Maui

Short post...I have 3G for a bit so I thought I'd chime in from afar-Alison and I left winter behind for a few days to hang out in HI. I'll have more- hopefully to include Long Haul Trucker pix from riding Haleakala later. We're not touring- I brought the bike for some day-riding, but I think it's gonna be good. Yup.
Last night we camped on the beach past Hana, tonight we're up at Hosmer Grove in Haleakala Natl Park. We hiked Ohe'o Gulch (sp?) today, we'll hike tomorrow up high in the park, and probably bike the next day.

Trailer

Well, I guess this will be picture-less since I forgot to take one, but I just enjoyed using my BOB trailer that I purchased last year, but haven't used yet due to the impracticality of living in a second floor apartment for so long.  Alison and I just did a car free errand trip around our neighborhood, stopping by the hardware and grocery stores, and the trailer hauled quite a lot.  I wasn't sure what to expect as I've never pulled a bicycle trailer, and the streets were ice covered (I was riding the Karate Monkey with studded cross tires), but things went fine.  I can't give any sort of review at this point since I haven't used it long enough, but all I can say is the trailer feels way different than panniers.  I'll have to see how I like it over time.
I haven't had the Mukluk out this weekend, as we've been settling into the new place; I hope to get out and ride soon.  It'll be a busy week with a very full teaching load, as well as starting the ball rolling on finishing my garage and getting a shop space set up out there.  It'll be so nice to have bicycle wrenching territory.  That's all for now...

So warm..

I rode my first bike commute to work from the new house today. Jan 9th, and it was super balmy. I can't remember commuting to work in January without a face mask, and today I barely needed a jacket. In fact, on the way home I rode in a long sleeve light weight merino wool base layer, and a super light windbreaker. Not normal. I'll take it though. And after all the Mukluk riding, my Karate Monkey, which always feels piggish after road biking, felt quick and nimble. I thoroughly enjoyed being out and always. No pics; I was too busy riding I guess.

In other bike news I picked up a frame bag from Revelate Designs for my Mukluk. Salsa and Revelate have teamed up to make custom bags for their fat bikes, and I got a pretty good deal on one with some Christmas money. It's a start on outfitting the Mukluk for bigger adventure rides. If we do ever have winter I'm heading up North with it to ride some forest service and snowmobile routes in the woods. I think our warm stretch may be over as of Thursday, so we'll see what happens.

Settling in...

Well, we moved into our new house over the weekend. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Our warm winter continues, at least until later this week, and we enjoyed temps near 50 degrees as we hauled all our stuff from the apartment and my in-laws place. We had both sets of parents helping us, and it actually all went very quick.

The new place in Highland Park...

Now we just have to get situated. And take breaks to get outside now that I'm feeling better. I've been getting pretty stir crazy having not been enjoying the outdoors anywhere near enough lately. I did get out for a "I'm sick but I'm going anyway" ride last week, and it was pretty brutal. It was the one bad weather stretch we've had for quite some time; pretty much just a day and a half, but it was very, very windy. Steady over 30mph, with gusts close to 50mph. That combined with snow and ice from the night before (which is pretty much gone now) made for a slog. And if you know me, there is something wrong with me, cuz I love a good slog, but this one was particularly challenging due to the sickness. I came home pretty wrecked, but satisfied that I got out and rode after so much time in the recliner.

Shoreline of the Mississippi...

Somewhere in Crosby Farm Regional Park...

So tired...

I may try to break away from unpacking today to try my first run since my most recent surgery. I was just getting ready to start easing back into running and climbing last month when I caught the crud, so that's gotten moved to now. I'm a bit nervous to see how my chest feels since it's back to clicking a bit, which my doc wants to wait a few more months to see where it goes before doing any more cutting. He tells me to get out and build some muscle though, getting back to all activities as this supposedly helps with bone/cartilage health. I simply have to get back in better shape though. This surgery business that was supposed to improve my health has taken a toll on it so far.

Keeping us busy, we also have a vacation block coming up at the end of the month, which we need to decide on where to go. Someplace warm is the current plan, but we haven't officially nailed down a location (which doesn't seem to happen until a couple days before since we travel standby).

I'm sure we'll find something fun to do. I'd really like to bring the Long Haul Trucker wherever we go. And there may just be a plan in place to get Alison a coupler bike too. The only problem is she has a short torso and long legs, and there aren't any non-custom steel touring bikes made specifically for women out there, so most cockpits are long for her. We'll see what we end up doing. Perhaps a LHT with a mountain'sh ergo-bar in lieu of a traditional road bar. I haven't decided if that's a reasonable route or not. I'd rather have a top tube that's right, but it doesn't seem to be out there without spending all our money going custom.

Anyhow, I have unpacking. More to come...