Training For 2019

Obligatory bicycle at the Casey's in Carlisle.  On our way to the Summerset Trail and Indianola.  A great 44 mile round trip from our home.  Also this route is a gateway for centuries.

Nothing unusual in my schedule rides for this year.  First week of June we are taking road bikes and crossing South Dakota.  This will be our fourth adventure in that State.  July will see us riding loaded touring bicycles around Iowa.  But the  late winter weather with its snow, flooding and destruction of trails and bridges has put a cramp in our style.  But more importantly, my new commute has put a hurt on me.

My commute went from a 30 mile round trip to a 5 miler.  I had to haul ass for the long one.  The trip home allowed me to ride hard and longer if I wanted to.  Now I have two leisurely  2.5 mile trips each day.  No real need to ride fast.  For this ride I wear the clothes I work in instead of bicycling clothes.  Even my shoes.  Get up, get dressed and take off.  Park the bike and start my job.  Nice.  Saves a lot of time.  Even during winter I wore my work clothes.  Only once or twice did I add a layer to my legs, usually a pair of sweat pants that I's pull over and off my work slacks.  The way it should be.  Mileage died.  For the past four years as tracked on the Icy Bike Winter Commuter page's spread sheet on FB I averaged 3150 miles of commuting only from October through March.  Last year a mere 500 miles for the same time period.  Yeah, commuting miles are junk miles.  But.....

I'm experiencing leg pain on long rides.  Never have I experience painful legs after a 40 mile ride.   One early ride a week or two ago they'd be screaming at me!  No pain no gain.  I lost a lot of ride time and now I'm rebuilding.  I really should not feel bad.  One of my teammates said he did a 45 miler and "it felt like 45 miles."

Every weekend I pick a destination and increase my mileage.  The goal is two back to back 60 to 80 miles day.  Dakota will see us do 503 miles in a week, 52 69 63 91 69 88 and 71 mile days.  Some climbing, well a lot of climbing especially when we traverse the Missouri River Valley.  Need to be ready.  Suffer here to enjoy riding over there.  Ride Across South Dakota

Miles first to build up the core.  Then hills.  Just need weekends with good weather and motivation to crank out 20 to 30 milers after work.  I get off early so that should not be an issue.  Weather...

Fool's Ride 2019

Orange is the official color for the Fool's Ride even for skeletons.

I cannot think of a better social ride to celebrate the return of Spring than The Fool's Ride along the scenic Cedar Valley Nature Trail.  The first Saturday of every April is the date to mark on your calendars and bring your bicycle and your friends to La Porte City, Iowa.  The route is from La Porte City to Brandon, Iowa, on the trail or county road depending on trail conditions and what sort of bicycle and tires you will be riding.  The CVNT has a crushed limestone surface and may not be appropiate for road bikes with skinny tires.  There are a large variety of bicycles from fatbikes and tandems, crossbikes and hybrids, MTBs and touring baggers and department store cheapies.  Whatever your ride, there is a way.  Roughly 12 miles each way.  Yesterday I was a fool for the fourth time since 2008.

Basically, the ride starts at the bar and turns around at the bar in Brandon, Phat Albert's.  PA has food and beverages and music provided by a great blues guitarist Bryce Janey and his support.  After riding back to La Porte City the starting/ending establishment has another band and food available.  Never a cover.  The ride is promoted by Team Cornpone and Team Jet Fuel.

Dave was not home.  He was one one of the Fools.

Mary and Dave.

Mary and me.

Our bicycles.

This year Mary and I picked up Dave in Cedar Falls to join us.  Dave rode with me during our first FR back in 2008 and later in 2014.  He has always been a most gracious host allowing us to sleep at his place in Cedar Falls.  This year was no different.

Some changes to note.  The ride now starts at the Getaway Bar which is located across the park and near the rail tracks.  Always in our experience the ride began and ended at the bar on the main drag.  BUT that pub has finally closed after changing owners and names over the years.  Seemed strange and sad.  One local said that LPC is a 3 bar town but only has two now.  I had to drive Mary and Dave to the now defunct watering hole so they would understand that I was going to park the Honda at the park near the Getaway Barr & Grill.

The was a large crowd at the Getaway.  Lots of local bicycle teams.  I was impressed with the number of people from La Porte City that were there but then again one of the State's major trails cuts through their town thus encouraging its citizens to ride their bicycles.  Riders were starting their ride at their own leisure.  We socialized for a bit before beginning our journey.

