Juneteenth Ride 2025

I had Juneteenth off and I have for quite a few years.  I have some opinions about who I work for, so that's not surprising.  I took a ride in the afternoon up into Minneapolis and back, just over 42 miles. Not a very fast 42 miles given downtown it was a bit stop and go, lots of turns, and I was parking myself here and there to enjoy the day.

On the way "up" I pedaled past the Juneteenth celebration near Lake and the burned out third precinct they're turning into a voting and community action center.  That's a good use for it.  It wasn't very hopping, but I was there in the first five minutes of the celebration, so not surprising.  When I came back four hours later it was packed with people and I sat at Arbeiter for a while having a beer and enjoying the crowds of people all dressed up for Juneteenth.  Most of the photos below are from my way up, although I managed to capture a photo of the communal mural going both ways.

Downtown I was going to go to Modist [https://racketmn.com/bri-smith-modist-first-black-woman-head-brewer], but realized when I got there it was around 2 p.m. and a Thursday, so Modist wasn't opening for another two hours.  Fortunately, right across the street is Bricksworth although I could have saved myself 32  miles and just pedaled to the one over in Burnsville.  I refueled and turned back toward Lake Street, although I got lost on the way and ended up at the field entrance to Target Field.  Just as I was turning around to avoid the No Trespassing sign onto the field a guy came out of the Target office.  He must have been vaguely important because he had a corporate SUV and looked like an ex ballplayer.  He saw my RAGBRAI jersey and was super excited.  He went on it for the first time last year and is going this year again.  He mentioned that this year it's sneaking up into Minnesota on one of the days.  That's a smart trick on their part to make it feel less like an Iowa ride and more like a midwest ride.  Iowa irritates me ... lately [a long lately, my "all lives matter" experience with them was a long time ago now] ... and that's kept me riding in Minnesota instead of spending my money there even if the Register tends to be more liberal than Iowa on average.

I didn't realize downtown was making their LEDs pride flags for the month.  That's a nice look.

Juneteenth Soul sign with Arbeiter Brewing and Moon Palace books in the background.  A smarter person would have picked up the book waiting for him at Moon Palace but I didn't put it on a list, so I was distracted by all the other things going on.  Maybe I'll have time to pick it up tomorrow.

Drums and dancing.

Community mural in the morning.

Community mural later in the afternoon.

Million Artist quilts.  The burned out precinct is right behind me here.

Bonus bit...after I sat at Arbeiter people watching, I headed for home.  I was only half a dozen blocks south of Arbeiter or so when a car tried to left turn into me on a green light while I was in the bike lane.  I couldn't tell for sure, but she seemed to look up from her phone, and then jittered a bit and went past me to continue her turn which would have almost put her on the sidewalk.  She accelerated hard....right into the side of another SUV with five people in it.  Green light, she was turning.  The SUV on the receiving end was totaled.  Both wheels were crooked and a big pinch in the side.  Big.  I went back to make sure people were ok and three other cyclists, two pedestrians, and a few cars stopped to ask everyone if they were ok.  The woman taking the left hand turn?  Came out of her car furiously tapping on her phone and asking loudly, "You're an Uber aren't you? You're an Uber driver?"  I don't know if that was some attempt to go on the attack, but she's going to have a hell of a time explaining that one to insurance.  Everyone was ok, surprisingly. Cars are fixable.  People generally not as much.

However, that wasn't my only brush with death yesterday.  I also took a tumble at the of the hill/trail going from Minnehaha Falls/Park to Fort Snelling.  Entirely my fault.  I lazily commute most of the time, so I know the rule about not pedaling into a turn, but I forgot.  So I cam down the hill and turned right and started to pedal to take advantage of momentum for the hill.

I heard a "snick".  And I thought, ut oh, pedal, down.

I heard the start of a "screeeeek" and there seemed to be a lot of time to literally say, out loud, "Oh."  Followed by the full on scrape.  Followed by me saying, "S^%t."  At which point the whole bike stopped on a dime and popped almost straight up 4 plus feet in the air, arresting all forward momentum.  I did not lose my momentum.  I flew forward landing head first, skidding along the pavement on the back of my head/helmet for what I think was about six feet on my helmet before finally bouncing a bit.  I'm glad I have a helmet.  I think this one would have killed me or been close.

Here's a nice photo [immediately above] of my bike actually bouncing around.  Not me - I was separated from the bike at this point without the digital odometer on me sort of skidding uphill. 

