Biking to da bar

My route to Town Hall yesterday.



Windy yesterday. 20 mph from the East and Northeast with gusts to damn near 30 mph. Ugh. Of course it blew from the North/Northeast when I was biking North and straight East when I was on the Greenway. Oh well, there's lots of reasons not to ride and wind is one of 'em.



Today, 45 degrees and rain. No riding today.



Rain is another reason not to ride. I'm a wuss, so sue me...

Quests

Mrs BrotherYam and I are on a quest of sorts, I suppose. We have signed up for the Minnesota State Parks' Hiking and Passport clubs. You go to all the parks, you win a prize. You walk all the club trails, you get a prize. Nothing earth-shattering, but hey, we're "out there doin' it" as me Mrs likes to say.



Why do I bring this up? A co-worker of mine is on the phone talking about quests. Everquest quests. To slay the Bugblatter Beast of Traal or some such nonesense, I don't know. But it doesn't involve walking. Well, online walking, which consists of sitting on your ass while you walk. Carrying your Staff of Power and your 1000 League Boots on your feet, you sit on your ass and walk to the ravenous beast and then sit on your ass as you slay it. Then you get knowledge or strength points or some other stuff that doesn't really convert into any Real World thing.



Okay, me Mrs and I aren't about to run into whatever monster is making the kids dance these days, but I'm willing to bet that these online hard guys wouldn't have been so tough last weekend after our fifth park -- and eleventh mile -- in two days.



That was not done on our asses but up real hills with real mud and real slush.

Maybe Gear Fetishists Have A Point

I'm back. I'm riding to work again and I've gotten an actual, real-live biking jacket, er, shell. I have to say that I'm impressed with the thought that went into it, snug where it should be and loose where it needs to be. Vented, windproof -- it was about 45 degrees this morning when I rode, so keeping the wind off was good -- light and really, really bright green.



The traffic on 66th and on Penn gave me wide berth this morning and I think that the green had a lot to do with it. Even the old, tired eyes of Richfield can see me in this...



My time is pretty good, but I forgot to reset the trip odo, so I don't know how long exactly it took. The wind was at my back for most of the trip and the cool air felt good.



I forgot how much I like biking...