Archive for the ‘Chronicle’ Category
Much Fun
The mental energy I allocate to the annual Tour of Minnesota biking and camping adventure takes up a lot more time than just the actual week of riding. I tend to have the topic of navigating trip details turning up in my nighttime dreams year-round. Physical conditioning before the start in June has me thinking about the event during April and May. For weeks after I get home, the energy and emotions of the fun times stay in my head well after real-life distractions have returned in full.
I don’t have any pictures from the great escape I participated in with seven others while in Alexandria. We solved the puzzles to open the locked door with twelve seconds to spare, freeing ourselves from becoming the next test subjects of the sinister Mr. Hyde. Luckily, the guide paused our clock when she had to enter the room to open a lock that wasn’t responding to our correct combination of numbers. Such excitement.
Obviously, the weather toyed with us a bit, getting the roads and trails just wet enough on the first day to cause a soaking spray off our tires even after the precipitation had ended. Later, the storms just happened to magically form directly overhead and linger at length without moving. Maybe we should auction our services to other area farmers who need rain.
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First, it happened in Sauk Centre and then the next day in Little Falls. If you can find the little blue dot pin in the images above, that shows our location each time. At least we were done riding by the time those downpours occurred.
Other random silliness:
Steve posing for me on the enticing relic of a bicycle-powered reel lawn mower. He’s gonna need to move the seat up on that one before using it.
At first, I had no plan of posing as a Viking warrior in Starbuck. Next thing I know, I’m right in the middle of the action between Joseph and Scott. My attempt at a grimace looks suspiciously similar to my usual smile. Also, my version of a Viking verbalization sounded more like a pirate than anything else. I assume there were some pirate Vikings so I was just reflecting that.
After someone gave Jennifer an ice cream sandwich while she was eating lunch, she began eating both at the same time. It was hot. The ice cream was melting. Problem solved.
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In trying to split the difference between authorized tenting location and shade from the sun, a bunch of us put our tents near the school in Alexandria. Lights from both inside and outside the school stayed on all night long. The picture above on the right was taken at 10 p.m. It was still that bright when I checked five hours later after my full bladder woke me. Luckily, bright light doesn’t stop me from falling asleep.
While on a pause from pedaling at a park in Glenwood, I noticed Tom, Rick, and Rod were all leaning back on their arms like I was. We were all mirroring each other. I handed my phone to Rich Gordon and asked him to take a picture. At the same time, Rick moved out of position to take a phone call. Close enough for me.
You can be assured, the week was fun, fun, fun.
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Next Adventure
All too soon the trip is over. I am home again. Got home yesterday to a precious greeting from Asher who has yet to learn not to jump up on people. The return to reality is both comforting and overwhelming. I would like to process the lingering afterglow of the previous week at the same time as catching up on tasks around the property that I usually tend to on a daily basis. There is a week’s worth of manure compost to turn over.
After arriving home, I quickly unpacked my gear and set things out to dry before making my way with Cyndie and Asher down to see the horses.
Then I received a ping on my phone that lightning was in the area. The recent experience in Sauk Centre of walking to dinner under sunny skies and leaving my tent fly open was a lesson learned. Downpours can appear with surprising speed. I cut short the horse visit and rushed up to get my gear inside just as the first drops started falling.
The week of biking and camping on The Tour of Minnesota for 2023 was good for me. I didn’t even put my battery on the bike but packed it in my bags just in case. I credit the accumulating years of planking and stretching exercise routines for having me stronger than at any previous time in my life. Combined with my change from a classic touring bike to the Trek Domane made for the best riding I’ve ever done.
I stood up to pedal up an incline and Rich Gordon said, “Keep standing so I can take a picture!”
As I huffed and puffed the extra effort to climb while off the saddle, Rich fumbled to get his phone from the back pocket of his jersey. Then he needed to check traffic behind us before pulling beside me.
“Keep standing!”
He had to get the camera app open. Needed to get the orientation right. This wasn’t going to be his selfie.
“Keep standing!”
Pretty soon we were both laughing over his getting me to stand much longer than I would have otherwise done. At least he gave me the gift of a great shot.
