The following is a true story, only the names have been changed, to protect the guilty.

Friday, October 28, 2011

First and Last


Today I took the first dip in the hot tub for the season,and also the last outdoor shower. They both bring me great joy. The hot tub is sweet salvation after a long ride, snowshoe, or ski in the winter. The shower is my reset button after long hot days at work or getting dirty at the local single track. The kids like both of them as well. In the summer they are allowed to get as dirty/muddy as they want and in the winter they like to go back and forth from the hot tub to rolling in the snow.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

BWCA / MEA

The skull was already there

Onward to Angleworm Lake

A little practice at camp

Pictograph is right above them



Scott cooked an awesome desert in the dutch oven Friday night



David feeding a "wild " bird from his hand
Well I don't even know what MEA stands for, the kids get the whole week off from school, but to me it means a vacation with my son and six others from our scout group. The BWCA I get, ( Boundary Waters Canoe Area ) you can also add  wilderness to the end of that. While we did get into the "wilderness" this was more of a base camp type of trip. We planned the trip about two months ago and figured with weather being the real factor in the great north woods of Minnesota we would just car camp and go out for various day trips. Joining in the fun was (Father/Son) Mike/Isaiah, Scott/Kaden, Adam/David, and Myself /"G" man.
       To start we decided a hike would be the first outing. We headed for the Angleworm Trailhead and would walk it until we reached Angleworm Lake. The boys did well with the hike, round trip was around four miles with a lunch/snack midway at Angleworm L. At the lake we were encountered by Gray Jays which were very comfortable around people, snatching whatever food scraps they could. Later we found they would grab food right from your hand if you held still long enough.
       The next day we went for our little canoe outing to see some pictographs on North Hegman Lake. We had no trouble finding it, as it was quite bold and very legible as a person and a couple of animals. We paddled on to the end of the lake and tried some fishing and ate our lunch. After the canoe ride we headed for a gravel pit to break out the weapons and unleash .177 caliber hell. The boys all had a BB gun to take aim at the leftover clay targets we found littering the area. I also brought along a high power pellet gun and a semi-auto 22, the adults also had fun!
        The third day we went to the Intl. Wolf Center to see what all the howling at night was all about. It turns out there are wolves living in Minnesota, who'd a thunk? The kids had a good time but seemed to think the best part was the wolf video game. A couple hours inside the building and we were on to our next adventure. We got some info from a local outfitter and were headed for Blackstone/Secret Lake Trail. This was another fourish mile hike, except we had several scenic views along the route. The beautiful landscape and the bright sun made for an excellent time.
      Day four and we were headed for home the long way, with a pit stop at Palisade Head and a short hike at Gooseberry Falls St.Park. It was an excellent trip with some great people and a lot of fun crammed into four days. Looking forward to MEA weekend in 2012.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Fat Bike Adventure Ride Recap

Ropes course?



Yes, DBD was representin'


NO this is not a MORC trail

People live under here!


The 4 remaining riders at the end

13 to start
What a ride! I was blown away by the number of guys that showed up,12, making me lucky number 13. When I first planned the ride I thought I might be able to twist the arms of my regular riding buddies ("The Legend" Dave P and Mark V) into this thing. I also thought I might be riding it alone, I was cool with that but riding in a large group like this was awesome. I was really excited to see Greg P and "Kid" R. I haven't seen Greg in awhile and I've known "Kid" for a long time and rarely see or ride with him. It was also cool to meet some new guys with the fat bike disease. The ride went a little longer than planned and half of the group headed back around 2:30 pm. The rest of us, Troy, Brett, Tim, Steve, and Kid carried on with the mission. I did skip several parts of the route near the end that would have added another hour or two. I was good with this as we were nearing the 4 hour ride time and 6 hour elapsed time mark and getting tired .  I won't go into great detail as to where we were you just had to be there. It's not a big secret as I'm sure a lot of people will recognize some of the areas from the photos. Look for other rides coming soon or plan your own and be sure to let me in on them, I'm up for anything!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Full Moon Ride



Thanks to a little push and an early morning e-mail from my friend Dale,we decided to go for a night ride to celebrate the full moon. Mark also joined in for some saddle time. We would be ridding our fat bikes since winter is just around the corner and I can't be pulled away from my thrasher fat bike right now. I told them I had the plan for the ride and would not reveal the destination, they went along with it. We met around 7 pm and headed out. Fourty minutes of riding bike paths and then a nice down hill would reveal our prize, a large graffiti decorated storm drain. I was happy my two comrades were willing to continue the ride underground. With a little maneuvering and a warning form some shady folks out side the entrance, we were once again rollin'. Water, four to eight inches deep was flowing down the pipe, and to my surprise the surface had plenty of traction. The warning we received earlier was for the two guys painting graffiti or tagging or whatever they call it now. They were nice and were deep into their work. They had a bunch of gear (spray paint) were wearing dust masks(for safety) and had a large bottle of booze that was already more than half gone.We continued on to the end and met a muskrat that scared the crap out of me when it crawled out of a large pool of water. When we turned around Mark reset his odometer, just over a mile one way. Once out we decided to put off the other portion of the ride to be done at a later date.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Fat Bike Adventure Ride

