Foggy Start

I went back inside and put on winter tights before I headed out into the fog this morning. This photo is looking south towards Lake Mac -- I took a photo of some swans swimming near the beach, but they blended into the background too much. It rained yesterday, but not all day and I got in a short ride. This morning's ride put my mileage for this May a mile or so ahead of May '07. Nowhere near a personal record for the month, though.

Comparisons

The end of the month is approaching fast and I'm fretting over unmet goals. Even more so than usual, as earlier this month I dragged out my 2003 (!) bike log (the last, best year) -- and found the comparisons to this year to be somewhat painful. The younger Santini had 8 rides in excess of 25 miles that May, including 3 between 30 and 35 miles, and 2 rides over 40 miles. This year? Not quite as good. Deep sigh. So I told this story to another bike geek, who chided me for reaching back into the archives that far -- and reluctantly I put the '03 log away. Still, needing some numbers to play with, I examined my more current stats. As you may know, my goal for this year and every year since 2004 is to ride one more mile than I did last year. Looking back, I found that so far this year I've built up a bit of a cushion over last year. And though I'm feeling some minor angst that May of 2008's miles might possibly come in less than May of 2007, I am currently -- as of today's ride -- more than 500 miles ahead of my mileage total on May 31 of last year. 500 miles. Here's the lesson I take away from this self absorbed rambling. Every year is different. Just ride.

(Photo from the midpoint of today's ride, about 2 miles north of the WOOS.)

12 Degrees

It was 53 degrees at the beach, 65 inland this afternoon. I put my bike in my truck and rode out of 'John's' house. That route takes me through the heart of blueberry fields, and I wanted to check them for signs of damage from last night's frost warnings. The blossoms looked fine to me, not that I would necessarily know what to look for. Besides blueberry fields, there are a few other grassy fields north of town. After my walk with Kelsey last week, I think I appreciate prairie like areas more than I did before. This one looked attractive to me.

Changing the starting and ending point of a ride makes more difference than I would have thought. Besides spending more time further inland -- every time I turned west I faced a cold lake breeze -- I also appreciated that the last 2 or 3 miles of the return trip were primarily downhill. I rode for about an hour and a half, and can't complain too much about the sub par temperatures. Good enough.

Bring In The Potted Plants

The noon news warned of frost and freeze in the area tonight. The blueberry bushes are in bloom, and a freeze will devastate the crop at this stage of their development. Frost is more likely than a freeze in our area, so we can only hope for the best. These lilies of the valley grow in profusion behind my garage, in the deep shade where no grass will grow. They are hardy and will be back again next year no matter what temperatures we see tonight. I think. The yellow irises below are blooming next to my deck.

I rode into a three point wind today. It blew from the north, east and west while I was out. The temperature was 53 when I left, 55 when I returned. Maybe June will be an easier month for biking.

I posted a photo of lilacs just a few days ago, but these are a darker purple color than the ones in my yard, and I like them. They are at the corner of 168th and Riley, a spot I pass on most rides.

Storm Clouds

This photo was taken by N on Sunday night. It may be from the same storms that blew through Minnesota and Wisconsin, but I wasn't paying enough attention to the weather radar to be sure. It turned out to be a nice enough afternoon here today, but the Centers of the Universe weren't here to enjoy it. Totally Jammin' woke up this morning with strept throat, swollen glands and a fever. He's a tough little guy, but it is still no fun to be sick. (I hear a New Zealander won the Indy 500. Also, the last time I checked, Contador was in the Maglia Rosa in the Giro d'Italia. I believe that was predicted to happen by the other bike geek.)

Lilacs

Petal Fall

Not much blogging this week. Not much biking, either. It just won't warm up, and the wind has been relentless. Not fierce, but in the cold it makes me tired, fast. These ornamental snow crabapple trees have not been blooming long, and already the wind has stripped many of the blooms from the trees.

Those that are left behind smell great, however.

