called, it was fixed, I nominated. We have a new recognition program so I was limited to 500 characters this time around, but I think I captured something.

The roar of rushing water. It makes one think of falls. Niagra Falls. Angel Falls. Closer to home, the sound of St. Anthony Falls. It should not, however, make one think of urinals. However for the last few months this has sadly been the case. The #1 urinal in the 8th floor men's room was showing signs of being an overachiever. Most urinals are content to flush for approximately 20 seconds. Thorough, yet not overkill. Once business had concluded at #1 it would begin a hearty flush. Not content to stop at 20 seconds it continued on, recklessly exceeding the advertised 1 gallon per flush emblazened on the top of the unit. Our #1 was clearly going above and beyond the call of duty.

Speaking of above and beyond the call of duty, we turn to Tim (nice segue, eh?). Tim noticed the existence of a problem. Tim called building services. Order (and the promised 1 gallon per flush) was restored. Huzzah!



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Water, cool water.

Date: February 28
Mileage: 20
Ride type: Commute
February mileage: 182
Year to date mileage: 429

The other day I posted two pictures of a green pump to display how wonderfully bright it's been getting in these parts. I'm sure most of you were impressed and thinking things like, "Dang, that VelociPete really has it going on. Planning a month ahead and taking pictures of the pump to show us how light it's getting. I should really buy him something nice." But sadly, this isn't the case. I took the original picture of the pump in January intending to post it along with a quick ode to the pump. I got as far as uploading the picture. Fast forward to February. I stopped and took another picture of the pump, again with the same plan. Finally, in a desperate attempt to use the pictures I came up with the daylight demonstration scheme. It all worked out in the end, and I got a nice post out of the deal. Feel free to still buy me something nice.

I do really like that pump. That pump nearly saved my life once (claim exaggerated for effect). It was one of those really hot days last summer, and I hadn't drank nearly enough water at work before heading out. If I remember correctly, there was lots of pop and coffee involved that day. I headed out and started sweating immediately. I found that I had also forgotten to fill my water bottle before leaving. So I rode a few miles and then came to the hill on the River Road Trail where the road passes under Franklin Ave. I don't like that hill much. It's not too long, but just long enough. And it's not too steep, but just steep enough. And the kicker is, once you get to the top where it looks like it's flat, there's really a gentle incline still there so it takes forever to get back to speed. Climbing the hill isn't such a problem, but it's the mental toll at the top when you can't help beating yourself up because you can't get going on this flat surface.

The pump is another 1/4 mile or so up the trail. This day, by the time I reached the pump I was parched. I stopped, pumped the handle and filled my bottle. The water tasted great. And the great thing is, the water from this thing always tastes great. It's not purified by reverse osmosis. It's not from a fancy spring in France. It's good old, naturally cooled, full of rust and minerals, and the best tasting stuff. Now I make it a point to keep my bottle on the low side so I can stop and fill it up with the pump.

To enjoy this treat yourself, there's a process to follow. Pump the handle a few times and watching the water start to trickle out of the drinking fountain. Keep pumping and you get a respectable stream equal to any indoor water fountain. This is where the amateurs normally stop. Don't. You want the stream to be so high that it looks like it's in danger of overshooting the bowl. That's when you stop pumping, stick your bottle under the faucet dispenser and pull the lever. If you did it right, you can fill your bottle and still have enough pressure to get a nice long drink from the fountain. They could bottle and sell this stuff, but it wouldn't be the same if you didn't pump it yourself.



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Blogebrity

Blogebrity has released it's A-list, B-list and C-list rating of blogs. I checked, you're not there. Neither am I. But, what kind of world are we living in when Chewbacca only rates a B-list ranking??



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Why is there a weiner on your website?

Perhaps it's because I'm the son of a librarian. My mother is a law librarian, not the true "Shhhhh!" type you would find in the public library. And if there's any group that stands up against the man for First Amendment rights, it's librarians. Just google "librarian & censorship" and you'll get "about 645,000 for librarian & censorship." These folks are activists who whisper. Trust me.

I've always been opposed to censorship. If we can't see something, discuss it and attempt to understand it, we create an environment of fear, hostility and repression. I feel this most strongly about books and other printed materiels. A case could be made about the internet being different. The sheer quantity of porn available is amazing. And yet, so is the amount of good, helpful and free information. It gets kind of grey as to where those lines cross. And honestly, I'm not sure there is a line. It's just a matter of what is appropriate for whom. And that, in a nutshell, is why I don't like companies like Secure Computing. The folks at boingboing have done a much more eloquent job of explaining why filtering software doesn't work so I won't go into depth here. Suffice it to say, it don't work. We have this stuff at work, and yet if I wanted to I could dial up pictures of naked chicks all day long. I don't, because I prefer to remain gainfully employed. And I'm sure any 13 year old kid could do the same.

So, back to the weiner. Boingboing reader Kurt von Finck "created the attached button (standard 120x90 size) that BB readers can put on their sites. It features the pubic region of Michelangelo's David sculpture, uses fairly neutral colors, and is taken from public domain stock photography. I release this work into the public domain, relinquish any claims over its use, and encourage BB readers to put it on their sites.

Maybe if enough of us do so, SmartFilter will just collapse under the weight of its own odious censoring."

It's over there, in the sidebar. It will remain there. It's my way of figuratively misquoting Dr. Johnny Fever. "Oh, I almost forgot, fellow babies... WEINER!!" Sorry if you're offended. We now return you to your regularly scheduled bike blog.



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Genius

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Weekend Update

It's been a hell of a nice weekend here in Pete Land. Friday night we went to Family Fun Night at the girls' school. You haven't lived until you've been in an elementary school gym on a Friday watching young'uns boogie their hearts out to songs you used to boogie your heart out to in college. And it's a lot like a college dance. It started out pretty orderly and everybody followed the conventions they were expected to follow. But as the night dragged on, soon dancers were falling down and running into each other and laughing hysterically. The only difference is that here the kids weren't sneaking out for beers. And once you've heard the extended dance mix of The Hampster Dance, you'll know you can die. Maybe not happy, but you can die. Quickly, if possible.

Saturday was good too. I had to work, but only for a couple of hours and I managed to get in some rare daylight riding time. The girls, still riding the Family Fun Night high, were completely adorable and played together nicely all day. That right there is enough to make my weekend. I made an italian pot roast for dinner, but used a homebrewed Scottish Wee Heavy instead of the red wine the recipe called for. It turned out really well.

