The first three-quarters of today’s ride was pretty mundane. It was just another ride in the hills and farms of Washington County just north of MY Town. Nothing to write home about, and certainly nothing to post on Cycle365 about. (Except maybe for my first flat tire of the season.) That all started to change … Continue reading "Some Bike Rides Are More Interesting Than Others"

Happy Easter everybody, and let me tell you, it sure has been a happy Easter for me so far. Where do I begin to tell you about it? I suppose I should start with the Featured Photo. Can you tell what it is? That’s right, the Easter Bird paid a visit to my house and … Continue reading "HALLELUJAH! It’s Easter Sunday and the Lord and the Temperature Have Risen"

The month brought a lot more snow and cold weather than expected. Last year spoiled us with its mild days but this winter just seemed to hang on forever. I don’t enjoy riding my bike in temperatures anywhere near freezing. However, walking in cold weather is no problem and since I now have my asthma … Continue reading "Walks and Rides: The March 2021 Edition"

Just a short tour across town, around the park, and back, and spotted this carpet of violas Make a pretty good match for the Le Tour, or vice versa

And of course for those of you in the southern hemisphere, the autumn equinox. I’m not sure we are going to have any sun tomorrow for any equinox pictures, though. As long as I’m talking about the weather, HERE is a little recap of the past week. Sadly no bike rides.

According to several eye witnesses, a man identified as Gregblood of MY Town, Minnesota, recklessly swerved across a busy street while riding his bike, nearly causing the driver of a Cadillac Escalade to hit the brakes. “The dude seemed to have spotted the cute stand over there,” said the driver when questioned by police, “and … Continue reading "Minnesota Cyclist Compelled To Stop At Girl Scout Cookie Stand"

Woke up this morning to snow flurries. That is neither good nor bad news – I no longer expect mild weather this month and will take it as it comes. It’s been snowing and raining for most of the day. While waiting for a dry window, I decided to get my blog going again. The … Continue reading "Good News Bad News Bad News Good News"

I’m not exactly sure where they came from (Outer space? A parallel universe? An H.G. Wells novel? Hell?) but they arrived mysteriously and wreaked havoc on MY Town today. The next few pictures are just the things I witnessed. I can’t even imagine all the other death and destruction that occurred beyond my view. We … Continue reading "The Day Giant Mechanical Monsters Terrorized MY Town"

Today is New Bike Day! This is my brand new Salsa Fargo, which will hopefully allow me to tackle even more of our chunky gravel roads. Because of the current pandemic-induced global bike shortage, I ended up buying this bike from a shop up in northern Vermont, about 180 miles away. So today was mostly … Continue reading "New Bike Day!"

Yes, you read that right–BLUE BAGS. This morning I noticed they’re all over MY Town. It all started when I was riding around on a very nice day, with no intention of creating a Cycle365 post. Then, while riding along the floodplain of the Vermillion River, I noticed something out of the corner of my … Continue reading "An Entire Post About Blue Bags"

Brown is the color of the month here Suzanne suggested taking some photos of brown fields nearby  — we have plenty of those! Brownish road, brown grass, brown weeds, brown trees From what (little) I understand, the Raleigh’s paint had brown added to red and blue to produce the burgundy More brown along the North … Continue reading "Brown Brown Everywhere"

For several days I had been anxiously waiting to see what the subject of Cycle365’s March Challenge would be. In fact, to say I was “anxious” would be too much of an understatement. You could say I was “chomping at the bit.” You could say I “really had the juices flowing.” You could say I … Continue reading "The Opposite of Kodachrome"

In my last post I wrote that it’s very difficult to show COLD in a picture. Today I will add that it’s IMPOSSIBLE to show STINK in a picture. STINK is what got me to investigate further today after picking up my mail at the post office. I had a pretty good idea where it … Continue reading "MY Town’s Wastewater Treatment Plant and Other Pleasantries"

Reading about Team Anderson’s car warning light coming on in their old Vetta made me think of the feature photo. Then, when Scott (Rocky shouldn’t be pulled in as a guilty party) mistook the engine temp gauge for the fuel gauge, I thought: Oh, I ‘ve got to share the car warning light photo. The … Continue reading "Ahh, the simplicity… maybe"

Words of Introduction Hi folks, Storm Chaser Greg here. I’m pleased to be your guest-writer today, because ICICLES are a very important subject and I believe nobody is more qualified to tell you about them than I am. Let me start with the question of whether icicles are symbols of winter beauty, or ice-cold assassins. … Continue reading "ICICLES: Frozen Sticks of Beauty? Or Winter’s Army of Ninja Killers? (An Essay By Storm Chaser Greg)"

I’ve been away from the works of some of my favorite authors for a couple of days, so I couldn’t wait to get back to some serious reading. This morning I got up and started reading some new and interesting works of literature: -There was a fine Hank Aaron reminiscence that also taught me a … Continue reading "NOTHING NEW TO SEE HERE"

