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• Post #4396951

  I had to take my wife's car to the shop early, but it was done quickly so I was able to get on my bike by mid-morning. I rode the Harmony Preston Valley State Trail from the Isinours Ruins/Junction to the Iowa State Line and back for 50 miles. I took the short spur to Niagara Cave to see how close it was; just 3/4 mile from the main trail. It was a bit of an adventure, though, a bit slippery and muddy to start, and then a detour to get to Harmony. #BikeTooter

• Post #4173618

  MS TRAM Day 2: Park Rapids to Wadena: It was cloudy, foggy and cool for most of today's ride; the sun burned off the fog by the final stretch of the 62 mile ride. It was also mostly flat on predominantly smooth and quiet roads. Factor that and very light winds and as a result I recorded my fastest ride this season. We crossed the Crow Wing River several times along the way. I finished just before noon. #BikeTooter

• Post #4098841

  After yesterday's long ride, I took it a little easier today and rode city trails and some county roads for 30 miles. Before the ride, I installed new Schwalbe Marathon Efficiency tires on my gravel bike, so the ride was in part to ensure they were fully ready to go. This afternoon I will finish packing for my MS Ride Across Minnesota 5 day 275 mile fundraising ride up North, staying in the cities of Menahga, Park Rapids, Wadena and Pequot Lakes. We start riding Monday morning. #BikeTooter

• Post #4015663

  Wow! For the first time in a couple weeks, simultaneously the air quality is good, the temperatures cool and the humidity is low, so we can open the windows in the house and turn off the AC. #mnwx

• Post #3824340

  This evening my wife and I attended "MN Truth Council: A Community Led Hearing" where families directly affected locally by ICE during Metro Surge shared their stories along with community organizers sharing how the neighbors responded to help their affected neighbors. The stories were heartbreaking and profound. It put real faces and people behind all the headlines. We were deeply affected by the stories. #MinnesotaStrong

• Post #3792441

  Today I went out early to beat the worst of the heat and rode the Wapsi Great Western Line Trail in Northern Iowa, from Bailey Station to Elma and back for 50 miles. As one might expect on a warm summer day there was not much to see at Lyla's Marsh other than two Great Blue Herons. It was interesting to see field work happening on two adjacent Amish farms, cutting hay with horse drawn machinery. There had been some flooding on the trail, so a couple spots were really messy. #BikeTooter

• Post #3730763

  I actually rode almost 37 miles today, but on several different rides. In the morning I rode to the Mayo Clinic for a blood draw (research project), then to coffee, then to the bike shop to buy a new helmet. In the late afternoon I rode to a downtown food festival for dinner. Then in the evening, I rode to the hockey rink for our weekly Thursday night old guys hockey. The ride home from the rink was relaxing and cooling through the woods at dusk. #BikeTooter

• Post #3677616

  With an ongoing threat of rain throughout the day, I decided to head out early and ride the #RochMN city trails and Olmsted County roads for 31 miles. But now the threat of rain looks less ominous, so maybe I should have gone longer. I can always go back out later. #Biketooter

• Post #3496508

  This morning between the thundershowers my wife and I managed to get out and ride the Great River Ridge State Trail out of Viola MN for 8+ miles. It is the second time my wife has ridden her new foldable e-trike, and she is getting the hang of it. After the two knee replacements, she no longer wanted to ride her ebike; the trike provides more stability. We hope to ride the Root River Trail with it soon. I rode my Brompton which allowed us to take her car to the trailhead. #BikeTooter

• Post #3435991

  Today may be the last of the outstanding cycling weather days for awhile. There's and extreme heat watch here for Monday and Tuesday. The nice weather made our larger, longer group ride enjoyable. We rode 70 miles from Rochester out to Elba and back. There is a pretty good climb back up from the Whitewater valley when coming back from Elba. As a result I had the most mileage and the most climbing on any ride this year. I should be good to go for the MS TRAM ride in 4 weeks. #BikeTooter

• Post #2525200

  So I am learning what it is like to be without Internet service for an extended period, especially when you have a plethora of smart switches and lights. On Thursday the ISP tech installing service to our townhouse neighbor cut our line when burying the neighbor's line. The tech repaired ours, but not robustly enough and now it needs fixing again. I have to wait until Monday for the repair tech. Hopefully my mobile hotspot will let me watch the #mnwild playoff game tonight.

• Post #2525195

  Yet another day of goodly Northwest winds leaving the Douglas State Trail as the best riding option again. I rode to Pine Island and back for 46 miles, stopping for lunch in PI. I saw more than the usual amount of road cyclists on the trail, as they must have all had the same opinion as I on where to ride today. Thank goodness we have that option. #BikeTooter

• Post #2525194

  I just realized that I forgot to post about my ride yesterday, and I should have as it was the longest of the season at 66 miles. I was assisting #BikeMN with checkout of the Med City Meander routes, including the new Rotary Ramble 50+ mile route that I assisted in designing. I found out the hard way that due to a road construction project the county failed to notify us of, we have to reroute. So I submitted an alternate route late yesterday. I hope it works, I will be out of town. #Biketooter

• Post #2525193

  After my ISP accidentally cut the fiber to my house, I'm forced to watch the #mnwild playoff game on my phone. Talk about eyestrain. At least the home team is up 2-0 after 1. Go Wild!

