Saturday, March 31, 2007


This is what Winter riding in Minnesota looked like this year. This is the Gentleman's Ride which was happening on Sunday mornings until it got much colder. We would roll along for about thirty five or forty miles at a conversational pace and then end at the neighborhood coffee shop for a cup of the good stuff. The weather really helped me to stay on the bike this year. It stayed mild until January and then it was real cold for a couple of weeks and then it snowed in February. Extreme cold (below 18 degrees F) and lots of snow will pretty much keep me at the dinner table and off the bike. This year that period lasted about six weeks, which is not bad at all for this part of the country. It is now Spring and I am happy to report I am riding and it feels really good to be back on the wheel. Meanwhile, guitars are selling well and that is a happy thing. I have the perfect storm of two weekends in a row of playing at Dulono's Pizza coming up and I am both dreading it and looking forward to it. I love to play music in front of an audience and Dulono's is the ultimate venue around here for live acoustic music. I dread it because it is eight hours per weekend of standing with a fifteen pound banjo on my shoulder and I just am not able to shrug it off like I could as a younger man. I am usually pretty worn by Sunday mornings, but that is what the bike is for. Play, eat, ride; sounds pretty good.