And that's a wrap

Well, 2017 is coming to a close and to further confirm that I'm a creature of habit, I realized that I do indeed take pictures at nearly the exact same spots each time I walk near my most northernly parents' house (see below). They live on the land where their old rustic cabin stood, so this place is very special to me.

We didn't take our bikes for the short Christmas trip, but I think we both sort of regretted that decision. Good snow and, compared to now, it wasn't really that cold.

A highlight of the trip, beyond going to my favorite woodsy spots with my trusty canine companion (and husb), was trekking to town with my parents to see the Star Wars movie.

We saw my other parents, too, as well as 2/5 of my sibs and 1/3 of those who call me auntie. We watched some good movies there, ate some pie, and had some quality Blokus competition going on.

We're hunkering down for the new year and I am behind on some of my team captain things (sigh), but I gave myself a treat of going to yet another movie.

I went to the cheap theater to see Marshall this p.m. and was surprised to re-learn that their cut-throat $3 rate was reduced to $2 at the 5 p.m. showing - - because it is a matinee. I wonder how many people sneak in a 5 p.m. movie because it costs $2 rather than $3? Regardless, it was nice to wind down the year watching a movie about such a great man.

Here's hoping that I can kick off the new year with a bike ride, like last year. We shall see, we shall see....

Happy 2018!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/Maggie2018TourDeMN

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MS150Maggie2018

How'd Ya Like To Spend Christmas on Christmas Island?

"Wait for Santa to sail in with your presents in a canoe..."

For some reason, whenever I ride from my house down to the state park, I forget that one of its islands is Picnic Island. I start singing about Christmas Island and can't go back...

The park had some surprisingly slim pickings in terms of animal tracks. Most of the deer tracks I saw were on Christmas, er, Picnic Island, and I did not see one turkey track in the whole dang park.

I saw two ice fishing parties on the little lake, and these guys (below) on the little stream that runs between the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers.

The Minnesota River had some cool ice chunks on it as it begins to turn more solid. My picture doesn't do it justice.

On the other side of the river is where my bike acquired its mud a few weeks ago. Today I learned that snow doesn't magically remove hardened, weeks' old mud. Who knew?

"How'd ya like to hang a stocking on a great big coconut tree?"

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/Maggie2018TourDeMN

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MS150Maggie2018

Why yes, Maggie, there *IS* a Santa...

I'm singing along to some good ol' Trailer Trash honkey tonk (honkeytonk? honkey-tonk?) Christmas music while I update my #BikeMS fundraising pages because it truly is "time to polka those bleak midwinter blues away."

One good way to get rid of midwinter blues is to think of riding a bike in July. The 300-mile July Ride Across Minnesota (TRAM) is now called the Tour de Minnesota. It's a good change. The route rarely went across the entire state. They could have just called it The Ride Around Minnesota, but that's a dumb name, and "the Tour" will maybe get some new people interested in riding.

Anyhow, one of the hottest days of my life was the day that I encountered Santa and Mrs. Claus at rest stop #3 of an 80+ mile ride headed to Two Harbors.

July 2013 TRAM

Headed to Lake Superior after seeing Santa and Mrs. Claus -
I think this also was right when I crossed the Laurentian Divide.

I'm looking forward to the ride this coming July. The route hasn't been officially announced yet, but it will be scenic and festive no matter what.

Two years ago, I put together an Xmas Wish List for Santa.

Included on that list were a new road bike, a new fat tire bike, a new Garmin, better bike lights, better gloves and foot protection while cycling, and resolution of a work situation (I didn't quite envision a new job, but that works). I got all of these things since then! There is a Santa!

He still hasn't brought me more bike trips or Irish dancing skills, or even world peace, but maybe this will be the year.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/Maggie2018TourDeMN

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MS150Maggie2018

Goals

I'm not a super goal-oriented person. Well,  I am, but my goals are really fluid, which probably just means I'm not very good with goals. Or maybe I'm just good at life? 

When my work commute changed to a simple walk up the attic stairs and I had social events keep me from doing some longer rides this fall, my goal to steadily increase my biking each year changed to "maintain in 2017."

So, today, as the end of 2017 nears, I just barely (i.e. 2 miles) surpassed my 2016 mileage. And I'm good with that.

I'm not sure yet what my 2018 cycling goals could be. Right now I am sitting in the glow of the tree lights, mulling over a goal of doing a pull-up - a single pull-up - this next year. That seems pretty ambitious as is...

Livin' It Up at 21

If you're like me, you remember your 21st birthday. Oh, wait, maybe you were drunk. I wasn't, but I did go buy a beer because I could.

Anyhow, so much life had been lived by then - or so it felt. Endless years of childhood, toiling through the teen years, getting a decent part of college under the belt, whatever the heck that means.

