Ride Speak and I Love Hue

I'm sitting on the deck overlooking our backyard, enjoying the cooler temps and lack of bugs while Mandolin Orange provides background music. Charlie is keeping me company. I'm not sure it gets any nicer for deck sitting than this. To be inside right now wouldn't seem right, and no, I don't do this enough.

Autumn is here and it won't be over until I've filled 60 compost bags (in addition to what gets taken away in both of our yard waste receptacles). Our leaves are still green for now but not for long.

I thought I was maybe done with longish rides for the year after the Dawn to Dusk ride a little more than a week ago, but I was wrong. I decided to ride the Jesse James 💯 in Northfield last Saturday. What a fun ride! My plan was to accompany some friends on the ride at a more leisurely pace than I typically ride at but our little-peloton-that-could sorta fell apart after 20-some miles. I latched on to a fairly fast group as they passed us and hoped my legs wouldn't show any signs of tiredness from the D to D ride one week earlier. They were more than fine. I'll be adding this to my list of rides for next year.

It's time to give a nod to my fat-bike. It's been patiently waiting for me to get my fill of road riding for the past two months while it's sat mostly idle. I do see more trail riding in my future but I'm not so sure I'm done with longish road rides this year as I'd thought. What better way to see the fall colors than from my bike, either on the road or from the trails—or from a camera on a drone. I still have that on my wish-list.

Rachel and I have begun a bit of a tradition. Last Sunday we rode in the St Paul Classic Bicycle Tour with 5500 others, making this the 2nd year in a row we've ridden the ride together. The cool, crisp air felt nice at our 7:30 start. We rendezvoused with my friend Reid and his bride Danyelle at the first rest stop. It was nice to finally meet Danyelle and to catch up with Reid. We used to ride the trails together a few times a year but it's been a while. We were overdue for a ride and a chat.

On the way home, we decided to make a stop for some fast-food. The new Chipotle restaurant in Lakeville had just opened its doors for the first time within the hour so we decided to throw caution to the wind and fight whatever crowds were awaiting us. But there was really no line to speak of. Former Mayor Matt Little (who, if I'm not mistaken, helped lead the effort to get our city a Chipotle restaurant) was there with his wife, and by the looks of it may have been their 1st customer.

I Love Hue

That's all I've got.


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