Today I hit the Bike Swap over in St Paul. I wasn't planning on buying much, but it was great fun to walk around and just look at stuff. I did end up with a new wheelset. I was looking for a wheelset for the orange bike, and these are a little nicer than what I was hoping for. But they're Campy with brand new Panaracer tires and new tubes. The guy selling them had to make a quick phone call to his girlfriend to OK the haggle price, so I think I did alright. I also stopped and picked up a water bottle from Jim at Hiawatha Cyclery with my last $5. It was nice to meet Jim though he looked a little shell-shocked, probably from the sheer volume of people he'd talked to. I didn't show up until about 11am, and it sounds like business was steady the whole morning from conversations I had and overheard. On my way out the door I passed somebody who looked like Annie, but I wasn't sure and needed to get to the grocery store. If it was you Annie, Hi! I spent the afternoon swimming at the Y with the kids. We stopped of on the way home and got some new fish for the aquarium, since we needed to get more fish food anyway. And now I'm relaxing and reading blogs while watching the closing ceremonies of the Olympics wind down. I just heard this morning that my cousin has a very real chance of going to the Olympics in 2010 as part of the women's curling team, so I'm extremely excited for her.

Even though things can get stressful and overwhelming at times and my newest bike is well over 10 years old, life is good.



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Damn vandals

I was still thinking about how amazing the difference was last week with the increased daylight. But I couldn't figure out a way to quantitatively demonstrate it. But then I remembered that I could! Last month, I stopped and took a picture of the pump that is by the River Road trail. Here it is from January 23:


As you can see, it's dark. The pump is lit up by my Planet Bike Alias 10w headlight and the flash from the camera. But it's a localized pool of light which quickly fades to black outside the immediate circle.

Now, here's the second shot. It's the same pump at roughly the same time of day, around 5:30 or so. Whenever I get from downtown Minneapolis to this spot.


This picture was just taken on Thursday. Notice how light it is! You can see the line of the sun hitting the river bluff on the other side of the Mississippi. Beautiful. No flash, no headlight. Spring is coming. Sometimes we just need to prove it to ourselves. Keep your chin up, it will be bike shorts weather before you know it.



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She's real fine, my 409

Date: February 25
Mileage: 22 (per gmaps pedometer)
Ride type: Commute
February mileage: 162
Year to date mileage: 409

That's right, it's the rare and elusive Saturday commute. I don't work a lot of Saturdays, and when I do I usually drive in. But not today. Thursday's ride reminded me how much better riding is than driving or taking the train, and the thought of a full AM and PM commute in daylight was too tantalizing to turn down. However, the wind out of the northwest was a bugger on the way in. I kept on pedaling and chanting my mantra: "The ride home will be worth it."

Work was fine. I was just doing some post-install checkout, which is a task I kind of enjoy. Nobody's around, the lights are off and it's peaceful. I turned on MPR's Sounds Eclectic and got to work. It took me longer to get done than I thought, so I scrapped my original thought of doing some off-route exploring and headed straight home. The ride home was worth it. Beautiful sunshine, a near perfect tailwind, and the satisfaction of a job well done.

Today's ride brought my year to date total to 409 (unless I misadded). Most folks think of the cleaning spray, but I think of the Beach Boys when I hear that number. When I was a kid my grandmother had a rack of 45s left by her kids and I believe 409 was the B-side to a more popular tune. But it was always one of my favorites and was in heavy rotation whenever we would visit. Not as heavy as The Fendermen's Mule Skinner Blues, but it was up there. Speaking of 45s, according to Musician's Friend, the 45 was originally introduced this week in 1949. By 1955 they were outselling 78s for the first time. For you youngsters. I'm talking about vinyl. Your parents and grandparent's version of an iPod.

I've got that old Mule Skinner Blues 45 and a bunch of others from grandma sitting behind my basement bar. I've also got a green steel box of square dance 45s that they used to take to the local dance hall. I should find a platter (those things the DJs use to scratch) and give 'em a listen.



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Return to Form

Date: February 23
Mileage: 20
Ride type: Commute
February mileage: 140
Year to date mileage: 387

As promised, I rode yesterday. It had been 8 days, and as I wrote yesterday I had been feeling a bit of burnout. But after riding home yesterday I realized that taking some time off was the best thing I could have done. That trail home was completely new. I'm not sure if anybody else has noticed, but it's starting to get lighter in the evening. Even though it was barely a week, that translates into 12 extra minutes of daylight according to the folks at timeanddate.com. What does 12 minutes mean to me? 12 minutes means that I don't have to turn my big headlight on until I'm through Minnehaha Park and crossing into Fort Snelling. And Fort Snelling means I'm practically home. I can tell it's not summer though. In summertime the sun sets and you get a long, langorous descent into darkness. You can finish mowing the lawn after sunset and still see what you're doing. You don't need to turn the patio light on for a while. In the winter, the sun goes down and 5 minutes later it's dark. So even though it was dark quick, I don't mind. It was still 12 more minutes.



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Aaah aaah aaah aaah aaah aaah aaah

So I haven't ridden my bike in nearly a week. My schedule this last week has been sort of erratic, so mostly it was for good reasons. I either had something going on after work or it just wasn't very convenient. But if the truth is to be told, I didn't really want to ride much. If a reason came along it was very easy for me to not ride. I tend to regard biking as an activity that has an ebb and a flow. I've noticed that during the summer my mileage in July tends to drop. It used to be because we had a large annual camping event toward the end of the month and I would stop commuting because of the constant errands I needed to run (Honey, I'm going to the liquor store. Yes, Again.) Couple that with about 9 days of vacation and the commuting mileage for July is next to nil. But we haven't been able to make the annual event the last two years and my mileage has still dipped in July. I'm guessing that my body is just telling me that it needs a little time out of the saddle. As I get older, I'm getting smarter about listening to what my body is telling me. Perhaps as I get old I'll start listening to what the universe is trying to tell me too. Perhaps.

Barry Manilow said, "Oh how I miss you." John Waite said "I ain't missing you at all." The Rolling Stones said "Aaah aaah aaah aaah aaah aaah aaah, Aaah aaah aaah aaah aaah aaah aaah, Aaah aaah aaah aaah; Lord, I miss you child." Bob Dylan croaked "You're the other half of what I am, you're the missing piece." Spike Jones sang, "You always hurt the one you love." OK, that last one probably more accurately describes my attitude toward regularly scheduled maintenence, but you get the idea. Poets and songwriters have always written about missing somebody or something. It's a human theme that gets repeated over and over. Tonight when I was walking to the train station I watched a biker pull out into traffic and ride past me. I caught up to him at the light and while we waited for it to change I stared at him. Openly. The light turned green and he sprinted off down the street while I plodded across the crosswalk. As I walked I realized that I had been staring at him with a kind of longing. I wanted to be on my bike, not walking down the sidewalk. So tomorrow, barring unforseen circumstances, again I ride.



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Tour of California

The Amgen Tour of California officially began yesterday with a short individual time trial in San Francisco. I'm excited about this for a couple of reasons. First, this represents a turning point in the American public's relationship with pro cycling. For the last 7 years everything has been dominated by a certain Mr. Armstrong as far as most Americans are concerned. And while it's true that he won the TdF 7 times in a row, there's more to racing than just the TdF. This race is interesting because it's based here in the U.S. which, on paper, will make it more easily digestable to the average person. It will be interesting to see if cycling catches on as a sport or if interest will completely fade now that a certain cancer survivor has left the sport.