And here's me being really wobbly and having a hard time pedaling a straight line to get moving up the hill after the crash.  A nice guy who was coming down the hill stopped to talk to me for a while, which was really helpful to get a read on whether I had an obvious concussion.  I had my family watch for an unobvious concussion later.  I didn't actually do too bad finishing out the 7 miles home, but when I got to where I could check myself out, I had relatively minor scrapes.  But....a big bruise on my left ankle and a lot of ache in my right which seemed to be more related to the pedals stopping suddenly and throwing me than to any visible wounds.

I slept fine later, only waking up now and then when I rolled an ankle.  And today I feel pretty good.  Little bit of a neck ache, and I took a thirty minute walk on the ankles, although I'm being super careful on stairs because balancing on the left is tricky.

I seem to get in one round of ouch each year, so hopefully this is the end of it and it's not like Final Destination where the deity of cycling injuries will be hunting me down the rest of the summer/fall.

Hastings Ride - x2

These aren't in order, but that's ok.  You can wander around freely in my bike rides.  Ironically, I was talking earlier about so many things going on I can't entirely keep up, and then I decided to post this instead of the music in a yard gig I was at last night.  Guess that'll have to be a tomorrow thing, although I'm going to Mae West tomorrow, so I'm already adding more to my queue.  I ponder frequently how I had time to post so many things 20 years ago.  Just a more consistent habit, I guess.

Larry, Ming, and I took the trail system from Inver Grove Heights down to Hastings for lunch two weekends ago.  About 45 miles.  I repeated the ride this last weekend, although I headed to the trail connection over by the trash mountains and processing plant via Eagan, which wasn't quite as nice.  But, I did it early in the morning so a. it was cooler and b. there was breakfast.  Turns out Ze's isn't too far off the trail - just a few miles and one really steep hill.  Although you don't get too much scenic going to Ze's.  It stays away from the waterfront and takes you past the court building.

Still....worth it, despite bonking my head on the sign I locked my bicycle to hard enough that the cut on my head bled for a few days and still hurts over four days later.

And a bonus of going in the morning....bison. We didn't get to see them the first time.  As I was headed to Hastings they were in the back pen and just coming out, but by the time I came back they were lounging in the sunshine.

This gal was also hanging out near them.  I also saw snakes [two kinds - one baby, one very large], turkeys including one trying to coast airborne, deer, bald eagle, and more.  Nice trail for some nature.

The turn to go to Ze's or go into downtown/riverfront Hastings is right after this sculpture garden.  I've got a few more below.  It's not in the foreground, but that Wright Flyer in the back left is pretty cool.

There is one sizeable hill on the way to Hastings [and back, but not as much] and you can get a nice scenic view.  I was disappointed the second time I wasn't there to get the sunrise bouncing off the water.

If you go into the riverfront area of Hastings you can go to the far end of the artsy part of town and catch another trail that takes you to Vermillion Falls.  There's a bridge over the water and it has become an area for folks to put love locks on. I know it looks like Ming and Larry might be up to putting a love lock in the collection, but they did not.

Here's the outflow of the falls from the locks bridge.

And here are the falls up close.  It's cool the mechanisms for the water power machinery are still attached to that building, even if they're not in use.

Headed back, the sculpture garden...

The sculpture likes his animals...

On a stop on the way back, we ran into the Society for Creative Anachronism.  Ming talked to them for a while about axe throwing.  That looked fine, but that woman in the background is throwing knives and that looked damn near impossible.  I'm not sure if Ming is going to join and try to get elected royalty.  His kid is out of the house, so anything's possible.

Something not to lose...amount of sealant for tubeless tires

Got a flat today.  The flat sort of sealed, but I really should have had a spring top off, because it wasn't a full seal and the tire stayed mushy.  So my wife picked me up at St. Peter's church and I hauled the bike home to try my first ever tubeless tire goo addition.

Item one: per this chart, I need 3 oz per tire.  My kit had a total of 4 oz.  So I'll need to get more.

Item two: don't try to just spritz new goo in there through the valve stem.  That's a mess.  The caps for the valves double as tools to remove the valve cores.

Item three: you still have to haul along a pump or CO2 [this I knew].

Item four: if you flip your bike over and the leak is at 12 o'clock, then all your goo will be down on the bottom at 6 o'clock and it won't seal.  You need to rotate that side of the tire downward [which it would do many many times if you're actually riding] so it sprays sealant out and gets a good seal that will allow appropriate air pressure.

Item five: not new, just a reminder, Minneapolis/St. Paul streets are littered with pointy bits this early in the season.  An absolute freaking mess.  I think I get a flat in April every year.

Item six: at least I found the hub-mounted hex wrench for the bike I gave my brother while I was looking for other bike bits.