From N and TJ -- Sunday's photos

Granny Duty

I have Granny duty for the weekend. I dug out my old digital camera and gave it to the grand kids to use. Here are a couple of the photos they took. Photos by permission of the centers of the universe. That's a lilac bush at the base of the stairs. Photo by N. That's her shadow in the corner.

Storms were rolling in across the lake. Photo by Totally Jammin'. They both got better shots than I did of the light patterns on the water, through the dune grass. Some fun was had by all.

Mechanical

First I'd like to take a moment to rant about our weather forecasters. Today's wind was predicted to be light and variable. I don't think that gusts of 20 mph qualify as light and variable. Sheesh. So some of the stretches on the way to Hemlock Crossing were a little challenging. Speeds of 8 mph showed up on my computer now and again. But I had planned to check out the prairie grasses there, for KS. Apparently there has been some kind of burn recently, so I have nothing of beauty to show you. After I rode all that way into winds with gusts of 20 mph. No headwind is without it's reward, however. I made the turn towards the lake at the WOOS. (West Olive One Stop, formerly known as the PPS, the Pakistani Party Store.) I felt like I was flying from there to the top of 'Hill' on Lakeshore. An east wind at twenty is kind of fun, when you're going west. The view from the top of 'Hill.'

I detoured in behind Pigeon Lake, still looking for a photo opportunity. Specifically, dux. There was construction going on, and 'men working' had scared the water fowl away, apparently. So I needed a new title for my post. (Summit dux was my original plan.) Less than three miles from home, I experienced an unusual mechanical failure on my bicycle. My water bottle holder came loose, and one of my water bottles hit me in the leg.

Fortunately, I had a multi-tool with the right size wrench, and repairs were made in no time. (It would have been even faster if I hadn't had to compose a photo before I fixed the loose bolt.) I've never had one of those come loose before, and both bolts on that cage were loose. Off again, on again, gone again. Finnegan.

Planting

When I rode by this field a week or so ago, there was an overwhelming smell of freshly spread manure. Today they are planting corn there. Farming as I remember it from my childhood. This field was one of a very few that had what I considered to be good looking corn last year. It was warmer today than yesterday -- 60's, but with enough of a wind to make riding with tired legs a bit of a challenge. I'm going to call it a recovery ride. Sounds better than 'short.'

Country Roads

A little longer ride today, east of the highway, north of Zeeland. That's Zeeland, not New Zealand. Who knew we had sheep? I thought this old barn was kind of cool, if not exactly structurally sound.

Hmmmm. Limited options, here. Probably not a road I want to ride too far on the Ruby.

I'm a bit knackered. It was 48 when I left, 52 when I returned, but sunny. The last few miles seemed hard. My longest ride so far this year.

More Tulips

This photo was taken in Centennial Park yesterday. The tulips there are in excellent shape. This is more or less in the shape of a windmill. Also in Centennial Park, near Hope College, yesterday.

This morning's bike ride was fairly short. My legs are feeling tired, and I think I need to take a day or two off the bike. The forecast for tomorrow is for rain, so my timing is about right. Today the Centers of the Universe pleaded to go downtown to see the Tulip Time festivities. Though I hate crowds, I love the Centers of the Universe, so off we went. This is also in Centennial Park. The crowds were beginning to filter in for the Parade of Bands.

We then went back to 8th Street and managed to catch two bands performing before the start of the parade. This pleased the SLO's, who posed for a picture behind the Dutch costume cut outs.

We managed to find a way out of the chaos and back home -- but not until after Nancy and TJ had shared an Elephant Ear. I couldn't quite face another one this soon. Perhaps in another year or two. Still, a very nice excursion, and the little family was happy.

Tulips, Number 1

Orange is an interesting color for tulips. These are growing in the bank below our deck. I knew TT wouldn't be satisfied with that, though. With an ENE wind, a ride into town seemed like a fair idea. I did go back into the house for long fingered gloves -- it was about 54 degrees when I left. There are parades on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday this week, so Friday seemed like the best day to go downtown. A bike is by far the best means of transportation, as long as you watch out for the tour buses.