Team Boner.  There was a large container of some red and fruity adult beverage in the trailer.  No one complained that he took up 3/4s of the trail during his stop.

Never got the story on this.

The Goatmobile!

Harold Gates, cyclist and veteran.

During the first half of the ride there are several spots where people who live next to the trail socialize with the participants of the ride.  They gather around dirt paths and farm crossings to mingle.  This year one of them brought a goat.  Better yet, we encountered Harold Gates, a man in his 8th decade who was riding against the flow on a Trek hybrid.  It was great to listen to him talk about the days of old.  Great to know that he can enjoy the trail as well.

There's a party going on over here, Fool's Ride!

Tandems seemed to be popular this year.  This was the oldest.  There may have been 4 or 5 tandems.  We briefly considered bringing one of ours.  Done this ride on hybrids, fat bikes, single speeds, touring bikes and gravel bikes.  A tandem should be next.  

More celebrations at the quarry.

What is possibly the half way point is an old rock quarry turned into a park.  It is a long thin stretch of grassy land between the trail and the fence that keeps people out of the the quarry lake/pond.  There is a shelter, bike racks and benches.  Lots of riders stop here for a break,  I often thought about camping here if need and opportunity present.   This time we ran into some members of the Diehards.  As pleasant as this was, out in the sun on a warm day, 70*F, hunger put us back on our two wheeled steeds and we completed our trip to Brandon.

Fried chicken breasts were the entree.  Legs and wings and baked beans were also available as well as chips at Phat Albert's.  In years past burgers, brats and hot dogs were the options.  I ain't never met a chicken I did not like.  Fresh chicken breast!  Dave and I went back for a second round.  We were able to grab the "mafia booth," a three sided booth with a table to the right of the band.    We shared this with some nurses from Waterloo, one who had been awake for over 24 hours due to her shift.

Bryce on guitar and Jeff on the keys.

Bryce Janey was strumming the blues on his guitar with Jeff Craft accompanying and singing with his Roland keyboard.  Very good.  People were dancing and everyone was enjoying this gorgeous day.  But like all good things, it had to end.  Time for us to leave the party and ride back to La Porte City.

The ride back was just as fun.  A few things to note.  First, like on the way to Brandon, the frogs were out in force.  I even saw a turtle!  Yes, I get excited to see a turtle that only a week or so ago was still hibernating.  Also, snow was still around in the shadows off the trail.  More exciting was the abandoned bus we found in the woods off the trail.  It had to have been there for decades yet I have never noticed it before.  We had to stop and explore.

We heard frogs and saw turtles in the water and also encountered snow.

Funny how the rusty spots formed in the shape of shotgun pellets.

That will buff out.  Dave's brother has a lot of tools!

Moon roof and escape hatch on the floor!

Was a nice looking bus before being destroyed.  Chrome grill.

But not all was good.  At a later stop I noticed that my bike lock was missing.   I must have left it at Phat Albert's.  I insisted that we would drive back to Brandon to retrieve it.  Stupidity, sloppiness.

Once back in LPC we put the bicycles back into the CR-V.  Such a great vehicle.  We were able to get three bikes inside and close the hatch and still have a rear seat for a person to sit in back. After securing or steeds we walked to the Getaway and met my son Quin and his girlfriend Kayla who came over to visit us.  We had cheeseburgers although I do not think we needed more food.  The Limestoners were playing outside on the patio.  This blues band consists of some of the best blues muscians of Iowa.  Hall of Famer Bob Dorr and Jeff Petersen.  And Bob was on drums!  Before one song he noted that this track had been played at Steb's in 1986.  I hollered.  I was probably there.  What a great way to end the ride.  But something even better happened.

The Limestoners

Gotta love a Gibson Flying V.

The Fool's Ride and its September counterpart Sloof Ride have dress codes.  For the former orange is the official color of clothing for the ride.  Camouflage is the theme for the latter ride.  So I wore an orange shirt I purchased at Two Friends Bar back in 2008 where the ride began and ended on my first ride.  Someone tapped my shoulder and said that she was glad to see this shirt since she used to own that bad back in 2008 and that her caricature was printed on back of the shirt.  I was hoping that it would get some recognition but I never expected that.  I should have had her photo taken with my back to the camera to show here 2008 image.

