On the Road to Memphis

Leave Nashville and continue on to Memphis stopping at Shiloh National Military Park









Completed in 1994 the double arched bridge that spans Birdsong Hollow received the Presidential Award for Design Excellance. It rises 155 ft above the valley and eliminates the need for spandrel columns.



Arrive in Memphis to rain but head down to Beale Street





The rain picks up so we pick up and get on one of the Trolleys for a quick tour of the town





Next Stop Arkansas!

Manawa Trails

Monday and Tuesday I rode from Xtreme Wheels to the Trails Center. Weather has been great for noon bike ride.
During Tuesday's ride, I dropped down to the Lake Manawa dirt trails to check on the water level. Today's photo shows that the standing water is gone. From what I could see, the area is still muddy.
BTW - rumor has it that the Psycowpath race scheduled for Lake Manawa on September 25th, is being moved to Swanson Park.
Three 20+ mile rides this week. Yesterday's ride was my fastest ride for the year (20.4 miles at 13.91 mph). No, I am not turning into a "roady".
I like the variety of the difference of my bikes. My hardtail is still the "go-to" bike. Its the bike I ride on the Trace, snow/ice rides, and trail work. The hybrid is good for photo shoots while riding pavement (hardtail and hybrid have racks where I can carry my good D-SLR camera). My full suspension bike is still the preferred bike for dirt trail riding.

New year, new beginnings

Not really conducive to the tone of

my blog post, but I figured myreaders

would enjoy a little Calvin & Hobbes.

Well Mankato, it's been fun.

After 3 1/2 years of biking on the Red Jacket Trail and doing training runs up Glenwood Avenue, my residency in the scenic Minnesota River town came to an end yesterday. I am now *mostly* moved in at my new apartment in Faribault and I'll be starting my new job as a page designer for the Faribault Daily News and Northfield News on Jan. 9.

I have mixed emotions about moving away from Kato. I'm obviously not thrilled about leaving the city's blossoming bike culture, as it was a big part of what got me interested in cycling in the first place. I'm also a little downtrodden about moving away from the downtown location I was previously located at. Loud noise from the bars notwithstanding, it was pretty nice to be within walking distance of work, the post office, the grocery store, the library and several decent restaurants.

On a larger scale, it's also a little unnerving to be moving away from a place I've become so accustomed to over the years. I know it's not a good idea to get overly complacent with a situation, particularly in a career as volatile as journalism. But it's hard to avoid when you find so many things to enjoy about a community, which was definitely the case with me in Mankato.

On the other hand, as George Harrison once said: "All things must pass." Despite being nervous about the unknown, I'm excited for the change that comes with a new town and a new job. I don't know much about Faribault aside from its association with the Sakatah Singing Hills Trail, but I'm looking forward to getting acquainted with the community and seeing what the town has to offer. I'm also anxious to continue my career in journalism and get back into a routine that includes work (sorry, but eight weeks of being unemployed is more than enough).

I suppose it's only fitting that the new job and new town would come about at this time of year. New Years has always been a time of new beginnings and resolutions to better yourself in the coming year.

It's too early to tell if I'll grow fond of Faribault like I did with Mankato, but my resolution for is to make the best of the situation and put forth my best effort at my new job.

Happy New Years everyone!

***Note: With my new location, the focus of my blog will shift from being Mankato-centric to being more oriented toward Faribault readership. However, due to the two towns relative proximity to one another, I will be sure to keep my readers updated if any big news happens out of Mankato in the health & fitness realm.