Another reason I'm excited about this stage of the race is that I've actually ridden my bike on the same roads! Last fall we took a trip to San Fran and the Mrs. and I rented bikes for a day. We rode across the Golden Gate bridge and then took the ferry back from Sausalito. The ferry dropped us at Pier 39 so we rode our bikes up the Embarcadero and then sort of floundered around until we got up to Coit Tower. If I remember correctly we sort of made our way along Alta Street after turning off at Lombard and backtracking a bit. The big boys have the advantage of the street being closed and are cruising right up Telegraph Hill Blvd. Had we tried that I think we would have been flattened by one of the many busses that haul tourists up and down the hill all day.

The prologue was 1.9 miles, and these guys finished it in about 5 minutes. Impressive, considering the size of Telegraph Hill. I think it took us about 5 minutes to walk our bikes up one block on some of the steeper portions. If you look at the top 5 finishers, it was a good day for US cycling:

1. 31 USA 19731024 LEIPHEIMER Levi GST .04'53"
2. 2 USA 19711118 JULICH Bobby CSC .04'58" 5"
3. 57 USA 19730629 HINCAPIE George DSC .04'59" 6"
4. 11 USA 19751014 LANDIS Floyd PHO .04'59" ...
5. 9 USA 19790112 ZABRISKIE David CSC .05'02" 9"

ESPN2 (or as the kids are calling it, The Deuce) is covering the race at 10:00 nightly, PST. Google is offering video somewhere, but I couldn't find it. And no official outlet appears to be publishing still photos. But I did manage to find some great shots of the race on flickr. Ken Conley got some great shots. Here's a montage he made of Tom Danielson passing a rider as they approach the finish line:


Frank Chan seems to have some sort of behind the scenes access. He's got plenty of shots of the riders warming up on their trainers. He's also got this beauty with that signature "pointy building" in the background:


And for my male (or lesbian) readers, Frank's photo of the Specialized Angel:


And finally, a guy who just refers to himself as Zoobazz. Odd name, good pictures.


Visit these guys on flickr and see hundreds more. Great work by all three. And set those VCRs (no Tivo? how quaint!) for midnight on the deuce and catch all the highlights.

Weekend Update

OK, I'm officially worried. My wife is usually the one who worries in our relationship, so this is kinda new to me. Over the course of the last few days, a few folks and I have been making light of how we'll "support" Jill as she rides the Susitna 100. And we've been tracking her progress via their website. The race began at 9am AK time yesterday (noon here in MN). Jill checked in at the 25 mile checkpoint at 12:43 local, out at 12:50. She hit the 46 mile stop at 4:33 pm and was out again at 4:47. A quick leg found her at the 55 mile point at 6:45pm and out again at 6:47. All quick stops, enough time to scarf a little food and whatnot.

But the next checkpoint is at 75 miles. We don't see Jill check in there until 11:55pm, 5 hours later. I have a feeling she really started struggling at this point. She rested there for over an hour and headed out again at 1:05am. She made it to the Little Su checkpoint at 5:43am, nearly 5 hours to cover those 12 miles. She only stopped for 2 minutes, just long enough to get checked in and out. And back to the trail at 5:45am. 13 miles from the finish.

The last web update was at 12:40pm AK time, and she's still not checked in. That's 7 hours for those last 13 miles. Which is why I worry. I'm sending good vibes out into the stratosphere and refreshing the race update page. And wondering. Get in there, girl.

Edit: She's alive and well and posting!

This is what I've been training for

To prepare for the epic event I started calorie loading yesterday. I had scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. Though it was a bitter -13 degrees outside, it was warm in the conference room I found myself in at noon. There was chicken with penne pasta in a white cream sauce and salad and italian bread. I had a slice of strawberry shortcake for dessert. Then when I got back to my desk I was just in time to attend a retirement party for one of our directors. I had another slice of cake. I needed to be ready. When I got back to my desk there was a note from my director that snacks had been delivered. I had an on the go refuel of chicago style popcorn and M&Ms. This kept my energy level high enough to be able to commute home on the train and in my car. No ride, I'm tapering. Then, I drove and had spicy Thai food. I topped it off by watching the Olympics in bed with a glass of wine. I felt prepared.

Today as Jill was preparing to head into the wilderness I prepared as well. To conserve energy I moved the laptop from the table to the easy chair. I considered starting a fire, but this would involve going into the cold garage to get wood. And even more frightening, the possibility that I would need to venture outdoors to split additional wood. No fire. Not worth the risk. From the safety of my chair I monitored the progress of TOB as she bravely refused to leave her house. No word yet from Tim.

About 4pm I bundled up and ventured outside. It was risky, and perhaps foolhardy. But I managed to meet my wife for dinner at the local bistro. Beers were consumed. Food ingested. I stopped at the package store and laid in supplies. A 12 pack sampler from Summit Brewing, because I didn't know what the conditions would be like. And a 6er of Breckenridge Vanilla Porter. Which I'm finding is delicious.

Shortly I plan to transition from the easy chair to the bed, where I'll continue to enjoy my porter and snuggle under the down comforter to watch the Olympics. This is a vigil, and I will be strong. Still no word from Tim. I hope he's OK.

With apologies to Mr. Buffett

Bike drinks
Boys and girls with their blogs ordered bike drinks
Swedish women won on the Olympic rink
Everything seems to be wrong

Lately, newspaper mentioned cheap air fare
I gotta to fly to saint somewhere
I’m close to bodily harm

Twenty below and the hockey game’s on
Nobody cares they are way too far gone
Screamin’ bike drinks, something to keep ’em all warm

This mornin’, I shot six holes in my freezer
I think I got cabin fever
Somebody sound the alarm

I’d like to go where the pace of life’s slow
Could you beam me somewhere Mr. Scott?
Any ol’ place here on earth or in space
You pick the century and I’ll pick the spot

Oh I know, (I know)
I should be leaving this climate
I got a verse but can’t rhyme it
I gotta go where it’s warm

Bike drinks
Waitress I need two more bike drinks
Then I’m headin’ south ’fore my dream shrinks

I gotta go where it’s warm (I gotta go where it’s warm)
I gotta go where it’s warm (I gotta go where it’s warm)
I gotta go where it’s warm!

I gotta go where there ain’t any snow
Where there ain’t any blow
’cause my fin sinks so low
I gotta go where it’s warm!

Ambition is overrated

The problem is not a lack of ability,
but a lack of ambition.

Had a lovely dinner with Mrs. and our friends Sparky and alanaeveryday at a Thai place. Who doesn't need spicy Thai when it's -34 windchill and -13 actual air temp? The above was in my fortune cookie.