I've put together a nice route to test the limits of bike and rider for this coming weekend. The ride will leave at 10am from Black Dog rd under the Cedar bridge in Eagan and head east to a network of trails and natural features. Plan on being gone 4-5 hours. Plan accordingly for water and snacks. We will be riding sand dunes, creek beds ,swampland, boulder fields, and past hobo camps. You will get your feet wet so don't say I didn't warn you not to wear your nice bike shoes. We will ride in water up to your hubs! Your bike should be a "fat bike", Larrys or Nates would be best Endomorphs might be a little tricky in some spots. Sorry no skinny 2.1" will make it. Everyone with a fat bike and a good attitude is welcome and will not be dropped (unless you are really, freakishly slow. That means you Chazz). No kooks. Dress in earth tones. This is a baggy shorts type of ride,leave the skin suit at home. Hope to see you on Sat. Oct 15  10am  under Cedar bridge (hwy77) south side of the river.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Awesome weekend

Not only was the weather going to be unseasonably  perfect this weekend,  but I had plans to fill every minute of it with fun. To start, Lynn and I dropped the kids off at Grandma's house around 10:30 am Sat. for a sleep over. From there we headed for the 29nsngl Holzinger Hot Lap down in Winona. We got there about a half hour late but still managed to race. It was a time trial so we were the last two people out. We literally pulled into the parking lot, found a waiver to sign at the empty check in table, put on or gear as fast as we could, rolled to the start, and they said GO! I haven't been to Holzinger since 97' and had no idea what to expect, except that I knew I would be climbing all the way to the top of the bluff. Within a minute or so I was feeling the effects of the climb and no warm up and felt like blowing chunks, this went a way and I started to feel a little better, passing some riders and really enjoying the trail. The race was great and the party afterwards was fun too. I got to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones.
       Next we headed home to clean up and go see Lynn's cousin's band playing at the Twin Point in Lake Elmo. They call themselves Ruben and put on a great show. They did some covers but were much better doing their own material. I would like to go see them again at a larger venue.
I didn't ride the Pug in the race but I take it everywhere now

Lynn was 3rd and got to pose with the trophy girls and Sherm  (my old roommate)


Does that mean I'm #1 or hes #1 ?


Fancy Ray

       Sunday we got sleep in and then grab some breakfast at Panera Bread (rip off) before picking up the kids. After that I headed down to Red Wing to ride the "Hay maker",a ride set up by Ben Witt of Mill Town Cycles. It was a little over 40 miles and was on much of the same roads as the Ragnarok 111. Around 30+ guys showed up to ride out at noon. The ride was awesome with perfect weather, large climbs and descents and some good people. I finished in just under three hours with Mr Pramann. We were the first ones back . I couldn't stick around to chat with anyone because I promised my kids I would take the on a hike and look for agates so I was off as soon as I rolled in.
     I arrived home around 4:30pm to grab the kids and roll out headed for Hidden Falls in St Paul. Also joining us was my dad, my brother and his girlfriend, and my friend Ray and his two girls. We milled around the shoreline of the mighty Mississip' for about an hour and a half  finding agates and fossils.  Dinner tonight would be Chipotle just up the road. Next.......... bed time

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Heck of the North 2011

The Man 
My favorite pic, Mc Fadden


Ek doesn't know me but I got a good pic of him 
  The Heck is my favorite gravel race of the year. It's also the hardest to prepare for, with it being so late in the year. By now I've ridden all summer and  I'm looking to take some time off. Not this year, I was such an unmotivated puss all spring , I quit the Rag and Almonzo and didn't even show up for the Chequmegon 100 or the Dirty B. I started coming around late in the year(August) with two top ten finishes at Thursday night at Buck and some good elapsed times at Murphy TT. I know these are short races but some really fast dudes show up and it was a  strong motivator for fat ass like myself. The Gentleman's ride two weeks ago was perfect and gave me some good training for the Heck. Although I didn't finish really well at the Heck (17 th  6:08) I didn't come in dragging ass, I felt really strong the last 10-12 miles and did not have to walk Pleasant view.

The riding is only part of why the Heck is my favorite. The terrain is beautiful, I really love going to Duluth, I wish I could live there. The people are awesome, I enjoy riding with the DBD guys and talking about Arrrowhead, riding with some of my old buddies and meeting new people that are also drawn to this odd form of cycling punishment. I really like the party at Big buff's house. Thanks Liz and Jason.

Big Thanks to Mr Kershaw  and all the volunteers