Nothin' Out Of The Ordinary

No long-sleeves needed tonight. Looks like a summer will return for another day, then the bottom is predicted to drop out. Did my Target Field, UofM route tonight and motored up Hospital Hill. 28/17.8
Near Parade Stadium

Change In The Air

It's hard to say it was raining, but it wasn't dry either, and it was cool enough for long sleeves. Looks like summer is trying to tell us something. Nice weekday ride getting the usual city route in. 25/17.5

Smile And Wave

Pretty tired from a great weekend of riding. My mom used to ask me why I'd wear myself out riding. I'd respond by saying, I'm lucky to be able to do the thing I love the most until I'm totally exhausted. She would then respond with a shrug of exasperation.

Got passed on East River Rd just south of Franklin. I perked right up and got on that wheel enjoying the scenery and pull all the way to the Ford Bridge. Thanked her for the pull, and got a wave and a smile as I turned to cross back over the Mississippi. 27/17.3

Hard To Beat Sunday

Six of us met up for the SSR (standard Sunday route). The riding lately has been spectacular, and today didn't offer any variation from that. Best friends, best weather, best scenery. Things did get a little frisky on Christmas Lake Hill, where I didn't fair so well still having some Marine on St. Croix in my quads. 50/18.9

Playing At The Beach With Elijah

Caught Some Sun Later At Isles

A Top Ten Ride

Couldn't have asked for a nicer day. Several showed for a two wheeled excursion north and east. Pulled out from the cafe and crossed the Mighty Miss. It was a little scetchy at first. Traffic lights through St. Paul didn't seem to be in our favor, motorists were not happy that we were on their roads, and we had to skirt Fair traffic. But once we got past White Bear Lake, it was like a whole new world opened up. Lots of space, gently (maybe not so gentle) rolling hills, lakes, farms, pine trees and room to ride.
Pace was brisk, but that seemed the perfect companion for the cool sunshine and bright blue sky.
Lots of talking at first, but the pace started taking its toll on that, and we were left with the hum of the wheels on the asphalt.
Really nice ride, great group, just drop dead gorgeous scenery, and some hills to play on. Perfect ride! 91/19.5

Nice car, but my question is, who is that scowl on Amy's face directed at? And what did that person do to piss her off?

Guess I Will

It's about 7pm, and the decision to stay off the bike today just got made, beautiful as it is outside. Fighting a cold off all week...maybe a day off the bike will help it to its conclusion.
Looking forward to a 90 miler to Marine On St Croix tomorrow with Amy et al from the team.

Got out to the house in Delano today, prepping for a little work before Fall gets too much upon us.

Waiting In Traffic On The Way Home
I Think He Thought My Yaris Was A Size He Could Handle
North Fork Of The Crow River Just North Of Delano

Another One

Last Thursday I saw, stopped and helped with a cyclist down. Today as I was crossing Lake Street bridge (it spans the Mississippi), when heading the other direction, I see a cyclist down. She was flat on her stomach, spread eagle, with her bike laying on top of her. A car was stopped behind her. At first I thought it had hit her. I crossed the bridge to see if I could help. I quickly found that the occupants of the car had seen her crash and stopped to help. She could talk. The car guy asked, "can I take the bike off of you?" She responded with a, "yes". She was coherent, no blood. Slowly we coaxed her to sit up. No marks, no scratches. I looked at her helmet. Again, no marks. "Are you light headed?" "No, I feel pretty good." "What happened?" "My purse strap broke, while I was riding and my purse fell into the spokes of my front wheel." "I think I went over the handle bars." Car guy confirmed she had.
We talked with her for a few more minutes. She had a cell phone, but was quite certain that she could make it home. I quickly checked out her bike. The front wheel was only slightly out of true, and wasn't even rubbing on the brakes.
She mentioned that she could feel a little soreness in her hip, but thanked us, for the help, and was confidently back on her bike heading for home.
I continued on with my ride, once again amazed at the kindness of total strangers. Several cars had stopped, and a pedestrian had come up and said, I only live a block away, do you need anything?
25/17.7

We Deserve This

Plenty of summer left and tonight was perfect...just beautiful out. Rode with Penny for 25 miles. 39/15.8

Hot And Cold

It's back, that hazy, hot and humid %$*&. Oh well, this looks like it will be short lived. And yes, I do officially have a summer cold. I'll spare you the details of how many gallons of snot I've produced so far.
My ride felt good and actually gave me some relief from the aches of my cold. 25/17.3

Just Turning The Cranks

Kept my ride simple. Tired today. Might be getting a summer cold. A really nice evening and dinner, though. 21/16.6

Good Sunday

Rode with Amy, Paula and Mike for about 20 miles. Nice to ride with Dave P today as well. Nice and easy Sunday. Got all the screech out of the fast goodlookin' bike. 54/18.1
Elijah and I did some exploring down at the Minnesota River bottoms this afternoon. He's a sweet kid. Nice dinner with a good friend tonight. I'm a lucky guy.