Time to go.  We drove back to Brandon in the dark.  I have never driven there before.  Dark road and nothing familiar.  Classic "I know how to get there on bike but not car: syndrome.  Mary fired up Google Maps to ensure no mistakes were made.  But once in Brandon we spotted the turn to Phat Albert's a little too late.  I was tempted to make a U-turn but with Dave and Mary going "over there" and with an oncoming car, despite having more than enough time and a wide street,  I decided to take Dave's advice and make a right on the first road.  Of course it did not look like a road and the Sheriff's house with official SUV parked out front was on this dark descent into the abyss.   Just a dark black hole and if it was flooded we'd require a deep sea rescue kit.  We managed to climb out the other side and find the bar.  I reached into the trailer that I placed the lock on while awaiting Dave to move his bike many hours ago but only found my can of beer.  What sort of prank did the Universe play on me?  No lock just an empty West-O can that was stomped on.  Turn phones into torches and search the perimeter.  Perhaps I dropped it.  No joy.  The lock was not there.  New theory: I did not zip up the pannier and the lock fell out when I hit the ruts a few miles up on the trail.  The time had passed to search the trail.  True, the pannier pocket was unzipped when I returned to La Porte City but it was time to leave and head to Dave's and get some sleep.

Home sweet home!  Here it is!  Glad I decided against stopping at a LBS on the way home although I made a plan to borrow one of Mary's locks for work and stop at Fred's on the way home from work on Monday.  Sorry, Brad.

The scene of no crime.  Dave is messing around with his bike after I unlocked all three.  I placed the lock in that trailer thinking that there was a possibility that I would forget about it.  At some point I placed the lock in one of four green panniers in the photo.  It happened to be on one that was on Mary's bicycle.  Checking the bags in La Porte City as we loaded the bikes into the Honda failed to reveal the lock.  We were tired and I probably focused on my panniers exclusively.  Lesson learned.

There is a happy ending.  When Mary and I got home to Des Moines on Sunday, and we unloaded the vehicle I felt one of the pockets on her panniers and discovered that my lock had been there the entire time!  Before you laugh realize that the bags we took were all from my touring bike.  That bike stayed home but we used its panniers.  All four are a matched set.  Thus I must have placed the lock in hers by accident thinking it was mine since those bags are mine and our bikes were right next to each other.  A Fool's Ride miracle!!

Dave was not so lucky.  When we got back to his place we searched the CR-V for his coffee mug.  No joy.  It most likely fell off his bike along the trail.  He accepted his loss graciously and noted that he has four others just like the one he lost.

As always, we plan to return next April.  Hopefully this writing will encourage more friends to join us.  Also we are putting the Sloof Ride on our list.  In September it starts in Brandon and goes to La Porte City and back.  The ride is backwards, check out the spelling.  Wear your camo!

Time To Bust Out The Road Bikes

 Finally used my mirror. Forgot I picked one with a Guinness bottle cap.  Seemed appropriate for the ride abd was an excellent conversation starter downtown.

Seems like Winter has been going on for a full year.  Honestly, it has only been tough for the past two months.  So when all the sniw and ice melted in the past two weeks it was time to stop riding the winter mules it was time to through a leg over a faster steed. 

But where to ride?  Normally we would start with local trails.  But all of these trails it seem are underwater from the thaw.  In fact, most of Iowa is flooding out from the. Return of warm weather, rain and nelting of the snow.

The view from the top of the Des Moines River Trail looking north. Soccer fields on the right.

With this in mind we, Mary and I, chose to ride to Carlisle.  A mere 11 miles from home on paved county roads.  Although we would have prefered to have started on the Des Moines River Trail we had to take Hartford Ave instead because the trail is currently underneath the Des Moines River.  Once we reached the spot where the trail crosses Hartford we were able to use the trail. Fortunately, no soccer or baseball games were hapoening so traffic was light.  The rest of the route was fine.

This sign was honest.

We thought it was fine until we arrived in Avon Lake and read the sign. "ROAD TO CARLISLE IS CLOSED." Of course we continued on to see for ourselves.  And just past the last turn by the old ballfield we saw the water.  One mile to go but we lacked a boat for the quarter mile stretch of water covering the road.

There was a man in a Jeep staring at the flooded road. Said he grew up here and used to play baseball here.  He also said he would have ridden too but, opening the door, his left foot was in a medical boot.  But all have seen this happen before.  The North River and Des Moines River merged.  Oh well, we'll have 20+ miles when we reach our home.