Item seven: at least now that the bike is inside and resting, I can give it a good cleaning.

Item eight: at least I got 20 miles in before it went mushy and I've got a back up and the Zwift should I prove challenged at getting more goo in the tire soon [someone on line said "I like to hear it slosh" which is probably valid advice...it needs enough in there to spray and still have a lot left].

Item nine: I did feel VERY good riding into Minneapolis and back.  I keep thinking outside is way different than the Zwift.  And it is.  But when I remind myself to increase my cadence and that the hills are only a fraction of what I do on the Zwift, I barely feel 20 miles and 417 feet even stomping it a bit.

Zwift: the First Month

I bit the bullet and signed up for Zwift.  I went all in with the Zwift ride, a faux bicycle specifically designed so I never have to attach a real bike to the included Wahoo trainer, and gamified handlebars that let me control the ride separate from the phone app.  My old cycling trainer, a Cateye Cyclometer wind trainer circa 1989 [roughly] was showing its age after a third of a century.  I was considering offering tours, as it may be one of the few things in this world that really got more use than one would expect for value.  I'd estimate it had at least 50000 miles on it, and I went through several bicycles, usually whichever one wasn't good for the road anymore because of weight, a slight bend in the frame, or a cracked joint.  The pinch-style rear wheel holder meant that it could hold together problems that made a bike no longer road worthy.

Some observations after a month:

1. I use it a lot.  Stats below for my first month.
2. Group rides are wonderful and once you figure out that rubberbanding is a system to keep you all together regardless of differences in effort, it's even more fun.  I did my first group ride Thanksgiving week with about 8 other people from the Twin Cities Bike Club.
3. My FTP is 232. That's a fuzzy measurement, but Zwift lets you test and train to improve your base level of fitness and it gave me a real number to drop into my Garmin app so I can see what exertion levels I typically ride [3/4 on a scale of 7, which is above general endurance training, but below training for a race via VO2 max and full on heart improvement].  How Garmin was computing my effort before was WAY off.
4. I'm definitely getting more exercise than the old trainer.  I came out of a ride where I ended up pedaling the last 5-6 miles of a route with two strangers and we kept pushing each other [or at least they kept pushing me] and I came out of the training room wobbly, shaking, and looking like I might have a heart attack laying on the floor.
5. I love being able to mimic climb.
1. however....I think it may be stressing my back because of my uneven legs, both genetic and via being squashed and having pins in one hip.
2. but it's forcing me to deal with exercises and stretching for lower back and uneven legs which I should have been doing anyway.
3. however...the big target is climbing Mount Everest [total climb, not like a singular event] to get a Tron bike.  This seemed do-able until I realized you have to climb an additional 140k feet after the Mount Everest climb.  So more like six Mount Everests.  That might take a while.  Ten months at my current rate, although I'm on a monthly plan, so I'm unlikely to rack up climb during the spring/summer/fall when I'm outside, or when I'm on the fat tire.
6. Despite all that ride, I'm not losing weight.  Probably not surprising.  Older = less impact. I've been setting off some bad habits like beer and ice cream.  And looking at myself in the mirror, I think the first month has been trimming a lot of fat, but adding a lot of heavier muscle [see that 3-4 FTP comment above - I'm above the usual fat burning zone].
7. I don't like the idea that it's basically a dollar and hour to cycle, but I've spent my money on much stupider and less healthy habits like beer and board games and it's primarily for November - February, maybe October-March depending on the weather.
8. My television viewing has been severely impacted.  I used to stream while I pedaled, but now I watch the Zwift terrain and cyclists.  I could always do side by side, but I'm not sure how much attention I could pay to television while I'm really pushing it anyway.
9. It'll be interesting to see if the climbing/riding maps to reality in the spring, particularly if I target some bigger climbs on the Zwift in anticipation of gravel rides or otherwise.

Heidi Across America

This last week I finished up Heidi Across America: One Woman's Journey on a Bicycle Through the Heartland on loan from the Duluth library.  I love the Minnesota library system and the interlibrary loan setup. I've rarely found a book I can't get via the system, and I've looked for some fairly esoteric reads in my history.

Heidi Across America wasn't quite what I was expecting.  Usually these narratives involve a transam ride with minimal sleep, mental breakdowns, and as fast from coast to coast as possible.  Heidi was more of a semi-casual approach, not driven by a race or by participation in a larger group.  It reminded me a bit of a chef my family met at a lodge outside Yellowstone who had spent a year of his life circumnavigating the US on bicycle.  His son was on speed dial and took care of emergencies.  Heidi had the same setup with her mother, who was in charge of research when necessary, and shipping supplies.  For those of you who didn't ride in the pre-smartphone [not pre-cellphone] / Google / Maps era, the absolute necessity of someone who could troubleshoot in an emergency is probably lost.  I clearly remember cycling trails where having someone who could reroute me if a town was closed up for food and lodging was important.

