Monthly Archives: February 2017

77 Degrees February 22nd

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

Yesterday was pretty nice.  It was approaching 80 degrees, which is about 20 degrees above the normal high of 58.  Even 58 seems like it is high for February.  I guess that winter is sort of winding down.

Most my gang here in Topeka is sick-ish.  Bill, Catherine, my brother Kris, all feel bad.  Bill has been sick on and off for nearly a month I think.  Catherine just for a day, so maybe it is just the flu and she’ll be feeling better by the weekend.

I’ve been feeling off for a while too.  Kind of the same thing as Bill has.  TIght chest, mucus in my throat, etc.  But not sick enough to skip riding when it is so nice out.

So I got on my bike and rode gravel over to Lawrence.  That is pretty much my favorite ride around Topeka, so I try to do it sort of often.  It was a little windy and I was riding solo,  so a little shelter on gravel is always good.

I stopped for coffee in Lawrence.  The students were sitting outside in shorts.  I liked that.

KU basketball had a milestone yesterday by winning the 13th straight Big 12 title in a row. Pretty incredible streak.  They are ranked 3rd in the country now, but need to improve a tad still if they want to play a bunch of games in March.  They still have nearly a month before the Big Dance, so it should be fine.

Today it is supposed to rain a little this morning, then heat up to the upper 60’s.  Tomorrow it is going to be a high in the 30’s.  Then a couple days of mid 50’s, then the 60’s and 70’s again.  Not bad weather.

Here are some photos from yesterday.

The view along the river is nice. It is hilly on and off.

Lots of the road has Hedge trees, which is super hard wood that was planted to protect and divide the fields.

Lots of the road yesterday was smoother than cement.

KU students at Starbucks in Lawrence.

This is a memorial right near where the road turns gravel. I saw this boy, riding his three-wheeler, just a couple days before his accident. So sad.

 

I like this barn.

And this one, even though it has concrete blocks.

There are lots of these in Eastern Kansas.

My favorite house on the River Road.

A really old stone building on the Santa Fe property in Topeka.

A railroad bridge, coming back into Topeka.

Frank Mason wearing the Championship T-Shirt last night.

Tucker was a little bit crazy this morning.

 

Birkie Ski Race Tomorrow?

This entry was posted in Fun Stuff on by .

 

Race Update-Officially Cancelled ????

The American Birkebeiner ski race is supposed to be held tomorrow.  I think around 10,000 people ski there.  But, with all the warm weather we’ve been having, it has made the event questionable.  Plus, it has been raining some up in Northwoods and  that kills the snow.

It is supposed to snow some today.  But it is probably too little too late.  There is some standing water on the trail, which the Chris Campbell and his crew are removing, but when you remove standing water, that means there isn’t much snow.

They are hoping to run a race from the new start area to OO, which is about half the distance of the normal race.  I think they are going to be making a decision on that today.  It looks like it is snowing there now, but they also have lots of other concerns, which might not be fixed by some snow.  Like parking for 10000 skiers and such.

I have a bunch of friends that ski the race.  I’ve done it a couple times, but not for a long time now.  It is a super event and I feel badly that all this nice weather in the lower Midwest has created havoc for the Birkie.

Okay, updates on trail conditions are here.  Let’s cross our fingers.

Picture of the start area. Dang.