Today marks the 21st anniversary of when I signed the papers on, and moved into, my house. The house is much older than 21 - nearly 100 years old - but man, that went quick.

The neighborhood has changed - we have a new taproom opening imminently, a new restaurant and bar that opened a couple of weeks ago, plus all the businesses that opened in the past 8 years or so that are all within a few blocks - the cupcake shop, the bike shop, the taproom/brewpub, two restaurants, a gift shop, a fly fishing shop (yes, we live in THAT neighborhood).  There's now light rail. We still have the same number of bakeries and barbershops (2 each), the hardware store, the old-timey sporting goods store, and the scary Bill's Chinese Garden takeout place.

We still have the debate about what to do about Lake Hiawatha's shoreline (natural restoration, or crappy gross beach?), but now are debating what to do about the sinking golf course. The outdoor hockey rink boards have been delivered to the park, but the skating season gets shorter and less good each year and the sound of the puck hitting the boards is less prominent. 

Neighbors have come and gone, but the good ones stayed in touch.

I didn't realize when I moved in just how much I would appreciate the lake and park being so close, or how much I would come to appreciate my neighborhood's bikeability. I didn't know how much this place and my circumstances, just by happenstance, would shape me.

There are things about my house and neighborhood that stink, don't get me wrong, but I maybe would be different if they were different. So today I'm appreciative that I was able to scrape together some cash back in the day and get this place. Even if it doesn't - still - have a fireplace.

Year of Big Change, Big Thanks, Lots of Fresh Air, and Petty Gripes

In 2010, when I didn't ride in winters and I had very rigid rules of when it was too cold or precipitous (precipitation-filled?) to be on a bike, we had a really warm Thanksgiving. I started my Thanksgiving bike riding tradition that day, which has continued every year, regardless of the weather. 

Interestingly, the bike rides help me remember what we ate for dinner. Or do the dinners remind me of the bike rides? In any event, we had Indian buffet that first year. (The rice was a little dry.) The year after, I rode near some wild turkeys in the drizzle while I had a turkey in the oven at home. A few years later, we tried Ol' Mexico. 

Today, we made a repeat visit to Merlin's Rest. The last time we went to this Irish bar for Thanksgiving, it was snowy and really cold. I learned three important things that day: riding a fat tire bike can be tons of fun, I cannot ignore my poor circulation, and Irish whiskey in coffee is gross.

Today was a great day. It got up to about 40 degrees, there was a little bit of wind that slightly hampered western movement, and it was sunny. Ah, sun. 

For some reason, I opted to stay behind the trees
when taking a photo of the Grain Belt Beer sign.

During the bike ride, I was reflecting on 2017 thus far. I got to visit my friend Ian and my sister Molly's family in February, our BikeMS team grew a ton, we raised a new team record  amount of money for the MS Society, we did the MS150 in the most unbelievable storm, there was a memorable scenic hill I rode up while doing the MS TRAM that I remember fondly, we had a fun family reunion in Kentucky, I got to visit one set of parents in the north woods, and I got to go to Duluth with the other set. Professionally, I resigned - after 11 years - from an excellent job with amazing colleagues who taught me a lot and am learning new things at another excellent job with amazing colleagues, while still getting to work on tobacco control policy. 

I am grateful for my family, a good job, a lot of time riding around on my bike, and my health. Any complaints I have are all superficial and unimportant. Not everyone is as lucky. I know people who have lost loved ones, and who are struggling with serious illnesses. That makes my heart hurt. 

I can't solve everything, but I can do what I can do. So, as I spend the weekend eating turkey, hanging out with friends, and making excuses to not go to the gym, I'm thinking ahead to next year's BikeMS rides (and impatiently waiting for the 5-day TRAM route to be announced and for registration to open!), working with some teammates on some fundraising ideas, and am talking to the MS Society about recruiting, supporting, and retaining riders. 

Thanks to anyone who is reading this. You've supported me in one way or another, and for that I am grateful.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MS150Maggie2018

Minnesota Goodness

While the title of this post could apply to being a hearty Minnesotan and riding these past few weekends despite the cold and occasional patches of ice, today it refers to today's fat bike ride along parts of the Minnesota River.

We rode last weekend on pavement in this area. Today was a bit more... muddy. I wish I would have copied Matt and taken a photo of my mud-laden bike at the height of its messiness. We thought it would be drier on the trail. As it was, mud was flinging up and hitting my helmet. A chunk even went between my glasses and my eye. My clothes and shoes were pretty stinky.

I think the highlight for me was trying not to run over a fully formed dead fish on the skinny, uphill, left-curving dirt trail. I'm still not great at riding - okay, not yet at all willing to ride - across a 4x4 hunk of wood across a tiny stream on 4-inch tires. I'm optimistic I'll conquer my brain at some point.