If I ever meet Heidi, based on her book, she'll give me a frown for saying this, but she did not bike across country.  She did go across America.  I have deep sympathy for why she bailed for a while in Missouri.  Number one being it's Missouri.  Number two is that it was the heat that took her out.  All my years of bicycling and that's the one thing you can't escape.  Big wind in your face?  You just go slower.  Storms?  You wait them out.  A week of humid temps over 100..... you can do that for a day or so, but long term it's the flip side of riding in the winter, there's just no where to hide from the weather.  You can do early morning, and she talks about that quite a bit and when she missed opportunities, but that usually requires lights and is dangerous, unless you're with a big group like RAGBRAI where they pretty much take over the road, even at 5 a.m.  Per her narrative, it sounds as though it got up to almost 116F.  That's probably cancer waiting to happen even if you are loaded up with sunblock that looks like you're apply chalk.

More than a cycling book, it was a memoir.  That bothered a few folks over on Amazon reviews who didn't want to read about how horny Heidi was during her ride.  I'd rather read about the cycling, but it was interesting to see how a woman's cycling trip differs from my own.  Doesn't matter how horny all those endorphins make me, I'm not leaving a mess in a tent.  And a cycle seat tends to put at least a little damper on your dangly bits wanting to do anything after a long ride.  I can't speak for everyone on that, but my twig and berries need time to recover.   I definitely don't have to worry about bleeding [the reproductive sort; I've bled for other reasons on rides, sometimes enough to soak a sock] and what feminine hygiene products might do to chaffing.  Ugh.  Bike seats are bad enough without things between your sit and the seat.

I did find myself, in reference to that horny part noted above, thinking, "She and this neighbor boyfriend aren't going to last.  I wonder if they figure it out before or after they get married."  After.  They lasted three years.  It didn't feel like there was enough there to make that assessment, and maybe some of her post marriage opinions snuck in as much as she tried to stick to the facts and feelings of the time, but it didn't feel like he was on the same page.  Except for being horny.

I enjoyed the cycling parts.  I enjoyed her encounters with other cyclists and with people along her route.  Ironically, people and being alone are the two best parts of long distance cycling, despite seeming at distinct odds.  But I could have done without the ruminations on what it meant to be American and be in America.  Then again, maybe that has to do with my opinion about the insularity of Americans given our recent elections or my recent experience cycling two long days in Ohio and being treated to things like a Confederate flag on structures next to the trail.  I still try to take good people with me on my rides, either family as SAG, or friends on group charity rides [although even then you can end up standing in the middle of a field in Iowa with a clutch of minority cyclists while the person on stage majoritysplains that they should really appreciate how all lives matter]. Alternately, I ride well known trails [but not in Missouri; I'm likely to never ride the Katy] because the businesses and towns directly on the trails tend to be cyclists and cyclist aligned.  Tend.  There are definitely exceptions.  Heidi saw a bit of that per her book where the Transamerican trail [Adventure Cycling Association maintains a route, it's not a trail along the lines of a rail trail] is traveled enough that cyclists setup places/businesses where routes intersect.

Final thought?  I'm likely to never even come close to the amount she cycled even if it wasn't all the way.  I've pedaled long rides through/across Montana and Idaho, Maryland/West Virginia, Iowa [four times], Minneapolis to Milwaukee [was aiming for Chicago], Illinois to Indiana, Wisconsin [as a teen and adult], Ohio, and week rides all over Minnesota.  In the end, I really enjoy the loops in Minnesota, and longer rides in Minnesota where I target something I want to do [pedaling up to Franconia to see Shakespeare in the Park for instance, or breakfast, or breweries].  I guess an advantage per Heidi's book is if I get horny, I'm never too far from home.

Water and Construction

The Friday before last I pedaled a 60-mile ride up around the cities - both of the Twins - and back home.  Part of the reason it was such a long ride wasn't because I was particularly motivated to do sixty miles, but because the Cedar Ave old bridge route through the river valley is both flooded AND under construction, the 55 bridge is under construction, the Greenway is under construction... so I ended up routing down to the yacht club, up and across 35E, along Ford Parkway, into Minneapolis, around the lakes, pie by Harriet.  And then unwind via the Bde Maka Ska and Lake of the Isles back to the river and St. Paul.

