Seasons

I waited for the thermometer to approach 40 degrees. Slowly it pushed past the low 30s…to the mid 30s… Screw it, I’m going. Broke out my cozy winter helmet (Giro 9) and my warm winter bike boots (Lake MXZ301) and hit the trails.

A stiff westerly. Absolutely heavy, pewter clouds. A good day to stay in the relative shelter of a Green Circle run.

Took the new, unopened part but had to double back. Repelled by some articulated backhoe. Burying the 12” culverts laid across the trail. They had been serving very well as cyclocross hurdles, but I’m sure there are bigger plans for them.

Surprised halfway through by a steady squall of snow and graupel. Cool, now it’s right. Just enough to make me feel like a hardman (ain’t easy to do). And enough to wet the roads and keep the trails in that perfect tacky state. Rather than spastically skitzing around on hardpack, the gravel hunkers down in the pre-mud and provides a perfect platform. Water at 40 degrees is twice as viscous as water at 80 degrees, you could tell that too. The trail wasn’t frozen, but it was stiff. Not quite as cush.

Through Park Ridge I happened across two groups of turkeys. I gave brief chase through the yards and got within five feet of a few. But they know to take to the trees. And I know not to wail into even the suburban woods at full tilt.

Then crossing the four lanes of highway 10 I felt like the turkey. Zipping across my opening in traffic. Maintaining adequate margin, but close enough so give the cagers some thrill of the hunt.

Web site of the day – PDXCross. Well done - 1200 people at a race! You hardly qualify for weirdo status with that many followers. Excellent pics.

Lambeau

Two months in Wisco, so we had to take in our first (!) Packer game. Wonderful experience. Tailgating, great seats, great people, great weather. Up there with any sporting venue anywhere. Clearly, someone has to work on their Packer gear.

I did mention great seats?

Pearls

Hope

Seven hours in the glass studio. Then a couple of badly needed PBRs at the Babes in Bikeland after party. 10 PM on a nice Saturday, downtown MSP was hopping. Hipster bikers at One-on-One. Tight clusters of snugly-attired ladies on the streets. Cars cruising three lanes wide.

I turned on my blinky lights and pedaled into the mix, headed for Cedar Lake. With traffic crawling and the post-everything buzz, I kept up perfectly. Switched to center lane to avoid curb-side stop-and-go nonsense. A block later a Porsche pulls alongside. The passenger looks approvingly and she says a slow “Nnnnice”. Not particularly at me in my grubby glass-shop clothes. We’re all just part of the whole scene. But me, a guy on a bike, is part of the scene.

As I wheel off down a dark 11th I’m thinking people are starting to accept bikes as a legitimate part of the landscape. Cool.