Tonight - after work, thanks to the time change - I took Ol' Reliable, which I should probably now call Ol' Gunky, out for a spin along the Mississippi. I decided that I have been unnaturally cramped and contracted within doors, and should quit my whining and get out there.
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| If you zoom in you can see all the grime. Poor bike. |
I was going to stop and take a picture of a tree, surrounded by big, huge icicles, perched on the edge of the bluff, but I figured the light wasn't very good and I knew there would be a better picture to take further downstream. Well, I didn't count on the fact that that what I wanted to take a picture of was still covered in several feet of snow. Maybe next time.
Knowing that I probably missed the best spots for photos, I decided to take inventory of my ride. Here is my ride, in numbers:
30: Within the first 30 minutes of my ride, three cars passed me, reeking of pot. I don't care if you smoke pot. Don't smoke pot when you're driving, especially when I'm on my bike within a few feet of you. Dummies.
16: Roughly 16 years I've been riding this stretch with varying levels of frequency, and this was the very first time I smelled hops/mash/wort emanating from Summit Brewery. (If you're reading this, husband, I'm sorry that I do not know which part makes the smell. I just know these are words you use in beer-related sentences.)
15: I saw 15 boats of people fishing at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. Pretty impressive, Minnesotans, for a 40-degree Thursday evening with a nice breeze out of the northeast.
10: It only took 10 minutes on my first road biking adventure of 2018 to get yelled at by some dude in a conversion van - who wasn't even trying to pass me, he was going in the opposite direction - telling me to quit riding on the road and to ride on trails instead. Uhm, no. For several reasons. But thanks for the "suggestion," guy. Have you been waiting all winter to say this to someone??
6: At least 6 really deep, wide, long puddles, some with surprise frozen mud chunks at the bottom
2: I have a lot of pairs of things.
- 2 pieces of fruit: a whole banana, a whole pear
- 2 gigantic eagles' nests in Lilydale
- 2 very different sets of scenery, depending on whether you were looking at the northern bank of the river (very little snow) or the southern bank of the river (lots of snow!)
- 2 words that are inappropriate to say around children
1: Got a few of these, too.
- 1 pile of gravel that almost put me, well, ass over teakettle (see "2 words" above)
- 1 driver that reminds me that drivers have varying levels of courtesy (see "2 words" above)
- 1 daydreamer guy with headphones walking and weaving right in front of me
- 1 happy Maggie
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