I did push it a bit, partially because I wanted to verify whether I had the legs and bottom for a hundred mile ride at the moment for our trip to southern Minnesota.  The legs might have made it. The bottom definitely not.  I've got a new saddle and shorts sitting at home to try out today and see if it makes a difference so no one catches me naked and calls me old scabby butt.  OSB....kind of like ODB...maybe it would be cool and give me some bicycling cachet.

Since then, the rain, work, and running [I'm attempting a 5k reboot] have kept me off the bike outdoors, and I suspect now I'd even have a difficult time with some of the alternative routes I was using, like over to Shakopee or down by the yacht club.

Maybe it would make more sense to take the 494 bridge, but damn is that ever excruciatingly boring.  There's nothing I hate quite so much as the MoA and corporate Bloomington as ride scenery.

But today....today looks good and I've had this thought a few times....why don't I just park my car at the lakes and bike from there?  I should have thought of it before.  But driving my bicycle somewhere other than an overnight -- and I'm pretty sure that's an issue at the usual haunts in Minnesota as well, like the Cannon Falls/Red Wing trail, with all the flooding -- via a car before pedaling is antithetical to how my bicycling brain works.  Why would I waste time driving when I could be pedaling from moment zero?

Today might be the day though.  Get past the water and ... most of ... the construction before rolling around. I have a few places picked out where I think I could park without a meter, and the convertible will allow me to mount the rack, so I can double down on fresh air.  Might make the drive before riding a bit more palatable. 

Good luck to everyone else out there trying to find a place to ride. You have my sympathy.

Ride into St. Paul

Last week, I took a ride down into St. Paul.  It's the winter of no snow.  I have this nice fat tire bicycle [see an earlier post], but at the moment I'm riding my road bike for the most part.

I've been bundled up: shorts, felt pants, long sleeve shirt, jersey, hoodie, winter vest, gloves, hat, balaclava.  Mr. Layers.  But I've actually stripped off the gloves, hat, and hoodie most rides once I get going.

Despite the warmth, it's obvious it's still winter here in Minnesota down by the river bluffs near the Confluence.

Beautiful frozen falls.  Although I can't help but think Tall Brad is conserving water by peeing over the cliff all winter [he lives up there somewhere].

I didn't get around to the Bicycling, Books, and Brew [coffee] part of my rides for this one.  I just packed it in at the island at the end before turning around.  Still, a nice day to just hang out and cool off for a while at the end.

Here's a nice video of the frozen falls so you can listen to what it was long along the bluffs.  Beautiful day all around.

I have broken the 2023-2024 winter...

I spent a lot of time pondering buying a new road bike.  New as in used.  There's a lot of inventory out there.  But sitting in my personal backlog was this inkling that I might want a winter bike as well.  I was fairly safe because a.] every year I go to a tech conference at the U of MN which is almost always subzero [F not C] and I see students who have to bike looking miserable, b.] I had as specific bike in mind, c.] that specific bike was not cheap [by my standards].

And then, end of October, the price dropped enough to cover the taxes and more.  I caved.  I went over to Angry Catfish and picked up a Surly Wednesday Fat Tire. It is a thing of beauty.  It sounds cool.  It rides cool.  It is NOT anything like my other bikes beyond the bikey configuration of two wheels, handlebars, et al.  It feels like a different beast.  I even knew before I got it via a bit of research that the size would fit me almost perfectly.  And when I got it professionally fitted last week [part of the Angry Catfish service for buying a new bicycle] we didn't adjust a single thing.

What I didn't count on was both cars having issues/accidents immediately after my purchase resulting in an expense pretty much equivalent to the cost of the bike.  In retrospect, I should have expected that.  It's been the case with every big purchase/bonus I've ever received.  At least now it doesn't hurt the same way it did when I was in my twenties and the Caddy would go on the fritz right after I spent a windfall. There's got to be a law of economics somewhere that says whatever you spend from a [earned or unearned] windfall you should expect to spend twice as much, so carefully focus on spending no more than half of your found money.  You can name it Nod's Law if you like.

Anyway, my goal was not something to replace my road bike / sport bike in the winter.  I'm not under any illusion I'll go 60 miles on this thing.  Probably not even 15.  But for rides to the liquor store, local brewery, movie theater, burrito, grocery store, and down in the river valley if I drive it down there on a rack...perfect.  Amazingly fun in the snow.  Except we have no snow.  Until yesterday, and barely.  I've taken it for a spin a few times, but yesterday was the first day I got to play in the snow, and even then it was because the plow came through and left little drifts on the sides off the road.  So all over my block you can see icy trails along the edges next to the mailboxes where I shot up and down my street looking for the deepest drifts.

