Trip 18 -- Uphill Both Ways...

Remember when I said the posts might get shorter and lack substance once school starts? Well, this is one of those posts unfortunately. It sucks getting older in college, the classes definitely get tougher. I already have a test on Tuesday! ARGHHHHH

I did go on a ride today, but it was just to school and back, so I won't bore you with the details. I do not have class on Fridays so I'll be definitely hitting the trails this weekend.

I'll actually post pictures of my bike this weekend, as per a reader's suggestion. But don't expect anything remotely fancy.

Oh, and NFL starts tomorrow...awesome.

Trip 14 -- Me: 1 Wind: 0

I already triumphed over rain, today's test was the high winds. The Weather Service says it's a south wind of 23 mph gusting to 35 mph. Riding north with the wind was no problem at all, but coming back was a beast. I had no idea bicycles could catch wind so bad, sometimes I felt like I was gonna get blown over. There was a point when I was on 55th st. and I came to a stop to take a picture. I stood up on my bike and my body was like a sail, the wind alone was pushing me down the road...it was pretty cool.

So I beat water, wind, and I guess you could say earth. I really hope I don't have to deal with fire, because I already concede.

Anyways,


Very windy today..that tree should be standing up straight.


So what exactly does a storm water pump station do?

Talk about homes being close to each other... at least they have alternating colors.


When I said I wanted to find crazy stuff in Grand Forks, this is what I meant. I have no idea why someone would put a chair on the top of a large dirt mound, but I'm glad they did.


The new welcome sign entering Grand Forks through highway 2. I do like it, it brings a little breath of fresh air to an otherwise unsightly road in GF.


Found this on the fitness trail by UND. I am completely stumped by what it is, but someone else was apparently curious as well and started taking bricks off.





People can be pretty frustrating sometimes...where the fitness trail crosses 17th ave there's one of those blinking light crosswalk beacons that I love so much. I pushed the button and a lady was nice enough to stop for me, even with like 5 cars behind her. I cross and the guy behind her just lays on his horn...I don't know if he was mad at me, her, or both...but really, guy? Did I slow you down that much? Did I make you late for some extremely important appointment? Jeez people, can we have just a little more patience? I never expect people to stop for me at those things, but I sure am grateful when they do.

Due to extremely high gas prices and a more health conscious nation, there are going to be more bicyclists than drivers are used to...we're going to have to find a way to coexist. Drivers are going to have to be more aware of bicyclists and vice versa.

Thanks for reading.


Start: 4:40
End: 6:20
Temp: 83
Trip: 12.66



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Trip 11 -- Grand Forks Fitness Trail

I decided to navigate the entire GF Fitness Trail today, a map of it (and the Greenway) can be seen here. It is a really nice trail, and I wish there were more like it in Grand Forks. I didn't even realize it goes right by Sertoma Park, which I recently discovered for myself this week.

The trail was great, I loved how it was marked with the smiley faces. My only complaint is sometimes it's hard to tell which way the trail goes when you come to an intersection. I did figure it out for myself, but accidentally left the path a couple times.

I went early because the forecast calls for more rain, it still looks pretty nice out as I type this but according to this, it's supposed to pour soon.

I'll start off with another question for anyone who can answer it. What the hell are these greenish things I see everywhere? They're usually unmarked too so it's been a big mystery to me for a while. Not that I've been losing sleep over it, but I have faith one of you knows what they are.


Someone else was apparently frustrated by these things too and wanted to get a look at their insides.


I've been trying to take more pictures of wildlife, but I keep scaring them away before I get a chance. Luckily this guy decided to hang out for a little bit.


This is a pretty cool marker near Sertoma Park, off of the Fitness Trail. For reference, I put a placemark on my Google Map of where the marker is. It is pretty crazy to stand there, read that, and think of what it was like during the flood.

Click the image to make it larger

I could've either continued on the trail or gone down the path through this rickety bridge. I definitely had to choose the bridge.

I thought this a pretty cool area and was surprised I'd never heard of it before. I continued down the trail to see a familiar area...the same spot I was in earlier this week. A sign that said Sertoma Park. It all makes sense now.


The Ralph Engelstad Arena is definitely one of the coolest things in this entire region. We are really lucky to have it.

Saw this guy on 20th street near 24th ave. They are a good idea, but I gotta think it backfires sometimes. I know I've seen people gun it just to see how fast they can go when they drive by these things.



If you noticed, I just added a blogroll of some of the blogs I read, if you want yours on there, shoot me an e-mail.

That's all I got for today, thanks for reading!


Start: 11:27
End: 12:40
Temp: 79 degrees
Trip: 9.6 mi


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Trip 3 -- Heading North

I guess I lied when I said I wasn't going to ride today. I came back to Grand Forks earlier than planned, and figured instead of sitting around I may as well take a trip. I felt like heading north today and trying to find a bike path that I knew of. It took a little bit, as you can see in my Google Map I was kinda all over the place when I got to campus. I did find it eventually, and it's pretty nice. I'm going to have scope out all of the bike paths in the GF/EGF area eventually.

Alright, on to the trip.
I've noticed there are a lot of businesses like this in Grand Forks. Businesses that make you wonder how they're not closed down, as well as businesses that you aren't quite sure what the hell they do. Finest Auto Trim? Firstly, it might be kind of brave to claim they're the "finest" of all auto trims... I've never even heard of them until today. Just another one of those businesses you drive by and don't think twice about. I'm not even sure what auto trim is.



Not far from Finest Auto Trim, I find Unique Auto Body also setting up shop along Gateway. How many auto body places are there in this town? I don't know what makes this one so "unique" from the million other auto body places around here...unless it's the porcelain bear outside of it. In that case, it's probably the most unique auto body in town. Also, that bear is very small.



These are the stairs to get up to the Columbia-overpass-bike-tunnel-of-doom-thing.


A view looking south on Columbia from the top of the stairs.


A view of the tunnel ( is tunnel the right word? cage?) from the inside. I had to wait until a girl jogged by, I didn't want to creep her out too much. I sure love looking like a tourist taking pictures of a bunch of random stuff...but I do it for you, people. Also, it's kinda scary how close you are to oncoming traffic, even though you're in the cage.


It took me a while to find this bike path, but once I did it was like I wasn't even in Grand Forks anymore. I was pretty sure I found an undiscovered part of the city and I was gonna claim it for myself but then someone just had to build a house right here.




Damn, they must've known I was coming too.


HAH! There we go...claiming some land in the name of JP. I think I'll build a tiny Wal-Mart there...or something.



That's all I got for now, tomorrow I have a dentist appointment first thing in the morning..so that's probably gonna ruin my day. Wish me luck.

Trip: Approx. 8 miles, Temp: 79 degrees ...maybe I should start keeping track of time too?



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