On Labor Day, Bill led a ride of five folks from St. Paul to Prescott WI for lunch. It was a 65-75 mile round trip, depending on where one lived. We had a great day with great company, near-perfect weather, great roads, and sandwiches and beer to cap it off. Bill's got a report on his blog. The bikes were all steel framed- a Rivendell Redwood, a Raleigh single speed, a Trek 560, a Surly Long Haul Trucker and a Rivendell All-Rounder. One puncture, otherwise the bikes were paragons of reliability.
Next Sunday 9/13/09 is the St. Paul Classic bike tour. I've volunteered at this event every year and almost always have had a great time. For a morning's ride on mostly traffic-free streets (the Classic pays the City to have much of the route closed to cars), come on out. It's a great ride. And a great collection of bikes, we've had it all from high wheelers to recumbent tandem trikes.
And then September 18-20 is one of the events I look forward to every year, the All British Cycling Event. Jon Sharrat and others host this fun weekend which is a salute to British cycling- classic bikes, tweed, plus fours, fine ales, casual riding, high tea, Hibernian recovery drinks, etc. I'll leave you to peruse Jon's wonderful site to get the gist of it. I will be campaigning to defend my title in the Gravity Race and Pastry Joust, although the gauntlet has been thrown down and I have been warned to stand prepared. I've not yet been defeated, although I did miss one year. We shall see...
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Wow, spring is sprung
Last year at Easter there were still piles of snow on the ground. This year, it's sunny and warm and great Spring bike riding weather. Well, relatively speaking, I am a warm weather guy and am looking forward to temps in the 80s. The mileage has continued to accumulate rather slowly as work and other obligations take up lots of time (a little over 500 miles for the year so far). I had this week off and spent a few days in Chicago seeing my mother and attending my best high school friend's "surprise" 50th birthday party. After getting back to St. Paul on Tuesday, I got out for rides with Doug C, on his beautifully restored Botecchia repainted last year by Chris Kvale, and with Don M on his lovely Chris Kvale randonneur bike on Thursday and Friday respectively.
Doug and I rode up to the Rice Creek Trail and enjoyed a balmy 40 mile ride through St. Paul, Roseville, along the trail, then along the river to Marshall St. by the Minneapolis Water Works and thence to Boom Island Park, Nicollet Island and through the edge of U of M and it's boondoggle stadium (although less a boondoggle than the Twins and soon-to-be Vikings stadia built on the taxpayer's dimes and not those of the millionaires who will be making more millions there... but I digress). A lovely Spring day out on the bike.
Don and I rode out the Midtown Greenway to Hopkins, had a bike to eat and then rolled back to St. Paul for a 30 mile ride. Don made me a bit jealous talking about going to Hell Week in Texas; "hell" it was not with 80 degree days, great roads, rolling terrain and lots of friendly people to ride with.
Saturday after the jazz workshop I got out for a 30 miler in the South St. Paul/Inver Grove Heights area, which has some of the best close-metro roads for cycling. Low traffic, rolling hills, good pavement. I went up the High Bridge, down Delaware, then west on Lone Oak Road to Hwy 13, north onto the Big Rivers Trail, across the Mendota Bridge and through Fort Snelling, it was a great evening for a bike ride. Yucatan chicken soup and a Rush River Unforgiven Amber for dinner and I was a happy guy!
Doug and I rode up to the Rice Creek Trail and enjoyed a balmy 40 mile ride through St. Paul, Roseville, along the trail, then along the river to Marshall St. by the Minneapolis Water Works and thence to Boom Island Park, Nicollet Island and through the edge of U of M and it's boondoggle stadium (although less a boondoggle than the Twins and soon-to-be Vikings stadia built on the taxpayer's dimes and not those of the millionaires who will be making more millions there... but I digress). A lovely Spring day out on the bike.
Don and I rode out the Midtown Greenway to Hopkins, had a bike to eat and then rolled back to St. Paul for a 30 mile ride. Don made me a bit jealous talking about going to Hell Week in Texas; "hell" it was not with 80 degree days, great roads, rolling terrain and lots of friendly people to ride with.