The air quality was annoyingly bad enough that I needed to hit the Albuterol for relief on multiple days.
I hope to resurrect a few more stories from the trip in the days ahead and share plenty of fun photos after I find time to process them.
As always, the interactions and hijinks of the wonderful people who participate in such adventures are a highlight that can overshadow the natural wonders we bike past. The weather was both good and not so good. We coped just fine.
My tent was one of the last to come down yesterday morning.
I was eager to get home but I already miss the thrill of being out on the road early every morning pedaling long miles with precious friends under the mixture of trees and wide open skies.
This year’s Tour was a good one.
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Asher’s Lineage
We received the DNA results for Asher. Our initial information was that he was a Shepherd Mix. In our estimation, primarily based on appearance, we guessed German Shepherd and Labrador. We didn’t for the life of us figure he was part Chihuahua.
Asher is almost a quarter Siberian Husky. Cool! Followed closely by Great Pyrenees. Then comes the Lab and Shepherd we anticipated.
I should probably look into getting a sled for him to pull during the snow season. Hoping we will still have such a thing as a snow season during winter. Do you think we could train the Pyrenees in him to guard chickens if we try again with birds?
Birds would be friends, not food. Asher is rather inclined to chew into shreds the things he really likes.
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Maybe that’s the Chihuahua in him.
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Farming Versions
We started our morning at Walker Farms with George and Anneliese. I joined George for his morning chores. We fed chicks, checked on cattle, tossed feed to pigs, and moved chicken pens.
Cyndie and I departed after a luscious crepes breakfast and headed toward home. On the way, we stopped to visit the farm of my niece, Liz, and her husband, Nick, and their kids. We met their new dog, and their pigs, and toured their garden. The strawberry patch was loaded with a thrilling amount of ripe berries.
We came home with a rich bounty. Cyndie was wondering if her strawberry patch might also have berries ready to be picked.
Nope. But almost!
Our place, with only 4 horses for livestock, seems less farm-like except for one fact. Our hay field has been cut in preparation for getting baled.
The guy who leases farmland south of us grazes cattle there in the summer and cuts some grass fields to be round-baled. It helps us to have our field cut so they generously include our irregular-shaped acres in their cutting and baling. We generously charge them very little for the hay they get off it.
It almost feels like farming.
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Visiting Walkers
Asher is home with a dog sitter and we are up in Princeton visiting George and Anneliese and getting a chance to spend some time sharing fencing chores, good food, and fun games.
Cattle grazing is on some leased land where temporary fencing is installed to allow moving the herd frequently for maximum health of land and animals. We tagged along and helped a little to run a new line encircling a fresh plot of grass.
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We got a close look at what weed control via goats looks like.
I was most impressed by the way the goats tip down tall young saplings so that others can reach the leaves which sets off a feeding frenzy.
In the evening after dinner with George’s parents, we were introduced to the yard game, Kubb.
The turf of the playing field provided a vivid example of the drought conditions area farmers are enduring.
Coping with weather extremes is not for the faint of heart.
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Hedge Trimming
I have talked for years about trimming the random growth along our north property line to turn it into a hedge fence but it wasn’t until yesterday that I finally made visually satisfying progress. The secret weapon that enabled me to reach this milestone is the Greenworks hedge trimmer that Cyndie’s mom gave me for Christmas last year. I have tested this impressive tool on multiple trees and bushes and on every occasion the performance has exceeded my expectations.
What a fabulous addition to my collection of yard and garden tools.
It chewed up everything I asked it to while hardly sipping from the energy of the battery. I couldn’t be more pleased about how well it worked. This beast is going to become a very handy resource for controlling the explosion of growth that happens at this time every year.
The northern border of our property is identified by a rusty old barbed wire fence. On the east half of that border, a short width of random growth separates us from a neighbor’s plowed field.
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I’m really pleased to have my vision finally taking shape. It took me years to get to this point and it will take a few more years for the “wall” of growth to fill in, but I take yesterday’s progress as a successful proof of concept. It should be easier every year now that I’ve established the first cut.