The end of the road. One mile shy of our destination.

Whadda we do now?  It is the Saturday of St Patrick's Day.  Downtown will be a sea of green.  Many of our friends were going to the parade and even participating in the parade.  Members of our bicycling team, Mary's Heroes, had already called to get us to join them.  While normally I would not hesitate to join them I know that once I did the beer would flow down my neck like a river.  I've waited too long for a nice day to ride to waste it drinking beer. We can do that anytime.

20 miles and the road bike hunger sated. Time to find our friends.  Ride home and put green clothes on.  I wore my Mullets long sleeve shurt with. Peter Hook & The Light shirt over it with "The Light" in green.  Final layer was a John Deere jacjet and hat. Green I was!  Found Joe and Donnie outside Court Avenue Brew Pub which was awesome since our mugs are there. One mug of O'Hearn's Irish Stout before reloading with their ESB.  The latter being one of the finest beers from Des Moines.

We discussed our plans for the year and the great times we had in the past.  Eventually we left the crowd and had bike beers on the Red Bridge before splitting up and heading home.  We witnessed a photoshoot of wedding party on the bridge.  I hope we did not photobomb them.

Three of our bicycles on the Red Bridge. Donnie in the photo, too.

It was a beautiful day to be outside on bikes and with friends.

Winter's Retreat

Sunday March 10, 2019

Been an interesting winter.  First it never arrived.  60s in January.  Then it hit hard.  Snow after snow and the bottom of the thermometer dropping off.  And when it was supposed to start to leave it got even colder.  That finally changed this weekend.  It warmed up to above freezing and it rained.  So it was time to switch bikes.

Friday night Mary and I rode to Confluence Brewery on bicycles WITHOUT studded tires!  That has been first since January.  Saturday it rained all day so we stayed inside and I put together her new commuter.  Today, Sunday we took it for a spin.

First, I rode to Church on the winter bike.  There may have been ice from the refreeze from the rain and subsequent melting.  There was a little.  Last night's 30 mph wind helped to evaporate the water.  27F when I left for Church.  But I did not need a coat.  Just used my tweed jacket as a warmth layer plus hat and gloves.  No boots!  Another first.

Our test ride took place around noon.  Shake down on her bike and I busted out the Verenti for something different.  The streets were a bit wet in spots but mostly dry.  Windy but sunny.  We heard birds.  Stopped at Court Avenue Brew Pub for their latest offerings, Fuzzy Tacos for nachos and DSM Brew for espresso.  It was like a normal weekend. 

Next weekend is St Patrick's Day.  Usually I expect to see green grass and trees budding but I have no expectations.  There's still a lot of snow on the ground but given the forecast of rain this coming week it may go away.  Hopefully, it will also warm up.

Groundhog's Day Has Been Every Sunday

At Church

Weird winter.  Nothing happened from Thanksgiving through Christmas and New Year's and then on the 11th of January it finally snowed significantly.  And almost every Sunday since.  Seems that I have many photos of my bicycle at Church this year.  I live a half mile away so I ride the bike instead of driving a car.

Bridge Beer!

Sometimes I have virgin snow to ride on, sometimes not.  Last week it was a difficult ride.  I put the bike into granny gear and slowly made my way there.  I saw some friends of mine walking to Church that day.  Afterwards I made a morning of it, exploring and imbibing on a cherished "bridge beer."  It was wonderful.

Iowa beer bus looks buried!

Last Sunday we almost had an entire wine bottle of snow!

In  an hour I will be faced with a decision, ride to Church or drive.  Once again it snowed overnight but the snow is not the issue.  The sustained 35 mph wind and the gust up to 50 mph are weighing on my mind.  I may drive.

My new bike rack at work.  Nope, they did not shovel.  One day they shoveled around our bikes and a path to where it is clear.

As for bicycling to work, it's been a hit or miss winter.  Just a mere 2+ miles from home to the bike rack at work.  I have ridden on all the snow days but the really cold days I admit that I have driven too much.  Any excuse works.  Dora needs to go to the doctor.  Mary coughed all night and I am the only one that can park at work ect.  But despite all of this I have abused the Red Phoenix.  Another 3 weeks and It will go into the shed until Thanksgiving.  But I also admit that I like to ride the bike to work on really bad snowy days just to prove to the weak that I can make it to work on bad days.  Like last Wednesday, big snow expected and really not much fell but a lot of people just stayed home.  Me, I biked.  Someone has to fight Climate Change!