Saturday after the jazz workshop I got out for a 30 miler in the South St. Paul/Inver Grove Heights area, which has some of the best close-metro roads for cycling. Low traffic, rolling hills, good pavement. I went up the High Bridge, down Delaware, then west on Lone Oak Road to Hwy 13, north onto the Big Rivers Trail, across the Mendota Bridge and through Fort Snelling, it was a great evening for a bike ride. Yucatan chicken soup and a Rush River Unforgiven Amber for dinner and I was a happy guy!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Time for a new entry!
Not that I have anything important to say. A few weeks ago I decided "I want a new bike." New bikes are inspiring. Unfortunately, we are a one income family these days and a new bike is not in the budget. But I had a frame and fork sitting in the basement that I "un-built" a few years ago, along with boxes of parts, and so I mixed and matched and put 'em together. The last four or five rides have been on this bike and it's been fun and inspiring. This also coincided with the lovely week of warm weather than we had, w00t!
Now the weather forecast is for snow and lots of it in the next 72 hours. Sigh. Well, at least I (probably) won't be having to bail a river out of my basement. It's just an inconvenience to me.
282 miles so far this year, a drop in the bucket compared to my racing days when I made myself get out in all horrible weathers to ride, but way better than last spring.
Now the weather forecast is for snow and lots of it in the next 72 hours. Sigh. Well, at least I (probably) won't be having to bail a river out of my basement. It's just an inconvenience to me.
282 miles so far this year, a drop in the bucket compared to my racing days when I made myself get out in all horrible weathers to ride, but way better than last spring.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
They live north of us.
Danes, I mean. Copenhageners and the rest of the Danes. There's about 1.5 million people living in Copenhagen, and about a half a million of them ride their bikes to work and for errands every day.
I'm just saying.
I mean, Denmark is north of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Denmark is north of a lot of places in the world. And they ride bikes a lot. Minnesotans are starting to do that, too. Last year when gas prices hit $4 per gallon I suddenly saw a lot of bikes being ridden by people dressed in going-to-work clothes. I was often jealous because last year for a variety of factors riding to work was a limited option. I'm hoping for better this year.
The key thing is to replace driving miles with biking miles, not to add biking miles to driving miles. Leave the car home, take the bike. I'd love to not even need to own a car, but I'd need either a different job or a radically restructured job to make a go of that. Or a much better mixed-mode mass transit system than we currently have, and I'm not holding my breath for that!
I'm just saying.
I mean, Denmark is north of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Denmark is north of a lot of places in the world. And they ride bikes a lot. Minnesotans are starting to do that, too. Last year when gas prices hit $4 per gallon I suddenly saw a lot of bikes being ridden by people dressed in going-to-work clothes. I was often jealous because last year for a variety of factors riding to work was a limited option. I'm hoping for better this year.
The key thing is to replace driving miles with biking miles, not to add biking miles to driving miles. Leave the car home, take the bike. I'd love to not even need to own a car, but I'd need either a different job or a radically restructured job to make a go of that. Or a much better mixed-mode mass transit system than we currently have, and I'm not holding my breath for that!
Friday, February 6, 2009
My first bike ride of 2009
While Jim has been riding all winter long, I've been a sack of spuds. In my defense, my wife and I watch the entire run of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" each winter. Watching six and a half seasons of TV in a couple of months takes a lot of commitment; tonight we're halfway through Season 7 and just watched the Buffster take out the Turok Han with an improvised garrote.
So today when I got out of work at about 12:30, and it was sunny and nearly 40F, my inner Eddy went "woot!" and it was time to get out for the first ride of the year. And it was epic. 12.5 miles, not quite the Arrowhead 135 but it was broken up by a couple of hours spent at Hiawatha Cyclery. I haven't been in there in months, my work schedule starting before they open and ending about the time they close. That and being too lazy to get up early on a Saturday morning for the weekly ride from the shop.
