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…

Getting ready for winter...Salsa style...

This year just seems to be the year I finally dig into cycling stuff I've been dreaming about forever. The coupler touring bike is all set up, and last week I picked up the latest addition to the stable- a snow bike! I live in a place that's frozen for a very large part of the year, I stay outside for all of it, and I love bikes, so it was only natural to end up with a fat-bike. I've been somewhat obsessed with the idea of one since seeing the Surly Pugsley come out several years ago. In the end I went with the new Salsa Mukluk 2. Yes, surprisingly to those that know me, I picked a fat-bike that isn't steel. I really love steel as a frame material, which the Pugsley is made of, and I do love a good Surly (I own two.) But the Pug just seemed to have a slightly short top tube for me, being so tall, and I loved the geometry/feel of the the Mukluk. It feels a bit like a touring bike- stable, upright, and ready for the long slog in awful conditions, but keeping the right amount of maneuverability for the slightly technical times.

The anodized aluminum frame saves weight over other snow bikes, as does the drilled Rolling Daryl rims. It's kinda funny that I ended up with a snow bike on the lighter side of the spectrum after spending so much time on road and mountain bikes that are on the heavier side. Opposite as most people as usual.

So now I'm stoked for the MN winter. I'm no stranger to winter riding, but now I'm extra equipped on a modern snow machine. MN is getting well known for it's snow riding scene, and I'm ready to enjoy it. Bring on the dark, cold, fat tire miles...

Posing in the sands of the the MN River bottoms...

Forest Roads and Color...

The weekend was pretty good. It was somewhat of a repeat of the weekend up north I blogged about a few posts ago. I went back up to the Temperance River area on the North Shore of Lake Superior, with the intentions of biking one day, and hiking the next, all the while soaking in the fall colors. This time, I was with a friend, Jonathan, and we hit the colors at peak.

After escaping the Cities after work on Friday, we made our way up to Eckbeck State Forest Campground. We set up camp and ate some late dinner. Not too much chatting; we were both pretty tired from a work of cubicle drama, so off to bed. It was the first wintery night I’ve felt from a tent this season- it got down to the mid to upper 20’s depending on what weather site we checked in the morning. Tucked into my winter bag, I didn’t mind. It was excellent to be outside.

The morning was somewhat lazy, with a fire and tea, and surprise visit from my buddy Joel, who had been up there for over a week working on an ongoing photography project. After breakfast, we stopped for a couple supplies Jonathan was in need of at Sawbill Outfitters in Tofte, where the owner turned us on to a good bunch of forest road loops and sold us a detailed county map to go with my GPS. We took off up the Sawbill Trail (a gravel road that heads inland from Tofte), and found our way to a parking lot at the intersection of FR166, where I had ridden a couple weeks ago. We started riding from there, and took off in the opposite direction of my previous ride, with the intention of hooking up with less traveled, more remote forest roads that were included in the advice we’d received earlier. We made a loop out of FR’s 344, 1220/350, and 350, taking us back to the Sawbill.

Some of the route was nice and remote for roaded areas. The only people we saw were hunters and ATV’ers, one of which commented to us that in 13 years of regularly hunting the area, had never seen a biker. I couldn’t believe it, as I’m sure good number of riders have to have figured out how fun it is to be out there. There are even crazy northern off road centuries based on these remote paths.

FR344 and 350 were definitely the highlight. Lots of pine mixed with hardwood colors, rocky and rooted double-track, and the occasional mud hole kept me happy on my Karate Monkey. I was impressed with Jonathan, who was rocking in all on a cross bike. Rough on the hubs, but certainly do-able. I have friends who have toured on this type of stuff on their Long Haul Truckers (you know who you are. J).

I’m not exactly sure if this riding would be recommended for someone 2 and half months out of chest surgery, but everything held together and didn’t feel too bad. I’m tired of sitting on the couch, and can tell when something feels like too much. I wasn’t worried.

The next day we took a very lazy loop hike around Mt Oberg, along with everyone else in the world wanting to see some leaves. I’m happy to report that after 5 years of living in MN, I finally saw the North Shore at it’s peak. I wished I had another week, a stronger chest, and a full pack to live on the Superior Hiking Trail during this beautiful time of year. Next year perhaps.

FR344..

FR1220/350...

FR350...

Not sure who this belonged too...

The Sawbill...

Mt. Oberg loop hike...

In case you'd like to repeat the route...here's the GPS plot, and it's downloadable...

A proper shot of the roadie...

