Solstice Chase

This past weekend was the Solstice Chase fat-bike race in St Croix Falls Wisconsin, put on by the good folks at Cyclova XC. This was a true...-fat-bike only-... race with  25 and 50 K options held on groomed x-c ski trails. Nearly 70 riders took the line, with both distances having roughly the same amount of riders, give or take a few.

The Venue, Big Rock Creek Retreat. St Croix Falls WI

  Honestly I could really give a crap if someone wants to try and ride their non fat-bike on whatever surface they choose, but this course had no place for them. It was very soft for a majority of the trail, and was a real challenge for all those participating.  This would be my first race of the fat-bike season and a good test of my unconditioned body. Tipping the scale a few pounds under the morbidly obese category I still managed a third place spot in the short race, finishing in about an hour and a half as the "real" men and women braved another lap. I my defense I initially signed up for the long race but had plans to be at an event/competition with my kids in the early afternoon so I had to opt out and be a good dad.

The Mayor comin' in hot 

   I mentioned the course was soft, this would be of great benefit for me as I have a little more experience than the average Joe out there. It seemed everyone including myself was running way too much pressure in the tires,hoping for a fast race. The only difference is, I stopped within the first few minutes to air-down.The two fast guys who would eventually beat me were off the front but struggling on the climbs. I struggled too but the few seconds I lost to let out some air brought me right to the front and into first place with a good lead until the midway point of the race.

Hells Yeah !  Penn Cycle in the house. There were four of us in attendance on race day, not like a race at Buck Hill, but still good to see some of my teammates 

 I was feeling pretty good about myself just before both of them passed me within a couple minutes of each other. We had just come out of some really grueling hills and were on a nice flat, fast section. All I could do now was ride smooth, not crash, attempt to stay with them, and at all costs stay out of sight of the fourth place guy. The two off the front were really fast, I lost sight of them within a mile of being passed. I was running scared now and praying another rider would not catch me. I rode smooth, didn't crash, and beat the fourth rider by 10 minutes. Ten minutes isn't bad, but the five plus minute shellacking I received from the leaders was a slap in my own face.

We had a little time to grab a snack after the race in a warm building near the finish

  I was reasonably happy with my finish and it felt good to get on the podium even if I did do the lesser of the two races. The guys at Cyclova are promising a repeat of the race for next year, check it out and celebrate the shortest day of the year!  .......they have food too.

I won the one of a kind trophy with place and date on the back side , as well as a really nice pair of thick wool cycling socks ....Thanks Cyclova XC

       

Deluxe Accommodations

Last weekend I met up with J Has to do a short overnight camp-out at The Wreck. Since I finished it a few weeks back I've been excited to stay in it but just couldn't find the time. Ideally I wanted to get my kids out there and have a dinner in it, as sort of a christening....that hasn't happened yet.

On our Way

Getting the place warmed up upon arrival 

after dinner, time to relax

  When the opportunity for a camp-out came up last Saturday I jumped at it. We met up about five miles from our destination so we could at least get some riding in before we were going to sit around for hours eating, stoking the fire, and bullshitting. This was the first time we've actually hung out. I know him through his blog and have met just a few other times. He's a good guy, fun to hang out with and I wasn't ax murdered while I slept so that's good enough for me. I did have him sleep outside The Wreck due to lack of space.

mascot 

almost like we're driving somwhere

view through one of the windows, JHas setting up for bed

  The Wreck is only big enough for an adult and a kid, or maybe two adults that are really friendly. He knew beforehand he would be outside and chose to sleep in his bivy sac. It was a restless night for the both of us. The Wreck is sitting at an angle in which I found myself sliding to the front of the car. Also there were several mice inside that were eating all of our food crumbs and chewing on the wrappers making a lot of noise. Outside, J Has was sleeping at a bit of an angle that kept him fighting to stay on his sleeping mat. As all bivy sac's do, the inside was soaking wet by morning. A terrible night's sleep is well worth waking up in a cool location.

Before

After

 As soon as I got up I got the fire going and J Has came inside to warm up. Once the interior was nice and warm we both made some breakfast and began packing our gear for the ride back to our vehicles. I tidied the place and we were off. The ride went well, but we both would have enjoyed riding longer. We had a little fresh snow, it was relatively warm and neither of us had any place to be for the day. Next time I'll ride a little further before checking in to my deluxe accommodations.      

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.

Fat-Bike Weekend

The Thanksgiving weekend was a much needed break from work and home obligations. My wife and I were off the hook from hosting it this time since we did it last year. That left the four day weekend wide open for playing. I made it a goal to get a ride in everyday, and that's precisely what I did.

Let's get  out of here and get some food

  On Wednesday after work I met the gang for a sewer tour that went well and was followed by a good meal at a bar that we were way to old to be at.

River Bottoms

  On Thanksgiving day I rode with a group of four guys that I normally ride with. We hit the river bottoms and saw dozens of people we know, all doing the same pre- gigantic meal ritual. As an added bonus, my mom took the boys for the night and Lynn and I were able to see her cousin's band Ruben play at Amsterdam bar and hall in St Paul.

Giant Ham...mmmmmmm  Thanks Milltown

It was good to see my wife get some use out of her fat-bike.  