So, it was a sloppy messy blast today. I had time to reflect on what lousy snowplowing the City of St. Paul does- there were still about four inches of snow on the street in front of my house despite it having been plowed about five times this winter. All they really seem to do is pack it down, not remove it. But it was still fun to be out in the fresh air, riding my bike and thinking "wow, I didn't lose that much fitness so far this winter" only to notice the sad fact of an 13.19 mph average when I got home. Jeez. Timmy the Couch Slayer rides again!
So today when I got out of work at about 12:30, and it was sunny and nearly 40F, my inner Eddy went "woot!" and it was time to get out for the first ride of the year. And it was epic. 12.5 miles, not quite the Arrowhead 135 but it was broken up by a couple of hours spent at Hiawatha Cyclery. I haven't been in there in months, my work schedule starting before they open and ending about the time they close. That and being too lazy to get up early on a Saturday morning for the weekly ride from the shop.
So, it was a sloppy messy blast today. I had time to reflect on what lousy snowplowing the City of St. Paul does- there were still about four inches of snow on the street in front of my house despite it having been plowed about five times this winter. All they really seem to do is pack it down, not remove it. But it was still fun to be out in the fresh air, riding my bike and thinking "wow, I didn't lose that much fitness so far this winter" only to notice the sad fact of an 13.19 mph average when I got home. Jeez. Timmy the Couch Slayer rides again!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Too frosty for this BOB
Well, January has gone by and I didn't ride my bike once. For the past decade or so, I have taken pride in riding my bike at least once in every month of the year. But this winter, with repeated cold spells below zero and icy, rutted streets, my bikes have stayed indoors and so have I. Riding in this stuff is OK with the right clothes, but I don't want to contend with inattentive operators of ground cruise missiles. Too many drivers are paying more attention to their latté and their cell phone as it is- they barely have control of their cars on dry pavement in July, let alone doing it on ice.
Anyway, I did my winter workout on Saturday and am ready for spring!
Anyway, I did my winter workout on Saturday and am ready for spring!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The inaugural post
A few years back, in discussions on the iBOB mailing list, Chris Laumb and I decided to create a local "chapter" for like-minded cyclers. We decided to call it "FrostyBOBs" and I put together a Web site (www.frostybobs.org). We mentioned the idea in a few places, people contacted us and said "that sounds like fun, count me in." And so we promptly embarked on... nothing. It turned out that I am not a leadership kind of guy and neither was Chris. Coming up with an idea was one thing- getting it going was another. Probably most of the people who sent me their e-mail address and expressed interest have forgotten all about it. In the meantime, Jim Thill and Kevin McAfee started Hiawatha Cyclery in Minneapolis, a very BOBish bike shop with a year-round Saturday morning ride (aaarrrggghhhh, I forgot that today was the pub ride. Dang!). HC has filled in the gap left by the laissez-faire attitude of the folks theoretically behind FrostyBOBs.
A few months ago I decided to shut down the Web server I have been running at home since 2001 or so. I gave away my old cycling club's domain name to the Lanterne Rouge cycling team of Arlington VA. They've made very good use of it. My brother-in-law's Web site is in limbo until I find a way to get it hosted on the web for, well, free. The FrostyBOBs web site went away too. I decided to get a blog site up and to point the domain name to the blog (which I have not done yet).
Anyway, here's the blog. I hope to re-contact the folks who expressed interest and to make a few other announcements and set up a few FrostyBOBs rides this year. I hope someone besides me will turn up!
A few months ago I decided to shut down the Web server I have been running at home since 2001 or so. I gave away my old cycling club's domain name to the Lanterne Rouge cycling team of Arlington VA. They've made very good use of it. My brother-in-law's Web site is in limbo until I find a way to get it hosted on the web for, well, free. The FrostyBOBs web site went away too. I decided to get a blog site up and to point the domain name to the blog (which I have not done yet).
Anyway, here's the blog. I hope to re-contact the folks who expressed interest and to make a few other announcements and set up a few FrostyBOBs rides this year. I hope someone besides me will turn up!
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