When I got home I poured a glass of wine and settled in to watch my new favorite winter Olympics sport, snowboard cross. After a quarterfinal and semifinal heat it was down to the finals. Four women competing for three medals. Lindsey Jacobellis was the American in the finals and so was receiving the most airtime. After an initial tight opening, Ricker went down hard and was later airlifted off the slope. So Jacobellis was guaranteed a medal at this point. But she pulled away and had a commanding lead. Insurmountable. Unbeatable. And she got somewhat ambitious. On one of the last jumps she went for a grab method. It's a little "check me out" manuver similar to a hockey player pumping their fist after a goal. Men's snowboarders Seth Wescott and Nate Holland do this manuver all the time. I'm sure Lindsey has done it 1000 times too. But this time, she fell. And it cost her gold. She managed to get back up quickly and take the silver. She did nothing wrong, nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing that her teammates wouldn't have done with that lead. And now she'll be second guessed as long as anyone remembers the Torino games. And my heart is breaking for her.

I may look dumb, but that's just a disguise

This morning's checklist:
Windpants
Tights
Bike shorts
polypropelyne shirt
second warmer shirt
lobster gloves
balaclava
goggles
jacket

Check the weather on the internet:

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 PM CST THIS
AFTERNOON.

NORTHWEST WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WILL COMBINE WITH ARCTIC AIR TO
CREATE WIND CHILL READINGS OF MINUS 30 TO MINUS 45 TODAY.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS WILL
COMBINE TO GENERATE VERY LOW WIND CHILLS. WEATHER CONDITIONS
TODAY WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE AND COULD LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF
PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.

Screw this. Drive.

Isn't it romantic?

Date: February 15
Mileage: 16
Ride type: Commute
February mileage: 120
Year to date mileage: 367

No, I didn't ride 4 miles less to make the math easier. Tuesday for Valentine's day I met my wife and kids at Como Zoo. Since I was meeting them I decided it would be easier to drive. Then on the way home we forgot to pick up my truck from the park and ride, so I left it there overnight. Then on the way home Wednesday instead of riding the 4 miles from Ft. Snelling I swung by and put my bike on the rack and drove home. A weird commute. And a chilly one. Tomorrow's supposed to be right around zero. The snow that the weatherbabe was hyping last night and Tuesday night never really appeared though, so we'll see how it is. Not much riding this week between school, Valentine's day and needing to be in at 6am this morning. Oh well.

Como Zoo was a pretty cool place to spend Valentine's day. They opened the Conservatory and had it lit with candles. They also had a three piece baroque trio playing in the sunken garden. But the coolest thing was that they had a two toed sloth. I was standing about 2 feet from it and it was fascinating. My wife always says we're an old married couple. I guess the fact that the most exciting thing we saw on the most romantic day of the year was a sloth proves that out. ;) I stole this collage she made from her blog.



I'm taking a break from the winter olympics, which is where I've found myself for the last three nights. But now that I've updated yesterday's mileage I'm headed back to the TV. A good night of coverage tonight. Snowboard cross is downright cool, women's skeleton is another good one and something else is coming later. What I wouldn't give for a nice big bag of potato chips.

Ice Races

Emma and I went to the bike ice races this morning. Not the Surly ice races, but the ones sponsored by the MnHPV folks. I've never been involved with this group, but after surfing their website for a bit, I can tell that these guys are serious builders.

My wife was kind enough to let me borrow her camera for the event. She let me leave the house with it for the first time ever. On my own. It's only the second time I've used it. She looked as nervous as a mother sending her only child off to school for the first time. So thanks to her, here's a shot of one of the homebrew ice specific bikes.



I was surprised by the number of non-traditional bikes there. During my evening commute yesterday I had half convinced myself that I should sign up and race in this thing. My confidence was boosted by the ease of bike handling after fixing the rear wheel. But, I talked myself out of it. Which is probably good. But, if I hadn't talked myself out of it I probably would have been pretty demoralized by the number of three wheelers out there. I figured for sure they had the advantage, since they could go hell bent for leather without worrying about tipping over. And then there were guys like these. One with the gigantor tires and the other so close to the ground that even if he did tip he might just bounce back up and keep riding.



But at the end of the drag races, it was two traditional triangle frame bikes racing for the title, as seen here.



And I even caught a glimpse of the elusive retro-direct bikes. I got a picture of this one because I never actually saw anybody ride it. There was another retro-direct recumbent too, but I never got a good shot of that one.



Based on pictures from previous years it sounds like the triangle frame upright bikes have the advantage on the straight course but the more stable three and four wheelers usually win the oval course mass start race. I didn't have time to stick around for that. But it was a beautiful day and a great way to spend a couple of hours outside with my daughter.

There are a few more photos on my flickr account if anybody wants to see them.

The man with the foolish grin

Date: February 10
Mileage: 24
Ride type: Commute
February mileage: 104
Year to date mileage: 351

How to make yourself feel like an idiot (part 1):
After riding for a week and thinking the back end of the bike felt a little loose, finally get around to trying to figure out why. The reason turned out to be that the rear cone had worked it's way loose and the wheel shimmied like a banshee.

How to make yourself feel like a genius (part 1):
Grab the wrenches and tighten it up in about 2 minutes. And have the wheel work beautifully.

How to make yourself feel like an idiot (part 2):
Realize how much easier it is to ride in the snow when you and your back wheel agree on which direction you're going. Also realize it's much easier to ride where there's no snow too.

How to make yourself feel like a genius (part 2):
Realize you're not nearly as out of shape as you had imagined, now that there's not so much excessive drag on the rear end.

How to make yourself feel like an idiot (part 3):
Take a slight detour on your way home, get lost in what's practically your backyard and end up tacking an extra 4 miles onto your trip home.

How to make yourself feel like an idiot (part 4):
Volunteer to take over the mashed potato duties since your lovely wife is on the phone. Add way too much milk and end up with something the consistency of Cream of Wheat.

For today, idiocy wins: 4-2.

Don't forget, bike Ice Races tomorrow at Rogers Lake in Mendota. First race begins at 10:00 am. You may even be lucky enough to see my smiling face there. If I don't get lost again, that is.

TDF update

The route for the Prologue and Stage 1 of the 2007 TDF have been released. bbc.com has a snappy map that I am linking to here. Here's the prologue:


And here's Stage 1:


A full description of the route is available on bbc.com.

Also found on bbc.com, a completely unrelated story. It seems a farmer in Wiltshire, England received a speeding ticket. He was clocked at 85mph. In a tractor. The farmer, Steve Crossman, said "It's a good tractor, but not that good. It can just about get up to 26mph, but that's downhill, with a following wind and with no trailer on the back. There's no way it could get close to 85mph."

It turns out this was a case of mistaken identity. A happy ending for all, as neither the farmer or the actual speeder will receive a ticket.

complete story

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Man was it snowy out today. I was in to work at 6am so I drove today. When I left the snow was really falling. I managed to fall down while walking to my car this afternoon. The snow fell on some ice on the sidewalk and made it slicker than snot. Once I got past that area a woman in a parked car rolled down her window and told me that it's really slippery there. No, really? She then told me that several other people had fallen down there, and "somebody needs to do something about it." Yeah. Thanks for the warning and all.

