The cold weather didn't deter 8 hearty souls from showing up. (Although one lady came out just to find out about next Saturdays Grand Rounds Ride.) The ride went smoothly except for Mrs. Bikesmith's flat tire and her friend's knee skinning crash. Eileen was so distracted by the results of the flooding that she ran into a trailside fence and crashed the bike she's had for less than a week.

The Mississippi was down about 2.5 feet since Tuesday but flooding was still impressive with several islands and quite a bit of the river valley completely underwater. The main channels had fast currents with whirlpools and eddys. Massive amounts of debris are piled up on the upstream side of groves of trees. Coming back across the Mendota Bridge I saw tractors plowing mud off the parking lots in the state park below.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, even Eileen of the bloody pant leg. Hope to see more of you next week.

The cold weather didn't deter 8 hearty souls from showing up. (Although one lady came out just to find out about next Saturdays Grand Rounds Ride.) The ride went smoothly except for Mrs. Bikesmith's flat tire and her friend's knee skinning crash. Eileen was so distracted by the results of the flooding that she ran into a trailside fence and crashed the bike she's had for less than a week.

The Mississippi was down about 2.5 feet since Tuesday but flooding was still impressive with several islands and quite a bit of the river valley completely underwater. The main channels had fast currents with whirlpools and eddys. Massive amounts of debris are piled up on the upstream side of groves of trees. Coming back across the Mendota Bridge we saw tractors plowing mud off the parking lots in the state park below.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, even Eileen of the bloody pant leg. Hope to see more of you next week.

Thanks for the ride report - I am sorry I missed this one but Easter got in the way. That seems like a pretty good turn out to me! Next week we tackle the Grand Rounds!

This weekend's 3-Speed adventure will be a full frontal assault on the Grand Rounds. This is the make-up ride for our first Grand Rounds attempt, which was foiled by 25 mph winds and chilly drizzle, as I recall.

We meet Saturday at 11:00 AM at the Dunn Bros./Longfellow Grill at Lake St. and W. River Road. We will roll out not later than 11:10 and will be heading south from the starting point. Heading south gives us some better lunch options and short ride option of 18 miles or so for those that might find the complete Grand Rounds to be a little ambitious or more time-consuming than they want.

Despite the name, bikes other than 3-speeds are welcome - just leave the crabon fibre and lycra at home, that's all we ask. No need for tweed, either. TC3-SAS celebrates the experience and eschews the appearance. This is will be ramble rather than a race - a pace suitable to the internally hubbed bikes.

PM if you want a cell phone number at the ride.

SS,
Is this on Saturday or Sunday?

Crap - it's Saturday; sorry for omitting that vital piece of information. I edited the previous post accordingly. Thanks, B7.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to make it. Enjoy the ride.

I'm thinking about a St. Paul ride, with information on many of our famous citizens, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Schultz, and Cass Gilbert...

Any interest in changing this up to a ride to the Bike Expo? The Grand Rounds will be there later, but this is a once-a-year event. The ride would be shorter, but we could always take the long way home...

Sounds cool! If you need historic addresses in St. Paul, let me know.
It's what I do for work.

I might be soloing around the Grand Rounds at this rate. If nobody shows up, I'll probably ride over the Bike Expo instead.

If it isn't too wet I still hope to ride the half round. The 3spd seat is so different from what I've been riding I just don't know if the old arse will last the full round. Plus I hope to save some time for the Expo.

If no other takers chime in before then do you want a call Sat morning so you don't waste time heading over to Dunn Bros?

That's a good idea. The forecast is for warmer temperatures but possibly rain. Let's touch base on Saturday morning. It looks like I still have a PM to you in my outbox with my phone number from the last time we tried this. Go to the "messages" button on the top of the screen to access that.

I don't mind riding up there if it's a no-show because that's directly on my way to the Bike Expo/State Fair grounds, too. If you want to come in a ride to the Expo with me, that's a possibility as well, but if people show up and want to ride the Grand Rounds, I have to honor that - I've made too much noise about this to bag it at this point.

I think riding to the Expo is a great idea. If the weather is poor ride directly there. If it's nicer than predicted take a longer route getting there.

However we may not make it. I did something to my ankle and am having trouble walking. Tomorrow I'll give biking a try.

The "short route" is about 18 miles as it is. I could trim that and lengthen the ride to the Expo by going north to Franklin or even downtown and then pick my way over to Como, I suppose...

On another note, Mr. Bikesmith, I may need to seek your wise counsel on an annoying drive-train issue with my AW hub. I am giving it another go tonight, but if I strike out, I'll be giving you a call in the near future...

EDIT - sorry to hear about your ankle - good luck with your test ride.

Total and absolute rain-out. This has been a lousy Spring.