early season commuting in Minnesota

Here in the Midwest, riding in the Spring-time can often mean completely different wardrobes at different times of the day. This not only means one must own a broad assortment of riding clothes but it has the potential to make dressing and packing for a single weekday's commute notably challenging. Morning temps can start at 3o-odd degrees while an afternoon can top out in the 60's or even 70's.

I find a light packable wind vest, arm and leg/knee warmers as well as toe covers to be indispensable accessories this time of year. Full-finger gloves and some sort of a hat, too, of course.

Nevertheless, some people manage to pull off Spring-time riding in Minnesota with a single get-up for the entire day. These folks seem to err on the light side, putting up with morning chills in order to avoid over heating in the afternoon. I am not one of these people but I'm certainly not about to tell him or her how to dress.

Others, take it in an entirely contrary direction.

Though this photo may not do him justice, the guy up ahead on the receiving end of the "thumbs up" chose to don a full-body, safety-orange skin-suit. What makes this scene all the more precious for me is knowledge that none other than famed Italian bicycle component manufacturer, Campagnolo, at some point in time, produced this gem.

Priceless.

tuffride!

Tuffride was super awesome today. I got the crap kicked out of me. I am going to sleep like a bag of rocks tonight.

I forgot the HR strap at home this morning so no clue what what happening on that front but it was probably pegged most of the time so, OK, big deal that I forgot it. I was annoyed by the new Garmin after realizing it decided to stop recording the ride about 7.5 miles into the affair. I hadn't noticed cause I was only occasionally glancing at the screen to see what the current speed was. I am also realizing that five data fields per screen (there are two among which to toggle) is probably TMI. I'm going to cut it down to three or four at least on the first screen shot.

We were flying today, at least for the part of the ride that I was able to hang with -- more or less the first half. The group broke into two smaller ones toward the end of CR 24 on the run into Lake Independence. Since I was mostly (OK, totally) riding wheels while we were on 24, I got caught in the 2nd group. Luckily, so had Ped and Smithers who tried against the rest of our best efforts to organize a rotation and chase down the group that'd escaped. Unfortunately, the amateurs prevailed but the yelling and hollering from Ped was both highly instructive as well as entertaining. Same SPBRC dude who fumbled in the pace line two weeks ago was causing trouble yet again. Bummer for him but also for the rest of the group. At one point, Ped yelled, "c'mon! we're not a bunch of Cat 4's!" and that made me chuckle (cause, really, I am Cat 4 pack-fill) but that was only in my head because I was turning myself inside out to do my part (which, of course, I did in a mediocre capacity).

I was dropped from this 2nd group but because the ride slows some to re-group once at Lake Independence I was able to TT my way to the back of the pack where Ped and Smithers kindly helped me recover a bit on their wheels and offered good advice. I was pretty much toast at that point, but I managed to barely hold on to the group for maybe another mile, if that, before getting shelled for good. I felt like I was going to blow chunks so I decided to ease off the throttle and let the group slip away. Smithers gave me a couple of pushes before I blew, which was impressive for him (he pushed remarkably hard taking into account that this is in the middle of tuffride) and embarrassing for me. But again, I was about to up-chuck so keeping the GU and nuun down was what I was most concerned with.

The remainder of the ride, though completed in mono, was not too bad. I had another GU in the pocket for a bit of fuel while riding into the wind and it wasn't too cold. I had time to focus on my spin and work to keep my cadence up. The whole thing is totally worth the effort. If you ever have an opportunity to do this ride, you should not hesitate. Just be prepared to get worked six times over.

"It occurs in Earth"

What does it say about otherwise competent and lucid Minnesotans that a person such as Michelle Bachmann can be elected not once but twice to serve in the US House as a representative of our state?

What does it say about the individuals in our 6th District who voted her into office either of these two times (but especially the second)?

What does it say about those who helped Bachmann achieve re-election this past November? (you idiots know who you are)

This is nothing short of a travesty.

for zach (frank)

Today my keyboard broke at work.
I've had this keyboard for many years -- almost as long as I've worked at this place.
I received a temporary replacement keyboard that is not like the keyboard I had and was told a replacement would be ordered.

The problem is that my old keyboard was one of those goofy anatomically correct (ergo?) keyboards.
The kind with the giant cleft straight up its mid section.
The new keyboard is a standard "workman's" keyboard.
It is rectangular and awkward, to say the least.
Some of the keys I frequently use are in different places, making me slower and less efficient at otherwise menial tasks.
This pains me in more ways than one.

So, here's to living the life of a tyrannosaurus rex for the next week or two.
I truly do not know how the rest of you do it...