Tunnel mystery solved

A few weeks ago I wrote about some mysterious tunnels that were being dug into the cliffs along the Mississippi. I have been watching the crew creating these with some fascination. The machinery, the ventilation systems, the precautions for rock collapse are all neat stuff. Doesn't this seem like an ideal construction site to explore after hours when the crew is gone? How cool to see the ancient limestone, hear the water dripping, and get a little claustrophobic? And of course, what an idea that your author would never, ever endorse.

Of course that doesn't mean a few pictures wouldn't help illustrate. Here is the entrance to one of the two tunnels showing the vent pipes that run down the sides of the tunnel. Each one is terminated with a round fan I suppose to bring in fresh air for the workers and remove exhaust from the machinery.

 Farther in the ground was really mushy and the air smelled of rusty water.The tire tracks are from a bobcat-size machine which gives a good sense for the tunnel dimension. This isn't a claustrophobic space although it gets dark pretty fast.

I learned later that part of the smell was coming from the sewer pipes the crew was repairing. The pipes were over 100 feet into the cliff and the only safe way to access was to bore a hole through the cliff wall. How do I know this? Meet Todd.

I was able to catch Todd while he was unloading his truck and he took a minute to explain the project. Apparently there are ways to access the tunnel from on top of the cliff but given the volume of sewage in the pipes it was not considered safe to send a technician. As Todd explained, if something happened and he got swept down the pipe with the sewage...uh, yeah, you can imagine.

I suppose it would have been even more true to the bike commuter spirit to have actually ridden in the tunnels. I did learn that bike gear, like clip shoes, is not well adapted to the tunnel rat environment. I got to work and the shoes needed some serious TLC. Not sure how the chain would've fared - maybe some day, I'll find out!

Back at it

Today, I was back in the saddle. A lot has happened recently but what prevented me from riding was trillions of foreign organisms invading my body. Even your intrepid bike commuting author can be distracted by this type of thing and has to take some time off. I wasn't hugely sick but it was enough to put me on the bus for a couple of days this week.

The day turned out to be a gorgeous Minnesota summer day: bright, 60s in the morning, 70s in the evening, tons of people out. It is a great time to see how nice summer can be and how desperate we all are to get out of our houses until the next blizzard.