If It's Not One Thing...

Knock is fixed, now it's a screech, usually at speed and coasting. It's similar to what you might think the call of a Pterodactyl could be. Scared the out of me and everyone around me today when I first heard it. And, of course, it happened more than once. Pretty sure it's also coming from the rear hub. Did some more work on it right when I got home from the ride. I was a little more generous with the grease this time. There's a new set of wheels waiting for their turn, if this didn't work. These wheels are in great shape, and the hub, housing...everything seems like I should get a lot more miles out of them. I'll see how they respond on tomorrow's ride.

A great ride today, despite some ---hole who can't keep his bike maintained. I don't know, I'd bet 20 birchies showed for this ride, some of my very favorite people. The schpiel great friends, great scenery, great weather, great fun, great ride couldn't have been more true today.
We set out for Afton and Stillwater, mixed it up a few times on the hills and rollers, then settled down for some pull trading back home. I think we had two flats, I stopped to check my wheel once, two or three water stops (obviously it wasn't a ride I sponsored), but like I said, great weather and delightful people to ride with...just a total blast. 87/18.8

Early Easy Spin

Got in a quick spin this afternoon around the lakes, on the Orca. Wanted to make sure the freewheel work worked. Quiet so far. 15/15.5

This evening Penny got tickets to the Twins game. Lots of fun, even though we lost 8-1.

First Time For Me Inside Target Field
Seats Right Above The Twins Dugout

Lots

Took off at about 5:30. Got to the Lake Street bridge that crosses the greenway (less than half a mile from my house) and there was a cyclist down right under the bridge. Others were stopping also. A tri guy had seen him hit the asphalt saying, "he went down hard". The crack in his helmet and drooping shoulder validated his claim. I spent a good half hour there trying to help. Another group of cyclists also stopped and were very very kind and did most of the helping. The tri guy went home and got his own car, then came back to give the guy a ride home (total stranger). The plan was to pick him up at Punch Pizza, maybe 1000 - 2000 feet away. During this time the crash guy got a hold of his wife, who was coming to pick him up. By the time we got him to Punch he was feeling worse. There's a fire station across the street from Punch. The tri guy arrived and drove him to the fire station, where we got him attended to. Wife got notified of the change of venue. My diagnosis is a broken clavicle and a slight concussion. I left with the group of cyclists who had stopped to help and rode with them on a loop out through Opus, along Baker and home on Cedar Lake Rd. Real nice group of guys. We mixed it up some. 25/18.9

I've been complaining about the fast goodlookin' bike's complaining. I still keep getting a knock coming from the bb. I cleaned her up real good and replaced the bb, but I still get the knock. The only thing left it could be is the rear hub, or freewheel. I already replaced the cassette and chain. Tonight I put a different wheel on her and she went silent for the entire ride. So, now I've narrowed it down. It really can only be the rear hub or freewheel. Problem. I've never taken a freewheel off, let alone taken it apart. Tonight was the night!

Tools Needed To Take Off The Cassette
Tools Needed To Remove The Freewheel

Axel First

Then Simply Pull Off The Freewheel

And Reveal A Dirty Shimano Hub Assembly
Cleaned everything up, including that little rubber gasket on the inside of the ratchet springs (watch them they fall out easily), and put it all back together. NO PARTS LEFT OVER!

Thanks to Google, Sheldon Brown and RogueMechanic Mavic Freehub Body Part 1 on YouTube

Here's to knockless riding.

Beautiful

A perfect day for a ride, so why not two? Rode along the creek at about 7:30pm. The sun angle pierced perfectly picking only the lucky leafs to light with gold. Our asphalt passage conveyed us under a canopy covered with lights of green and yellow. Getting home was a secondary thought. 23/16.8 and 23/13.8

In Every Life A Little Rain Must Fall

...but not on me tonight. Made it home nice and dry. 25/16.8

Two For

Another two ride day, both of which were more towards the easy side of the scale, but then it is Monday, and I put in a couple of good efforts over the weekend. Most important, it's time on the bike! 21/16.5 and 23/13.7

Had To Wait For The Train To Go By Before I Could Start Ride 1

Hanging Out

Hard to imagine a more perfect day. Zero wind, beautiful scenery, perfect temps, and a couple of friends to share it with. Ok, so there was one problem. Steven hadn't ridden yesterday, and he was blazin' today. The old hairy legs were doin' all they could to keep up. As the ride was ending, somebody had the brilliant idea to race a train noting that we'd have clear access across all the road crossings with the crossing arms down. That person should be shot! I think it was Amy. We did wind up flying across all the roads without any need to stop or slow down. 49/19.0 (ouch!)