I found the place NOT to park the bike!

I work in a different building now but there is a bicycle rack close to the door.  Except for being exposed to the elements it it the most convenient rack on campus.  Two other people seem to use this rack in the winter.  One rides a Surly Karate Monkey with a drivetrain as rusty as mine.  Winter is hard on bicycle.  I don't feel as bad for neglecting my chain now.  As you can tell from the photos, there is an ice drip issue at certain locations on this rack.  I learnt the hard way.

Just marking its spot!!

Bike rack mate marking its territory!

FINAL NOTE:

I drove to Church.  Bad decision.  Should have driven.  Wasted so much time before I left had no choice but to drive.  Had to be there since I was scheduled to do the readings.  So after my shower I threw a pair of pants on and started the CR-V.  Guess what?  Doors were frozen.  I had to open the glass tailgate and crawl in from the back.  Could not get the front door unlocked.  Exited through the  the passenger side door.  Now I have the vehicle parked with driver side door facing the Sun and idling with heat on full blast.  Hopefully the bastard with thaw out!

Punished By The Velo Gods

It's not often that I drive an automobile but recent circumstances have required the use of an internal combustion engine for transport.  For instance when I need to take a child to a doctor's appointment or to pick something large and bulky up in a city covered in snow and ice.  Sometimes the both of us need to be somewhere within 15 minutes of when she needs off.  Mary has had a cold for something like two weeks and since our places of employment are within a quarter mile of each other why not drive when the temperatures are in the single digits?  She needs the rest.

The first time I drove to work this year my badge did not work at the parking ramp and I had to park on the street and go inside and buy a roll of quarters from Dale and then move the Honda to where my fellow economic slaves park and give Karen $4 in quarters since she feeds the meters slightly before 9 am.  They have a good system and awesome street parking BTW  Almost as close as bicycle parking but $4 a day.  Later when they said it was fixed I found myself at the wrong entrance which was probably the reason I could not get in.  Dumb me for not reading signs. 

Sounds good?  The Velo Gods strike!  In getting prepped to leave the house I looked at my key chain with the key to my bike lock on it and toss it in the drawer.  "Don't need you."  Wrongo Boyo!!  On that key chain was the key to my locker.  Can't put away my coat and gloves and hat or grab some stuff I need.  Had to run outside and through everything in the vehicle.  It was like -5 F.  And I was late.  Did not leave on time since I thought driving would save time.  And the fact that I could not get into the parking garage.  It took a few times to get a proper driving routine set.  And an email to my boss to get access to the ramp.

So it was a week ago Thursday.  Parked in the ramp again.  Little did I know that it would take 40 minutes to exit said ramp because of increased traffic provided by the State Wrestling Tournament.   Seriously, 40 minutes of idling the vehicle to get to the street. 

First things first, turn on the radio.  After about 5 minutes of local AM talk radio (politics = poli meaning many and tics meaning blood suckers) I tuned into FM rock and roll.  War Pigs by Black Sabbath.  Turn this up!  Then a crap song so I fired up YouTube on my mobile phone and started with a fitting Valentine's Day love song, Lonesome Tonight by New Order.  I rolled the window down a bit so others could enjoy.  The rest of the playlist was a big dose of New Order: Thieves Like Us, Bizarre Love Triangle (extended Dance Mix), Ceremony (why are the first singles of a band often their best?) and as I was almost out to the street the Stone Roses I Am The Resurrection which lasted all the way to Mary's place of work.  The Stone Roses' track was outstanding, the guitar at the end sublime!  And what a song to have blasting as one is finally freed!

Soon I thought why not park where Mary works?  Free and a shorter walk to my building than the ramp is.  Well, she needs to register the vehicle with her security department.  Unfortunately, she lacks the time to do this over lunch.  Bike, Chris, bike!  Monday, her day off, she will get the sticker.

Move the timeline a week or so later.  Need to buy an ice breaker/scraper to bust up the inevitable refreeze that will doom us if not removed.  Need a lot of groceries and need to stay dry since it is raining.  We drove and when all the list was complete it was time to eat.  Burgers I thought, been a long time since I had one.  But where?  Quinton's came to mind.  We have not been there in ages and they do have great drink specials.  But when I made the turn on Grand I realize that I lack coins.  75 cents per hour, at least that is what I have paid recently at a meter near work.  Mary has 40 cents. 