Progress stalled in the middle of the afternoon when our co-op propane tank inspector arrived but that was perfectly timed with a passing rain shower so I would have needed to take a break from trimming anyway. We got two out-of-date regulators replaced at no cost. Safety first!
After that work was completed, I went back to the trimming and worked until dinnertime to get it done. I didn’t want to leave it unfinished because we are headed up to Princeton, MN today for an overnight visit with George and Anneliese. Asher will be staying home with a pet sitter.
From this point on, if any new growth dares to reach beyond the line of my new hedge wall, it will get snipped.
Hah! What do I mean, if? We all know the correct word is, “when.”
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River Valley
There are some hills to contend with on the roads close to home and I frequently plot my route to limit my exposure to them when jaunting off on random bicycle excursions. It becomes a trick to avoid crossing the Rush River valley if traveling very far to our east. Early on Saturday morning, I decided to make the valley my destination. After the fabulous ride with Paul the day before, my goal was to see how I would feel sitting on the saddle for a couple hours right away again.
Before reaching the valley, a lot of the terrain is pretty flat and the roads pass through miles of plowed farm fields. I chose to drop down into the valley to ride the beautiful pavement past picturesque scenery to a specific bridge where I could pause for a snack. From there, I would backtrack my way to climb up the very same hill I had come down.
The speed on the way down is in the 40mph range. More like single digits on the way back up. The graphic of the elevation of my ride clearly represents the mirror image of my progress.
When I got to the bridge, two fly fishermen were preparing their equipment to cast bait that would match whatever was currently hatching. One fig bar later, it had become six guys seeking a sweet pool where they could ply their skill out of reach from one another. My snack time was abbreviated by my inability to escape clouds of annoyingly persistent gnats.
Every time I have been down to this spot I have seen deer somewhere along the road next to the river. Every time. I figured the early hour would guarantee the streak would continue but I began to worry as I started to get close to this bridge and hadn’t seen any. Oh, ye of little faith. The record remains intact. The first sighting was on the far side of a field and not right in the river like so often before, but it counts just the same.
Then I came upon another deer, and another, and when I pulled over to pee, there was one standing just a few feet away I hadn’t noticed until getting off my bike. He seemed a little flummoxed by my stopping but with little commotion, made his way out of sight in a blink.
Just before I reached the bottom of the hill on my way out of the valley, a big, fat woodchuck that I surprised reversed his direction and ambled off away from the road.
Although my butt was definitely aware I had been riding just the day before, I felt comfortable enough to decide I am ready for a week of riding next week. No testing will be required to find out if sleeping on the ground will cause any discomfort. My latest sleeping pad works wonderfully, even if my habit of sleeping on my side presents a challenge.
The physical challenges are more than offset by the gush of endorphins I get from hanging out for a week with really great like-minded folks who love to laugh while pedaling bikes all day and camping in tents overnight.
Counting down the days to the Tour of Minnesota 2023!
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Contrary Evidence
“Where’s the dog?” I asked.
“He’s loose in the house but I’ve been checking on him through the window from out here and he is watching me the whole time.” was Cyndie’s reply. She seemed impressively confident in her assessment.
We have noticed that Asher gets upset when left alone and resorts to chomping on anything within reach. In his crate, that has meant ripping the beautiful tapestry draped over the top, annihilating the foam pad and its cover, and shredding parts of a sheet that replaced the tapestry. Our reaction for some time has been to limit the minutes he is left in isolation. Letting him roam free while she stepped outside for a few minutes was Cyndie’s experiment in helping him become comfortable with our comings and goings.
Another thing Cyndie has put a good amount of energy toward is teaching Asher he is not allowed in the kitchen. I was surprised by how quickly he showed an understanding of the boundary. After starting with baby gates, Cyndie put down a strip of duct tape to create a line not to be crossed.
Asher obediently lays down just outside the line. He is in the phase of regularly testing to find out if the virtual barrier still is in enforcement but quickly steps back when reminded. I don’t know if Cyndie consciously left the kitchen gates to the side when she walked out the door.
The first thing I noticed upon coming inside was a dish rag on the floor in the middle of the kitchen. The second thing that caught my eye was the gate NOT blocking access. I questioned whether he truly had been looking out for her the WHOLE time.
