Beech Woods on All Hallow's Eve

Yet another windy, windy day. Again, I used the shelter of the beech woods for the first half of my ride. Up and down each street, looking for Halloween decorations. I found a couple, this was the best. TT still wins for best photo of decorated house with his 'witch on roof' shot. But it seemed necessary to post something seasonal today. The last day of October. I turned around at Tunnel Park. The sand has drifted up to the top of the seats on the deck at the end of the tunnel, and has started to drift down the tunnel. I thought it made an interesting photo.

My October mileage numbers were good for this time of year. I am only 55 miles behind last year's total miles for the year. I rode 22 times this month, not bad for a month that had 15 days of rain here. (The theme for tomorrow's first of the month theme day is the color blue. At least according to a blog in New Zealand. They posted a photo of their flag.) Happy All Hallow's Eve.

Deere in Corn

It is a little hard to read unless you click on the picture, but it is a John Deere combine -- in a field along James Street, west of Bowerman's blueberry farm. Harvest season seems to be running late around here. Taken this morning about 10:30. I love being semi retired -- have I mentioned that? This morning about 9:30, TOPWLH suggested that it looked like a great day for a bike ride. It seemed kinda windy to me, but on reflection, I decided he was right. And he was. And it was windy. It was also sunny and warming up from 50.

Away from the lakes we are about at peak color here. The trees along the lake shore and those that line Pine Creek Bay seem to be the last to turn color. This is from yesterday, and not only is the maple tree still mostly green, so are the trees across the 'bay' from it. The tree on it's right is the one that we call the 'Kelsey Tree' because it is all still completely green. As if it was saying, 'It's Still June!' The forecast is for two days of breezy followed by a day of windy, so I think we'll lose most of the leaves that have turned color fairly soon.

To Ride or Not to Ride

Rain overnight and into the morning. The promised clearing at noon did not materialize. The radar showed no rain, but it looked dark and ominous out the window. I wandered around the house some, pumped the tires on the Elite, laid out my foul weather gear. I finally decided to give it a try. I rode out to the state park -- an easy bail out ride with lots of side loops available without ever being far from home. The roads were drier than expected, and it was pretty sheltered in the woods so I didn't feel the full brunt of the wind until I got to the beach. Riding to the edge of the parking lot I got hit by a gust of wind that nearly brought me to a standstill. You can see the waves and spray over the breakwater.
This girl was getting into her wetsuit to surf as I left. I told her to have fun. About 15 miles, and one of those dark and blustery days that sometimes gives you a memorable ride. It was fun.

Nice Orange Shirt, Corn Stalk Boy

This is about as good as I've found so far -- nowhere near as impressive as TT's photos of Halloween decorations, but still right on theme. It is the last weekend of the month, and rain is moving in from the south. It doesn't look promising. I counted the number of other bikers out this morning -- I saw two of them. One was an old guy on a comfort bike. The other guy startled me, as he was wearing what looked like exactly the same helmet and jersey I was wearing. Kinda spooky, this close to Halloween.

deserted

It was below freezing when I woke up this morning. Our first frost here this fall -- really quite late in the season for it. Work and such dictated a later ride, but I still biked out to the beach and back before supper. It looks calm and deserted. The calm part is deceptive, as there was a pretty good east wind. But it was deserted, except for a few footprints. It had warmed to nearly 60 by the time I got there in the late afternoon. Idlewood's south access point. It strikes me that 'deserted' is a strange word. We should either spell it differently or pronounce it differently. It sounds like it should be spelled 'desserted' -- but then it would be a much sweeter word. Pointless ramblings?

Lake Effect Ride

Yesterday was rain, then work, then dark. Today was temperatures in the upper 40's and winds from the north at 11-14 mph. I rode this morning -- my preference -- with gale warnings forecast for this afternoon, it seemed prudent. Full fall color hasn't happened here yet, especially near the two lakes. What we do get this time of year is lake effect rain and lake effect clouds. It can be bright and sunny inland but the clouds cling to the lake shore with a north wind. These clouds hung around the shoreline all day. (Looking northwest along Butternut.) It was a bit cooler than I am used to, but I was warm enough the whole ride. I have finally worn all of my new cool weather gear. The new face mask is great for warmth, but it's hard to drink through it. My new blue wool jersey over my blue silk (ski) base layer with the new yellow Goretex jersey worked to keep my core warm enough. The ride out into the wind was tiring, as the headwind increased as I rode. Pigeon Lake was the goal again, but looked pretty similar to the last time I was there. I was hoping for some vibrant colors.

Of course the headwind on the way out became a sweet tailwind -- still increasing -- on the way home. There was about a 3 mile stretch where I felt like I was flying. Fun. And I found this Halloween picture for you. Or is it a Christmas picture? Or both? Another nice October ride.

