Thursday

This is just a brief entry to recognize a significant anniversary.  Three years ago today was my last major mountain climb.  My pal Pete and I did Mt. Rose from the Reno side.  That death march cured me from any interest in any future effort at an hors categorie mountain.

And for full disclosure, Pete made it up 1-2 hours in advance of me!!  He had time to go down to Incline and get the car to meet me at the summit.  He also was prescient enough to stock the cooler.  But who keeps the time, right?  It was a successful ride, whatever the clock might say. 

Pete and I are fortunate to continue have good times on the bike.  Here we are just last Friday departing Starbucks for a day on Ragbrai.  Don't look back!

So I swapped-out the Home Page pic to recognize my favorite tree...passing it again yesterday on the way back from Minny.  It remains a watchful sentinel on a stream of travelers who have lots of stories.

The quick-hitter that 2 and I did to the Twin Cities Tuesday-Wednesday was also a great success.  Not the worst traffic anywhere, even without my pal Roy's Cadillac to ease the passing on those two-lanes.  No traffic to the concert venue as we basically waited until the warm-up act was in full-throttle before we even left Harvest Path!  Shania was an entertainer.  Very Vegas-y.  A little loud for me, but well-worth the experience.  The crowd was fired-up...hardly sat down for any of the show.  Shania just had to start each song, and the audience carried it the rest of the way.


I also need to make KC Rosie the blog's Sister of the Day.  Happy birthday!  I know that you are three years older than me, but I can't count as high as we need to go any more.

OK.  Done.  How did it get to be Thursday already?

BCOT

 

 

Sunday

I'm not being all that productive today. Those two days on the bike were not necessarily exhaustive, but a day of rest seems like the right call. Having all the comforts of home on Friday night (shower, regular bed rather than a tent and sleeping bag, and a great home-cooked meal) was the key to even doing two days of RAGBRAI. 2 is DAUGHTER OF THE DAY for acting as our hostess with the mostest. Thanks, Kiddo.

Here's a Top Ten list from those two days:

1. Our plans for getting to our targeted starting point, getting my pal Pete back to the Quads on Friday night, and getting my pal Ron's and my gear back here from IC all worked, but it wasn't the smoothest program.
2. We managed to make the small towns of Lisbon and Solon excellent adventures on Friday. A small town on RAGBRAI can be worth the visit.
3. I think 65 miles is about as much as I want to ride on a single day. The RAGBRAI organizers must have 65-70 as their target daily mileage. And on both of the days that we rode, they had to stretch the distance between the overnight towns to get their mileage by doing some back-and-forth, circular routing that I found unfulfilling. Whatever.
4. If you can't get along with people on RAGBRAI, you are in need of serious help. People on this ride are universally pleasant, willing to share, and courteous at every level.
5. 12-16 ounce Coors Light cans would go for $2-5 depending on the town. Those great bloodies in Lisbon were only $3.
6. Lots of state troopers and local sheriffs on duty at traffic points. Never saw any of them have to do anything other than keep traffic moving.
7. There was an ENDLESS variety of cycling jerseys and teams. The Maplecrest Cycling Club was a Top Ten look, of course.
8. Cell phone service in towns where the ride stopped could be spotty. Some of my tweets would be delayed in posting. I've run into the same problem at Kinnick on game day.
9. I'm not sure why people would ride for the full week. Two days is plenty. I mean, it's a little repetitive, yes?
10. Really glad I wasn't in a car in Coralville on Friday night. It would have been a lousy night for a drive.

The morning paper did mention some RAGBRAI riders who got up at oh-dark-hundred in Iowa City on Saturday morning and got to Davenport in time to run the Bix 7 road race that stated at 0800. Yeah, that was on my list too. Although really, it wasn't that hard of a task considering that it was just over 60 miles of predominately flat roads with mostly a tailwind. It was doable for even an average rider. At least my pal Pete didn't try to pull that stunt.

I reserved our Hertz rental car for the September trip when we will be making the transfer from Barcelona to Bordeaux. The daily fee is almost in the "cheap" range. The kicker is the $350 drop-off fee since we won't be bringing the car back to the same rental location. We ran into the same type of add-on charge last year when we picked up the car in SF and turned it in in Reno. In doing some checking on-line, drop-off charges in Europe can regularly go to $500. I'm guessing that a more experienced traveler could find a better deal.

I have so much work to do before Europe that it's scary. Real scary.

The TdF ended today in Paris. I didn't follow it as much this year. The winner had been in the yellow jersey for most of the last two weeks. The only mystery today was who would get the stage win on the Champs-Élysées...and the guy who had won most of the earlier sprints won this one too. Meh. Little doping news this year. They must be using better drugs.

Shania is here in Moline tonight. We see her Tuesday in Minny. From what little reading I've done, her recent concerts have been fairly well reviewed. It would be a bummer if it was otherwise, eh?

OK, here's my take on The Donald. I've never liked the guy, never watched any of his shows, and disregarded his opinions on anything. What he is doing is tapping into the segment of conservatives who were maybe Tea Partiers...who want a voice to stop the Obama-Clinton progression to essentially a socialist form of government. So Trump gets a little more time in the spotlight while all of the other GOP candidates muddle the screen. My fear is that the ultimate outcome is that he runs as a third party next year and literally hands the election over to HRC (or Fauxcahontous Warren if H wears out her welcome). I've stopped reading, listening or watching any of them.

All for now. I hope to figure a way to get back here more regularly.

BCOT

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday

 

Saturday

The week certainly got away from me. 

First off, let's give Lady Liberty her due.  It is the 4th of July.  Mid-year.  What happened to the first half?  Most of these three-day holiday weekends use the Monday for the extra day.  Friday as the off-day is harder to adjust to.  I spent most of Thursday thinking that it was Friday, and today definitely has the feel of Sunday.  Whatever.

Speaking of the 4th, is there a singer out there more identified with a single song than Lee Greenwood and God Bless the USA?  (Jim Nabors and Back Home in Indiana really doesn't count if you aren't an Indy 500 fan.)  I suppose Billy Ray Cyrus and Achy Breaky Heart...but who doesn't hate that song?

This is also the start-day for this year's TdF.  As what has become a bit of an annual viewer-grab, the Tour isn't starting in France...Utrecht in The Netherlands.  Never heard of the place.  Today's offering is a short individual time trial...called a prologue.  Serious racing starts tomorrow.  They've already had one rider accused of a drug problem.  As you can see from the map, they really don't see all that much of France this year.

(The original route had the Galibier (the hill I climbed on my first trip to Italy/France in 2009 with 2) included on the last mountain stage...which still has Le Alpe d'Huez...but there was something about one of the tunnels not being safe, so they had to re-route the stage.)

It has been minorly strange these last couple of days not having The Winniferous in residence on Maplecrest.  After a week, I had become used to the routine of getting her out on the walks, and of having her in my face any time I pulled something out to eat.  Being back in control of my homestead is good.  No way will there be a dog in my future.

The BEATER is back in the shop.  Water pump.  Each of these little repairs is a nuisance, but not quite enough to pull the plug.  But the recurring nuisances are collectively beginning to edge me closer to a change.  I like a back-up.  But it needs to be less of a hassle.

I forgot my iPad at the office yesterday afternoon when we left for the day.  I had thought I might do a blog entry from home late in the afternoon before I noticed it not being with me.  But with my time occupied by that first bike ride and the Friday puzzle, I found that the iPad was not worth the trip back to pick it up.  It makes you wonder about the electronic dependency that seems to grab us all.

All for now.  I may try to get back here later today.

Make it a Good Saturday in your neighborhood.

BCOT