Maybe it'll convince me to go visit my folks on a roadtrip so I can take advantage of sand instead.  That's not quite as susceptible to climate change and, if I find myself riding on glass because of the weather, the bike will be the least of my [our] worries.

My new gear baby [if you can have a fur baby, I can have a gear baby] nestled up for the ride home.

This is the end of October, 2023.  Two days before Halloween.  There are still trees that look like they're in bloom and full on green grass.  If it weren't for the incredibly short days I'd still be out doing long rides end of December.

MS Ride Around Minnesota 2022 - Day Zero/0

This was the first year in....three....that I've done the MS Ride Across Around Minnesota [RAM] ride.  The last time was literally as I was heading into a new job.  My HR recruiter at the new company got me to sign on even though I was going to be gone the first week.  She wanted to lock me in and assured me, I'd still have vacation, by hook or by crook, later in the year.  Nine months later, I was on the plane home from a planning meeting in Providence seat to seat with college students from a dozen east coast schools being sent home as dorms closed their doors.  There was a virtual MS RAM in between. And then last year they had an in-person RAM, but I wasn't willing to attend yet.  I'm still not so sure it's safe with the new variant picking up more steam in Minnesota, but I seem to be unscathed.  Ming went last year, but didn't last long. I believe he was derailed by getting lost on the first day.  He couldn't go this year because of vacation allowance, but my friend Ben the School Teacher agreed to go as part of Forlorn Fenders.

I picked him up on the way to Proctor, MN, near Duluth.  When we got about two thirds of the way there, roughly two hours, I was kicking myself for not plugging in my phone because I'd been using it for directions.  That's when I realized I didn't have my phone cable.  That in and of itself wouldn't have been an issue, but it reminded me that the cable and my wallet had been in close proximity.  In the car.  But they weren't in the car.  They'd been on Ben's seat....so I probably picked them up.  Yeah, I'd had them in my hand when I grabbed  the bungie cords for the bike and I set them down.... uh oh....on the roof.  They definitely weren't still on the roof.

After a moment on angst and panic, Ben called a neighbor to do a search of the ditches, particularly where I would have turned the first corner.  I prepared to drive all the way back on a five hour round trip if anything was found after dropping Ben off at the campsite to get checked in so we didn't miss our window.  Forty dollars was found, and a few other stray items, but not a license or a credit card.  I called my kid and they took care of canceling my credit card.  We drove on and reached out to my folks.  My mom was heading toward the cabin and not only brought me money and a spare credit card, but bought Ben and I dinner [yum, Walley breakfast] at Tobie's in Hinckley.  Situation saved.  I didn't have to get more creative with asking a friend to bring me money and having my wife Venmo them immediately, or my wife hauling herself to Proctor the next day.  Older than fifty/50 and still being bailed out by my mommy.  Props to my pops for coordinating some of the calls while we tried to negotiate the timelines.  So appreciated.

We set up at the raceway in Proctor.  We were actually pretty happy to go get the free dinner and cash because we didn't have to listen to the car races.  They were LOUD.  By the time we were getting back, the last of the car trailers were pulling out.

We thought we found a good spot to camp, but what you can't see in this photo is the light post we didn't account for that kept the tents fairly bright all night long.  That might have come in handy when a storm rolled through around 4 a.m. to wake everyone up with big winds.  I don't know if it was the barometric pressure or something else, but I managed to get to the porta potty and almost back in my tent just before the first rain drops started to fall  My getting up woke Ben up as well, so he avoided being soaked as well.  I learned my tent isn't oceanic capable as the water pooled under an area near where my feet were and seeped in a bit.  It was easy enough to pull my legs up and sleep all tucked up, but that had a definite affect on how comfortable I was riding on day one.

My sister and nieces have used my tent a few times for the boundary waters and it's really starting to show it's age.  But it's holding up well once my sister bought me an extra set of stakes after the RAGBRAI crowd wandered off with over half of them.

These are the route captures for all the days.  This seems like a good place to capture those.

So, Proctor to Chisholm.

Chisholm Loop, as we now do one day where we don't pack up.

Chisholm to Biwabik.

Biwabik to Two Harbors

Two Harbors to Proctor.

I'm missing one small section that was less than a mile where we went from the campsite to the coffee/staging area.  I've added it in the totals.

