You Can't Stop Ma Nature

Today was a magnificent day - temps in the mid-60's, no wind, no clouds. On the way home from work tonight, I rode past the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Museum. This is where these cars were built back in the 1920's. You probably heard the expression, "Wow, that's a Deusy", well, that is a reference to the Duesenberg cars. Deusy's were large cars with massive engines - up to 12 cylinders.




Behind the ACD Museum is the National Automobile and Truck Museum which highlights advancements in truck design.



The St. Joe River is finally receding. Many farm fields along the river have been flooded the last week, but fortunately the water never rose high enough to threaten anyone's home.



It's hard to believe that a little more than a week ago this wetland was frozen and covered with snow. The chorus frogs are out today - take a listen:



Happy riding!

Sunday Afternoon Ramble

On my ride home from church today, I felt the urge to ramble through Fort Wayne after service. The weather this past week has been very warm and sunny, which has melted all of our snow. It rained all day Saturday, which in combination with the snow melt has raised the three rivers. The Fort Wayne Rivergreenway is a beloved trail, but is absolutely no good when the rivers flood, since much of the trail is built in floodplains along the river. I should have taken my canoe.



Central Fort Wayne has many old cool-looking houses. This one was converted to a clinic where violent offenders who are on parole can get counseling to help them avoid jail time, but mostly to help them understand what makes them violent. My dad worked part-time here for many, many years.



This is Joseph Pierre de Bonnecamps, a Jesuit priest who traveled here in the mid-1700's on a scientific expedition. He is pointing to the junction of the St. Mary's and the St. Joseph Rivers where the Maumee River is born. The Maumee flows northeast to Toledo, Ohio, where it empties into Lake Erie. Much like the hypoxic zone (area with no life) where the Mississippi River dumps into the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Erie has its own hypoxic zone where the Maumee empties into the lake.

The building behind the good reverend is the Three Rivers Filtration Plant, Fort Wayne's water treatment facility that takes St. Joseph River water and turns it into tap water for 200,000 people. I've toured the plant a couple of times and it is impressive how those folks take brown water and turn it into clear, good, drinkable water.



Here is Fort Wayne's condensed history. There is a lot that has been left out.



Also at the junction of the three rivers is mile 0.0 for the three trails that comprise the Rivergreenway.



High water along the St. Joseph River.



Happy riding!

Hoosier Hoser Tournament

Today, the first Saturday in March, was the 10th (we think) annual Hoosier Hoser Disc Golf Tournament. The weather could not have been more perfect - afternoon high of 45 degrees with nothing but sun and light wind. The morning started off a little chilly, in the upper teens, but warmed quickly.



Bikes and Boards hosted the tournament, and provided a generous lunch in between rounds. Bikes and Boards is about 5 years old, and is building a sizable recreational biking business. Paul (not in the picture), is a young, but knowledgeable wrench who is helping the shop's business grow. Today he showed me the large number of projects he is working on for customers. I am sorry I did not think to take a picture. These yayhoos are disc golfers.


I road the Tricross down to the tournament and back home. I broke my chain on Thursday night, but picked up a new Ultegra chain Friday at Bikes and Boards. New chains shift so nicely!

Happy riding!

Sunshine!

Mi amigos, el cielo es azul! Well, after hiding for several weeks the sun decided to show itself this afternoon. Ever the opportunist, I was able to hop on the bike and get some miles in. The snow has gone down dramatically the past few days, although the temps have remained only in the mid-30's.

We've missed all of the major snows that have hit the east coast. We've missed most of the minor snows also - they stayed 30 miles to the north along the Michigan line. However, as snow-free as we have been, we've managed to get enough every other day or so for what seems like forever. This has given us plenty of salt and sand and wetness on the roads so that my bike is now absolutely filthy, even with hot-water baths after each ride, and a dose of lube on the chain.





Due to a program I'm involved with at work, I thought I'd better shave the grey off my face. It never ceases to amaze me what good insulation fur is on the face.



As far as my riding goes, I've been able to get out for a long ride each weekend, although my mileage during the week has suffered. I've decided I'm going to try a 200k permanent, and maybe a 300k permanent later in the summer if my mileage and training progresses.

Anyway, happy riding!

Cedar Canyon Ride

On my ride today, I passed through Cedar Canyon, just north of Fort Wayne. It's not remarkable for any reason other than there are trees on both sides of the road for a mile. That's a rare thing in northern Indiana's farm country. Here's my first try at publishing a You Tube video.



I rode 27 miles outside today, while my Valentine rode the stationary bike today at the gym.

Food is Killing Us

When you have 22 minutes available, check out this video on Chubby Super Biker's site. It could help improve someone's life.

Church Commute

In my effort to ride my bike more, I decided today would be my first ride of the year to the meeting house. We have a few folks in the congregation who ride bikes on warm Sundays, but nobody has ridden in this winter.

It is interesting to note that one of the best riders in northeast Indiana showed up in service today. This was his first visit to our little congregation, so I was happy to give him a tour of our facility. I don't know if he'll come back, but he'll always be welcome.

On the way home, I passed by Indiana-Purdue University, Fort Wayne campus.


I couldn't help but ride onto the new pedestrian bridge over the St. Joe River to take a picture of my horse.

We've been in a snow drought for most of the winter, but looks like that may change this Tuesday, with "significant snow accumulation" forecast. We'll have to wait and see. The big snow that blanketed Washington DC two days ago passed well off to our south, so we only got a bit of snow and a bunch of wind.

Happy riding!