A 1958 Plymouth Fury by any other name.

Christine by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Remove all evidence of mysteria, (yep, I just made that word up, it means 'mysterious hysteria'), from a typical Stephen King novel and you're left with simple avarice, greed, obsession and average citizens caught up in extemporaneous circumstances - more often than not by their own failings.  King's sense of humor comes through in his characters, but also a certain disregard for most people and their interests.
The mysteria in question, Christine's demonic possession, is caused by Ronald's murderous spirit, formed by his own dented and scarred childhood.  Unable to repair himself, his life as a mechanic revolved around an oily thumb and a gift for keeping old cars and trucks "motorvating".  Pretty standard fare for a King novel, and I saw a very concise review stating any King novel can be summed up as an inanimate object, (car, toy, hotel), a lingering evil possessing a morally susceptible person, (Jack Torrance, Arnie Cunningham) and then everything gets put through the meat tenderizer until one or two characters are left standing.
So, remove all of the mysteria, forget about the demons, the possession, the impossible and impractical, and the reader is left with a handful of murders, a drug dealer, Arnie somehow caught up in all of it and Dennis, wanting to save his childhood friend.  There is no mystery more significant than watching somebody you have known all of your life make wrong decision after wrong decision and gradually implode.  Stephen King would like to fantasize about it, as a lot of people with escapist fetishes would, but reality is more terrifying than this book.


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Thursday Westerly Ride

That's 48.48 miles for mankind, and two steps back for the Einstellung Effect.

Wait: The Art and Science of Delay by Frank Partnoy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I appreciated the wide set of examples used to construct a solid thesis.


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Nice Ride 170

Fort Snelling State Park.  7-28-2013.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

Nice Ride!  7-28-2013.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

Nice Ride 170 riders.  7-28-2013.  Photo by Michael McKinney

Nice Ride 170 riders.  7-28-2013.  Photo by Paul Jan.

Glenwood Avenue, MPLS.  7-28-2013.  Photo by Michael McKinney

So here's the thing - a Nice Ride bike is closer to eighty pounds than fifty.  It's a beast of efficiency and small wheels, with three gears and a basket and lights for safety.  If you need a bike to get somewhere, and you've got no access to one yourself, and yet crave the freedom of riding a bicycle, the Nice Ride will get you there.

There have been failed attempts at bike share programs, the only one I can recall off the top of my head is the Yellow Bicycle Coalition, started back in the 1980s I believe - St. Paul Minnesota had their own fleet of Yellow Bikes, stationed at what was the old Sibley Bike Depot in downtown.  That initiative failed, I was told, due to simple theft.

A Nice Ride bike is not something a typical person would enjoy stealing.  Though I wouldn't have expected Big Wheel racing to be a thing either, so it goes to show you never can tell.  Last year a mutual acquaintance invited myself and whomever felt brazen enough to ride with him on the Nice Ride 145, an excursion throughout St. Paul and Minneapolis, stopping at all 145 Nice Ride stations.
The heat was the biggest factor that day, with a couple of technical glitches, (professionally and quickly dealt with by the Nice Ride Technical support team), and a few riders dropped out due to the heat.

After receiving an invite and the smallest bit of encouragement, I joined in again this year and enjoyed the same mind numbing, back breaking, thigh crushing, eye opening zeitgeist that must be the threshold of the incredibly brave or the incredibly foolish.  Five participants completed the whole route, consisting of 100 miles, 170 Nice Ride kiosks, many bridges, many patient and courteous drivers, (though a couple of nasty ones were in there too) and a stop at Northbound Organics, (YUM) and Psycho Suzies, (BEER ME).

To my understanding the Nice Ride phenomenon is not slowing down, not giving in to the occasional technical difficulty or allowing the even more rare theft to prevent the idea of the Yellow Bike Coalition from being silenced.  The radical concept of saving the environment through conserving what fossil fuels remain may start with a simple demand for more efficient urban commuting - think global and act local.  Get out and (Nice) Ride.

Editor's Note - if not for the other riders and the sequential manifest, I would not have completed this by myself.  I would suggest connecting a few kiosks at a time, as a start.  8-24-2013

Goodreads review of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Terrible self deprecating humorist tries to find substance in vapidity, uses first pronoun judiciously while recounting shameless vapidity, slanders Alexander De Tocqueville, Freud and numerous critical thinkers in a desperate attempt to validate his lack of credibility, appeals to the reader's sentimentality with his father's imminence while maintaining, mandating, repeatedly glorifying the role of all women as an object...I could go on.  Just pure tripe.
A worthwhile memoir is one that doesn't need to rely on the concept of "I Me Me Mine".


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Rhubarb

I am not a huge fan of debate.  Discussions pertaining to issues that do not affect me, or have some far reaching epistemological, rhetorical, esoteric purpose behind them seems redundant.  Not having an interest in argument does not provide a warranty against disagreements, and I often find myself being drawn into a discussion on one side or another, which brings me back to debate.  When to debate, when not to debate, how to debate, how to speak clearly, how to support your stand...all things I do not understand well enough to not feel a difference of opinion is anything more than a personal accord on my person.

John Mcenroe has always been a standard bearer for my understanding of how adults resolve disagreements.  "You've got to be kidding me!" seems a fairly reliable way of informing another person that he or she is wrong.  Obviously pejorative terminology is peppered in depending on the importance of the objection.

To deal with this obviously far reaching and naive view of the world, I sometimes think about British Parliament, and have taken the advice of a friend who likened the murmuring of dissent behind every statement made by Tony Blair as "rhubarb...rhubarb...rhubarb..." more likely parliament is uttering "...rubbish, rubbish, rubbish..." but often times it can be helpful to at least paint the Greek Chorus a Lighter Shade of Pale.