TOTALS:

• Mileage: 296.68 [dang, I really thought we'd made 300]
• Hours: 27.29 [I never turn off the odometer, so that includes rest stops, climbing to the top of Henger, etc.  We did average pretty close to 10 mph with stops most days, although the fourth day we picked up some velocity]
• Ascent [as separate from descent]: 7322' [not quite a mile and a half]

The best part about the four a.m. storm was it cleared out by the time it was ready to ride.  Little did we know how hot and humid it would be.  But pretty at pack up and take off time.

Day one begins.  Ben and I lugging our luggage to the truck, ready to start five days of cycling.

Banning State Park Ride

On Friday I pedaled from Eagan up to Banning State Park near Sandstone, MN.  Good trip, although not particularly exciting.

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It was mostly on trails: from Eagan into St. Paul, catch the Gateway/Vento, Sunrise, Willard Munger, and a spur.  Total was 107.55 miles.

It was more overgrown (on the sides) then when we were up there 10 years ago or so, so a bit more shade.  But still pretty flat with a slight grade because you're headed north in Minnesota (there's a reason most folks go north to south), and lots of sun.  I started at 6:00 a.m. to avoid the bulk of the heat, but I still stopped twice to buy more water, three 16+ oz bottles each time. The second time I panicked a bit as the gas station was locked up tight due to an electrical outage, but there was another not too far down the road also out of electricity, but taking cash.  Still, it was still almost not enough. 

I did not like the shoulders on 61 where they simply fell apart and hadn't been cleaned in....ever?  I hit a small spot of gravel at one point and there was a loud twang as a sizable chunk of metal went flying.  I thought I had avoided a flat....for about another 60 seconds.  Fortunately, it was easy to fix and despite the size of the shard of metal, hadn't shredded my actual tire.  Simple puncture.  After that I trended more toward the road despite the cars.

Other highlights?  An idiot in a truck with a large Confederate Flag flying high above several US flags.  Hampton Umbrella rides.  Pictured below.  Sort of sketchy looking in this context.  I didn't get a picture of the Scooter ride entrance which was pretty terrifying; a tunnel full of pieces of metal sticking into the center.  It was like it was beckoning specifically to me with my nickname.

A dam on the way there.  I think this is just north of Hinckley, where I really should have stopped for a piece of pie at the Whistle Stop Cafe, even though it would have been outside on the cement.  I've certainly done that many times before on RAGBRAI.

My wife met me at Banning State Park with the convertible for a picnic (abbreviated because of the mosquitoes, but still appreciated - I'd had mostly nuts and fruit snacks and goldfish crackers at that point) and for a tour of the park (abbreviated; we saw the rapids, but the falls were a four mile round trip that she wasn't up for).  Here are a number of pictures of the  rapids.  Pretty area, particularly if you want to hike.  I heard on the news that in Taylors Falls, 50 miles from us, a guy fell off the cliffs and landed on the rocks while we were at Banning.  This didn't seem to get as high over the river as that, but there were some bouldering type areas that went higher than we were willing to hike.

Poot working on her own photo.  She's got a selfie of us somewhere on her camera.

All in all, a great ride, although I'm feeling it in the saddle some today.  I keep thinking my modifications to my bike seat will pan out, but I can find the right level.  Still, close enough and getting new brake pads on is priority one.

Closing with the soothing sounds of the rapids.

Finnish Bistro Bike Ride

Yesterday I pedaled up to the Finnish Bistro in the Como neighborhood of St. Paul.  Very close to the State Fair.  Given the Fair is going to be shut down this year due to Covid concerns (rightly so), it's about as close to my bike ride to an Americano at the Farmer's Union there that I'm going to get.  Kind of a bummer - I'm usually there earlier enough to see some interesting sights.  Last year it was Governor Walz stopping by my table to say hello.  I'm still getting a little bit of rub on the back tire even after my deep cleaning during a streaming Sarah Morris concert  We'll see if new brake pads will take care of it.  I may have to bite the bullet and do a little bit of truing.  I did take a trip later in the day to find tires for the other bicycle (which has a bald back wheel), but Gateway and Strauss didn't have anything with tread due to Coronavirus stocking issues.  The wait is like 4 weeks at the moment.  I bit the bullet and ordered a pair of tires off Amazon.  They seem upscale compared to what's on the bike after a bit of research.

Some cool animal sightings as I was out at 6:00 a.m.  A bunch of turkeys wandering around near the river.  And when I went past Fort Snelling a deer in the parking lot was close enough for petting for a thirty seconds.  Not that I'd pet him.  Deer ticks make me nervous (after two rounds of Lyme's).

Here's my bike nearby (the old one) while I eat Oat Cakes with cardamom, reindeer sausage, and an Americano on the bus bench. I think my biggest issue was lack of a metal fork.  I should put one in my pack so I always have one.  It would have made the meal much better.  Not that it wasn't delicious, albeit a bit too much.

