Posts Tagged ‘friends’
Epic Ride
It started out nice enough at six in the morning yesterday. Five riders rolling through Paul’s Linden Hills neighborhood, fresh and ready for the symbolic 60-mile bike ride from Paul’s house to mine. None of us had asked for a day with a heat index at or above 100°F.
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But that’s what we got. I’ll just say this: it was the kind of heat that saps your energy while you are just sitting there, let alone intensely exercising. I’m not going to mention the error in judgment I made in the last miles near home when I said to go right when we were supposed to turn left.
I blame it on oxygen deprivation. I plead insanity.
On the good side, it was brand new pavement that rolled smooth as silk.
We paused in Prescott, WI for refreshments and the ice cooler turned out to be a treasured perch.
At one point, Paul stepped out of the Holiday Station store and gushed, “Have you been in the beer cave?”
Three of us hustled in to check it out. Oh. My. Gosh. There was a temperature drop of about sixty degrees. I thought, “This can’t be good for me,” but it sure was refreshing. We walked around the stacks of bottles and cans for a while and dropped our body temperature a shocking amount.
As I stepped out of the cooler, I asked the attendant, “What do we owe you for ten minutes in the cooler?” She just gave us an odd look and shrugged us off.
We finally arrived at Wintervale in the waning moments before almost 100 guests were expected to start arriving. I’d share pictures with you here, but I didn’t take any. In fact, even though I don’t drink any alcohol, most of the afternoon and evening is pretty much a blur. Hours passed like minutes, I barely had a chance to complete a thought in conversation, and I had a wonderful time basking in the glow of love bestowed upon me as one of the birthday boys.
Thank you to all who showered us with love yesterday. I’m feeling particularly blessed and looking forward to laying low today in recovery from riding for hours in humid heat and finishing the day with a massive dose of social interaction.
I’m almost feeling my age this morning.
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Party Day
It’s the big day! I’m gone biking by the time you read this, with Paul and three friends, Dan, Bill, and Brad, on our way from Minneapolis to Wintervale for the gala celebration of Paul’s and my 60th birthdays.
We’ll have 60 miles under our belts and be ready to party before guests start to arrive, if all goes as planned. The only thing I forgot to bring with me to Paul’s house yesterday was my water bottles. Luckily, they had a couple I could borrow.
We are hoping to ride early to beat the expected heat. Happy 60th to us!
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My Turn
Today it is my turn to join the club of 60-year-olds. Sixty years ago today I showed up as the latest addition to the Hays clan. Luckily, we tend toward not remembering our moment of arrival, but I bet I was kicking and screaming until that warm blanket swaddled me tightly. By my calculations, I have just completed a third stint of becoming a twenty-year-old.
I’m pretty confident that I am twenty years smarter than I was when I reached forty.
I will always remember the spectacular celebration of my fortieth birthday, because my life-long chum, Paul Keiski, and I combined our adjacent birthdays with a plan to thwart our wives trying to hold a surprise party for us. We announced a plot to do a nighttime 40-mile bike ride figuring nobody would be crazy enough to participate.
Turned out there were a lot more crazy people than we accounted for, so a fabulous group night-ride became an annual necessity for years after. That night when Paul’s birthday ended and mine started, we decided we had each ridden 20 moonlit miles by that point, so together, forty had been achieved.
Now, twenty years later, we gave in and let our wives plan a celebration event. I fear it may dwarf either of our weddings in terms of their efforts to prepare food, beverages, and entertainment for a wedding-sized guest list.
Once again, Paul came up with the perfect antidote for too much party. This time we are going to do all the miles.
Turns out, the distance between Paul’s house and Wintervale Ranch, location of the joint-birthday gala, is sixty miles. He suggested we ride our bikes to the party.
Count me in!
Pedaling from the biggest city in Minnesota to our country sanctuary is symbolic in more ways than just the mileage for me. Joining Paul for the journey is icing on the cake.
It is a precious treat to be sharing the process of aging with a pal to whom you’ve been connected since grade school.
Happy Birthday to Paul (yesterday) and me (today)!
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To Home
All too soon the trip is over, the time just comes, the dancing’s done
Bittersweet to reach the start again, don’t want to stop, can’t wait to get home
Imagine this: I didn’t take any pictures on our last day of riding from Hibbing back to our cars in Grand Rapids. However, I have scoured my files for some of my favorites from the week, several of which I am unable to credit because I can’t recall who the photographer was. In no particular order…
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Men in black.
