Ragnarok Gravel

The first big climb, right out of the starting gate

We had lots of pit stops waiting for electronic navigation 

Troy,"riding" the large climb up the 1st min. maint. road

These are the signs we like to see

Almost done pit stop

Steve, Brett

Who's this bad mo-fo ?

Often the best way to train for a particular race is to go directly to the course and familiarize yourself with it. This is what Brett's ride was all about on Sunday. He put together a 70 mile route that used parts of the Ragnarok from a couple different years. I think there were nine of us to start, with Steve and I showing up late and having to catch up to the group that left about fifteen minutes before us. Fortunately, Brett gave us the cue sheets before he left us in the parking lot so we were able to find our way.We caught up to the pack in about 50 minutes, we really didn't need the sheets, as their tracks in the loose gavel were easy to follow. What I noticed immediately was how hard the ride seemed to be for a moderate cruising pace . I have been riding a fair amount but the gravel was killing me. It seemed kind of soft and a lot of the route had been freshly graded. The first chunk of minimum maintenance road was the most difficult. If you've done the race before it's the one that has the long loose, large sized gravel climb. The top usually has a bunch of snow to struggle through, and a good vantage point from the top in all directions, except the one you just came from. At the race in a couple weeks, the guys that ride the road bikes with skinny tires will suffer the most. The other side of the climb is a wicked decent, riddled with unavoidable gravel the size of ping pong balls or larger. Enough with course info. As the day wore on the weather got better, to start it was kind of cloudy and cold, but by the end I was sporting a short sleeve jersey and dark sun glasses which I purchased at our Kwik-Trip luncheon. I had a great time, I'm sure all the other riders did as well. Thank You Brett, for putting it together and the invite.          As for me, April 14 is gunna hurt.

Exploring

In an effort to always find new places to ride, particularly the fat-bike, and to further my knowledge of small and large chunks of green-space scattered  throughout my home range, I went for a recon/exploration fat-bike ride. I had to work on Saturday and brought my Pug along just in case I had the urge to ride. I wasn't all that enthused about riding after putting in 7.5 hours of hard labor (construction) beginning at 6am, but I'm glad I did. Initially, I headed for an area where I thought I might find some trail. Early this spring I saw a guy riding a full blown downhill bike in the woods. strange ? It turns out there is the layout of a secret downhill run being built on a very steep bluff. For the sake of not ruining this, I will not reveal it's whereabouts. P.S good luck finding it.

This was so off-camber the Husker-Du's could not hold an edge on it

The drop on the other side of this jump would have killed me if I had tried it

I thought I could ride the last section of the downhill course, but it was so steep I went over the bars and nearly bit through my lip. The trees did a good job of keeping me from rolling all the way down the hill. I didn't have my helmet either.

If only I had found the pole, I could have been fishing

Home Sweet Home

I really like what they have done with the place

I found this unattended fire, perhaps cavemen inhabit the area

The Goat path

More Goat path

         Next, I headed over to some renegade footpath trails I knew existed from my days of living in the area. To my surprise they were in excellent condition for riding. Although not legal/approved, they were well trimmed and well traveled. In the past they were so choked off with brush and sticks it was a real pain to try and ride them. Now, I'm sure lots of other cyclist know about them, as I saw the tell tale chain ring marks embedded in the fallen trees crossing the trail. One sketchy downhill brought me to the bank of the Mississippi. From there the trail sort-of ran out and the fun began, as I was plowing my way through brush, rocks, trash, and fallen trees. I made it nearly to the lock and dam near the old Ford plant when the angle of the bluff got so steep it was a straight shot into the river. I backtracked a little and scrambled my way up a cliff and headed back to my vehicle. Part of this route will most likely be added into the Fat-Bike Adventure Ride next fall.

A Collection

Missing are 2005 and 2007, I've entered all 8 races but these years proved to be too much for me

Some people collect baseball cards or comic books. I have a nice collection of Arrowhead 135 trophies. This past week I received the plate with my name and time for this past years Arrowhead. The time on it is not much to brag about but I did get a trophy none the less. I don't like to brag, but these trophies are all I have been able to earn in recent years to prove that I still ride my bike and compete. I am now merely an over weight shell of the racer I used to be,still clinging to the astronomical hope of one day donning a DBD jersey. Hope..............

On a lighter note, I made this wonderful, completely burned hot dog for my kid who was so mad at me he threw it in the fire,that I cooked it on in the back yard. 

