Winter?

I still haven't gotten my computer in to be looked at, so the Maui posts are still coming. For now, I thought I'd update from my phone again with a wireless keyboard to at least write about some recent cycling.
The weather outside is now at least attempting to be winter. Our forecast was originally calling for a foot of snow to finally fall here in the Cities, but as the week progressed, it ended up being moderate rain, followed by ice, followed by snow, now back to rain. A mess, in other words. I of course went riding anyway last night, and it was an hour of solid moderate rain, some freezing on contact, at 32 degrees (plus it was windy). A nice night for the Karate Monkey with studs. I stayed warm, but not dry I was wearing a full suit of "waterproof/breathable" outerwear, which no matter how much money you spend, nevers keeps you completely dry. The important part is keeping warm even when wet.
I rode my standard locale loop around the Mississippi River, and did not see a single other cyclist. I'm sure there were other out, I just didn't happen to run into anyone. If I had ridden the Greenway I'm sure I'd have seen folks. We're known in the Cities for riding in anything. I'd have posted a picture of the ride from my phone, but it was simply too wet to take it out of it's layers of plastic bags that were keeping it safe.
I may head out tonight on the Mukluk and ride now that there is a few inches of snow laying around.
Speaking of the Mukluk, I inadvertently raced on it last weekend. :) Why I saw inadvertently is that I signed up for an fatbike event advertised as a "ride, not a race", but everyone got pretty excited, and the pace ended up as very race-like for me. I had a great time pushing myself on the big tires.
The event was the inaugural Frozen Fatbike Forty, or FFF, held at Elm Creek Park Reserve in the Champlin, MN area. About 50 fatbikers showed up and took in several laps of a ten mile single track course through the woods, as well as coffee, food, and beer around a couple good campfires. I'm sure the event will be held again next year and end up seeing even more riders, as everyone was pretty stoked about how much fun this year was, so I'd recommend keeping an eye out for it. Much fun.
I'll try to get my computer running soon and post about Maui and all the fun we had there, but for now, stay tuned...

Computer down...

So my computer isn't cooperating lately...I'm updating from my iPhone. It might be a bit longer until I can post the Maui entries. Thanks for your patience as I may need to take my computer in to get looked at...

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...

Sick

Well, somehow I've managed to get sick over Christmas 3 out of the past 5 years now, to include right now. That and other reasons (we have basically no snow and I've been out of town or working most days) are why you haven't been seeing any fat biking updates or anything else for that matter here on treadnorth for a while. I was out sick half this past work week, and may not even make it out for some flying I picked up early tomorrow before Christmas events at the family start. I'm over my fever and aches phase, but my head is still pretty plugged up, so I've been spending a lot of time in front of my e-reader, off my bikes, and out of airplanes.

However, I do have a couple things to share. I never did get around to posting pix of a Mukluk ride I got out on when we did have snow this year, so I'll do that now.

It was a 20 mile ride on and along the Gateway Trail, which is a multi-use trail that leads out of the Twin Cities to the northeast, ending up in Washington County not far from Stillwater, MN.

There were a few bootprints, and couple ski tracks, and a few signs of dogs, but I was the only fat biker. I'm not entirely sure what the rules are in the winter months of who can use the trail, but the skiers I ran into seemed excited to see the Mukluk, so for at least this ride I was not bothering anyone, and stayed well out of the ski tracks. There's plenty of room for everyone, so I hope the access rules go that direction. I'll have to check.

I can't wait to get out on some more snow with this bike once winter finally arrives. The forecast for today and Christmas are the upper 30's, and the dusting of snow we got yesterday will disappear to leave us with the first non-white Christmas I can remember is some time. If I was healthy, I think I'd ride the Lemond to Christmas dinner just to say I did. :) The plan was to ride the Mukluk, but unfortunately my head won't take it this year.

Well, I said there were a couple things to share, and the second is pretty exciting. After a search that went off and on for the last 2 and a half years, Alison and I are closing on our first home on January 4th! We're very excited to be getting out of the apartment scene after so long. We've enjoyed our time living on Grand Ave in St Paul, but it's time to have our own space. We'll be living in the Highland Park neighborhood of St Paul, which is not very far from where we are now, so we're excited to be staying in the same general area of the Cities, as it's a good fit for us as far as this big metro goes. It's a very bike friendly area that's close to work, our friends and family, our climbing gym, and all the great food St Paul has. And I won't have to do my bicycle maintenance in the living room anymore! :) We will have a garage big enough to have a small shop. It'll be great. We'll share more about it all as we move and settle in.

For now, I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and hope you get a chance to spend it with loved ones, and hopefully get outside a bit! Enjoy...

Start of winter fat biking...

We received some snow today. It's still falling in fact. I don't think it will be any tremendous amount, but it made for a fun fat bike wandering this afternoon.

I headed out with a friend of mine from Hidden Falls Park in St Paul, and we meandered through woods, beach, and a little bit of trail. The confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers makes for some good fat bike exploration possibilities, and it's right out my back door. I plan on riding down there quite a bit this winter.