The roads home were pretty slippery, so if you're on your bike watch out. Cars weren't driving very friendly-like on Portland either. Some woman in a silver Golf wanted to tailgate me. Apparantly I wasn't going fast enough. She finally got fed up and passed me in the left lane. But, she didn't realize that Portland stops being a one-way about 1 1/2 blocks later. When she got to that stoplight she angled in, one car ahead of me. She remained one car ahead of me until around 54th Ave. I watched her tailgate the guy in front of her for a while. Then the car between us turned right and I was behind her. Good thing she spent all that time hurrying. Saved a lot of time, she did.

It looks like the skyway ride was a success. You can view WCCO's coverage of the event at their website. They also have a helmet cam on one of the riders, and you can view all 4 minutes of the course being ridden there too. It's funny, in the pre-race literature they said nobody would be allowed to ride down the stairs. Yet in the helmet cam video I didn't see a dismount. He dismounts going up, but not down. Fun stuff.

Some standing alone

Date: February 8
Mileage: 20
Ride type: Commute
February mileage: 80
Year to date mileage: 327



My bike and I got to go to Murray's for lunch today. I was lucky and got to go inside, while the bike waited (pictured above). My mom called me up and asked if I had lunch plans. I didn't, so she offered to take me out to lunch, her treat. I jokingly said that if she was treating we should go to Murray's. It sounded like a fine idea to her. Murray's is right across the street from her office. I met her over there and had some of the best beef stroganof I've ever had. I also tried her pot roast, which was equally good. But of course, everything at Murray's is. It's not cheap, but it's worth it. Thanks again for lunch, Mom!

After lunch I had the opportunity to go and visit Mom's office. I hadn't been there since her firm moved from my side of downtown to it's new location. The building was very nice, and she's got a spectacular view. Sure beats my scenic view of the men's room.


The Mrs. called about 2 and asked if I could take the kids to swimming lessons this afternoon. She hasn't been feeling well lately, and today she had sort of a relapse. No problem, sez I. So I left work about 2:15 and got to ride home on a beautiful sunny day. It was a little on the chilly side, temps were in the teens I think. But the wind was at my back and I wasn't cold at all. An enjoyable ride, to say the least. I missed out on the Shred the Skyway event because I took the girls to McDonald's after swimming, and then we had to work on some of their homework. But I got to spend 1/2 an hour sitting in the hot tub while they were in the pool. Man, did that feel good. And surprisingly, it didn't completely knock me out. I got a good chunk of reading done for my homework as well. It helps that I got plenty of sleep the night before, crashed on the couch by about 9:30.

Feel like sayin’ foxy

Date: February 7
Mileage: 20
Ride type: Commute
February mileage: 60
Year to date mileage: 307

So I'm turning onto the River Road path tonight as I started my commute and a limo starts heading down the road in the same direction. It's one of those big, white stretch limos. And it's going slow. Once we clear the construction area just past Mill Ruins Park I'm a little behind, but traffic is piling up behind this guy. Where the terrain was favorable, on flats and downhills, I'm keeping up with the traffic. On the downhills I'm gaining. And I notice that the first vehicle behind the limo is a little green Vespa. The Vespa passed the limo. But the rest of the cars followed behind in a very docile fashion.

Then it struck me.

There was no honking of horns, no shouting out the window. No drivers gunning it so they could get around, coming perilously close to hitting an oncoming car because that road just isn't designed to pass on. But with the exception of the Vespa, nobody complains. Yet I've seen numerous occasions during the summer where a cyclist is riding on the road. And most of the roadies who ride out there are cruising along at a much faster clip than this stretch was. Many of them are at or close to the 25mph limit on the River Road. And yet the cars would have been honking, passing unsafely and hollering at the cyclist. Yet they behave with another car that's going 10mph slower.

Oh, and I saw a fox later on. It was red with black feet and about 5 feet away from me, staring me down as I passed. I thought about stopping for a picture, but I figured it would have ran away if I did. And there was no point in totally ruining it's day.

Arrowhead 135

There was a good profile in today's paper about Pierre Oster, the founder of the Arrowhead 135, a 135-mile, self-supported snow-trail ultramarathon for runners, bikers and cross country skiers. He lives in White Bear Lake (my home town!) and commutes by bike to his job at Park Tool in Mahtomedi. He used to design military grenade launchers, but now designs bike tools. Pretty cool stuff.

Here's the link to the story: twincities.com

And the fever, getting higher

So I got my annual bonus on Friday. It was a bit bigger than I was expecting, and there's some leftover after we put aside enough to pay for a summer worth of daycare for the rugrats. Last night the Mrs. asked me "So do you want to buy a bike?" And I was all "the responsible adult" and like "No, there's other things that we could use more" etc etc etc. Which is true.

Then today, something sweet like this shows up on eBay. First Surly frame I've seen in my size on eBay. It looks like it would be a perfect commuter. 5 speed internal rear hub, Campy components, Nitto bars, and a Selle saddle. Plus a spare fixed wheel and another spare Nitto bar. Stupid sexy Surly.

Too early for flapjacks?

Date: February 2
Mileage: 20
Ride type: Commute
February mileage: 40
Year to date mileage: 287

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today. So that theoretically means six more weeks of winter. This is one time where the internet really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather. This year, I'm not sure the term "more" is applicable. This morning the slushy whatever had frozen to ice, but by afternoon with highs in the 40s the ice had melted and the trails were clear. Even in Eagan, the land of unplowed trails, most of the snow was clear. It's weird. Mrs. says that February is going to be a cold one. I'll believe it when I see it.

Rebel, Rebel

Date: February 1
Mileage: 20
Ride type: Commute
February mileage: 20
Year to date mileage:267

I woke up this morning and went outside to find a light coating of something like snow. But it was the strangest snow ever. It was super sticky and make biking really really slow. But at the same time it was crunchy. But it was also kinda slushy and easy to cut through. I'm sure there's an eskimo word for this kind of snow, but I don't know what it would be. As I rode through Ft Snelling I saw several bike tracks. But I liked the one in this picture the best. The path only goes about 50 feet, and I saw his or her tire tracks exit the path at the end. It's easier to just ride in the road, going on this path is not the most direct route. So I can only assume that the rider felt the need to ride directly over the no bikes stencil and make a point. Ride on, patriot.


The temp dropped a few degrees during the day and that slushy, crunchy, sticky stuff froze. The plow had been through the River Road trail, but I think they waited until too late in the day. Lots of patchy ice. I kept thinking, "OK, this is probably where I'm going to fall." Just thinking that over and over is kind of zen-like. It's a mantra. And I didn't fall. But there were a couple spots in Ft Snelling where I could feel the back end sliding. If I hadn't had the studded tires I think I would have gone down. All in all, not a bad day.

January wrap-up

Date: January 31
Mileage: 20
Ride type: Commute
January mileage: 247
Year to date mileage: 247

Nearly 250 miles in January, not too shabby. Of course it helps that this has been the warmest January in 160 years, according to my wife. All commute miles too. Nice.

