Abandoned

This past summer I got a call from Best in Schow. It went something like "hey, my boy will take us to an abandoned building and show us around". I was a little hesitant since he wanted to go in daylight and I don't really like doing urban exploration in buildings, I prefer underground. On the other hand I was passively asking to go a couple weeks previous and I don't like to pass up an opportunity.

going up

No Thanks 

  We met at B.I.S.'s house and rode our bikes to Lavender Town, locked up our bikes, and made the final approach on foot. My initial nervousness was replaced with amazement as soon as we got inside. There was lots of graffiti and the entire complex was well traveled. We made our way to the roof for an amazing view a couple hours before sunset. We didn't spend too much time in the building and headed out after we felt like we saw enough of it.

going down

  Not wanting the fun to end, BIS's son suggested a couple other sites nearby. We were game for it and rode on the bikes to the next location. There were three separate buildings, all in terrible shape. I'm guessing they will all be torn down soon, so it was cool to see them before they're gone.

This must be what the end of the world looks like 

I don't think this will ever be renovated 

 11th WUNDR 

   

Dead Beat

What does an unemployed, freeloading, dead beat do with all of his free time while his kids are at school and wife is at work? .....He plays, and tries to convince others to call in sick, use personal time, or just play hooky so they can join him. In my defense I've kept the house clean,tried to get dinner on the table as many times as I can during the week, and finish some low cost projects around the house. Last week was the first full week I've had off, instead of being completely laid off this winter, it's been more of a furlough. The week before I ended up only working two days and the rest of the week I was home with sick kids, add in the fact that it's been bone chilling cold outside and there was neither time or ambition to go out and do anything. The weather finally broke last week and I was like a dog that just chewed through it's leash. Monday through Thursday I rode my fat-bike, did some snowshoeing, another sewer tour, and played with some ropes (which I'll cover in a different post). I was joined by Best in Schow and Noelski on all or some of these adventures. Pics are in random order as to throw you off the scent, and let you find and discover the locations for yourself.....enjoy

Muskrat Love

going up 

Ice formations still about 200 yards back

Behind the falls

I would not recommend this, but the tracks were packed solid and very fast for a while

Went to visit Mr H and his cave/living quarters.... he wasn't home 

Lunch next to a stream

Lunch next to a stream in a storm sewer 

This is the snowshoeing I told you about

Pay no attention to the woman on the wall

going down ?

Stopped by The Wreck, all is well

Looking for more underground entrances......cool artwork

Thursday's ropes course 

Keeping Warm

With the cold temps hanging on way to long here in the north-land I put the call out for a somewhat warm, underground ride last weekend. I have little motivation to ride any longer in the below zero temps we have been enduring all season but if it was something more tolerable, say 50ish degrees that would be OK. I realize the sewer tour may be old hat for viewers, but no matter how many times I visit, I always see something new and have a good time. How many times do you go ride the same single track or your favorite road route and have a blast ? Here are the pics from our ride.....................

We were greeted with this ice wall on part one of the ride.  I was expecting this but didn't realize how thick it would be. B-Dale is smashing a bigger hole with a rock at this point

view from inside. I took the front wheel off my bike and stuffed it in the hole

The Helix

D Rider,B-Dale,St Croix Troy, B-Swen, Best in Schow,Vandy

There are aliens among us

This was the coolest spot to ride through, took about 30 pics to capture it

Lunch time at Chipotle'

#2

That's a no swimming sign in blue,  damn it

Huh ?

This tunnel is beginning to grow like a real cave

This is about 20 feet tall

Wednesday Night

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving the Imperial Fat-Bike Riders Group got together for a sewer tour. It went well but one of the guys in our group was not able to attend but wanted to do a tour soon. I wasn't about to go back to the same place one week later so I agreed to take him to a different sewer and throw in a tunnel I had never explored. I had proposed the ride to the rest of the group but none of them bit on it so I would just be Best in Schow and myself.

 Since I had already ridden the sewer several times in the last couple years we headed for the tunnel entrance first just in case we spent too much time there and had to cancel the second part. Although I had been keeping an eye on this one for the last couple years I never went inside since I was always alone and didn't bring a light. The entrance has been fortified by cinder blocks and wide iron bars and has gone through various states of repair and disrepair. It was in a state of disrepair on Wednesday night. After two years of imagining what I would find I was a little let down.

 The system had been filled with concrete from the bluff above. We were only able to walk down a couple hundred feet of passage until the solid concrete tapered the tunnel to a crawl and eventually down to nothing. The most interesting part of the system is a room off the side of the main tunnel. The floor is comprised of clean white sand coming from the roof. The room is full of bats, approximately 30, and has some sort of wheeled apparatus in it. We didn't stay long and were off to our next location. It was snowing so we were pretty happy with the new conditions but the wind was really starting to howl and the temps were dropping substantially.

       By the time we got to the entrance we were cold and anxious to warm up inside. This particular drain is not very long but fun none the less. The graffiti inside was completely different from a couple years ago and there was a lot more of it...people have been busy. Only a few of the pieces were notable,  must of the shit inside was the weird lettering that no one understands or it was just dip shits with a can of spray paint writing swear words or lousy representations of genitalia. We got to the end, a drop shaft with a steady flow of water coming down every square inch of  wall space, and headed back. Once back at the entrance it was much colder than when we started, we called it a night and parted ways.