Bicycling magazine named Minneapolis the number-one bike friendly city in the U.S. True? Hard to say, but we have a bike friendly mayor who may someday make Minnesota the most bike-friendly state.
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I used to play golf with a sweet man who had Parkinson's. It killed him a few years ago.
He wasn't quite as shaky as the man in this story, who had severe Parkinson's yet was able to ride a bicycle, but he could make putts that gave healthy men the shakes.
In case the "what's the point of this post" guy is reading: Don't assume — try.
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Decided at the last minute to do #30daysofbiking and document the rides with a photo a day. The cool thing about this is bringing together the hardcore riders with people just starting to realize what a bicycle can do for them.
Today, I didn't have any need to get out of the house. Had plenty of food, beer and writing work, but not much in the way of exercise, so I invented an errand to head down to my favorite beer store to load up on bombers from Avery and Great Divide.
Almost no matter where I am heading, I start downhill first, with a pretty spectacular view. I shot this one from the saddle on my way into town yesterday. (I mistakenly labeled it as day 1, but my day 1 ride was in the dark.)
You can follow the photostream here.
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Yesterday, I tried to locate a homeless man who had lost his entire camp to fire. I had a tent to give him, and I rode around town with it strapped on the back of my bike. I took a side trip along the Colorado River where some homeless men camp, riding a footpath past several camps, but not finding him.
You can see how dry the area is now with the winter-killed vegetation. Not a good place for a warming fire.
I did manage a flat tire. I'd unloaded my repair kit to more easily transport the tent, so I had a good long walk back to town for a fix.
Karma is not always what it's cracked up to be.
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On today's ride, I got to see three Suburbans zip behind me in formation as I rode along a river trail. I'd seen their vehicles several times at the airport and assumed they were either a charter service or the bus service for some kind of religious cult.
But today, they rolled into a parking lot where men were standing around like parking ushers. I stopped to watch as they circled the lot, stopped, and men jumped out of the doors simultaneously and struck paramilitary positions around the vehicles.
Turns out Grand Junction is home to an executive security school.
The stuff you learn riding a bike...
Also, here's the photo from today's ride. The guys standing at attention around SUVs just weren't that cool.