Revisiting an old friend

On reflection it's hard to believe that today was the first time I've ridden this particular route this year, but until today, the only time I've ridden to Binna Burra, at the summit of Mt Roberts on the Beechmont Range, this year was a night ride back in March. After withdrawing from a 400k audax event because of the illness I've had all week (which is still lingering, albeit severely diminished), I effectively had a free day. This has long been a favourite ride of mine, but has perhaps been forgotten a little in recent times as I've looked for longer distances.
The choice of ride was motivated by wanting a ride that would present a decent challenge, lovely scenery, but one which would not over-extend me in view of the last week. Also, because this ride is virtually all uphill on the way out, and virtually all downhill (one or two pinches on the Beechmont Range excepted) on the way back, I could get out of trouble quite easily should I find myself not up to the level I thought I was.

The morning was a beautiful one as I took the hillier way out through Gilston, before settling into the long climb up the range. At first I didn't feel as though I had the strength to make it, but these rides always revolve around form and technique rather than power. I could still make it with diminished power, just not as quickly.
This was how it proved, indeed, one of the locals at Lower Beechmont remarked about my "good cadence". I think he's a former cyclist from way back -- I've seen him shouting encouragement up there before. I wanted to reply with "not bad for a bloke who's been sick all week", but wasn't sure I had the breath. I just gave the thumbs-up and said "thanks". Once on the range everything else seemed to take care of itself. Flat tyre number 13 was an annoyance, but didn't really worry me unduly. I'm getting proficient at changing these things now.

The final ascent of Mt Roberts is always tough, I almost lost my rhythm here as the gradient hovered around the 8% mark, kicking up to 13% at one point. I made it up there reasonably comfortably (against the expectations of one particular know-it-all that I passed) after I managed to settle down the initial panic. That climb did, however, take a bit out of me, as I would discover on the way back.
There are three noteworthy hills to climb on the way back, despite the general downward trend, and I could sense each sapping what was suddenly a rather limited supply of energy. Evidently I expended a little more than expected fighting the illness. For all that, however, I made it back to the coastal strip, despite the best efforts of one idiot in a cement truck on the long, winding descent (I console myself with the fact that anyone who drives like that probably won't be around to bother me for much longer).
The hardest part of the ride home was being confronted with a headwind on the way home. By now the energy levels were just about sapped, although I still had another muesli bar if I got into any real trouble. I spent most of the last 15km or so just pacing along at 22-23km/h. I barely had enough energy to do any stretches when I got home, but I did feel a lot better after completing the ride.
All in all it was quite a satisfactory result under the circumstances. The route selection worked a treat, the Beechmont Range was pretty as always and the weather was near perfect. With a bit of luck I'll get another decent ride in tomorrow, and then can start looking to get back into the conditioning I had a month or so back.

St Andrews Open Day

We are on the university trail again, starting with last week's open day at St Andrews. I was exceptionally well-behaved, only taking my camera out at the very end of the day, when the crowds of prospective students and their parents had dispersed and there was less scope for being an embarrassing mum. The weather was not particularly photo-friendly: a typical east coast haar (thick sea fog) in the morning, followed by an afternoon of almost-sunshine. Part of me regretted that it wasn't raining - it's always good to get an early dose of realism about the place in which you might spend 4 years. In the photo above, the spire of St Salvator's Chapel fades into the bright haze. The two red gowned individuals are undergraduate students who have just finished a day of guiding visitors around the university.
You'll see that gown of one the students is slipping off their left shoulder. This is carefully orchestrated. Below, you can see three of the four ways in which the gown is worn. On the left, barely hanging on, is the gown of a fourth year student. In the middle, the gown is slipping off the shoulders slightly - denoting a second year student. On the right, the off the left shoulder look shows that the student is in the Faculty of Arts. A first year student wears the gown high on both shoulders.

One lot of ancient university customs down, three or four more to go on our open day rounds. British students can apply to a maximum of five universities - so far there are four on my daughter's list. Applications open in September for entry the following autumn, so we'll have a summer of touring campuses with historic buildings, state-of-the-art this, that and the other, to say nothing of eye-wateringly tiny hall of residence rooms.

Can Anyone Identify This Butterfly?

George found this little beauty in the poly tunnel - it measured approximately two inches across.