I inspire others. That's a good feeling.

One of the main purposes I blog is in hopes that I will inspire others to try commuting by bicycle. I like to set the bar high. In so doing I let people know what can be done. And if I can ride year round in northern Minnesota, maybe someone else will realize they can at least get on a bike a few days a week in the nicer months where they live.

As I was heading out today on the Blue Truck to run some errands I was stopped at the end of the block by someone calling my name. Not something that happens everyday to me. It turns out it was a co-worker's husband that was at a yard sale on my block. The home owner that was having the yard sale came up and introduced herself to me. She told me how much I inspired her husband. She said he has been bicycle commuting all summer. She said he would see me go by in the winter and finally decided if I could do it all winter long, he could at least commute during the summer. I don't think he reads my blog, but I had inspired him none the less with my constant presence on bicycle in all weather.

After a pleasant visit with people I made my way to my next stop. A few miles later, as I was heading down Michigan Ave near the main Post Office, I see another bicycler heading in the opposite direction. As I got closer and was about to give a biker nod of the head to acknowledge her, she yells out, "DOUG"!!! I didn't recognize her, or remember seeing her before. We stopped and chatted a few minutes. Turns out she reads this blog. She told me it has some good information. I'm going to assume it has inspired her. That's really cool!!

To be honest, once again I was thinking about taking a break from this blog. I haven't been feeling like I have anything left to share. Plus the week and a half long break from blogging during my vacation was nice. Not thinking about my next blog post was nice. But every time I think about taking a break I get an email from someone saying how much I inspire them. Or like today meet someone that enjoys the blog. Soooo, I guess I'll keep writing. There's still a place for me in this strange world of blogs! Today I had a fantastic time riding around on the Blue Truck/Xtracycle. I picked up a gallon of paint, two bottles of wine and then made a couple of stops downtown.
Sometimes I forget how much of a tourist destination Duluth is. Seeing a horse drawn carriage reminds me I live in a tourist town. I spotted this as I swung through Canal park on my way back home.
The Blue Truck received a new item today. I took the time to put a new stem on it. I ordered this stem way back last July. The original stem I used during the build-up of the Xtracycle I borrowed from the parts bin at my LBS. It was one ugly stem. But it worked, so I never really got around to swapping the two stems until today. Felt good to get rid of the ugly one.

After I got home I was going to head back out for a ride on the LHT. Then Susan asked if I wanted to help clean out our gutters. We ended up tackling the gutter job. It was long overdue. They were completely blocked from last falls leaves. We never got around to cleaning the leaves out last fall before the weather turned cold. I know, bad home owners. But we got 'er done today. It was worth missing a ride to get that finally checked off the long to-do-list.