Ride report

Brain and I thought we'd get a ride in the morning, since the weather was looking *ok* - not great, but it looked like maybe it was done raining. Plan was to head west and do the Medicine Lake loop.

Traffic on Excelsior was extremely sparse, so instead of taking the greenway, I charged down Excelsior at max speed in the middle lane. Not a car in sight behind me - this was killer and totally reminded me of this video I've seen of these Boston guys riding in the "Big Dig" construction area, underground at night, every lane to themselves (it was still under construction, after all.) When I arrived at Brian's place, my hip flexors already felt shot, having not been on the PowerCranks for at least a month.

So Brian and I headed around the west side of Cedar Lake, there was a giant snapping turtle in the middle of the road. I did a quick u-turn to see if I could get it off the road. This is the third large snapper I've encountered while riding this season, and of course I didn't have my camera with me this time either.

Anyway, it's shell was probably 14-16 inches across, with slimy algae and probably a dozon large leeches on it. I estimate it weighed 25 lbs, maybe more. I picked it up by the rear edges of it's shell (the only way to stay clear of it's long neck and fierce jaws) and carried it the 50 ft to the lake. Everything was fine, until it got it's rear claws up near my fingers, and gave me a couple nasty scrapes on my left hand. Nothing major, but there was blood and judging by the nastiness on this critter's shell, I was a little worried about infection. So I rinsed off in the lake (although I suspect the water near shore isn't very sanitary, either.)

In retrospect, I think picking up by the tail may be a better strategy in the future, to avoid both the jaws and the claws.

Brian commented that this incident made him think of the song "My Ding-a-Ling" by Chuck Berry ...

"Once while swimming cross turtle creek
Man them snappers right at my feet
Sure was hard swimming cross that thing
with both hands holding my ding-a-ling"

With that incident behind us, we continued west out Cedar Lake Road. I commented that the weather was starting to look questionable, and about a minute later it started misting, then raining. Damn. So much for avoiding the weather. A few miles later, the rain picked up, and shoes started filling with water. A few miles later, and my shorts were soaked to. The rain came and went for the rest of the ride, and the shoes never did drain out, but the blood on my hand did rinse off. Somehow we managed to get lost at the north end of Medicine Lake, same as always. Will we ever get that route right?

Coming back south down Wirth parkway, we were pleased to see that the bridge at the north end of Cedar Lake is *finally* fully constructed, and we were able to ride through without dismounting and dealing with the walkway. Further down Cedar Lake, we passed a guy riding one of these 2-cycle, gas powered scooters. He was a tall dude, riding this scooter bolt-upright, staring straight ahead with the engine whining and totally wound out. What a joker. We were moving at a pretty good clip, quickly passing him, and as we did I glanced back at him, made eye contact, and yelled "Nice scooter!" I didn't say it maliciously (but it could have come across that way, since I yelled loudly to make sure I was heard over his engine). His reaction was as if, well, as if he snapped. He went from straight-faced to snarling in 0.00001 second as he responded with a big "Fuck you!" Well, this was so comical that Brian and I totally lost it. We continued on past, quickly leaving him behind, but we were out-of-control laughing. Priceless. I suspect he must have taken flak for that scooter before to respond like that!