Southwest

The wind was from the southwest, so I rode as far south as I could, without crossing the bridge. Along Ottawa Beach Road near Lake Mac -- the morning sun seems to highlight the colors pretty well. I then rode as far west as I could -- this is Tunnel Park. I was beginning to lose the sunshine as clouds rolled in. With all of the wind directed riding out of the way, I headed north for a ways. Hunting season is coming soon, and that will restrict all rides to the north, so I'm thinking there are not many more rides out that way this year.

I was rewarded for my choice of direction with a close up view of a flock of turkeys having their breakfast. They didn't seem concerned that I was there at all.

Eventually I headed east, where a deer ran across the road in front of me -- too fast for a photo. There were also quite a few alpaca out this morning, for a nice 'wildlife' trilogy. I expected a bit of a headwind on my last leg home, which did happen. But the sun also came out for a bit, making it a really nice fall ride.

Goal

Whatever the wind equivalent is for 'mad dogs and Englishmen' and the midday sun, I qualified for it today. Wind advisories up and down the shoreline, gale warnings on the lake, waves 10 to 12 feet. Steady winds in the 20's, gusting into the 30's. A wind gust of 51 was measured on the beach today. But I took a short ride, just far enough to make my total mileage goal for the year. Here's Ruby, at about the point when I crossed that imaginary line, leaning against a beech tree near Lake Mac. As it turns out, I'm glad that I didn't get the extra miles in while I was in MN. It seems appropriate that I was riding Ruby when I hit the 3,000 mile mark.

It was not as nice as day as last week's 8 lake tour, of course. But then, few are. GZ and BB for scale.

Indianapolis

My trip to Indianapolis was interesting and informative. It was warmer and sunnier there than it was in MN, for example. Upper sixties, positively balmy while I was there. It was also clear that the trees are only just now beginning to change color. I saw lots of the red maple trees, with color only at the tops of branches. My time in the cities was too short, but still lots of fun. I haven't been to a hockey game in a while, but those lady Gophers were pretty good. And it was great that Adam and Emily could join us, even if Adam's thumbs did turn blue.

I liked this shot from the trip to the Como Conservatory's chrysanthemum show. It was lovely, and warm. The bike ride on Saturday was great, the 8 lake tour being one of my favorite rides anywhere. Although, as the great flatlands rider, I must say it was a bit hillier than I am used to. There are towering clouds here tonight and tornado watches, so I'm glad I got my travelling out of the way when I did. Thanks to all for the great weekend. Wish I could have stayed longer, but duty calls. Not to mention Indianapolis.

Changes

Another hot and sultry October day. I had an appointment with my doctor this morning, which pushed possible ride times off until noonish. He is leaving town, unable to make a living here, he says, and relocating to Wisconsin. His office was extraordinarily convenient, next to the fairgrounds. With a signigicant southerly wind, I rode mostly east and a little north. Too dang hot. I dropped south to ride along the Lake Mac shore -- that helped quite a bit. So another fairly short ride. But more than an hour, so probably enough in this heat.

It is also time to begin shutting down the beach place for the season. Tomorrow the lawn sprinkling system people will come with their compressed air and blow the water out of the system. So all the outdoor water must be shut off. No more outdoor showering until next year. The leaves on the maple tree next to the deck are just drying up and falling off the tree. It should have gotten plenty of water, as the yard sprinkling system covers the base of that tree. The SLO's are going to move all of their stuff next weekend. So the rest of my rides this year will no longer include the Idlewood Hill. Unless I include it in my route. It could happen.

Greenly Street

Friday and Saturday set new record high temperatures for the dates. Mid 80's, so not really such a big deal. It may happen again today, and forecasters are hyper-ventilating about the possibility of a 90 degree day. Never happened here before in October, at least for as long as they've been keeping records. (Not exactly a long time, so kinda lame.) The best choice of ride time seemed to be morning, yet again. Not far, again. But some nice signs of fall showing up. The blueberry bushes are beginning to take on a reddish color, and I think that is a sumac with few red leaves in the front of the picture. Along Greenly, more or less across the street from the Alpaca farm.

Several of them were grazing this morning -- there is a group in the upper right hand corner. And another group to the left of the brown one, out of camera range. A herd, maybe? A coven, a covey? What do you call a group of alpaca? A very nice Sunday morning ride. Time to head to the beach with the SLO's for what is probably the last good beach day of the year. October.

(In World Cup Rugby news, congratulations to France and England. Commiserations to NZ and OZ. Not a good day down-under.)