• Post #2525192

  Today I traveled to Durand Wisconsin to ride the Chippewa River State Trail and the Red Cedar State Trail to Menomonie and back for 43 miles. The Red Cedar Trail is very scenic and has well packed crushed limestone, so was a pleasant ride. It follows the Red Cedar River from Menomonie to near where it flows into the Chippewa River. Some of my favorite rail trails follow rivers like this one. There was a brewery open in Menomonie just off the trail, so that was an added treat. #BikeTooter

• Post #2525191

  I spent half the day waiting for the ISP repair tech to come and restore my Internet service. By then, only a shorter ride was possible. So I rode the segment of the Med City Meander/Rotary Ramble that we had to reroute due to unexpected and unannounced construction blocking the original route. The segment is only 12 miles, but to get to the start and end of the segment and back home was 27 miles. I like the reroute; it is more scenic and has fewer climbs. #Biketooter

• Post #2525190

  Today, while it was sunny and warm, it was extremely windy, so I really did not want to ride on the open county roads. I instead road on the sheltered #RochMN city trails for 25 miles. There were a few places where I was nearly knocked over, and Cascade Lake had whitecaps and crashing waves. While riding I decided to photograph most of the 10 construction cranes floating over our city. Mayo Clinic's "Bold. Forward. Unbound." development program and construction is well...

• Post #2525189

  After taking an old friend to lunch, I was going to ride right away after, but then our Internet service went down again. After getting that back up, I jumped on my road bike and did a quick 31 mile ride up to the orchard off the Douglas State Trail and back. There was an unusually high number of folks running on the trail, maybe because of the Med City Marathon coming this weekend? Anyway it was a nice day to run or ride, if but a tad windy. #BikeTooter

• Post #2525188

  I really hate the Journavx commercial, especially where the cyclist crashes.

• Post #2392117

  Re: #polio vaccine: My mother had two childhood friends that ended up severely disabled after contracting polio. When the vaccine became generally available around the time I was born, my mother could not get to the doctor's office fast enough to have my older siblings vaccinated. Why anyone would propose going back to the bad old days is totally beyond reason and comprehension. It is also unconscionable.

• Post #1591734

  #30DaysOfBiking Day 22: With more great weather, I took my road bicycle out this morning and rode mostly county roads out to Dover and back for 43 miles. With the favorable and dry weather, there was a lot of field work going on at the farms along the way. There was a MNDoT crew sweeping the roundabout at County 9 and Highway 42. I was first in line at the hand held stop sign and chatted a bit with the crew while waiting to go. You can't do that in a car. #BikeTooter

• Post #1386087

  I'm still feeling very grateful for ourselves, but sad for our neighbors who had their homes destroyed and their possessions smashed and scattered. The National Weather Service confirmed the path of the EF2 tornado on Friday afternoon and at its closest was barely over 2 miles from our home. I was only mildly inconvenienced by being stuck in the basement for the duration of the warning. Again because of the good warnings and its mostly exurban and rural path, there were no injuries. #MNW...

• Post #1367282

  #30DaysOfBiking Day 18: It was 35 degrees F (20 C) colder than yesterday and with clouds and wind, it wasn't really pleasant to ride. Having stowed my Bar Mitts and warmest gloves for the season, my lightweight gloves were inadequate and my fingers experienced Raynaud's Phenomenon after getting home, ouch! I rode my typical lousy weather ride, just up to and around Silver Lake and back for 11 miles. There are some Bluebells starting to bloom below the Izaak Walton Cabin. #BikeToo...

• Post #991822

  I'm doing something today that I've done very often on Good Friday since I was a freshman in high school (1971) and that's listening to the original concept rock album, "Jesus Christ Superstar." Even my mother, as strict as she was, and not a rock n roll fan, listened to it with me one of my highschool years.

• Post #991821

  #30DaysOfBiking Day 4: It was miserable this morning, cloudy, cold (36F, 2C) drizzly and windy. But it was supposed to be even windier in the afternoon. So I rode my gravel bike on the #RochMN trails for 23 miles. The drizzle let up and with the tailwind on the way back, it was more tolerable. We received a decent amount of rain overnight, accompanied by lightning and thunder. The creeks and the river were pretty swollen, but well below flood stage. #Biketooter

• Post #991820

  #30DaysOfBiking Day 5: It was cold and windy this morning, but with a beautiful sunny blue sky. It was below freezing overnight so some of the puddles and wet spots were icy, so I had to be careful at the beginning of my ride on the #RochMN city trails and around both Cascade and Silver Lakes for 20 miles. Like yesterday, there were more joggers on the trails than dog walkers. The Coots are still on Cascade Lake. It got up to 40F (4C) by the end of the ride. #BikeTooter

• Post #991819

  You know you're in that weird transitional weather season in Minnesota when you wash shorts AND thermal long underwear in the same load of laundry. #mnwx

• Post #991818

  #30DaysOfBiking Day 6: It was cloudy, cold and very windy again today. Because of the gusty winds, I decided to ride my ebike again on the #RochMN city trails and a few streets for 22 miles. It felt pretty raw most of the ride, but a few times when the sun popped out and the wind was at my back, it was much nicer. To get my mileage up I rode through two subdivisions, I've not ridden before, one was new construction of upscale suburban homes with lots of contractor vans parked. #Biketoot...

• Post #991817

  #30DaysOfBiking Day 7: It got very cold overnight so I had to wait for it to warm to above freezing before riding. But with sunny skies and light wind, it was cold but nicer than yesterday. I rode the Chester Woods Trail for the first time this year. The DNR doesn't clean it until later so I had to contend with the debris and the gravel and sand pushed onto the trail by the snowplows. But once you get into the Chester Woods County Park, it is much nicer. Round trip was 21 miles. #BikeToo...

• Post #991816

  This morning I wrote my congressman (a Trumper for whatever good it will do) to please invoke the 25th amendment since our madman president threatened genocide this morning. I don't know what else to do. At least Pope Leo XIV called him out. Do I stay anxious or feel relaxed because TACO?