Gentleman's Ride

"The Man" telling us whats up before the start

Pete and Chuker  about 10 miles in

 about a mile before Forestville SP

Pete, Mark, D.R., Chuk

What a great day for a long ride! I had my doubts about the weather on the car ride down to the start, lots of fog, 47 deg., and a little bit of mist in the air. It didn't last long and the sun was soon shinning. The nice pace and a few climbs early in the ride and I was nice and warm. This year was the same team as last year, with one guy dropping out last minute, Mark V was back on board for another hundo. Also back for more was the Chucker and Pete S. The initial pace of the ride (race) was pretty laid back, but judging by the group of the 4-5 teams and some fast solo guys up front,  I knew it wouldn't last long. At around 35 miles the Revolution guys stepped it up just a little bit and were off. We didn't care, we were there to ride and have fun and sort of race. This led to a more relaxing  ride even though we were still haulin'. The stop at Forestville was my favorite, I would have been perfectly content to sit in the warm sun on the boardwalk in front of the Mehgan store for the rest of the day sipping Coke. We rode mostly by ourselves the last half. We got passed by a lone single speeder while changing a flat, rode with some dude who eventually went off the front with one of our guys and got lost,and picked up a straggler who was lost and worn out. All in all it was an excellent day, I felt better and finished feeling stronger than last year and I was happy to finally get my long distance ridding mojo back.   Finish time 4:03 pm  4th place (I think)      Actual ride time 6:25.  Thank You   Chris Skogen, Chris Skogen's wife, my wife and my kids.

Thrasher Fat Bike

I've never seen that before

After seeing all the stuff everyone is doing throughout the year on their fat bikes,(Joboo, Farrow, Curiak etc.) I decided to build one up that would be a dedicated thrasher.I bought a frame as a reward to myself after working some overtime. I had a set of wheels laying around,some other misc. parts and I robbed a few things off some of my other bikes. I know most people don't even have a snow bike yet and having two fat bikes seems a little excessive but I've been riding these things since 05', I need this. During that time I've experimented with many different setups,as a result I'm on my 6th fatbike. The only goal over the years was to improve the ride for the Arrowhead 135, in doing so I built a bike that was too nice to destroy in the sand, mud, riverbeds,ditches,shorelines and whatever else these bikes will go through. My first bikes were kind of crappy so I rode them in the summer but as the bike got better I stopped until today when I got to break in my new thrasher. I also bought the new Nates, and they rock!  They roll very well on pavement and pull like a tractor in the dirt.

Off Early

 big jump

Not sure what this does or is, but it's f@#ked up now

 I'm never sure if I'll find something cool or perhaps a dead body. I've been close to getting my ass kicked by homeless people while exploring trails such as this. 

The scene here would have been much better if it wasn't all shitted up with trash

I got to leave work a little early today,Noon. Instead of wasting my free time watching TV or doing house work I decided to go kayak/ride. I headed home (via bike, the long way) to grab my boat, a different bike, and some snacks (Monster and trail mix). I chose to do the section of the Minnesota river from Shakopee to the old Bloomington Ferry Bridge. The river was much like a lot of the sections I've been paddling lately,wild. The river seems quite remote and uncontrollable. Last week I paddled upriver to Carver from Chaska and the Train bridge crossing the river was laying in the river next to a huge log jam which I'm guessing pushed it over. The highlight of today's trip came when I started the shuttle ride back to get my van. I stumbled upon a trail along the river which led me past an old stone building and terminated at a large dirt jumping area. I'd like to go back and give the jumps a try. Some of the jumps are reasonable while others are way out of my comfort range but I'm sure I will get hurt on even the small stuff. I also have to ask my wife if I can borrow her dirt jumper.    

The Long Way Home

The long way home through the Brick Yard

The Brick Yard  isn't really on my way home I just really like going there

The long way home through Crosby Farm 

494

3 hours in the boat 1 hour for the  bike ride home

All three kids are in school now and since Lynn (aka my wife) is a teacher she is back to work. This is good for a couple reasons,#1 is more money,#2 is I get to ride more. Lynn's school is about 1.5 miles from my work so we carpool in the morning and I ride home, the long way. It's good for her too, she can leave work at 2:30 (1 hour before me) and either ride trails or go the the gym before the kids need to be picked up from daycare. You might be thinking "oh those poor kids stuck in daycare" the fact is they love it there and get pissed when we pick them up early. The good news is everyone comes home happy and also a little tired. Friday I took the extra long, round about, way home via kayak and bike when I got to leave early from work.