Yours truly

this would be awesome if it went for miles...sadly it didn't, but it was fun while it lasted

  The next morning we headed down to Milltown Cycle in Faribault, to enjoy the "Black Friday" ride and eat some really freakin' good ham. The trails down there are a lot of fun and remind me of the way mountain biking used to be, a mixture of two track, single track, renegade trail, connected together by locals that know the routes.

felt like summer ...it was so nice

Beer stop #2 approximately 2 miles form beer stop #1

  On Saturday I rode with a big group that met up at The Angry Catfish in Minneaplois. There were at least twenty people on this ride at the start. We headed for the 'bottoms" but stayed off the typical trails that are normally ridden.  There were a few too many beer stops but the weather was absolutely perfect for a late fall day. The highlight for me was the campfire at the end of the ride at Woodside Flats. I brought along a bunch of stuff to make tacos which in turn helped me make some new hungry friends.

I left the group and cut across this lake to shortcut to Woodside Flats so I could get my tacos cooked. I was VERY nervous about this, riding several small circles out on the ice to test the thickness before fully committing and putting it in the highest gear and cranking across. My logic...Speed defies gravity , I would either skirt right over the top of anything thin or go full speed into my watery demise, ounce I got that bitch rollin' it was not going to stop quickly.  

Nachos go great with tacos, these ones were cooked on a rock . It worked perfectly....accept for the ash, the sand and burning your hand when trying to remove one.....that still didn't stop these guys

  The last day of the long weekend I got out for one more short ride with my youngest son Big D. He's always the one that wants to ride when his brothers are busy with the video games, coloring, or reading. He and I headed out a couple hours before dark to have a little cook out. Along the way we saw some deer, a raccoon, and found a cool bird nest on the ground.  We built a small fire, made hot chocolate, and cooked some soup.  It was a late lunch but it gets dark so flippin' early now it felt like dinner.

like father like son ?

 All in all, it was fantastic weekend of riding, relaxing, and socializing.     Disclaimer; No skinny tired bikes were injured (or ridden) during the making of this weekend.      

Hungry for Stink

The night before Thanksgiving a small group of the Imperial Fat-Bike Riders entered the watery underground passages of Mahogany Town. Just like last year we (I) chose a couple close to each other so we could leave from one spot and hit them both.

the newbies

one of my favorite works of art

  On the night of our ride our group had dwindled to five, two of them being newbies to the "sewer tour". A small group is not a bad thing, especially when doing activities of this nature. Not much had changed inside. I was hoping for some new really cool or interesting "street art". The letters and all that stuff can be vibrant and fun to attempt to decipher, but I really enjoy seeing the characters and anything that doesn't fit into the tagging category.

bottom slippery when wet

bubbles

new one, I like

  Only one new really cool image had been created since last year but there was a lot more of the other stuff.....someone has been busy. The ride in both sewers were relatively the same as last year except we didn't go as far in both of them. The first one was so slippery near the terminus we decided to turn around for fear of a nasty crash on the degraded, sharp edged bricks on the bottom.

first tracks...headed out at this point

toys for tots....nope. Found this is in a junk pile and then smashed a TV, I love Mahogany Town

Yeah that looks OK to me

 The second one ended a little early too. Unfortunately, The Legend got super wet (waist down) on the first sewer and ArcFlash was battling a sore knee(see AH 2013).   We got a late start on the evening, if we wanted to ride as far as we did the previous year it would mean missing out on "serving food till 11" . Our stomachs got the best of us and we were out.

Everyone knows a hand with faces on it only has five fingers...Duh 

The Helix, or stairway to heaven ?

   I had a lot of fun but would like to return soon for more exploration, a longer time limit and some food. Something really good like an open-faced turkey sandwich dripping with gravy that I can enjoy in the misty warmth of the sewer.

Nordic Skates

Last winter while out riding, I met a guy wearing a set of nordic skates. Vandy and I were in the middle of our route to ride the entire Minnehaha Creek, the guy we met was is the same spot of his route heading the opposite direction. I had never seen or heard of such a thing, but right then I knew I had to had a pair of them.

I chose to use some really heavy  backcountry Raid X bindings only because they where lying around unmounted to any of my other skis. I may switch over to an old skate binding and boot if I have time before it snows. 

  The only problem is it was the middle of winter and all the lakes wear covered in snow and the conditions of the creek change almost daily. To really get the benefit of them you have to go when the ice first freezes.....like Now!  It's been the perfect weather for them here in the twin cities, cold and no snow. Last weekend I picked up a pair of them at the Midwest Mountaineering Expo in Minneapolis at a small discount. I had been planning this for a while,eyeing my loose change jar, and imagining a pair of skates in place of an empty jar on top of my work bench. Upon cashing in,there was enough money in the jar to get the skates and offset the cost of a new lightweight PFD that I will use for packrafting........win win.

Lynn has boots that match the binding so she gave it a try as well

fish-sicle

    Fortunatly the weather had been cooperating all week and the ice was ready for my first preview of nordic skating on Friday afternoon. It was awesome, the skates are super fast. My skating tecnique is a little rusty, I could barely keep up with the whole act of pushing with my legs and poling. Once up to speed it's nothing to just double pole and hall ass across the lake. All I need now is to plan some sort of adventure,route, or loop on these things, but it will have to be soon, as conditions can change rapidly around here.