Forget it.  Damn city turned into a baby and decided to force people to feed meters on Saturdays since the local option sales tax was rejected by voters.  Find a place that has free parking.  Truman's.

We drove by it earlier and saw only two cars parked there.  Coolio, free parking and no crowd.  Walk in were greeted by friendlies faces and smiles.  "Whatcha drinkin?" 

Not really in a drinking mood since I needed to stay productive and Mary was planning to get her hair done afterwards.  "Just here for burgers but I could do one beer, The Big Grove."

"I'm sorry, it's breakfast until noon.  But you could get a pizza."

BARNACLES!!!!  "Man, I've had breakfast all week and we had pizza last night."  Which is true since at work I get breakfast food for free.  Not really in a mood for it on Saturday.

I do the maths.  IF we finish our beers AND go home and grab quarters for the bloody parking meter THEN we lose up to an hour of our lives just for food.  Typical American bitching about food when most of the world is starving to death.  Spoiled child I am.  If we would have ditched the CR-V for bikes.  BUT then Mary's hair would have been messed up and she has been waiting for weeks to get her hair cut.

"OK, I'll get the breakfast burrito and an ice tea."  Mary got an egg bake thing.

The food was good but I was disappointed.  The Velo Gods struck again.  Just go home.

Lovely Sunday Snow Rides

This bicycle soldiers on in winter.

The weathercons were right.  The snow began about 7 am and was over by noon.  I think Des Moines received 3" of snow.  With the temperature hovering a few degrees below freezing it was a nice day to spend outside.  I rode the bicycle twice.

My first ride was to Church.  Had to be there by 8 am as I thought I was to fill in for a person who was scheduled for Holy Communion.  I was wrong, that is next week.  Oh well, here now better stay.  The snow had been falling for an hour and the streets may have had over an inch.  No one had driven over it so I had streets of virgin snow.  This is the best snow to ride in.  After Mass it was apparent that a lot of people woke up and drove.  They made the roads a bit crappy to ride in.  Had to pay attention to my line and prepare for the wheels breaking through the snow to the street surface.  This is like a reverse anti-lock brakes, smooth then a jolty rough patch then smooth again.  Find virgin snow toward the curbs.

They did a nice job clearing the snow off the walk and bike racks.

After Church, Mary and I decided that we should do our weekend taco and coffee ride.  We ride downtown about a mile and have breakfast tacos at Fuzzy's then go to DSM Brew for coffee.  Neighborhood residential streets to Mullets then we crossed the pedestrian bridge which the city had already made one pass with the plow.  The MLK sidepath was clear of snow which was getting near the 3" depth.  I decided to indulge in a beer, Iowa Eagle from Iowa Brewing Co, a Czech lager.  While enjoying said beer and chorizo tacos we noticed that someone was riding their bicycle in the street instead of the sidepath.  A bike with drop bars.  Heading east,  Probably in the street to avoid an inattentive driver from killing him with a right hook at the intersection of 3rd and MLK.  Good move but that street was wet.

I was shocked!  No espresso from here today!  After dropping Dora off at work i noticed that they opened.

DSM Brew was not open.  Maybe the snow delayed the openers.  But it was nearly 11 am.  We went to Java Joe's instead.  Their espresso is a bit darker roasted than DSM Brew but quite good.  I was a bit shocked at the price but Mary's medium iced vanilla latte was about the size of a large anywhere else.  I relaxed with that revelation.

At Java Joe's.  Not shown is the silver Chevy Impala blocking the entrance/exit of a parking garage and the Toyota Tundra & driver that wanted out.

The snow was over when we left but the struggle was on.  A Chevy Impala was parked illegally in front of the garage next to Java Joe's.  Two people wanted to exit the garage.  I almost chuckled as I unlocked our bicycles from the rack.  We'd be moving soon, they would not.

One stop at Hy Vee for cat food, two cod filets, pork and a bottle of wine.  Best get shopping done while I am out.  The rest of the ride home was alright.  Another pass was made on the bridge.  Got home and shoveled.  Both of us.  Worked up a sweat and stripped off my warmth layers and got the snow removed in time for tomorrow's winter event.