All Hail the Burley Trailer

This past weekend Super "Y" , two of his friends, Charlie(Jr) and Evan, and their dad's, Charlie (Sr.) and Adam, and myself embarked on our first bike tour. This was a first for all the kids, I'm not sure about the dads. The three of us had bike trailers for our gear, two Burley D'lights and a Fisher Price. We left our cars behind in Fairibault at the trail head for Sakatah Singing Hills Trail at 2:15pm. Our destination was Sakatah Lake State Park, thirteen miles West of Fairibault. The trail surface is paved and for the most part very flat, perfect for three, six year old's on their first camping trip by bike. The weather on Saturday was beautiful, sun, 70 deg, and a light tail wind. I am still amazed it's only march, last year was really cold and we had lots of snow at this time of year. In less than two hours of departing the trail head, we were all set up and chowing down a post ride, late afternoon snack. After lunch we gathered some fire wood for later, and set out on a hike to explore on foot. Later on we tore into dinner, hot dogs, canned beans and chili, cookies, pop, hot chocolate, chips, and s'mores. With the large volume of the trailers we were able to go plush, I even brought my full sized pillow. To our surprise we were not the only ones with the bike camping idea this weekend. Arriving at camp right after us was a dad(Dave) pulling a tag-a-long, pulling a Burley. One kid was on the half-bike and another in the trailer packed tight with gear. Dave spent a couple hours with us shooting the breeze by our fire after all  the the kids went to bed  

Getting ready

  

Adam and Evan

The big "dare" of the weekend

Dinner

After dinner snacks. s'mores

My set-up

Grand Finale'

      The next morning was quite a bit cooler than the ride down the day before, around 45 deg. Breakfast was a quick bowl of oatmeal, a cinnamon roll, a Monster for me, and a root beer for "Y". The ride back went pretty well, except that the excitement of going somewhere is gone for the kids and they were cold. Two snack breaks and 13 miles later we were rolling into the parking lot with the sun on our faces planning the next bike-camping trip.

309 $

No tax and free delivery. Bikesdirect.com .I just got this on Thursday! It's not as nice as Pedro's Sledge Hammer, but its a decent bike. I have not taken it off of any sweet jumps yet, but I did manage to get about 45 miles in on Friday, commuting to and from work with the long ride home option thrown in because it was so nice out.

Slick 50

Mr Jansen, saying hello

In case you can't see it, "sweet cheeks"

The Legendary, Mr. Skogen

Lemmy, from "Motor Head" says hello  

Somewhere out near Victoria, regroup break

Hurl

My ride,Salsa Fargo

I'm not talkin' about that super mystery motor oil from the 90's that claimed you could put in your car engine, run it, and then drain it, and it would run just fine without anything but the coating of the "polymers" only found in Slick 50. I am talking about the ride put together by the infamous Hurl of "Cars R Coffins". After speaking with the man himself, he said the ride has been going on for around ten years, with friends at first, and now topping out at, at least 80. We started out at none other than One on One Bike Studio just before 11am. Every type of bike was there, from all carbon road bikes to something your grandma was riding just a few minutes ago, as this was a ride for anyone. The initial pace was easy, giving way to an all out hammer fest an hour or so into the ride. The riding surface went from bike path, to pavement, to gravel,and finally back to bike path. Some of the group stopped at Pizza Luce' for refreshment and food near the end of the ride. I stopped briefly but was snubbed by the dickhead at the front counter that said I would have to order pizza after I sat down, rather than just pay for a slice and sit down. The waitress was only serving beer so I left. I had a great time on the ride, chatting with lots of friends, getting my ass kicked on the hills, running out of food, bonking, and enjoying the 70 deg + temps on an unseasonably excellent day in March.

When the Cat's Away..................

.............The mice will play.
     Lynn (aka mom, aka my wife) went to Ray's indoor MTB for the free women's weekend. There were a bunch of pro's giving advice and lots of free swag and food. She learned a bunch of new skills and mastered the intermediate jump line. Yeah Lynn!

This was our first ride of the year 

We are always looking for cool rocks, Super Y  found this nice agate

Suday we went down to Falls Creek in Fairibault

bottom of an old silo

My Bro and "Big D"

Super Y builds effigy to himself

      What this means for us (me and the boys) is staying up late, eating every meal out, cake for breakfast, pop with every meal, wearing the same clothes for two days, not washing our hands, and riding our bikes or exploring the rest of the time. We even caught a movie at a theater. I also taught them the fine art of gas station dinning, you can find everything you need for a wholesome meal at Kwik Trip.  All in all it was an excellent weekend, no one got hurt or sick and the house was all cleaned up by the time Lynn got home.