Hung out with Elijah this afternoon, or ... well, he was hanging out at Minnehaha Park.
Met Amy and some of her friends at the Pumphouse Creamery, and Elijah and I got some ice cream with them. Amy introduced herself to Elijah as a person who rides bikes with his grandpa. Immediately Elijah was telling her about his new road rash and how it happened. It's in the genes man, it's in the genes.

The Judges Approved

Started out wet, cloudy and foggy. Turned out to be one of the best rides of the year. Just Amy and me, and we went on our favorite route. This is the same route we took on her birthday ride, and a few weeks back I did it solo and took some pictures of the bridge in Hanover and the rollers in Minnetrista. Amy was fierce today, and took no prisoners on those rollers. She was on a tear.
The Sun did come out at about the 25 mile point. Great scenery, fun conversation, and our favorite route. Hard to beat!
Pulled in with a 19.9 average. I just wasn't satisfied with that. So we rode at about 25-27 miles an hour until the average hit 20.0, and that was the end of the ride. Fortunately, it only took about a mile. 81/20.0

A Lot Going On For A Rest Day

I'm a celebrity. Catch me in this video about the Sabo Bridge. I'm in a pink jersey at about the 47 second mark.
http://vimeo.com/26751335

Bryson, his dad and me hit Champps for
Guys Night Out
Rain clouds gathering created a beautiful sunset tonight while I was spinning around Lake of The Isles. 6/13.3

Don Quixote

Another beautiful day. Good week with 270 miles of rubber off the tires. 25/17.9

Drove to Austin for work today. A wind farm is being constructed about 15 miles north of the city. I'm all for this and hope to see more. I saw about 8 turbines. It appeared that at least 4 more were being erected.

Chasing Windmills

Perfect

Riding with Amy. Great weather. Great route. Great friend. Great ride. That's what it's all about. 39/17.1

That's More Like It

I've been doing this long enough and should know better, but... I go out on Saturday feeling great. It's a beautiful ride, but I basically bonk. Feel like crap today, another beautiful ride, and I put in a better than average weekday effort. I gotta quit analyzing this stuff, and just take what I'm given.

A little work, a nice ride, and some sunset photos to end the day. God, I love my rut. 27/17.7

Easy Ridin'

Thought it might be best to take it down a notch...see if I can't get a little giddy-up back, and besides it's Monday. Extra simple today. 21/16.8

My favorite time of day is when the sun is low, laying its last light on leaves and trees.
From My Balcony

I Tried Again

...but all my giddy-up must have stayed the night in Afton. Still surprisingly tired.
Just didn't have it again today. I don't have a clue why I'm feeling so shot, but it is what it is.
Got to Wayzata and wanted some miles, but not much of an effort, so the Dakota Trail was the choice for the day. Rode it to St. Bonni and back. 55/17.3

Signs Along The Dakota Trail Are Entertaining, If Nothing Else.

Tried

Plan was to head west. Out the door and the bike went east. Afton first then north to Stillwater. Felt great all the way to Afton, but, upon leaving, my energy decided it would stay there and enjoy the scenery. Maybe it was the heat, the wind was stronger than predicted, or maybe it was only 16oz of Lemon-Lime Gatorade, instead of the usual 32oz of Lime. Whatever it was I was struggling a bit today. Legs were shaky and the hills, which there are plenty of on this route, dominated me instead of the other way around.
I did see two fawns and three birchies. Birchies were heading in the opposite direction and one of the fawns almost took me out, but fortunately turned just in time.
Ride was good, despite the uncooperative old hairy legs. Missed Amy. 87/18.7

Military Road
A Little Yippee Kai Yay Down Into Afton

Rest Day

It's Art Fair weekend. Some of the things I saw and did today, with my bike. 14/??

Chaos And Beauty

Rant Warning
Amidst all the turmoil in the economic news of today and the past week, I managed to eek out a pretty good week, for my business. It is said that the Republicans got more of what they wanted than the Dems, that the Dems caved.
All the gains that were made by a Democratic President, House and Senate in our economy since the crash (yes I know they were small improvements) are now gone. The Republicans insistence that it's their way or no way, will be the ruin of our country, both financially and socially. Get your heads out of your asses Republicans, and do what's best for the country! Ask yourselves, What Would Jesus Cut?
End Of Rant


A gorgeous summer day and a delightful solo ride this evening. There is such beauty all around us. Maybe we can all agree on that. 27/17.0

Mighty Nice

Got out with Amy tonight. Always a great ride. 37/17.0

Lake Of The Isles Later This Evening

Two Rides

A couple of nice rides tonight. Temps are cooler, dew points are lower and tired is gone. Pleasant. 27/17.3 and 21/14.4

Downpour Monday

Got out after the deluge. Rode with tired all over me. That heat can take it right out of you. 25/16.6