In other news, I was e-mailed today that on-line registration for The Minnesota Ironman bike ride opened today. I've ridden this ride twice and they do a nice job putting on the event. It starts out in Lakeville, which is kind of a haul, but it's fun. There's a choice of 30, 62 or 100 miles and you can make your decision the day of the ride. It's April 30 this year, so register early and mark your calendars. I've done the 62 mile route before, but this year I'm contemplating doing the 100. It would be cool to get my first century (one of my 2006 goals) out of the way early this year. And the best part? You get an Ironman pint glass from Park Tool. A couple years ago I got a sweet Park bottle opener. It's stainless steel and has a rubberized blue handle, just like all of Park's hand tools. Nice.

Another local bike commuting story

Courtesy of Lunatic Biker, aka Ray, there was another story in the paper about a guy who commutes year round. A decent, bike-positive story, which we can't have enough of in my opinion. Here's the link:

It takes two wheels and a will to commute

Edit: And, I just found out that TOB got interviewed! She didn't make the article (must be some kind of communist plot to keep the wonderfully creative out of the limelight), but her comments are available at her blog.

Canadian Messenger attacked by motorist

A photographer in Toronto captured a motorist attacking a bike messenger. It's a pretty amazing story. There was inappropriate behavior on both sides but wow, talk about a reaction.


And here's a statement from the courier:

Hello all! I am the girl in the pics. My name is Leah and although I am a courier, I was WALKING my bike up Agusta when the incident took place. He was driving and opened his door (while driving) and yelling profanities he threw his beef patty on a bun out of his door. I walked over to his car, and right or wrong, I opened the door and "gave" him back his food (which he MUST have dropped by accident!) He then lost it, and jumped out of his car and threw 2 large Timmies at meand then grabbed me by my helmet and tried to toss me around a bit.It was at that point that my bike lock key (that I wear on a bracelet around my wrist) scratched his car. I have read all the postings about people sympathetic to the car driver due to the expense of repairing the scratch but sorry folks, i doubt that it will cost him anything to repair as it was a 1.2cm mark in the clearcoat only(did not damage the paint) but regardless a scratch none the less. Then with some "encouraging" from some helpfull bystanders he got in his car and drove away...or so I thought! People were comming up to me and saying that I should have him charged but at that point I just figured I had made my anti-littering point and and eye for and eye with the coffee shower, I mean I did throw that patty right. But just as I was getting on my bike to ride home he came running back and thats when the photos start. He had driven half a block and decided that the scratch was worthy of a more thorough beating I guess.
Now for a bit of clarity on a couple of things...
The blonde girl is his girlfriend...she also makes a pretty good shield from an angry mob!
I was NOT punching anyone! especially not with keys in my hand! I was just trying to save my bike (I just built it a week ago!!)
And as for the police charging him....
He took off in his car as soon as he heard the sirens....they chased him down but it is not a crime to leave the scene. They were going to charge him with a variety of things including assult with a weapon x2, mischief x2, aggravated assult, etc, but the police informed me that if I went ahead and placed those charges then they would have to charge me with mischeif for the scratch.
So in the interests of good karma (and my own sanity) I have opted to "let it go" and allow the universe to repay this angermanagement case in its own way.
And finally to those who say that i must have had a sudden case of self ritousness in regard to littering.....YOU ARE WRONG! I hate littering and NEVER do> In fact I am constantly picking up litter and make my son pick up litter at the park. I just feel that it is such a fixable issue in the world today. If everyone would not throw their own piece of litter then there would be none!! What a concept eh!?
enjoy the beautiful winter riding!

All I've got to say is, Toronto women rock. Leah totally stood up for herself when he came after her (regardless of her part in inciting him). And check out the woman in the black vest who is the first bystander to try to restrain the guy.


A cautionary tale for everybody who considers trying to do anything in retribution to a driver. There are about 15 photos of the event located here, plus opinions a-plenty.

Strangers on a train

He boarded the train and stood near the bike rack. There were no seats available. She was nearby, oblivious. I watched as his eyes boldly travelled up and down her form. He took in every detail, curves, bumps, lines. There was no attempt at subtlety, anyone could see his stare. Then he looked away. Had he found appeal? Did he want her? Or had she been measured and found wanting? It was unclear.

As more people boarded the train at future stops he moved closer. Casual, yet calculated. Another boarded the train, and the process was repeated. I wondered, which did he prefer? The second was younger, sleeker, sexier. But there was a solid, comfortable presence about the first. Something that said that she had been places and done things. The hard won look of experience.

He left the train soon after without a word or overture. The two bikes remained in the rack, uncaring.

some dude was checking out my bike on the train earlier this week...

Dream Weaver

Date: January 27
Mileage: 18
Ride type: Commute
January mileage: 227
Year to date mileage:227

This has been a long week on the bike. I'm not used to 5 riding days in a row, I guess. Monday was the hard commute on the packed snow. Tuesday I had the wind at my back and kind of let it all hang out, riding faster than I probably needed to. Wednesday was the mock-fixie day, and yesterday was the headwind from hell. Today was just your average commute, but it felt like there was a headwind. My legs need a break this weekend, because I'm feeling it tonight. It doesn't help that I've been up later than I should have been every night waiting for that damn treasure hunt clue. It's always depressing to know that it's been found but at the same time there's a sigh of relief, knowing that I can start getting decent amounts of sleep again. And speaking of, I think I'm off to bed. Before 11:00. On a Friday. Party on, Wayne.

Turn out the lights, the party's over...

The clues explained

The Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt medallion was found
at Battle Creek Regional Park on St. Paul's East Side at 9:35 a.m.
Friday. Here's the explanation of the six published clues and the six
unpublished clues.

Clue No. 1
Treasure hunters swarming amidst global warming
Make it hard to park our loot.
Look for snow and ice,
enough to suffice,
To shorten your winter pursuit.


Explanation: Our winter is mild, without much snow. The prize is hidden
in a park. Hunters should look for areas with enough snow and ice to
cover the medallion.

Clue No. 2

Son of Pear, hometown fare,
The nut of this year's quest.
Sweetest patty, never a baddie,
Covers the prize at rest.


Explanation: Pearson's Candy Co., based in St. Paul, is the maker of
the Nut Goodie, and its wrapper covers the medallion.

Clue No. 3

Men with a garter
should have been smarter
Than to mix drink with their vulcanic activities.
You would be wise
to look for the prize
By taking up a child's
proclivities.


Explanation: A red garter — a reference to the infamous "garter ritual"
that got the Vulcan Krewe leader in trouble last year — is wrapped
around the medallion. It is near a sliding hill behind Battle Creek
Elementary School and rec center, a favorite of neighborhood children.

Clue No. 4

For the brave of heart,
it's time to start
Searching hill and glen.
Pitch a tent if that's your bent
But stay within your ken.


