When the thermometer broke 70 on this fine October day, we fired up the bikes for what may be the last ride of the year. We needed 35.8 miles to hit 400. Did we make it? Not quite. A couple of miles short. But don't worry! That just means we'll need to take a 2 mile make-up ride tomorrow afternoon. This trip took us past Snail Lake, Lake Josephine, Sucker Lake, all those St. Paul-ish lakes. The ride was only marred by some idiot in a pickup who thought that he should make a right turn in front of us at a stoplight, almost sending me over my handlebars. The best part was it's the first post-lunch afternoon ride we've taken in a long time where I didn't go low - a pleasantry of the new insulin.

Yeah, definitely getting dark earlier. And windy earlier too. No rain, though. We did admirably considering the headwind for the last 5 miles of the trip.

A quick little trip before we depart for Wisconsin Dells. Not much to say, except that it's' getting darker sooner now.

If anyone every says, "Bring your bike to Grand Marais," don't do it! Not much good for biking ( unlike Duluth and the like), plus - that Gunflint Trail is at least 4 miles straight uphill. And not a little pansy uphill either. We gave up and zipped down the hill, reaching the maximum speed listed coasting along. No shoulders on the road make it even less enjoyable.

Another uneventful ride, except for the fact that we broke 300 miles shortly after starting out. Just past Johnson, along St. Anthony Parkway, to be exact.

The most uneventful post-dinner ride to date. Aside from the ubiquitous one dog in the dog park who likes to run along the fence as we bike by, nothing much happened. While we were both feeling tired, we managed to keep decent speed.

Once again, check the odometer.

Another trip on a smooth favorite. This trip was interrupted by a very large turtle crossing the path. Actually moving - and moving at a goodly pace! At first I thought it was a cat with a very deformed back. But closer inspection revealed a snapping turtle moving to a better place.

Other than that, it was just a nice ride. We parked on the street this time, since there were two piles of broken window glass in the high-break-in parking lot. And since the path detour had been removed, we didn't have to bike up the giant hill past the cemetary! Woo hoo! Also of note: Our total odometer reading.

It was hot. Upper-80's hot. And humid. I'm not sure how humid, but it was more humid than it had been in days! Days I say! The perfect day to ride down to Snail Lake and splash around. This was another short ride, only 8.5 miles one way. But let me tell you - the hills and headwind made it pretty challenging!

We arrived at the lake around 3:30 or so, changed into our suits, and cooled off quickly. There were an awful lot of kids, as though it was a hot day and this was a free way to cool down. But aside from that, the beach was ours!

Our trip out took us along County Road C to Lexington, and then to County Road F. But our return trip went another way, taking us further along, and then doubling back down Lexington. The intention behind this was to avoid going up the hill on CR F that we came down getting there. But we forgot one important thing: going back that way made us go up more hills! future rides will have us going out the fancy-pants route, and going home the more direct way. We'll learn ...

We jumped on our bikes for a quick trip today, and nothing was too out of the ordinary. Except for the snapping turtle we saw! About halfway through the trip, there he was (or perhaps she was), sitting by the side of the trail. We stopped and visited a bit, until the turtle's gaze clearly said, "Get out of my sun, stupid endotherms!"

We proceeded on our journey, and completed it without incident. Interestingly, while we started out this trip a bit under-gumptioned, we ended up with our highest average speed yet! Go figure ....

As part of our camping experience with Tom and Fran, today we embarked from J. Cook State Park, traveling to Duluth via bike path. Also included in this day was a short trip to Carlton for some supplies.

Duluth really did seem to be uphill both ways. As Rebecca pointed out, though, it was basically downhill to Duluth, but we had a headwind. Returning with a tailwind, we had a slight uphill grade most of the way.

The ride was very nice, with smooth paths, and nice scenery all around. Biking in between 30 foot tall rock walls, past overlooks, and ending up at the south end of Duluth. When all was said and done, we agreed that while being a short ride, it was better that way - the constant slope and headwind made it a bit more difficult than one might think. On the plus side, just outside of J. Cook there were some nice downhill spots on the return trip. That's where the max speed was attained - going so fast you could coast down one hill, and then coast up the next one!

Today turned out to be a nice day. Thusly, we ignored the golden rule (Mondays are for resting, not for exercising), and head out for a quick trip.

The only excitement today was that we left half an hour later than we sometimes do, making it necessary to put on our front lights about a mile from home. Oh the drama! At least we managed to keep our average above 12 MPH. And I pedaled down Silver Lake Road, thus making the max speed 28.5 MPH. I'm sneaky that way.

A day late, but we still go out for a ride. Billed as a "slower" trip today, we still managed to make good time. Perhaps we're *gasp* getting into better shape!

I contributed to the delinquency of a minor today as we neared home. A little kid on a BMX bike was racing around, and offered to "race" with me. I said sure assuming he wouldn't do so if there was a car around or something. Obviously I won, since not many 10 year olds can break 20 MPH on a straightaway. But Rebecca informed me there was a car behind the kid when I took off. Stoopid kids. But on the plus side, I showed Rebecca how cool I am!

Just a quick trip out to keep ourselves in tip-top shape! There was interesting stuff to put here before, but I kinda forgot it. :O But I do remember that we kicked our average speed up by 1.1 MPH. Baby!

42.35 miles of bumpy-trailed fun!

Luckily they weren't all bumpy. Just the first half.

We found out that "sidwalk" is Golden Valley-ian for "hello." A kind motorist yelled "sidewalk!" at us as we biked down the street on a parkway. It must mean "hello," because only an idiot would think that bikes should ride on a pedestrian trail. Normally we would have been on the bike trails, but they were ripped out and filled with mud, so we took the opportunity to exercise our rights as a wheeled vehicle. The best part of that section of trail was later on, where they closed the road down to one lane for bridgework. First there was a sign, "No bikes on road" since it was pretty narrow there. The comical part came 15 feet later, with the "Sidewalk closed" sign. Thusly, our bikes grew wings and flew over the construction.

With only one slight getting-lost episode (which added about 1.5 miles to my odometer as I scouted for a way back to Minnehaha Parkway), we spent about 5 hours out and about.

No bike rides for a few days. The hinder dictates it!

With a side order of drama!

Rebecca played hooky from work this afternoon, so we went for a pre-dinner bike ride. We opted for the slightly-less-than 20 mile post-work route, but this one was filled with adventure! The excitement started less than a half a block from home, when Rebecca hit her front brake only, and flew over the handlebars! She's ok now, folks, but it's an important example of why helmets are a must!

A few miles down, I was crossing the street at a stoplight, and a helpful redneck^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hman in a pickup honked at me as he made a right turn behind me, pointing to the green light. It's good to know there's people around to point out that I'm obeying the traffic signals.

Rebecca's bike computer decided to be flakey, sometimes slightly popping out of its bracket, and sometimes being a mode we didn't know it was capable of. Good thing the stats are based on mine!

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, aside from the always exciting passing of the "Clench-On" tool building. Mmmm... clenchy.

Today we took our first major bike ride. Had to load the bikes on the car and drive the grueling 6 or 7 miles to the trail. After about 3 hours, we'd biked a total of 35.56 miles, and saw many wondrous things. A giant snowman, Mills Fleet Farm, and lots of horse poopy. And, as alluded to, an unfortunate man riding a recumbent who was wearing large, baggy shorts. *Shudder*

Where will we go next? Who knows!

The biking season begins with a trip on our usual post-dinner route. Coming in at just under 20 miles, we can usually do it in less than 2 hours, making it an ideal way to round out the daylight time. And a good route to warm up on. Aside from the bumpy trails at the beginning, it's a very pleasant round trip.