We’re expecting a winter storm this afternoon and into tomorrow, followed by a few days of very cold temperatures, so I decided to get out for a short and chilly ride before the snow starts. I just did a ride into town and back, total of about eight miles, but stopped to take a photo … Continue reading "A Quick Ride Before the Snow"

For fans of rivers and view-blockers, don’t worry because I will be showing some pictures of those things pretty soon. First, however, I want to address the “Chilly Day” part of my title. Ask any denizen of MY Town about our winter so far and they reply something like this: “You call THIS a winter? … Continue reading "Along the River and Through the Woods On a Chilly Day"

Cycle365 Recognizes New Poet Laureate According to a press release issued by the highly esteemed Cycle365 website this morning, Gregory S. (Gregblood) Garceau has been recognized as the official Poet Laureate of the bicycling world. The announcement was a MAJOR disappointment to 95% of the readership who backed the more mature works of “Suzanne” and … Continue reading "AN ARTICLE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES’ ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT SECTION"

My appreciation goes out to Rocky for expanding the scope of Cycle365 to include hiking and other outdoor activities. In return, my pledge to her (and to everybody else) is to not take advantage of the new rules by posting frivolous junk every time I go out of the house. EXCEPT FOR TODAY! I’ve been … Continue reading "Hiking With My Heroes"

A couple of days ago I noticed that the Reckless Mr. Bing Bong’s steering was kind of sluggish. At the time I thought maybe the reason for that was the heavy load of groceries I was carrying. All the weight was on my right side in a single pannier. I had no doubt that lop-sidedness … Continue reading "It Was Such A Nice, Pleasant, Uneventful Bike Ride . . . At First"

One could argue that I titled this post “Really, Really, REALLY Bad Polygon Pictures and Puns” as a cynical ploy to get people to read it. Can anybody really resist looking at something THAT bad? Probably not. Look how many truly awful movies have gone on to become huge cult classics. “Plan 9 From Outer … Continue reading "Really, Really, REALLY Bad Polygon Pictures and Puns"

Octa (or Octo) is a prefix that comes from the Greek language and it means “eight.” Sometimes people refer to “eight” as “8,” but for the purposes of this article I’m going to use the “eight” option because it will make this post look longer. That’s one of the tricks I used in the fourth … Continue reading "Gon Crazy (OCTAgon That Is)"

This is a continuation of the previous discussion about what changed when we upgraded to the latest WordPress version.  First, the good news: I found a plug-in that adds next and previous page links to the bottom of the post, and replaces functionality that we lost with the upgrade.  It looks like it works fine. … Continue reading "Previous Post / Next Post"

Okay, I’m a polygonist. I know a lot of people look down on the practice of polygony, but those folks just don’t understand my religion. Like Joseph Smith, I too invented my own religion. It’s called The Church of the Great Outdoors. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? The only thing most people know about The … Continue reading "POLYGONY: Having Two or More Polygon Photos in One Post"

It’s a New Year and even though we’re only half of a day into it, I’m already liking it. I guess that’s because I just got back from a refreshing 90-minute bike ride. I’m going to back up a little and tell you about my exciting New Year’s Eve. For the first time in several … Continue reading "Fun With Frozen Water (Featuring a Performance By The G-2 Comedy Troupe)"

It’s been a strange ten days for this bike rider. Allow me to provide a recap: There was the freezing rain of Dec. 18 followed by the embarrassing bike crash of December 19. There was the nice weather and the cycling rebound on December 20th, during the middle of which most of my aches and … Continue reading "Mountains Of Snow"

Did you hear about the blizzard we had last night? If you were tuned in to Storm Chaser Greg’s reports you did. I think it was the first official BLIZZARD we’ve had in MY Town in several years. (I’m not going to look up when we had the last one though, because I’m afraid Google … Continue reading "Season’s Greetings, Blizzard Aftermath, White Christmas In MY Town, Tough Guy Isn’t So Tough After All, and Some Other Observations"

A major change is taking place on the Minnesota weather scene. The possibility of a brown Christmas is becoming the certainty of a white Christmas, or, as Storm Chaser Greg put it on his last weather alert: “People who were singing “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” this morning can quit dreaming and start singing … Continue reading "It’s A Whole New Ballgame"

I thought it might be nice for those of you currently experiencing warm weather, either in the southern hemisphere or in the southern part of the northern hemisphere, to see what you all are missing. The hill coming out of my neighborhood is still a bit sketchy for bike riding, so the last couple of … Continue reading "Snow"

Welcome viewers and thank you for tuning in to this Greg News Channel special report. We know the world has many questions about the state of Christmas Shopping in Hastings, Minnesota during the world-wide Corona Virus pandemic. How is the “shop local” initiative working out? Is business up or down? Will the restaurants and bars … Continue reading "SPECIAL REPORT: Christmas Shopping In MY Town"

Headed west on Sprague Road A brief break in the clouds allowed a quick shadow shot No need to look up this street on Google street view — when they came thru town very few routes were taken — I think they concluded the best way to see Hoopeston is in the rear view mirror  … Continue reading "Solstice Shadows de Hooterville"