Explanation: "Brave" and "tent" refer to Indian braves, who fought the
battle in 1842 for which Battle Creek Park is named. Hill and Glen
refer to Hillsdale and Glenridge avenues near the park. The Scottish
reference to "Braveheart'' also alludes to nearby 3M, known for its Scotch
brands.

Clue No. 5

If you're aerobic and hardly tree-phobic
You might make your outing pay.
Don't be left in a lurch, do your research,
This could be your red-letter day.



Explanation: The medallion is located on a hill, requiring a stiff
climb, near some oak and pine trees. The "red letter" refer again to the 3M
sign, visible from the hill.



Clue No. 6



On a whim you may take a swim
Or go in and out of the woods.
Twixt high and low, we hope there's snow
To cover up the goods.



Explanation: There is a water park at Battle Creek, which is both
inside and outside of the city of Maplewood. The third line refers to Upper
and Lower Afton roads, which are the north and south borders for the
park.



Clue No. 7

Not west, but East, lies the feast.
Here you searchers must tarry.
Stay in St. Paul, near basket and ball
Where a medallion owner would bury.



Explanation: While the park is in St. Paul, it is on the East Side, not
far from Woodbury. Our hiding spot is near the Battle Creek rec center,
which has a basketball court.

Clue No. 8

You're off the mark if you stray from a park
And miss the point of it all.
Tips are legion in the region
Up to the verge of St. Paul.



Explanation: Reference to Point Douglas Road in Battle Creek, which is
a regional park on the border of the city.

Clue No. 9

The father, the son and one other one
Lost their lives near this watery place.
But now there's fun where those killins' were done
Woods, hills and wide open space.



Explanation: An attack by the Chippewa on a nearby Sioux village killed
Sioux Chief Kaiboka, his son and one other tribe member. A battle raged
along the creek, and it became the source for the name "Battle Creek.''

For Ph.D-level clue solvers, there is also a buried reference to Bob
Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited,'' in which `God' asks Abe to "kill me a
son," and Abe wants to know where he wants "this killin' done?" Highway
61 borders Battle Creek park.

Clue No. 10

Once the home pristine of Mr. McLean,
It was named by a dealer in teas.
In order to stake her, he gave 30 acre,
Did this man who so did love trees.



Explanation: The pristine area of Battle Creek was once a community
named after Nathaniel McLean, a newspaper publisher, Sioux agent and
veteran of the War of 1812. But the name Battle Creek was suggested by
William McMurray, a coffee and tea dealer, who gave 30 acres to the city for
the park in 1922.



Clue No. 11

Roaming like cattle near the creek of the battle
Let Winthrop be your pleasure.
Yon mount is better, above skier and sledder,
Twixt pines and poles sits the treasure.



Explanation: Battle Creek is identified, as is Winthrop Street, the
mountain above ski trails and sledding hills, and a location between a
stand of pines and two light poles.

Clue No. 12

Find and seek in Battle Creek
Near a center for athletic skill.
Out the door to the south, scarf over your mouth
Climb atop yon sliding hill..

Two posts can be seen, a wire between
Form a line heading to a row of pines.
Twenty-six strides straight, six to the left.
In the brow of a hill you will find,

Oh ye who were fickle, our medallion-sicle
Wears an iceberg disguise.
The package, as we said, is swathed in bright red
Candy wrapper, garter and prize.

Explanation: Directs hunters to the site atop the hill behind the
Battle Creek rec center. Aligned with two posts connected by a wire, walk 26
paces toward the stand of pines, then six to the left. The medallion,
wrapped in ice, candy wrapper and red garter, sits in some high grass on
the brow of a hill.

Insert Title Here

Date: January 26
Mileage: 20
Ride type: Commute
January mileage: 209
Year to date mileage:209

This morning, instead of riding the train from Ft Snelling to the Government Plaza station I got off at the Franklin Ave station instead. It added about 2 miles to my morning, but I still got to work about the same time. Which is cool. 20 miles is easier to add than 18. The wind on the way home was brutal. It was like every great thing I posted about on Tuesday, but in reverse. With the warm weather tonight there were tons of people walking on the path. Here's a tip. If you're walking your dog, and you run into your neighbor who is walking his three dogs, don't stop to chat right in the absolute middle of the path. Two guys and four dogs are impossible to get around.

I shook my fist in anger at a car tonight on the way home. But it was a move of solidarity. I was riding on the River Road path at a point where the path is really close to the road. There was a guy on a bike coming toward me, but he was riding on the road rather than on the path. Which is cool with me. You want to mix it up with the cars, go ahead. Me, if there's a decent path alternative I'll take it. Anyway, this guy was riding a little out from the curb and the car behind him had to slow down and wait for an oncoming car to go by before passing the cyclist. As the car raced past the cyclist the driver blew his horn at the biker for a long time. So I shook my fist in the air. Take that, buddy.

Clue #5

Clue #5
If you're aerobic and hardly tree phobic
You might make your outing pay
Don't be left in a lurch, do your research,
This could be your red letter day

All I'm really getting out of this is that it will be somewhere on a wooded hillside. It may be somewhat of an aerobic exercise to climb up or down to the location. The red letter day is killing me, because I can't think of anything to make sense of it.

Oh, and I have a slight correction. In clue #4, the word "vent" is actually "bent." My source dictated it slightly wrong. Not a huge deal, but it takes care of that Circus JuVENTas tie-in I had going.

I ain't too old to hurry

Date: January 25
Mileage: 18
Ride type: Commute
January mileage: 189
Year to date mileage:189

Another good commute, though not as good as yesterday with the big tailwind. As I rode I was again amazed at how great the bike path and roads are right now. In fact as I labored up one of the hills on the bike path, on the heavy bike turning clunky tires with the superfluous studs, I thought to myself, "Maybe tomorrow I should ride the Schwinn." It sounds appealing, but my tires were awfully white when I got home. Not from snow, but salt. I don't need another bike that will start rusting to oblivion.

Speaking of rusting, the freewheel on the Raleigh is not freewheeling again. So I rode it home in mock-fixie fashion. In other words, no coasting. Because when coasting, the chain droops way below the chainstay and swings alarmingly close to the spokes. It's a little interesting going downhill in this fashion. On a fixie you can just let your legs relax, or you can actively slow the bike down by applying pressure in the opposite direction. Can't really do that in this case. So, the trick is to try to pedal hard enough to keep the chain engaged but not so hard as to increase your speed on the descent. I find it's easiest to pedal just hard enough to get slight resistance and then keep the front brake slightly engaged. Tonight when I got home I hit the hard stuff. I skipped the Finish Line and went straight for the Liquid Wrench penetrating oil. My dad always had a can of this stuff in the garage. Not aresol, but the little 3-in-1 oil style can with the screw off tip. Works wonders. So like father like son I always try to have a can as well. We'll see how it goes. I have a feeling I should start scouring eBay for a new one as the LW will only be a temporary solution, if it's a solution at all.