I've enjoyed getting out these past few weekends, which are making me think I might actually be able to just surpass last year's annual mileage if it stays above 20 degrees somewhat consistently during the daytime. It isn't actually about the mileage, but having a small goal will help keep me riding, which is always a good thing.

I am only one person, but I have two thumbs

Tonight I went to see Le Ride, a movie that was shown in a southern suburb after some industrious person hit a goal of selling a minimum number of tickets. There was such a lycra-crowd demand, they moved it to a bigger theater in the complex. It was a very fit, mostly white, largely male audience. That didn't stop me from going all in on buttery, salty popcorn.

Watch the trailer here: https://youtu.be/dX7Z_ZT_baE.

Basically, two guys re-rode the 1928 Tour de France route, on the same schedule and on 1928 bikes, retracing the steps of the first (and very undersupported) English-speaking Tour team. It was grueling for the documentarians, despite having good support and, unlike the 1928 riders, paved roads and (presumably unlike the 1928 riders) chamois.

I learned that France has beautiful scenery, that bikes in 1928 were very rudimentary, that Australasia is a word, that cyclists in that era were total badasses, and that there's no effing way I could do that ride within 4 weeks on my good bike.

But it was a good reminder that I can push myself more.

Familiarity breeds... familiarity?

Yesterday Matt and I rode a familiar route from the Fort to Pine Point. Because few people were riding in the 30-something-degree mist, it was a pretty easy, non-stressful ride primarily on a trail. We decided that it can be a good thing to ride a familiar route (although that didn't stop us from deviating slightly so that we could have one of our trademark, "Here? Right or left? Uhh..." moments).

I was thinking last night that because Matt and I ride so much together, familiarity with each other also is good. I noticed that we both signal for traffic in the same way at the same time. We pedal standing at some intersections for the same number of pedalstrokes. We have a system of dropping back and catching up that keeps us from colliding. There is so much that goes right and is not communicated on every ride, day in and day out, without even having to think about it.

Because the human brain is what it is, what sometimes gets remembered are the parts that don't always go perfectly. I appreciate that since we spend so much time together, Matt feels comfortable telling me that I am not good at telling him that he can set the pace and then riding at his pace. Thankfully, it wasn't a big deal, and it opened a door about why we were approaching four-way stops differently than in the past (my theory is that I become inconsistent the more hungry I get) as we ate some yummy pizza and drank some beer about eight miles from the finish.

So, while familiarity can allow for greater unfiltered honesty, I argue that it doesn't necessarily breed contempt. I think Matt would agree because apparently his biggest beef with me today is the fact that I don't like ranch-flavored foods. (Have I ever mentioned the intellectual rigor of our ride chats?) I suggest to you, gentle reader, that familiarity with your riding partner makes a great ride go more smoothly and gets you out on the bike even more. 

I Like Warm Beverages

Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

Apologies to any G. Love and Special Sauce fans.

So, yeah, it's winterish here all of a sudden, with overnight temps in the 20s and daytime windchill temps in the 20s.

Despite much layering, some of which is depicted here, different rotating parts of my body were getting cold on the first couple hours of our bike ride yesterday. A coffee stop and insertion of chemical toe warmers made all the difference for the second half. Although I still am not sure whether the sensation of cycling slowly through thick muck was caused by cold muscles or the fact that I was wearing two pairs of pants. I had a nice chat with Matt while pedaling down the nearly vacant bike path (best part about riding in the cold!) about ideas for motivating my team to hit a fairly aggressive fundraising goal this year.

After a nice stretchy yoga to get the kinks out this morning, I stopped for tea to make a dent in the very generous gift card my former coworkers gave me. I decided to use the balance to buy loose tea, using up the entire gift card and spending, uh, a ton of my own money. But I'm set for a cozy winter of drinking!

Here we go! Brrr!

Highs and lows

High points:

🍁 Scanning Fall from my usual river-as-seasonal-barometer overlook at Fort Snelling (pic below).

🚴‍♀️ Warming up by climbing the Montreal hill.

🗼 Walking up the steps of the rarely-open Highland Park water tower and scanning the area from the observation deck (pics below).

🚴‍♀️ Riding through my beloved, quiet, cold Swede Hollow (the name fits!), on the new-to-me Streetcar Trail in Mahtomedi (?), and past a pretty farm in Lake Elmo.

🤢 Not throwing up after eating spicy pad thai for breakfast, drinking coffee, and having ultra spicy wings for lunch.

Low points:

🌬 Variable weather requiring multiple adjustments of layers.

⚠️ The first black SUV that passed within a foot of me, and the second one that only gave me about two feet.