The tulips at Window on the Waterfront Park look pretty sad. If you look closely, the flowers around the statue of the Dutch couple in the background of the photo aren't even tulips. They were doing so poorly that they were replanted with pansies for Tulip Time.

As I continued on to 8th street, the main street through downtown, I spotted some much more impressive tulips. These are pretty, I think. The dark purple ones are referred to as black tulips.

I also like the red and white striped ones. They make me think of peppermint. Enough tulips for now, more tulip photos next time. The wind turned and blew out of the NW as I headed home, so I had a headwind both ways. That just seems unfair. Not a bad ride, but slow going through town. Did I mention the tour buses? Oh, and I had an Elephant Ear, as long as I was downtown and the cart was there. Or rather, half a one. Nobody can eat a whole one by themselves. And I seriously hope that grease doesn't kill you.

Dogwood

This afternoon I rode out towards the Centennial Farm near Hemlock Crossing, into a NE wind of about 15. I posted a couple pictures of it last fall. The tree behind the sign is a dogwood -- this is the only place I've lived that has had dogwoods, at least as far as I can remember. Anyway, last week I didn't see any dogwoods in bloom and now all of a sudden they are all over. It's a pretty rural ride out there, with some nice stretches along back country roads. A lot of green is finally beginning to show up on the trees. On the return trip I swung by the PSPS and took this photo of a tree next to the building.

It is also a dogwood, though obviously a different color. The yellow spots in the background are dandelions, which have also just recently shown up in large numbers. Mostly in my lawn.

Famous Person

The younger Center of the Universe is now a famous Center of the Universe. Because he had his picture on the front page of the Grand Haven Tribune on Saturday. (The picture was taken, according to the paper, by the third grade teacher, Holly Taylor.) He requested that I put it in my blog. Apparently he likes being in my blog.

Lunch Ride

I don't think I've been to Kirk Park since I was there with GZ and BB in August. Late this morning I rode up Lakeshore, taking the cut off to the PSPS to pick up some extra caffeinated beverage. (Okay, a Diet Coke.) Mary, the woman who thinks my name is Delores, waited on me and asked how far I was riding today. About 25 miles, I estimated. "You're amazing," she gushed. I was about to disagree, but then decided that the best response was just "Thank You." How often do I get called amazing, after all? And to most recreational bikers, 25 seems like a pretty big number. In good spirits, I continued on and ate my peanut butter sandwich on top of the table at Kirk Park. Bobcats have not arrived there yet, so I carried my bike a ways to where you see it in the photo. Shoes full of sand and all, it was a very nice day and a very nice ride. (My estimate to Mary was a little short -- it was a little over 27 miles by the time I got done riding.)

Growing Season

I believe it was TT who accurately labelled a similar photo last year as 'the birth of the blues.'

Bobcat in Tunnel

I raced the rain clouds this morning, stopping long enough to take a picture of the tunnel at Tunnel Park finally being cleared of the winter's accumulation of sand. I also used my cell phone at this point to call TOPWLH and have him do a radar check. The sky was beginning to look menacing, and I was close enough to another house to which I carry a key to bail out there if necessary. He declared the rain to be still 40 to 60 minutes away, so I continued on home.( Home is about to shift again -- yesterday our neighbors at the beach got tired of waiting for us to show up out there and dropped in here for a visit. If I wait for warm weather, I could miss the whole beach experience this summer. Time to pack up my bicycles and go.)

548

Today's photo theme is numbers, as you may know. This sign caught my attention -- it is in front of a house on the north side of Lake Mac, pretty much directly across from the Heinz pickle factory. While I was out riding around, I checked on the state of the early blooming rhododendrons. They seemed to weather the cold temperatures okay, though sometimes it takes a few days for the damage to show up. The 'tulip trees' that I photographed last Friday (the third photo) did not fare as well. Obvious damage from the freeze. Sad.

BTW, it took me a minute to catch on to the meaning of the 548 sign. The address of the house is 548 Howard Avenue. Not exactly hilarious, but it still qualifies as fun with numbers.