Clue #4

Clue #4
For the brave at heart, it's time to start
Searching hill and glen
Pitch a tent if that's your vent
But stay within your ken

This clue sounds decidedly Scottish. Brave at Heart (Braveheart). Hill and Glen (Scottish glens, Glenlivit, etc), and "stay within your ken" sounds like it could have a distinct Shawn Connery-like brogue. Couple this with the previous Pearson Candy clue (Pearson's is located on 7th, just south of Highland Park), and it looks like we're being steered toward Highland Park.

This part isn't my own thought, but it does fit. A "child's proclivities" could be a reference to a circus. The circus theme also fits with the "pitch a tent" line in today's clue. There is a local circus called Circus Juventas (youth in Latin). Juventas was the greek god of youth. And Circus Juventas headquarters is located on 1270 Montreal Ave. And Montreal Ave just happens to be the northern boundary of Highland park. Very interesting.

Whoa

Next year's Tour de France will start in...(wait for it)...London. How weird is that?

To be free again

Date: January 24
Mileage: 18
Ride type: Commute
January mileage: 171
Year to date mileage: 171

A WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 PM CST THIS AFTERNOON.

STRONG WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS OF
40 WILL CONTINUE ACROSS MOST OF CENTRAL MINNESOTA AND WEST
CENTRAL WISCONSIN TODAY UNTIL LATE AFTERNOON. WINDS WILL THEN
SLOWLY DIMINISH.

A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT SUSTAINED WINDS OF 30 MPH OR MORE ARE
EXPECTED. WINDS THIS STRONG CAN MAKE DRIVING DIFFICULT...
ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES. USE EXTRA CAUTION.

If yesterday was the strangest and longest commute of the winter, today was easily the best. When I woke up this morning, I could really feel last night's ride in my thighs. Then I heard about the above wind advisory while listening to KFAI (sorry, Alana!). Both of which nearly had me driving. But I decided to ride. The ride in was slow going due to the wind. It was especially bad on the Highway 55 bridge, where it was pretty much head on. I toughed it out and hoped the wind would hold until evening. It did.

When I left work I got on the River Road bike path and just started cruising. The wind was at my back and the path was completely clear of snow and ice. For the first time in several months I wasn't completely concentrating on where I was riding, and wondering if there was ice or not. I was just riding. This was like a summer commute, where the only thing that dictates my speed is how fast and hard my legs can turn the cranks. It was a joy.

Clue #3

Clue #3

Men with a garter should have been smarter
Than to mix drink with their vulcanic activities.
You would be wise to look for the prize
By taking up a child’s proclivities.

Clearly a reference to last year's "incident" involving a few Vulcans and the waitstaff at Alary's bar. Alary's used to have a website with pictures of their waitresses in various stages of near-undress, but it's been disabled since shortly after the incident. As an aside, you can still go to google and do an image search for "Alary's" and turn up some, shall we say, interesting photos. That short piece of dubious history aside, all this clue really tells us is that there probably is a playground or something similar. Could be a way to weed out parks that don't have a playground, or could be a clue as to which part of the park. I'm not really sure just yet.

Sweet Surrender, What a Night

Date: January 23
Mileage: 11
Ride type: Commute
January mileage: 153
Year to date mileage: 153

Wow, what a strange commute. It started this morning when I had to drop a friend's car off at Ft. Snelling. She was in Vegas for the weekend, and was planning to take the LRT from the airport to Ft Snelling since neither Nancy or I could pick her up in the middle of the day. So this morning I put my bike in her trunk and drove to Ft. Snelling. I took the bike out and boarded the train.

Then this afternoon, I ran out of time to ride over from Minneapolis to St Paul so I took the bus. Not only did I run out of time, but I still can't figure out a good way to commute by bike from one downtown to the other. I can get as far as Ramsey St, but once Ramsey becomes the Ramsey Hill there's no good way that I know to get to downtown. So I rode the 94 to downtown St Paul with my bike on the front rack and then pedaled to Metro. I was getting a little nervous, because my freewheel was acting up. Whenever I would stop pedaling it wouldn't "freewheel" and the chain would go slack and try to bunch up. So whenever I had to stop at a stoplight I could take my feet off the pedals and they would rotate nearly a full turn to equalize out.

After class I rode back to downtown St Paul and headed toward Kellogg Park. I swung by the Pioneer Press and saw one lone dude keeping the vigil, waiting for tonight's clue. I cruised through Harriet on the lovely cleared path and then switched to Water Street when the path became not so lovely and cleared. Water Street treated me well, I saw a total of one car, and it was headed toward me. When I reached the yacht club I turned onto the Big Rivers Regional Trail. A trail which, for the first 100 yards or so is nicely plowed. But then, not so much. So I ended up riding the next 1.5 miles in this:


In a word, it sucked. It's not that nice soft, cut through like a knife snow. It's that hard, hasn't been plowed all winter, people have been walking all over it, bumpy as hell snow. You can see the nice 3-4 inch deep rut that I got to ride in. That was a chore. One good thing about it, all that jostling seems to have knocked my freewheel free again. I applied some Finish Line lube liberally to the freewheel and surrounding areas when I got home, made myself a couple of chicken and bean burritos (not-microwave) and had a Newcastle. Now, it's time for bed.

Clue #2

Clue #2

Son of Pear, hometown fare,
The nut of this year’s quest.
Sweetest patty, never a baddie,
Covers the prize at rest.

A simple "what's it in" clue to start off. Son of Pear would be another way of saying Pearson. Combine that with nut and hometown fare and I'm thinking that the puck will be inside a type of candy made at the Pearson Candy plant on 7th. My guess is either a Nut Goodie or a Mint Patty. So now we know what we're looking for, if not where.

Clue #1

Clue #1

Treasure hunters swarming amidst global warming

Make it hard to park our loot.

Look for snow and ice, enough to suffice,

To shorten your winter pursuit.

There you go. I've nothing to offer on this one. Not even a city v. county clue.

If you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, today is the first day of the Pioneer Press Winter Carnival Treasure Hunt. More details are available here. It's a modern day hunt for buried treasure, $10,000 to the victor. I'll be following it closely for the next 12 days or so.

And I looked and I saw that it was good

Date: January 18
Mileage: 18
Ride type: Commute
January mileage: 142
Year to date mileage:142

Praise god and pass the ammunition. Somebody finally plowed the Highway 55 bridge bikepath for the first time this year. Yesterday morning I churned my way through and broke a sweat doing so. I was prepared to do it again last night, but no. When I left the street in Fort Snelling and started riding toward the bridge I steeled myself for the upcoming effort. But, as I turned the corner I noticed tire tracks on either side of the trail, and a noticeable absence of ruts. A plow! I knew the bike portion of the bridge was too narrow to get a truck with a conventional plow through, so I figured I would still need to slog across the snowy bridge. But it looks like somebody took an actual snowblower and made a couple of passes across. It's not down to the pavement, but it's still gorgeous. I need to figure out which municipality did this so I can extend the appropriate kudos. I'm thinking it's Mendota, but I'm not sure.