Velodrome

First. To show the difference between a dry month and a wet month, I'm bringing out a photo of Minnehaha Falls from July (dry month) followed by a photo of the falls in the wettest August in Twin Cities record keeping. The pictures were taken from nearly the same spot; you may be able to pick out the two trees that are in common in each. I thought I was in the same place, but I didn't have the original photo with me. You may perhaps notice a difference in flow over the precipice.

Minnehaha Falls, July 13, 2007.


Minnehaha Falls August 29, 2007.


The Cedar Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi next to the fallen 35W bridge was open to pedestrians and bikes today. I recommend a stroll across the span, although you will be in the company of a lot of other gawkers. I took the walk this morning and have quite a few photos which I'll try to organize for future blogs. The Mississippi is still blocked by the ex-bridge and the debris is being removed as quickly as it can be jack hammered apart and toted off. It's an other worldly sight.

This evening I went to the National Sports Center's Velodrome to watch bike races. They have races there from May through early September on a 20 year old wooden track. The bikes are single speed and brakeless, but the riders are fast and seemingly fearless. It was a pretty good show, even with the mosquitos and lack of scoreboard. They had some nice bikes, too. There were a couple of crashes, but no serious injuries.


There was a great US Open tennis match last night on the USA network between James Blake and a French guy, Fabrice Santoro, whose nickname is the Magician. Blake won in five sets, but Santoro was amazing to watch. He was cramping during the whole fifth set, but during actual play he ran around like a youngster. Between points he limped and was unable to move without wincing. 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. There were magical moments of shotmaking and retrieving in a very entertaining late night match.