Six Inches of Snow: A Bit of Fun, With Lessons Learned

The Fun
All week long the weather forecasters had been talking about the big snowstorm that was to blow across the Great Plains on Friday. You'd hear it so much, and you'd begin to tune out. After all, the weather man or woman is often wrong just as much as he or she is right. (I'd love to have a job where I could be right half the time and considered a success)
Friday morning was just like any other mild winter morning that we've had recently. Dry, light wind, almost springlike. It was even in the 60s earlier in the week. By mid morning, we were reminded, without a doubt, that winter is not yet over. Almost without warning, snow began to fall and blow, at a rapid rate, all over Omaha. By evening, we had six inches of snow on the ground.
I was prepared for riding home in the snow, during an active snowstorm. At least, I thought I was. I put on the studded tires last night, packed my goggles, and I was already familiar with the sidewalk, trail, and back roads snow route to ride the five miles home without having to mix with road traffic. The cars were having a hard enough time on this slippery snow on roads largely unplowed without having to go around me.
Around 11:30am we got word at the office that we were being released for safety reasons. Around that time, I got a text message from Rafal (thanks, man!), who works nearby at the riverfront, saying that he was leaving, too, and he offered to give me a ride home in his car using his bike rack. I was looking forward to the bike ride, so I thanked him and declined, heading downstairs to get some lunch.
After lunch I got a call from the guard desk informing me that I had a delivery that I needed to come pick up. Surprise! My sweet wife had sent me flowers. You'll note that I have no way to bring these home, so I sure hope they look as nice after the extended holiday weekend.
After letting lunch digest a bit and catching up on some email, I changed into my winter riding clothes and headed off. The ride home was slow. It took me about an hour and 15 minutes to go five miles. Absolutely none of the streets I encountered had been plowed, perhaps with the exception of crossing 36th Street at Pacific. The Turner Boulevard and Field Club Trails were not brushed, and most of the sidewalks hadn't been touched, either. I found myself using "The Force" to try to stay on the trail where it winds around Dewey Park. Aiming for sidewalk cutouts was also a bit of a challenge. I had to try to get the ramps, but also play it loose if I hit a curb instead.
I'm sure I entertained the motorists at 28th and Douglas when I hit something that made my bike stop and fall over, while I went over the bars and off to the side, landing on my feet, running. It was similar to this, but without the roll.
I got all the way to the big hill going down Pacific Street toward the Field Club Trail when I realized that I had no brakes. The pads were so packed with snow that they did virtually nothing for many rotations when I pulled the levers. Note to self: next bike will have disk, roller, or hub brakes.
Riding on the Field Club Trail was magical. The snowy canopy of trees was worthy of a postcard. I wish I had taken a photo with my phone, but it was packed too deep in my bag. I found that as long as I parted virgin snow, and avoided the foot prints, the ride was smoother.
About a half mile from home, I stopped at a convenience store and grabbed sodas for the family. I knew they hadn't been out all day, and were probably wanting something tasty to drink. I felt funny going into the store with my balaclava on, but with my helmet and hi-viz jacket, I think it was pretty obvious that I wasn't there to rob the place during a snowstorm.
So after an hour and a quarter of low-gear riding, with lots of handlebar wagging and dead stops into drifts and the occasional curb, I was finally heading up my street. The unplowed hill is steep, so after all that riding, I had to dismount and push the bike for the last 30 yards or so.
The Lessons Learned

1. Use the platform side of the pedal and/or wear regular shoes rather than being clipped on to the pedals. I need to be able to put a foot down or hop off the bike in a hurry when slipping around.
   
2. Wear a balaclava when the snow is falling wet and sloppy. The snow melts on the face and a wet face is a cold face in February. Alternatively, grow a beard.
   
3. Studded tires are great for ice and packed snow, but don't help so much in six inches.
   
4. Consider a bike with something other than rim brakes for riding in deep snow. When rim brakes pads get iced over, it's like riding with no brakes.
   
5. Allow a lot of time. I rode less than half as fast as my normal commuting pace.
   
6. Keep a camera ready. It's beautiful out there. Cover it with snow and it's even prettier.
   
7. Consider riding the bus when it's this bad. Though it was a lot of fun, accidents can happen, and sometimes it may be better safe than sorry. However, bring the bike just in case. Last year I rode the bus due to a predicted winter storm, and when my employer dismissed early, so did the transit authority, stranding me downtown until I got a ride home with a friend.
   

Riding a bike to and from work rocks. Do it on a snow day, when both schools and employers think it's too bad to be out driving in it and it rocks even harder.

Evening at Horseshoe Bay

Last night Roger (http://www.rogernordstromphoto.blogspot.com/) and I went down to Horseshoe Bay to shoot the sunset. I've been trying to show him some new areas along the lake that he hasn't seen yet. Horseshoe Bay can be a fun place to shoot, depending on the conditions. This evening when we were there the lake was smooth as glass, which is always nice to have when making images of the lake. At the entrance to the bay there is this nice, photogenic pile of rocks that I had fun shooting. I used my graduated neutral-density filters on the image above and the one below to help balance the exposure between the dark foreground and the brighter sky. Using the filters also helped bring out the detail in the underwater rocks in the foreground.

A little behind

We found a burrow that looked lived-in, and set up the game camera to spy on the occupant. There were not as many photos as we'd expected though -- not enough to prove this an active burrow. It's possible these armadillo passers-by are just checking it out. (Who knows, maybe the previous resident left behind something tasty!)





I believe these pictures represent at least three different individuals. The last one looks like a mama about ready to pop. Which reminds me, Happy Mother's Day!
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Between various volunteer "jobs" and some large wholesale orders, I'm like that first armadillo above: a little behind. Got to make soap like a crazy woman next week!