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Prop wash!
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Bear butts in Ely on the WOWOWs.
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It wasn’t all trails all the time. That’s Gary approaching in the distance.
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.Geoffrey and Marylin arriving on the Virginia High Bridge.
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View from the bridge down to Roucheleau mine lake, a former iron mine partially filled with groundwater.
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The three amigos.
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Rich snapped a closeup of me as I breezed past.
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Rich captured us in front of a mine lake. There are lots of mine lakes.
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Music in the park. Thank you to Julie for this image!
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Posing in front of an iron man and handing phone to whoever is near to capture.
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Hanging out with the best-dressed guy on the ride. Gary, you do look dashing in that jersey!
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I absolutely love this woman and she has captured our joyful energy in this most beautiful selfie. Juuuuulieeee!
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And so ends another annual ride around. Thank you to all of the staff and volunteers of the Tour of Minnesota who provide these June adventures!
Peace, out.
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To Hibbing
It was a beautifully sunny day out of Gilbert. Rich captured this shot of Steve leading Laura and me on a particularly bumpy section of the Mesabi trail.
I took a picture of Steve and Rich later on.
No complaints about the weather yesterday. It was picture perfect. Tents packed dry in the morning, no significant wind, and lots of sunshine.
In Hibbing, we camped at the historic high school. I took a picture of the Steinway piano that Bob was banging on like Little Richard when he was yanked off the stage.
There is also a display case dedicated to the troubadour.
They seem rather fond of Dylan around these parts.
On the walk back to camp after dinner, we came upon a property with a labyrinth.
Today, we ride back to our cars in Grand Rapids. It begins the odd struggle of returning to real life again.
Bittersweet to reach the start again
Don’t want to stop, can’t wait to get home
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To Gilbert
The day dawned foggy in Ely, but not nearly as cold as the first few days. We stayed dry all day, which was nice because it was a day of the farthest distance. I clocked in at 68 miles by the time we reached Gilbert.
With dry weather, it was easier for me to get the camera out while rolling down the road.
I had a goal of capturing a shot of Gary at some point, and when the opportunity presented itself…
I happened to come across Angela and Cynthia mid-pause on the shoulder, so I took their picture, too.
I like the totally unposed aspect of that shot.
It was day flat tires for some unknown reason. I was riding beside Steve when he hit a piece of steel that he mistook for wood. It put a slice in the sidewall that required a custom insert to keep the tube from bulging out.
The riding has gone well for me and I feel like I’ve finally got my old skills and form back for long distance cycling.
It’s a lot like riding a bike.
Remembering song chords and lyrics has been more of a challenge than the cycling.
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To Aurora
It started out rather chilly yesterday, but at least it wasn’t raining.
We left Chisholm as a group and claimed a lane of the road until we got back on the Mesabi trail.
It was 16 miles to a rest stop for some snacking, a mere hour and a half after we left breakfast. No wonder we all tend to gain weight despite all the biking we do.
There is just one thing I asked for during this ride: it can be cold, or it can rain, I just don’t want cold temps AND rain.
Well, I didn’t get what I wanted. Between that snack break and lunch, the clouds started to spit a little bit. Then, it began to sprinkle, until it unmistakably turned to rain.
The optimist might say, “At least it wasn’t snowing.
Luckily, there was hot soup on the menu for lunch. Any food is good for recovering from being wet and cold, but hot soup was a welcome bonus.
The ride from lunch in Biwabik to Aurora took us through a picturesque stand of old growth pines.
Hanging out at our tents after hot showers (yay!), Rich sent up his drone for a bird’s eye view of our circle of post-riding silliness.
Then I took a picture from ground level.
All in all, another great day on the Tour of Minnesota, discounting
the fact it is so dang cold in the middle of June.
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To Grand Rapids
Commence camping!
Things did not go well in the waning moments prior to that critical point of finally heading out the door for a week of vacation.
In my last sweep of the counter after a quick lunch, I discovered ants marching to and fro.
I decided to search for ant killer that we might have stashed away from last year. Second place I looked was under the kitchen sink.
When I opened the doors, water came rolling out. Lots of it!
I have no idea where it was coming from and didn’t have time to thoroughly investigate.
I pulled everything out and mopped up, then slid a bucket into position under the drips.
What a lovely mess to leave behind.
