Hostile ground

The road was sandy and rutted under increasingly tangled concrete overpasses. I pushed my bike until the place’s hostility became too much, and I turned back.

Categorized as Cycle

Beyond the pretty path

Cycled with a friend visiting from the UK. Decided the route didn’t need to be pretty all the way, so we included some industrial areas. This GAF roofing shingle plant fit the bill, especially since the asphalt fumes seemed… robust.

I tip well

A flock of scooters had completely taken over the racks outside Whole Foods. I shooed one away to make room for my old hoss, and it promptly succumbed to gravity.

Categorized as Cycle

Stillwater via rail trails

It was glorious weather for a bike ride on part of the Gateway Trail then the Brown’s Creek Trail to Stillwater. Here we’re cycling back out of Stillwater after stopping for coffee and calories. On the left, the former railroad depot has unevenly morphed into a K-5 charter school. (Dwight took this photo of our friend and me.)

Table service at Lake Harriet

Cycled our favorite loop via Lake Harriet where we stopped for breakfast at Bread & Pickle. Here I’m delivering the always-fresh coffee while breakfast sandwiches were being cooked to order.

Categorized as Eat, Cycle

Minnesota River ride

Cycled with a friend, starting at the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge, now free of automobiles. An ice warning sign was a great reminder to make the most of the last days of summer. Across the bridge, we followed a lovely new wooded trail along the Minnesota River, then backtracked.

Categorized as Cycle

By popular demand: repeat runways ride

From the vantage point I discovered at the airport last week, watched planes take off, including this A320. My friend didn’t know about this part of the airport, which is surrounded by runways and reached via tunnels, so we made it our cycle ride today.

Categorized as Cycle

De-beeping a tracker for a bicycle

Wearing a cut-resistant glove, forced open a tracker to remove its speaker (the tiny white and gold circle). The speaker’s beeping is an anti-stalking feature, but I don’t want a bike thief to know they’re being tracked. My plan is to hide the tracker in a cavity behind the reflector, but it doesn’t quite fit. The reflector vendor is going to 3D-print a case with a slightly wider cavity that will fit.

Categorized as Cycle, IT

Surrounded by runways

Today was my annual ‘Cycle to the Airport’ day. I rode through tunnels under runways to a viewpoint surrounded by four runways, where I watched planes take off and land on parallel runways. I just missed the departing Tokyo flight, which was probably for the best, as I would have only imagined myself on it.

Categorized as Cycle

Trails and treats

Riding with a friend, we biked a route that included two new trail sections along the Mississippi River, one passing under a freight rail bridge and another beneath a busy road. We stopped at the new Aki’s BreadHaus and WunderBar, enjoying delicious pastries that brought back childhood memories for my friend. We continued our trip carrying freshly baked baguettes for later.

Categorized as Eat, Cycle