Bike trip destinations: Rapidan Dam Park

Distance from downtown Mankato: Roughly 9 miles.
Route I took: Here is a link to the route map (courtesy of mapmyrun.com, awesome website). This is probably the easiest route of any trip I'll take this summer. Essentially, you get on the Red Jacket Trail at the YMCA, follow it all the way to the end, take a right onto 552nd Street/Center Street into the town of Rapidan, then take a right onto County Road 9 and follow it all the way to the dam.

General ease/challenge of ride: As far as bike trips go, it doesn't get much easier than this. The majority of the trip is on a nicely-paved bike trail with little traffic to worry about (aside from other trail users, of course) and no serious hills to contend with. The country roads near Rapidan are well-paved and generally low in traffic volume as well. It's also a very achieveable day trip for even the most recreational of cyclists, with the roundtrip total checking in at less than 20 miles.
That's not to say the route is a complete cake walk. From the Le Seuer River to the end of the Red Jacket Trail (roughly a two mile stretch), the ride is predominantly uphill. But the uphill grade is gradual enough to be barely noticeable. The return trip from the park also offers a challenge, as the first 1/4 mile or so is a steep uphill climb out of the Blue Earth River valley. Nothing a quick downshift can't neutralize.
Safety of the ride: As stated earlier, the route is almost entirely on bike trails and low-traffic country roads. Unless you're on an exercise bike at the YMCA, the ride doesn't get much safer than this.
Appeal of the destination: To put it bluntly, it's a dam good spot to venture to.
For starters, it has all the bells and whistles of a county park (rest area, playground, hiking trails) and has the added bonus of being on a river next to a regionally historical dam. The Rapidan Dam is actually celebrating it's 100th birthday this year as a major hydroelectric source in the region.
The park also has ample area for camping, kayaking classes in the summer, and a pleasant river walk area complete with sandy beaches and rocky shoreline. It's also regarded as a quality fishing hole. The locals I spoke to said it was good for catching everything from catfish to Northern Pike. Granted, they were telling me this between cans of Keystone Light, but that's beside the point.
If that wasn't enough, the park also has it's own local food staple in the Dam Store. Located at the entryway of the park, the Dam Store has a diverse spread of menu items ranging from the 1/2 pound "Damburger" to chicken and fish sandwiches and shrimp. For side dishes, they have hash browns, fries and salad to choose from. They also have old-fashioned milkshakes and a whole slew of "Dam Pie" flavor varieties for desert.
Their prices are very reasonable (you'd have to be pretty hungry to burn through $10 in one sitting) and their food is generally held in high regard by visitors. Since I was planning on running 10 miles later that day, I skipped out on heavier fare and opted for a slice of banana cream pie (pictured right).
Other notes: If you're looking for a specific day to bike out to the park, August 14 might be a good one to circle on your calendar. The dam is celebrating its 100th birthday that day with live music, canoe rides, a crafts sale, a hog roast dinner, and horseshoe and fishing tournaments. As expected, they will also have ample amounts of Dam Pie on hand.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hope you're wearin' something green!

Thoughts of Summer

Thoughts of Summer, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

I know California is not cold, especially compared to the rest of the country (and much of the world). But I think it's safe to say that many of us are longing for warm spring and summer days.
Thankfully, those days will soon be here: spring is only 2 weeks away!

Fossil week

Updated: see below.
While posting recently about the rocks here, I mentioned that the red ones often contained plant fossils. By request, here they are.



I'll post more fossil pics later this week and try to come up with some IDs.
These are possibly leaves of Lycopods - Lepidophylloides maybe. Like this and this. The ancient lycopod tree had different types of leaves, and the grass-like ones were called Lepidophyllum. I believe that would put them in the Pennsylvanian period, about 300 million years ago.
But I'm not sure about that. I've never found any more entire leaf impressions than these. So if you know differently please tell me.
They could possibly be from the other clubmoss tree, the Sigillaria, or the horsetail tree, the Calamites. (They are all from roughly the same time period.)
Updated: I found this at the Virtual Paleontology Lab, which explains why the leaves can have a different scientific name than the rest of the plant:

Because we don't always know which leaves belong to which seeds when they are first discovered, we use the convention of form taxa. When organs are found isolated (not in organic connection), each type of leaf and seed is given its own binomial name (genus and species name according to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature), without making any assumption about what belongs to what. To use the example discussed by Oliver and Scott (1904), leaves were described as Lyginopteris (genus only for brevity), seeds as Lagenostoma, and stems as Lyginodendron. The similarity of the first syllable gives a hint that the describing paleobotanists (others besides Oliver and Scott) suspected some relationship, but were unable to make a strong inference link. The last syllable of each name gives a hint to the organ type: "dendron" = stem, "pteris" is often used for frond-like foliage, "stoma" = seed. However, after Oliver and Scott's recognition of the unique glands on Lagenostoma lomaxi and species in the other organ form genera, they were able to make the whole-plant link with greater confidence. The whole plant then takes the name of the organ first described, in this case Lyginopteris. When you are writing, take care to make clear whether you are talking about form taxa (organs) or whole-plants.

Also, this is what the globe looked like 300 million years ago. Plate tectonics! Continental drift! Gotta love it.
If I'm right about what these are, the fossils pre-date dinosaurs. Pretty cool.
Here's what it's thought to have looked like around here at that time, more or less. There are modern relatives of some of these ancient plants, such as the plant-rescue ground cedar I tried (unsuccessfully, as it turns out) to transplant here last year.
Sue the T-rex? Sniff. Ho hum. My fossils are older than that. Almost five times older! Now if I could only find somebody to pay me $8 million for them...
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P.S. I have learned so much since I started writing this blog - looking all this stuff up so I can pretend like I know what I'm talking about.