A minute or two later, a clearer picture of things became evident. Asher obviously doesn’t grasp that the kitchen boundary applies whether or not we are present.
He obviously proved his ability to reach anything left in the sink. I count it lucky that he wasn’t able to chew the soap brush and scrubby to bits because he had to run to the window often enough to fool Cyndie that he was being perfectly well-behaved.
Gosh, I hope he never gets so cunning that he starts hiding the evidence of his transgressions.
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Great Ride
It was everything I wanted and more. Last Tuesday, Cyndie and I had dinner with our friends Paul and Beth, and the idea of going for a bike ride with Paul came up. I wanted to get more hours on the saddle in preparation for the Tour of Minnesota coming up in a week but I’m not a big fan of riding by myself. I offered to drive to Paul’s house so we could start from there.
Paul tossed out the loose idea of riding toward Wayzata from his place in Minneapolis which would provide me both hours and miles. Sounded perfect to me. It turned out to be even better than I expected.
The greatest gift Paul provided was his making almost all of the turn-by-turn decisions so that I was able to simply follow him and enjoy the ride. At one point we came upon an option of trails and I picked the more northern route that I was less familiar with. That choice ended up providing a series of unexpected perks that enhanced my day significantly.
The first one happened after I recognized a unique water tower in Plymouth that told me we weren’t far from the location of my old day-job I retired from. I stopped commuting the 65 miles one-way in December of 2021 and haven’t seen the folks I worked with since. After I left, the company was sold and although I have exchanged emails with the new owner, I had yet to meet him. Yesterday became my surprise chance.
It took some bike gymnastics and one fence scaling to get there due to construction but it was worth it to all-too-briefly be able to say hi to my old coworkers and shake the hand of the new owner. (I am chuffed to discover our Asher shares a name with Brian’s dog. I probably thought of changing “Ash” to Asher from stories Brian had told over the years. Could be, the way my mind works.)
Soon after we left the old workplace, Paul mentioned his mom lived nearby. I suggested we stop and say hi. It had been many years since I had seen her. You never know what might result from an unannounced appearance at somebody’s place, but she was home and invited us in for a wonderful visit.
Two great surprises in one ride! But there’s more.
Paul directed us to the place his brother, David is living and we pulled in so I could witness the gorgeous property where he resides. The curving driveway includes a small bridge across Minnehaha Creek before arriving at the house and garage. David wasn’t around so Paul snapped an “usie” to let him know we were there. I suggested the message could be, “Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here.”
As we cruised along the rest of the way, after baling out on going all the way to Wayzata, Paul pointed out houses, or streets that led to houses of other friends we know. I felt like I was on a celebrity tour.
The mileage for the loop clocked in at a respectable 34 miles which met my goals perfectly for distance and time. The hour of completion conveniently allowed me to pick up Cyndie’s grocery order on my way home.
Paul, you were a wonderful tour guide. Thank you, again, my life-long friend.
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Today’s Post
Today’s post is brought to you by:
- Last night’s Stanley Cup Playoff game three which went into overtime. Who has a mind to think about blogging after staying up late watching hockey?
and also by:
- The bike ride I’m taking today with my friend, Paul. Who has time to write when they are leaving to go biking?
plus:
- The fact that Asher ran away from me into the neighbor’s woods for almost an hour yesterday. Who can write when still distracted by dog frustration?
also:
- Thursdays are exhausting anyway after the drive to and from St. Paul that sandwich an hour-long intense obedience training class. I’m still tired. Apparently, it didn’t tire Asher nearly as much.
and:
- The weeding of Cyndie’s garden of perennials basically involved cutting unwanted trees that were sprouting in almost equal density to her desired plantings, but it doesn’t really deserve paragraphs being written about it.
- The bees, butterflies, and other insects are loving that garden, and [hoping I don’t jinx them] none of the hostas have been munched yet.
not to mention:
- Whatever critter is digging up the turf of the north loop pathway is making it almost impossible to mow.
Today’s post is also sponsored by the letter S.
- As in, Silly. Not to be confused with Cute or Creative because those words start with the letter C, which sounds like, sea or see, which just so happen to start with the letter S.
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