I got out on the Lemond for a proper break in ride a few nights ago before dinner. I road my local "river loop"- down Summit Ave in STP, then follow the Mississppi down to Ft Snelling, cross the Mendota Bridge, follow the river back to the Smith Ave High Bridge, then back up into my neighborhood. I like the new front end, and I'm stoked to have a rideable quick road bike again. It's nice to see how long you can ride a frame that works well for you, and this one keeps on giving...

Lemond is on the road again...

I mentioned a while ago on the blog that my 2001 Lemond Buenos Aires was hurting and in need of upgrades. Specifically, the original carbon fork had a scary crack and needed replacement. Since it's a 1" steerer system, and I needed to upgrade to a thread-less system, it took some searching for a fork/stem/bar setup that would keep the ride the same. I'm happy with how it all turned out. I went with the Rivendell Carbonomas steel fork, a Chris King NoThreadSet, FSA New Ergo Bar, and a Specialized stem that will cover a lot of angles via a shimming system so that when I decide exactly where I'll cut the steerer I should be able to keep my bars in the same place. Right now I just left a ton (85mm!) of spacers on to see how I like the fork overall before cutting it to size and flipping and appropriately shimming the stem (which in addition to the angle shim required a 1" to 1 1/8" shim due to the old steerer size).

I took the bike out for an epic 6 miles on Summit (sarcasm, but it was still fun), and it felt great. The geometry is extremely close to right where it was before, and it felt good to go fast again after all this time away from my non-tubby road bike. Surlys, you have nothing to worry about- the Lemond can't haul 50 lbs of gear. :) But it's good to go fast and far and light too. I hope to get out a bit on it before the snow flies. It'll probably get some more upgrades next spring, but for now it's quite rideable and ready for miles. No more scary old fork.

Enjoying my new headset press (birthday money- I decided to retire my homemade one for the real thing- luxury tools are nice once and a while)

Pretty...

I don't see myself with a real crown race setting tool when a $2.03 PVC pipe does the job though...

I'll get a proper picture of it in it's element soon, but here it is in the stand for now...

Mullet lounging in the empty fork box...he's always helping during projects...

T6 Texan Ride

A coworker of mine at the airline owns a T6 Texan, and invited me to go along on a formation fly-by event he and some of his T6 buddies were hired to perform, and I jumped at the chance. Most of my flight time has been in modern training aircraft and commercial people-movers, neither category being aggressive and exciting, so a formation flight in the T6 was great. I didn't fly, mind you, I don't have a tailwheel rating, or know much of anything about the T6 for that matter, but just riding made me plenty happy.

We took off from KFCM in the SW Metro, flew past a great sunset and downtown with one of the other aircraft, then caught up with the rest of them at KANE on the north side of town. The fly-by was a high school football game in a northern suburb, and I'm sure they enjoyed the diamond formation of noisy Texans leaving smoke trails above their game.

I'm not used to being so close to other aircraft in flight (kind of a big goal to avoid that in the airlines :) ), so it was pretty cool seeing these guys operate. It's a lot of coordination to put on what they consider a routine show. Thanks for the ride!

Riding in the back...

Running up at KFCM...

Sunset just starting...

They get close...

Yep, close.

At night too... :)

Temperance weekend...

Well, this weekend, I’m wrapping up some bike maintenance, cleaning up the apartment, and doing some reading and relaxing while nursing a cold that’s been going around my workplace. I thought I’d also catch up on some blogging I’ve been meaning to get to. Topics are: the aforementioned bike projects, a T6 Texan flight I had the chance to go on, and a brief trip up to the North Shore last weekend. I’ll start with the latter.

Last weekend I wasn’t really planning on much, since I’ve got so many projects with bike maintenance and other things going on around home, but when Saturday morning came, I just couldn’t resist the good weather and time off, so I got organized in a hurry for a North Shore overnight. Since I’ve recently been able to get back to light riding, I brought along my Karate Monkey to check out some forest roads, and also planned on some hiking. Gotta work on loosing this post surgery, sitting around gut, right? May as well do it where there’s scenery and skip the treadmill. I arrived in the early afternoon, which is late, at Temperance River State Park, which had a campsite for me. I set up quick and hopped on my bike to ride the following loop: Hwy 61, right on FR343, right on FR166, right on Sawbill Tr, right on Hwy 61 back to camp. It was just short of 20 miles, the majority on gravel in the woods. It felt great to be out of town on bike again, especially in the North Woods. I’ve got some ideas for some gravel touring up there for the future, as there are some good National Forest Campgrounds around.