🔑 Losing my house and garage keys.

🚴‍♀️ Knowing that there are only about 6 weeks left of getting out on my road bike.

Where have all the mulberries gone?

Today's ride was my second annual Oktoberfest visit to Badger Hill brewery in Shakopee. I meet Dan there after he mountain bikes at a nearby trail, we have a beer together, and we buy beer glasses we don't need.

While I often remark on the majestic Mississip, the Minnesota River is nothing to scoff at. I passed over it a few times today, including when on the Bloomington Ferry Trail bridge, which is where I ate handful after handful of mulberries mid-ride in June. Sadly, I just ate a Clif bar there today.

I was glad to get this relatively short ride in before it started raining. I spent the rainy late afternoon at the cheap theater with my nephews, watching Wonder Woman. I'm glad that they don't question woman superheroes and just accept that they are badasses, and also that they will hang out with their crochety old aunt,  even joining her for dinner, in exchange for a movie ticket and some snacks.

du Lhut

I skipped what would've been a good weekend to bike in either bike-friendly Mpls or bike-friendly Duluth to instead explore Duluth with Dan and one half of my parents.

The highlight of the weekend definitely was touring Glensheen Mansion, which I've driven by a ton of times, but never visited. I liked it better than the railroadeer James J. Hill House - probably because it was so well preserved with original furnishings. I like to think of the super rich Congdons (rich due to good mining investments in MN and orchard investments in the Pacific NW) and the Hills in the same era, schmoozing like the characters from a British TV show. Or from a Wooster and Jeeves book. 

Anyhow, here are some photos, with captions! (Oooh la la.)

Sat a.m. sunrise from our Airbnb

Glensheen pier in Lake Superior. A big portion was removed, and this piece was grandfathered in.

There's a little ol' Leprechaun striking a senior portrait pose
on this bridge over the creek next to Glensheen.

Fancy servants' entrance. They think the Congdons
were extra nice to their servants
because they had such humble beginnings.

This foyer is pretty much all that reminded me of the Hill House.

Such beautiful windows throughout; highly impractical, I'd think, considering the location.

Check out the color of these lampshades when turned on.

Same ones, when turned off. There were a lot of fixtures like that,
but these were the best photographed ones. And I like the style.

My favorite room! The breakfast room.
The glass was painted, rather than stained glass.

The breakfast room from another angle, showing how green it was,
highlighting the wood, and showing the fancy butler's pantry.
That fountain on the wall was used to water all the plants that used to fill this room. Sigh.

My dad at Gooseberry Falls. He and I kept taking pictures of each other
because our lame travel companions hate having their photos taken.

Duluth is named after a French explorer, who first visited the area about 335 years ago. That's ancient history for Minnesota...

Holy sh*t

I am still flabbergasted.

It was a great post-work, 40+ mile ride, muchly in the dark. Near the end of it all, the manhole cover I rode over must have been a bit deeper set than it appeared.

I hit it, both my hands shot up off my handlebars, I swerved yet maintained immediate control likely due to being clipped in, and caught my handlebars with the insides of my wrists when my arms came back down. I'm amazed I didn't crash to the ground, am even more amazed I didn't crash into Matt, and am very appreciative that he is a totally unflappable rider.

I had been planning on posting either about my sweaty fast ride this past weekend or the pretty yet short fall rides I've taken around town, but really, all I can keep thinking is exactly what I said to Matt after disaster was averted: "Holy Sh*t!"

Caught between two extremes

I spent a lot of time on my bike this past weekend, and then not at all since. Still haven't figured out my new work routine.

Saturday's highlight was a slow moving bike tour of St. Paul buildings designed by Cap Wigington, a lead civil architect of the first half of the 1900s - - a noteworthy accomplishment, given the fact that he experienced a lot of racism as an African American. Coolest thing to learn? He designed most of the winter carnival ice palaces that have ever existed.

We went to a church he'd worked on - St. James A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal). Interestingly, the congregation built its first church in 1880 (scraping together gifts averaging $0.55). The first A.M.E. church was started about 100 years earlier after the Methodists were total jerks, in short, to their own church members who were black.

Sunday, I rode as fast as possible to and from yoga, met some Bike MS teammates and did a nice ride that meandered along the Mississippi, ate a great burrito, and bought myself a glass mosaic at the neighborhood art crawl. The mosaic artist has a lot of her stuff on display at the coffee shop where I ate my burrito, and I've been admiring it for months. Her work, not the shop or the burrito. Although I would recommend the burrito without hesitation. Plus the coffee shop now sells beer, which goes great with burritos.

Tonight's MS Society fundraiser event was a good reminder to me of why I do much of what I do on a bike. I'm lucky to be able to support their work.