I met Gary Larson in Edina, leaving my car at Cyndie’s parents’ house and rode with him to Grand Rapids.
It was as wonderful as ever to see the many friends and familiar faces of fellow riders and to be greeted so warmly.
Mere words can’t describe it
When you ride with us, then you know
After years of having done this
It gets more important for me to go
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Rough Approximation
Having my bike up at the lake allowed me to put some time on the two-wheeler in an environment that can loosely be compared to the regions of northern Minnesota where we will be riding this year on the Tour of Minnesota. We are heading from Grand Rapids, MN up to Ely and back again.
The rural countryside of northwest Wisconsin isn’t that far away from northern Minnesota. We are just on the other side of the tip of Lake Superior.
I would not have been one bit surprised to have a black bear dart out of the woods and lope across the road in front of me.
It was two great weather days for biking and the scenery was superb, but there was one essential element missing that would make for perfect preparation for the middle of June Tour of MN.
I was all by myself. Solo riding in the woods can be beautiful, but a tired rider could sure use the distraction of a good conversation to while away the miles. As it was, my increasingly uncomfortable seat on the saddle grew hard to ignore and made it easier to give in to a message from my legs that they wanted to stop pedaling.
It becomes a game of stand up, sit down, pedal for a while, stand up, sit down, readjust position, pedal, stand up… you get the drill.
The ride was wonderful, despite being taxing. It’s the odd thing for me these last few years. I don’t bike regularly anymore, but I love participating in the Tour of Minnesota. So, I end up needing to put on some forced miles to prepare for the one week of constant biking.
At the end of last year’s Tour, I experienced the feeling that I didn’t really need to do any more rides. Been there, done that.
When registration time arrived in February, I found that I couldn’t resist the urge to be with my riding friends one more time, even if it meant some forced riding to prepare.
That is the one thing that makes the trials of trying to get into riding shape in a short time span so absolutely worth it.
So, ignore my whining.
I can’t wait for the trip and spending a week with some really fantastic people whom I miss dearly for fifty-one weeks out of the year!
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Fun Surprise
What could be more fun than getting together with life-long friends and heading out on a beautiful spring evening to see a Minnesota Twins baseball game at Target Field? I’ll tell you what. Discovering that your cousin from Duluth, whom you infrequently see, is at the same game and then sleuthing out his location to surprise him for a brief visit during the 7th inning.
Yes, that became my adventure the night before last. My son, Julian, brother-in-law, Steve, and four other Eden Prairie friends gathered downtown to see the Twins play game 2, of a 3-game series, against the LA Angels. It was a gorgeous night, and a delight to be out with treasured peeps to check on a team that has achieved an impressive amount of success recently, as compared to what Minnesota sports fans usually face.
As per today’s de rigueur trend, one of the guys snapped a phone selfie with the rest of us mugging around him for the shot. In an instant, our whereabouts were broadcast over the internet, where my sister, Judy, happened to see it. How many other spectators were simultaneously sharing pictures of their night at the ballpark? Well, it turns out Judy also found a post by our cousin, Charles Moulton, revealing his spectacular vantage point from behind home plate.
Suddenly my phone pings me with a message from Judy, showing me that our cousin was at the same game!
I could tell from the view in his image that we were on the same upper deck level, so Julian and I walked that direction to see if we could connect.
Since Charles had no idea we were at the game, I knew we had the upper hand in surprising him, as long as we spotted him first. It didn’t take long to confirm a sighting. He was in the first row, on the railing, and there just happened to be two open seats beside him. At the close of the sixth inning, we stealthily made our way down to the row behind him and then climbed over the back of the seats, asking, “Are these seats open?” without waiting for the answer he was politely offering.
He gave me a glance, as I smugly focused on him and not the field down in front of us, which subsequently induced a second look.
That’s when I was granted the ultimate reward of the surprise, as his face revealed the transforming expression of recognition and delight. We both had our sons with us, so there was also a meeting of second cousins. It was a real treat and a special bonus to an otherwise fabulous outing.
The Twins deserve some credit for putting on an exciting finish for the home crowd, despite the fact it was because they allowed the Angels to climb back from 4-0 to make it a one-run game. A big throw from center field to home for a lead-saving out gave us all much reason for revelry.
To top the night off, the sudden downpour of rain that popped up, waited until the game was over and we had made our way out of the stadium.
It was a wonderful week-night outing, topped with a special surprise that definitely qualified as my idea of fun!
Thanks, Judy!
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