Last week's Tri-Loppet went very well, I placed in the top twenty and had a good day.  I rented an Hourcar to transport a rental kayak from Midwest Mountaineering.  Both Hourcar and Midwest were faultless in their customer service - demonstrating capability and patience with my questions and concerns.  My first transition was pretty rough and I almost incurred a scene from the 3 Stooges by turning to look behind me while carrying a kayak and hitting at least one or two spectators with the bow...nevertheless, nowhere in the planning process or during the event was my thinking concerned with rhubarb, tennis or John Mcenroe.

I brought up rhubarb as a means to an end though, and while surely there is some greater purpose involved, as far as my agenda is concerned, rhubarb is in season and my last two batches of bread have incorporated walnuts, rhubarb and honey.

2nd leg of the 2013 Tri-Loppet, photo property of Skinnyski.com

Rhubarb walnut bread, photo by Michael McKinney

Wilderness Systems Eclipse, Hourcar.  Photo by Michael McKinney

2nd Transition area, Tri-Loppet.  Photo by Michael McKinney

Queueing for the start, 2013 Tri-Loppet.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

Rhubarb walnut bread.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

2013 Red Ride

The Commuters, Photo by Michael McKinney

At this point, I half expect somebody to pull up on a Surly Cross Check and tell me I'm riding on two different sized wheels.  I can almost hear the way he or she would express disdain for my naive attempt at riding in the city, not really getting anywhere that doesn't have coffee for less than three dollars a cup:  "Dude, I know you blog and shit.  But, you're riding a 27 inch front wheel with a 26 inch rear, you just gave me the finger and there's a really bad smell in your draft.  Nice try."

That is of course, without addressing the copious issues I have with Sudoku and the New York Times Crossword.

That being said, it was providential to be included as a guest on the 2013 Saint John's University Almuni Cycling Club's Red Ride in and around Stearns County, Minnesota.  To get there, I could have used the route I rode in 2011, from the Basilica in Minneapolis to the Marcel Breuer bell tower, roughly 100 miles later.  Being fortunate to have the option, I chose rather to invest in new components, the skill of a Freewheel mechanic to fine tune them and public transportation to Saint Johns - though I missed an additional few hundred miles of cycling, I think the investment was wise.

The ride left St. John's on Saturday morning, June 22nd, and was a fast and enjoyable tour - many skilled riders were participating and I felt at ease in the group.  One outstanding difference between riding a bicycle in the city and riding through farming communities is the lack of distractions.  A rider in the city might have to stop and start many times between here and there, for stop signs, red lights, walkers, dog walkers, very young children weaving on small bicycles as their parents watch nervously, runners, possums...you can imagine.

Once a group is settled in and a pace is set, given the capacity for the road one is riding on, the distractions become fewer and the objective becomes less about avoiding collisions and more about spinning the turbines, tuning into the other riders and maintaining a cadence commensurate with the group.  Getting to Saturday morning took a lot more than I can dictate, but a train ride, a bus ride and a big hoagie at Bo Diddley's was a perfect start.

I returned home on Saturday night and got back to riding in and through Minneapolis and St. Paul, stopping at the Minneapolis Farmers Market and collecting water as a volunteer with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for the Minnehaha Watershed District, reading and occasionally investigating the many gastronomic treasures of the area.  I am happy to report a new bicycle has been purchased, though it took months of lay away.

I rode my Felt F75X for the first time last night and after bunny hopping a couple of curbs and scorching some dirt trails, I nailed an exposed man hole cover and double pinched.  I walked the remaining mile home, hoping it wasn't inoperable.

Here are some photos of the June 22nd weekend.

Finishing the 2013 Red Ride, Courtesy of the Saint John's University Alumni Association.

Minneapolis Farmer's Market Vegetables, Photo by Michael McKinney

Lake Sagatagan, Photo by Michael McKinney

Felt F75x, Photo by Michael McKinney

Spring Pottery

Red Earth Pottery, Photo by Michael McKinney

Glazed, fired, greenware pottery, Photo by Michael McKinney

Lake Harriet, Minneapolis.  Photo by Michael McKinney

Snapping turtle, Minneapolis.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

With the last of winter finally letting go sometime around May, I registered for another six week pottery course through the Saint Paul Community Education Program.  This six week course covered throwing basic vessels, glazing and firing in a small volume, low heat kiln and took place in a different studio than previous classes.  The clay was also different, utilizing Red Earthen Ware clay rather than the Raku clay I had gotten accustomed to over the past year.


As the reader might accurately predict, I was disappointed with my results.  By my count, that leaves 9,900 pieces of pottery to be thrown before I can call myself a master potter, meanwhile the rivers streams and lakes are full of fish - I went fly fishing on Lake Harriet and Minnehaha Creek last week and caught a mess of panfish, (a bluegill, a pumpkinseed, some sunnies and a couple of crappies) and a Smallmouth Bass.

Of course, a few got away.  Robert Traver has a great story about his fishing rig, and the appropriate amount of fly fishing equipment to carry to and from one's destination while using this vehicle.  A veritable feast of spacial management, a Doctor Who's Tartus of nets, poles, fly boxes, waders, creels and coolers stacked under the seats and behind the passenger compartment.


Riding my bicycle with a fly rod and a pair of stinking running shoes I use for wading isn't what he had in mind I'm sure, and the assumption is that some things are better left unexplained, for want of encouraging fools to try...not that it stopped me from lashing my St. Croix Avid 5 Weight to my horizental tube, loading up my messenger bag and standing in the foulest smelling water I could find for three hours.


Two big events later this month are taking up some of my discretionary thinking - The Saint John's University Red Ride Century and the City of Lakes Loppet Tri-Loppet.  Both events I have participated in before, and both events I would encourage anybody else to as well.