 

Part of the reason I was up there was to drop a book off for Alex.  No one answered, but with Covid I've been wrapping drop offs in quart bags, so I was able to leave it hidden in the weeds behind a pitcher and send him a photo.  Although it's a Cthulhu book, so hopefully it doesn't leave an evil, otherworldly essence behind to infuse his plants.

As I neared home, I pedaled past a bunch of guys packing up their bicycles after a morning ride near Hwy 13.  I was amused that there one guy explaining that his bicycle was "not a road bike" and he could move to a road bike if he wanted to in order to be more efficient.  His definition of "not a road bike" had treadless, razor thin tires, and a light frame.  I wanted to yell, "THIS IS NOT A ROAD BIKE." But I refrained.  

Overall, it reminded me of the Craft Beer Drinkers Be Like series that Kyle forwarded me:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgBZwisNnvM
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt3TLxrFNnU

Yellow Bike

I like bicycling videos.  There's a whole post about them around here somewhere that's been slowly falling apart as the videos disappear off Youtube.  I have bicycles I pound into the ground that last longer than some things on Youtube.  It's not a very permanent platform which surprises me, given the things I put up on it in the early days are still there.  That said, I know of at least one video I have that disappeared because there was copyrighted music playing in the background.  I never post for hits - only for a personal archive, so it's amusing how tightly fair use of whatever is just playing over a speaker somewhere, like a coffee shop, can negate your right to a video.  Given the whole microtransaction culture, you have to worry at some point you might not be able to post something in any way because it has someone's copyrighted/patented color, advertising playing somewhere, clothing patterns, or one of a million things you'll need permission to show.  Hyperbole and vaguely the stuff of science fiction, but it has parallels.

Then again, sometimes it just moves.  I think the Pushbike song is one such example - I should just relink.

Anyway, courtesy of one of the RAGBRAI groups I follow, here's Pedro the Lion singing about his Yellow Bike.

 

STAY ON TARGET

Every time I see these markings on local trails, which must mean it's due for some sort of maintenance, I can't help but think stay on target....stay on target!



In case it's an unfamiliar reference...

Hastings

Last weekend I rode out to Hastings on an Ingress hunt.  There was a portal at Spring Lake Park Reserve that was holding up big fields.  The ride there...not so bad.  Sort of downhill into the river valley for about 30 miles.  The ride back...different story.  I don't think it helped that I didn't eat because the breakfast joint I was targeting in Hastings opened an hour later than Google said.

Ride back: mostly uphill, 25 miles, slight wind, and a lot of road construction.  At one point I had to go under an under-construction under/overpass on Highway 52.  Going to Hastings it wasn't so bad because it was early and traffic was light.  On the way back it was around noon and the traffic was buzzing.  I was pinned against cement separators making sure I caught the eye of every motorist buzzing down the detour on/off ramp at 65 mph.  Nasty.

Those Hastings Ingressers are nuts.  The whole thing was back up within a few hours and I think they even scored some high rankings in the fielding standings thanks to rethrows.



On the way back I was running out of water, so I was excited when I found a pump.  After a huge chug of water, I realized it was slightly off tasting well water.  I thought about it for a few moments, and realized this bottle of water comes from directly between the enormous covered mountains of trash deposited by the refuse company and the cracking/processing plant on the other side.  I can't imagine, despite all their precautions, that this isn't one of the most fucked up bottles of water I could have chosen to drink, at least in my area.  I'm going to choose to believe that somehow nothing leaked into the water table.

Pedaling

Last Sunday I decided I was lacking in longer rides because of Ingress.  Ingress tends to slow me down to 7-8 miles in an hour on average.  No amount of sprinting fixes it.  Hacking, linking, and fielding simply takes time.  So I committed to picking a portal with a lot of big fields hanging off of it and decided I'd just go there with no stops.

It was more interesting than I expected. It was near Empire Township south of Farmington and I got a lost a few times before I finally found the dirt road I was supposed to be on.  Reminiscent of Almanzo.



I got lost several more times trying to work my way around the portal because it seemed to be in the middle of a field. But every spur on the dirt road ran into private property or a no-trespassing fence.  So I finally said "fuck it" and lifted my bike over my head and crossed a barb wire fence to get on a horse trail.  It was a little wet so it was crazy difficult going uphill.  But it was the right decision and I ended up at the portal.  It was an easy takedown because no more than one person at a time wants to haul their ass out there.  Ended up being about 41.5 miles and a 47.5 mile day.