Coast Guard Park

Sometimes soccer games have a higher priority than bike rides. This morning at 8:30 was one of those times. It was a beautiful morning, already in the 70's, even though the sun had been up less than a hour. Number 5, with his hand on his hip, is an especially cute player. Coast Guard Park is apparently an old rifle range, and the area was once popular for cross country skiing. A really pretty spot to spend an hour or so watching little boys kick soccer balls around. TJ's team won. He kicked the ball a couple of times, always in the correct direction.

Another very short ride today -- warm and windy once again. Cooler weather is coming, perhaps quite soon. My bike log says 2,906 miles for the year -- a pretty decent number, even if it snows tomorrow.

Aug-tober

I took the ride around the south side of Lake Mac today that I put off on Wednesday because of the wind. Dew points in the upper 60's, temperature about the same when I left. It seemed cool for about 10 minutes, then quickly started to feel too warm, even in shorts and a short sleeved jersey. Every time I stopped, my glasses fogged up. This is looking mostly west from Kollen Park on the south side of the lake. It looks a little hazy, but the camera doesn't capture humidity too well. The forecast for the next 3 or 4 days is for recording setting heat. Upper 80's and humid. The ride today seemed too urban, though I've enjoyed it in the past. I rode through a couple of semi-industrial areas -- and turned around at the Holland city limits. I think I prefer to ride the north side of the lake -- it seems like it is more bike friendly. The bike/pedestrian bridges help a ton with rides into town, though. I will probably limit the rest of my Fall rides on the south side to the Windmill Island area.

This bush is pretty popular in landscapes around here. I don't know it's real name, but people refer to it as a burning bush. Trees are showing lots of color around here, but it is still patchy. Many seem to be just dropping their leaves this year. Still creeping up on my mileage goal.

Not According to Plan

Looking out the window, it seemed like a perfect day for a ride. My plan was to ride across the bridge and around Lake Mac a ways. A very brisk west wind, gusting to 20 or so made that a bad choice. I handle cross winds better than head winds when it's that windy. But it was too nice a day to miss. So another ride north to the PSPS and Pigeon Lake.Bow hunting season for deer has begun, but I am not overly fearful of getting hit with an arrow. It seems like a long shot, no pun intended. Now, firearm season is a different story. But it is still quite a ways off, during the 'off' season for most biking anyway.

Pigeon Lake was far enough in the wind, though gusts were dying off some. I'm never sure how many more chances there will be to make that ride this year. Sunny and 60's is certainly not typical for this time of year. Pretty slow ride, but plenty nice enough.

Snow/Sand Fences

A little over a dozen miles, a little more than an hour. 72 degrees, winds from the south about 10. October evenings don't provide much in the way of daylight for riding. The state park survived it's four hour shutdown of the Michigan state government at midnight on Sunday. Though a few campers were rousted out of bed so that they could close the park at midnight. Tonight there weren't many visitors in spite of mild weather. It looks like there are still some rolls of fences that need to be put up. By April they will be covered in sand and will need to be dug out to take them down. I'm not quite sure what the logic is -- I think just to keep it all from blowing away. So a few more miles ridden, a few more still to go.

Run from Rain

By 10:00 or so it looked like the main rain had gone through. By 11:00 the roads were drying and the nearest rain looked to be on the other side of the lake. So I dressed for drizzle, and headed out -- on my old bike, just in case. I stopped and talked to Bob, my next door neighbor for a while. Along Riley I saw this yard decorated, a bit early in my opinion, for Halloween. But it looked close enough for theme day, cemeteries and tombstones. There are a couple of fake headstones in there. It was an easy ride about as far as the high school, where my calm was shattered by my first clear view of the sky. Dark clouds, a little roiled, between me and home. I headed west, towards home, and quickly thought better of it. Southeast on Butternut offered more opportunities for shelter if I got caught out in something nasty. I passed the high school first, and it still looked far enough away so I pedalled hard to Family Fare, about another mile. I made it dry, and waited out the wind gust line that blew through mostly dry. The sky looked less threatening towards the south and west. There is a grade school, then a park with a shelter, then a church, each about a mile apart. I rode from one potential shelter to another, so far just a few sprinkles. At the church the sky looked better west, so I rode west on James, then decided I was brave enough to go south towards Anchorage Marina. A sure sign of fall, the staff there was power washing a big Sea Ray, probably getting ready to shrink wrap it for winter storage.

My next goal was the state park, but when I next got a clear view of the western sky, I decided I'd dawdled too much, and it was time to head for home. I was in the Tanglewood area at the base of Sunset Bluff when the wind picked up and it started to spit rain again. I was in the wrong gear heading up the hill, so had to turn around and get another run at it. (See first paragraph about choice of bike. Apparently I have forgotten how to ride a triple chain ring.) The streets in the neighborhood were still dry, but it was raining lightly when I pulled in the driveway. Dress for drizzle, run from rain.