After a full day of convalescing, I couldn’t wait to get out for a LEGITIMATE bike ride. I felt much better today and the only significant pain I still had was the one in my lower part of my left leg. I think the worst of yesterday’s pain came from the bike parts I fell … Continue reading "My Most Cautious Bike Ride EVER"

“My Shortest Bike Ride EVER” isn’t exactly the catchiest title I’ve ever come up with, nor is the featured photo anything worth looking at. Therefore, I definitely want to thank anybody who ventured to read this post despite those immediate shortcomings. Come to think of it, a more sensational title might have been “My First … Continue reading "My Shortest Bike Ride EVER"

I just finished writing a different post a few minutes ago. It was from yesterday’s ride, but it didn’t have any collections. Scott is very inspirational and his inspiring post this afternoon inspired me to add another post from today’s ride in which a few collections are the ONLY redeeming quality. That’s all I have … Continue reading "Am I Giving Up On Collections Too Soon? No Way!"

“A bicycle does not live by one sport alone.” -The Reckless Mr. Bing Bong Those are words my bike believes deep down into the core of his drive train, and he practices what he preaches. Sure, The Reckless Mr. Bing Bong has gotten most of his worldwide fame for having his pedals turned by my … Continue reading "THE RECKLESS MR. BING BONG: Athlete Extraordinaire"

You may have heard that the East Coast is receiving just a little bit of snow today. I don’t think even my studded tires are going to do the trick. I guess sometimes the ‘bicycle in daily life’ means the bicycle has to stay in the garage for a day. This might be a day … Continue reading "Time for a ‘no ride’ day"

When I was watching Storm Chaser Greg’s special report this morning I pretty much blew it off as another one of his exaggerated and irrational “dangerous” weather alerts. Like most forecasters all over the country, he thrives on sensationalistic weather reporting to keep the viewers watching, and he’s usually wrong. This time, however, I should … Continue reading "Hastings’ California"

I really didn’t know what to expect when I headed toward Oregontown this morning. I had never actually been to that sector of MY Town because it always seems to be plagued by either forest fires, street riots, or crazy militia groups occupying wildlife refuges and having standoffs with federal agents. I tend to stay … Continue reading "Oregontown: Lumber Heaven"

Those of us who are experts in urban classification terminology know that the area that surrounds Baltimore and our nation’s capitol is technically called the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area. (It’s true, look it up.) Good god, I can’t be repeatedly typing that ridiculously long name here. I’d be writing all day and I’d get … Continue reading "Minnesota’s Baltimore-D.C. Corridor"

Hi folks, I only came back today for one reason: To show off my latest photos of collections. HA! That’s not true! Well, it IS true in that I do plan to show off some pictures in my typically narcissistic Gregblood fashion, but that’s not the ONLY reason I’ve come back for a fourth consecutive … Continue reading "Today’s Comeback Collections"

I’m worried about myself. At first I posted here maybe once a week. Then a couple times a week. Recently I’ve been writing stuff on Cycle365 almost every other day, but today marks my third day in a row. What next? Two or three times a day? I promise to back off before that happens. … Continue reading "Wearing Out My Welcome With A Few Insignificant Collections"

Part One: The Bad News It is with great embarrassment that I must start this post with a couple of confessions. First, my bike trip to “Little Louisville” wasn’t nearly as exciting as I made it sound in the title. Second, there IS no “Little Louisville” in MY Town. I guess I got too caught … Continue reading "The Exciting Visit To MY Town’s “Little Louisville” And The Collections That Resulted From It"

Even though they are a thousand miles apart, Vermont and Minnesota might as well be the same state. They’re both landlocked states that nobody really cares about. They’re northern states with cold, snowy winters and some very fine weather in the other five months. They are very GREEN states in that they are very ecology-minded … Continue reading "Vermontisota"

Out for a somewhat chilly (30’s F) ride this morning looking for collections of stuff which turned out to be successful This submission is for the empty challenge I present empty beverage containers along 1550E  aka south 7th Street aka Hospital Road The least they could have done is arrange the containers in tidy fashion … Continue reading "Cycle Life Challenge Ride #10 Untidy Emptyness"

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been taking you along to various scenic and ethnic districts located in MY Town. Unfortunately, I’m not particularly familiar with the ACTUAL places they represent. I’ve been to Death Valley and eastern Illinois, but not enough times to say that I truly know the character and depth of … Continue reading "Riding Around Small Seattle"

Up to this point in my series, I’ve only shown some of the international neighborhoods of MY Town. There are, however, several officially-recognized United Statesian areas. Today I’ll be touring one of them, and I hope you’ll join me. There is a vast area on the outskirts of MY Town that looks almost exactly like … Continue reading "Happy Thanksgiving From The Illinois of the North"

‘ello lords and ladies of Cycle 365. I’m bloody well privileged to present the fourth installment of the Diversity Tour of MY Town. This one is dedicated to DJG — from whom I’ve learned almost everything I know about England. Obviously, there is no way MY Town’s British enclave could be as great as Great … Continue reading "This Old Chap Tours Good Britain"