The Mukluk is really an amazing bike. There's no need for a trail, which allows me to explore areas near where I live that I've never taken the time to see. I pretty much just wander off into the woods and see where I end up (well, I do navigate).

Riding the river floodplain feels a bit like an odd sort of slow, obese trials riding- it's a lot of picking lines over obstacles, but instead of jumping, it's just rolling over stuff. I'm sure that sounds contrived and perhaps pointless, and maybe it is, but it's fun. I like it.

And the shoreline riding is perhaps my favorite fat biking near where I live so far. Our local rivers provide great scenery and tend to remove you from realizing you may still actually be in a big city. Today involved floating over lots of sand, which is awful to ride on a non-fat bike, and rolling plenty of rock beds. We dove into the woods whenever the shore got too full of downed trees, and dove back whenever there was a good stretch to ride. When the snow started coming down hard, we paused to enjoy watching snowy sheets of ice float by on the water, and got excited at the prospect that we have a whole winter coming to enjoy on big tires and skis...it's just getting started.

Riding through the debris of the Mississippi floodplain...

Shoreline of the Mississippi, covered in fresh snow...consistency varied today from loose to packed frozen sand, to gravel or rock beds, all covered in snow toward the end of the ride...

If you're interested, here's where the ride took place:

A late Thanksgiving post

So, I've been ridiculously busy at work, and thus not cycling or keeping up with this blog as much as I'd prefer. Even so, I do want to take the time to post a late Thanksgiving comment, as I had a moment of notable "thanks" on the way to my in-laws place for dinner last Thursday.
As I've done in years past, I decided to make the trip from STP to Coon Rapids via bicycle. The route up is rather simple- ride Summit Ave to the Mississippi and then follow it to the in-laws place a few suburbs north.
Along the way, I passed by the hospital I had my original pectus surgery done. I stood there for a bit looking at the doors I left from after the procedure. I was being pushed in a wheelchair, and had been through and was heading for a lot of painful days. I remember as I was waiting for our car to pull up to take me home, seeing a cyclist roll past on a Surly on their way to wherever, and I was feeling so far from being able to hop on a bike again. It just plain sucked.
I hadn't really thought of that moment again until passing by the hospital on the way to Thanksgiving dinner, and it really did cause me to feel thankful, as I was now the person passing by on my bike enjoying the ability to ride. The small joys in life matter. Be thankful for the good days.

Early fat bike rides...

I’ve been breaking in the Mukluk and enjoying it all. I’m predicting a lot of fun on this bike as the seasons change and we dive into another Northern winter. And even though I’m looking forward to the cold riding, I sure haven’t been minding the extended fall we’ve been having. It’s been a stellar season for riding here in MN, and I’m going to accept is as a pay back for the months of missed riding post doctor stuff. Not bad.

Last weekend I did something I’ve never done on a bike, thanks to the new fat machine- I headed up north of Grand Marais, and covered some Lake Superior beach miles. It’s amazing where the Mukluk can go- I sure couldn’t have comfortably ridden through the loose rocky shoreline on any of my other bikes. My Karate Monkey probably would have made it through, but with way more struggle. Now this doesn’t mean the fat bike is some sort of miracle machine and there was never any hike a bike- it’s still super loose rock, and much of it off camber, but I was riding the majority of the time over rocks, runoff water, driftwood, sand, and even a few bones of expired critters- all the while with a big dumb smile enjoying the new riding capabilities.

I would have had a great time just sitting on this stretch of scenery, so being able to combine it with one of my favorite pastimes was great- I’m glad I bought this bike. I’m going to have to do some research to see if a beach ride overnighter route can be figured out somewhere on Superior.

Dropping into beach goodness...

There's the big dumb smile...

Exertion and relaxation...

A new fat bike in it's element (one of it's many elements)...

So cool floating lines through stuff like this on a bike...

Not a bad sunrise after climbing out of my tent the next morning either...

I also got out on a local Mukluk ride yesterday morning with my friend Nate who was riding a maiden voyage on his newly built up 9er. We headed from our neighborhood in STP down to the Sibley House on the MN River to see if we might meet up with a “river ramble” ride that Gnat from Salsa Cycles was putting on. We just missed them, as they left pretty early in the morning to get some sunrise shots in during the ride. We saw them a couple times but couldn’t manage to connect with them. Our ride was great however. There’s a great amount of river bottom trail to ride, and if you’re sporting big tires, there’s a ton of off trail wandering to do with much wildlife to see. It’s a floodplain, and you can pretty much ride wherever you’d like in it on 4” rubber. The Salsa ride was expecting to do anywhere from 30-50 miles of rambling. Including the pavement part of our 2-man ride, we covered 23 in the small amount of time we had before we had to duck for other commitments. I’m thinking of heading back down there today to explore some more before it gets buried in snow for the winter.

Sun waking up the river bottom, which was being visited my many happy cyclist yesterday...

Variety of big birds seen along the river ramble...they too like the fall mornings...

I’m loving the Mukluk so far and I can’t wait to see where it takes me in the future…