Politicians that fend for me

I'll start off by saying, I know who Lynn Warlow is (I had him as a math teacher twice) he was a wrestling coach and math teacher, reserve Marine, and all around a pretty good man.  But his constituents are lazy and didn't take his campaign signs down fast enough for them to not see recycling.

I don't know Chuck Baldwin from Adam, but the same goes.

The cross wind on the mendota bridge made the new fenders whistle like some '80s horror movie sound track.

Where are the rest of your pants?

It's Frenchie and Sir Walter relaxing by the Wisconsin boarder!

















Shannon put the fire wood on her bike and we rode around the park laden thus.




God dammit.

It has been a while since I updated.

The last time I posted the van was running perfectly. Since then we went to St Croix State Park. Which was awesome! We went fishing. We went biking. We went hiking. We played Frisbee.

here are some pictures

The tent worked perfectly. The old Boy Scout favorite proved easier to break down than I even remembered. Which made the nieghbors jealous—with their raspberry shaped dome tent and a dozen different sizes of poles.

What we aren’t prepared to go without is esspresso. If I haven’t mentioned how awesome the 9 cup Bialetti mocca pot is, here I am saying an aluminum espresso pot that works on a camp stove or the kitchen burner has infinte utility. Every camping trip we’ve been on has had espresso. Which boggles other’s.

Frenchie didn’t like the washboard of the gravel roads in the park. My teeth didn’t fall out but my steel waterbottle did cartwheels. In fact, the water bottle worked pretty badly.

maybe...just maybe...old french road bikes are not mountain bikes. I know, it’s hard to believe but perhaps there is a difference.

So, as the weekend wrapped up it also got toasty out. We tried some of the Munger trail on our way out of Hinkley but Shannon’s tire started to seriously bulge. The three year old tires started to come apart in the middle of the tread. By the time we got back to the van the rubber was rubbing on the fender.

We were able to dodge a lot of traffic by taking 35w to the Cleveland exit and sneaking into St Paul through the U of M campus. We did stop at Fleet Farm in Blaine and finally picked up an axe. So we'll be able to chop our own tinder, which is awesome.

On our way back, the van was running a little hot, but, I figured that 90 degree heat would explain that away. It had been running a bit rough but I just figured that I was needing a bottle of seafoam.


Shannon had me pick up a kettle for canning. It sorta fit on the rack...



This past Saturday the engin temperature skyrocketed. So Shannon took it into the shop only to get bad news. antifreeze in the oil from the headgaskets. Crap.

what did the van get us at Upull?

300 bucks.

Monday I test rode a Crosscheck. On smooth surface it felt sorta like Frenchie, but without low speed squirrliness. On bumps it was a dream. Tonight I test rode a Big Dummy on my way home from work, which was also smooth on bumps, but the Crosscheck had more electricity.

Did I mention we are looking at buying a car?





The question they asked at work was :

"John, where are the rest of your pants???"

A bit cagy

And finally there is water on Frenchie.

Saturday, after work, we went over to Hiawatha Cyclery and picked up water bottle cages and mounting hardware.  For Frenchie we got a bracket that attaches right onto the handlebars, for Si Walter one that attaches where ever you want it.  Shannon now has a cage on the down tube.

So yesterday when we biked the greenway, water was available without stopping.

Also yesterday we set up the tent.

A week ago we bought our first tent.  Till now we have borrowed my sister's dome tent, but it was kinda small.  And a trick to set up in the dark.  So we had been in Thrifty Outfitters and saw a Eureka a frame tent like we had in the boy scouts.

Now back then we all tried to get into the sunrise dome tents because they were bigger and easier to dry out in the morning.  But the Timberline was the fastest set up, and lighter.

I figure a tent that can withstand a troop of boy scouts can withstand us.  And it is huge.  When we set it up behind the apartment it took up a significant corner of the patch of green we have.  Labor day, we will be camping.

Longest day of the year

No, I did not mean the Summer Solstice.  That party has been and gone.I mean the longest day of riding I have had yet this year.  It was a store ride from Hiawatha Cyclery.  We went around Lake Pepin, clocking 72.37 miles. Longer than my previous longest day by almost a factor of 2.   I would have needed another 8 miles.  I set a new top speed on Frenchie at 38.6 miles per hour. It was a nice sized group of 11 people.  I was happy to be able to keep up with everyone else.

The morning started off humid and cool.  But as the clouds and fog burned off it turned into a beautiful sunny day.

We stopped at the Smiling Pelican.  The Cherry Popper I had was about five minutes from the oven.  A buttery sweetbread with cherries in the middle.  

We stopped in Wabasha for lunch at the Eagle's Nest.  I thought we were heading to Austria, but appreciated not have to ride through the Alps.

It's Jim!

the refuge

Frenchie being a good bike.

Everyone in Lake City cooling off in the shade.  I'm pretty sure the population is more than 11.  It was all of our group hanging out at this time.

I think it is time to figure out the water problem.

the things they carried

Two years ago I was given a tool wedge for Christmas.  And I carry it always.  On You Just Don't Want To there was recently a post about what a commuter must have, and while I certainly haven't been commuting long enough to have anything approaching authority on what a commuter should carry, I do have opinions on what tools a cyclist should carry.

Everything.

Specifically everything necessary to repair the bike in the event of the worst.

In my tool wedge, in addition to the multitool which is awesome and the handfull of other handy tools it came with; I carry a 1/4 drive ratchet for 8mm, 10mm, 11mm, 12mm, 13mm, 14mm, 15mm, and 1/2in sockets and a 6" crescent wrench for good measure (the 14 and 15 actually are 3/8" drive sockets for which I carry an adaptor).  This is because between Sir Walter and Frenchie I have at least one bolt to deal with in each size.  For example: Sir Walter doesn't have quick release on the back wheel and guess what size bolt it is...thats right 15mm.

I also carry a few spare parts. Like a spare bolt for locking the seat post.  Guess why.

I'm not really trying to set any land speed records so I don't mind the extra weight (923g or the exact same as 26oz of water in a 1l nalgene bottle.  (yes I just weighed them on the digital kitchen scale for this post and I knew I was a dork)).  

The long ride home.

Not actually that long...but after a days work, it was a bit of work.

Also, I forgot water.  Anyone surprised?

I made it home in about 45 minutes, but the ride to the Mendota Bridge only took about twenty minutes, and riding in Eagan is much crappier than the rest of the ride.  But without water, I started flagging on the bridge and by the time I was past the Fort I was in rough shape.

Around 54th I got a fresh wind, and kept it going for a bit.

On the bridge I had been damn near clipped by a mute.  So when I saw him coming up the trail from the river side of the Fort I put some heat under it and held the lead as best I could.  He turned off at the round about and I stopped for water and a dizzy spell.  It's one thing to keep up with someone, another to be the one lugging panniers too.  

I crept the rest of the way home and pretty red on arrival.

Tomorrow: Again! (hopefully people will have a sense of etiquette...)

derailling hangover

I really need to work on drinking water.

Sunday was beautiful out, so we hopped on our bikes and headed out to see where we would end up.  Before too long we were in Uptown wandering through the Kitchen Window.  And then we biked home.  

Not the most miles we have ever rode in a day, but one of the longest for the year.  BUT, I had less than one liter of water all day.  

yes, it felt like a hangover the next morning.