wind, wind and more wind!

The ever-shifting-direction wind drama! Two days ago it was blowing from the West...nearly knocking me over in the cross-wind sections of my ride. Then yesterday it was a full on South wind. We're talking 20-25 MPH wind with gusts near 35! I can't believe I ride in it...but I do. Sigh.

Yesterday I was plugging away, trying to focus and get into a good rhythm when I came upon a group of baby raccoons. They sounded like a group of pigs the way the were carrying on. Suddenly I hear a BIG hiss! It must have been the mama, as she was almost as big as a small lab.

Then, as I turned onto County Road 4, heading towards Russell, I see the black dog who ALWAYS chases me and barks like mad plastered on the window (inside the house!) wishing he could chase me down, no doubt. Whew! I can't out pedal some of the beasts when there's such a headwind. As I pedaled up one of the rollers I had my head down, just looking at the road and trying to listen to my wheels whirring in all the wind...I look up for a moment and right directly in my path was a baby white tailed deer (fawn). We were almost nose to nose.

Lately I've been doing the same ride route---regardless of the wind. My favorite is usually a South wind, as it comes at the end of my ride and I can fly home---but regardless, I keep riding the same way. Creature of habit to the "nth" degree.

We've booked our honeymoon for August! I found us a romantic little cabin on Lake Superior in Grand Marais. It's complete with a full kitchen and is located right along the 120 mile bike route. We'll bring our mountain and road bikes and there's also kayaking. Last night Mike said he "can't wait to be on vacation". He's working hard. Grand Marais sounds very cool...it's an artist's community as well, and the place where we are staying specializes in quilting.

I've even been working more at the bike shop. There's some crazy sale in town on Thursday---it's even called "crazy days". Mike's said they've been having this sale his whole life.

That's about the gist of the news from the prairie....(see, I didn't even mention the Tour de France!!)

Oh yeah, on my ride yesterday I saw these two cyclists' riding with bob-trailers. They were all kitted out in team clothing and were real fit and skinny (you don't see very many of that kind of cyclist out our way---so I took notice and caught up to them). They were training for that Border to Border triathalon...