I started out climbing up from Lake Superior along FR343, otherwise known as Temperance River Rd, and quickly passed several people around event tents where the road intersected with the Superior Hiking Trail. I then realized it was the weekend when the Superior trail running ultras were occurring. There is a regular trail marathon, as well as 50 and 100 mile ultra marathons. I’d really like to run the “humble” regular trail marathon sometime when my body is strong enough again. Next year? We’ll see if I actually heal correctly this time. It would be fun to try the run. Anyhow, I continued climbing up the road until it leveled off, and I proceeded along side but above the Temperance River and Heartbreak Creek Valleys. Off to my right there were occasionally great views of the valleys, and Carlton Peak beyond. Then I hit the intersection with FR166, which I took to lead me over to Sawbill Tr as mentioned. FR166 had some good climbing, including a hill named after the creek (or creek after the hill, or something)- Heartbreak Hill. I guess the early loggers couldn’t get up it in the winter with their loads. I did better with my bail out granny gear (I don’t have a front shifter/derailleur right now on the KM, but I can move the chain manually for such an occasion- I know, dumb, I should just buy a derailleur, but I haven’t yet and the 1x9 setup has done the trick almost always in the Cities). After the hill, I dropped back down to cross the Temperance River. I spent a bit of time hanging out down there, as the River is always scenic to gawk at. I then connected with Sawbill Tr, which is a much bigger but still gravel road (until you get close to Lake Superior), that took me around the other side of Carlton Peak (with Britton on my left). Clouds, combined with smoke from the Pagami Creek Fire in the Boundary Waters, made for a surreal evening as I got closer to the big lake. I couldn’t really capture this on an iPhone camera, or I’d try to share it. I suggest just getting up North and riding for yourself. J Once back to Hwy 61, I had a very short stretch back to the campground. In the whole time on the forest roads, I saw 5 vehicles. This took 2 seconds on 61. If you’re riding the Shore, sample the gravel; it’s good. I’d share the GPS track of this ride with you, but I accidently deleted it. It’s a very simple route and you’ll see it on any worthwhile map of the area.

A Surly is always at home on woodsy gravel...

Trying the new GPS mount...

Dropping back down to the river after "Heartbreak Hill"...doesn't look very heartbreaking...just looks like good gravel riding...

Hangin' at the Temperance River crossing...

The Sawbill is a big 'ol swath of gravel compared to the many other forest roads...

Back at camp, I dined on daal from a can, cooked over an Esbit stove, and a fat apple from our latest CSA box. Forgot tea, which would have been nice. I caught a shower, which is a perk of the expensive state park campgounds, and then settled in around a good fire with my Nook for some reading from Jonathan Waterman’s Running Dry, which is a good adventure essay on the current state of the Colorado River.

I didn’t sleep very well. I was excited to try my new Big Agnes Seedhouse SL1, which I picked up on sale for solo ventures and hadn’t yet slept in. The tent was just fine, but I’m not quite comfortable on the ground again after all this surgery. I don’t sleep on my side well on hard surfaces. It should get better with time and I’ll be at home again during cold, confined tent nights.

The morning was relaxed with oatmeal and map reading, which was a bit unnecessary, as I ended up choosing to hike the quintessential Temperance hike- the river to Carlton Peak and back, but I like pouring over maps nonetheless, looking for new adventures.

I took off up the River and the weather was perfect. The leaves are also just starting to change. I really enjoyed the walk up to the peak, which I’d done before, but everything seems better if you’ve been in the office too much lately. I chilled out on top for a bit, and noticed smoke moving in again from the wildfire in the BWCA, and started down. By the time I reached the river again, the NW winds had brought in a ton of smoke and ash from the fire, and it was getting gross out. Ash flakes were falling like light snow flurries, and I was breathing more smoke than I cared to. I didn’t spend as much time in the gorge as I normally would on this hike soaking in scenery, as I wanted out of the bad air. When I got to my pickup, which is black, it was speckled in the little white ash flakes. As soon as I drove south probably ten miles, I was completely out of it. The winds were basically just right to have moved the stuff to exactly where I was hiking from so far away. It was still a great day.

Superior Hiking Trail heading to Carlton Peak...

Heading down the river on the way back down (guess I forgot to get a picture at the top- you'll have to go get one in person)...

Smoke starting to haze things up at the river...

Gettin' away from the smoke...cough.

A dinner at Burrito Union in Duluth with more of my book, and then a drive back south and I was at home. Not a bad overnight.

I’m sure I’ll be back up to take in more of the Shore, be it hiking or biking, as the fall colors mature. Officials are saying it could be one of our best fall color years in quite a while. I hope they’re right.

That’s the weekend trip, I think I’ll post separately on the flight and bike projects…