Where We'll Be

When it's not raining and we're not out on our bikes, this is where we'll be.
Bring on the weekend!

Guerilla Marketing

.......in Duluth, who'da thunk it?

I passed behind this bike downtown after leaving work today. Because there was mud on top of the saddle, I knew the bike wasn't ridden there and something else was up. Looks like a northern Wisconsin casino wants us to know that they have more for people to do than just gamble.

I have a sudden urge to go back down there with a bucket of soapy water. Hmmmm...........

UsKabWanKa

Trish and I decided to take advantage of today's absolutely perfect weather and do a little bit of forest road riding. She took her Mukluk and I took my Scott hybrid. I would have taken my LHT, but the chain has been skipping whenever I ride on dirt. It may be time for a new cassette.

I was totally outmatched in the tire department.

The first road we took was wide, straight, and smooth. Very nice, but not quite what we were looking to do today. We were hoping to find something a little more suited for a fat tire bike.
So, after 5 1/2 miles we decided to turn around and go up a different road that forked off from where we parked.

The nice thing about doubling back is that you get to see the same beautiful scenery twice.

This is more like it. The road was just wide enough for a car, but was rocky enough that you wouldn't want to drive on it. We rode this for about 2 1/2 miles until it narrowed into double track, which we rode for another 3/4 mile. We were hoping it would loop around to another road, but it didn't seem to want to go in the right direction, so we decided to double back again and call it a day.

UsKabWanKa River

We ended the morning with about 17 miles and only passed one other person. The scenery was wonderful, but unfortunately we didn't see much in the way of wildlife except for some birds and a stray rabbit. We did see plenty of canine scat (probably wolf) along the first road we were on. That may help explain the lack of wildlife, along with the fact that this is a heavily hunted area.

The Mukluk performed very well, and except for a little trouble in some sand, I was able to hold my own. With any luck we'll be more evenly matched next time.

The Best I've Got

I got out for a fast (by my standards) 21 mile ride this morning and seeing these great blue herons was about the most interesting thing to happen. I ride this same route quite a bit, so unless I see something out of the ordinary, I'm never sure what's worthy of a post, or even a picture.
Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, my "fast" average speed was 15.4 mph. Thank you big ring!

Swallows of the Cloquet River

I shot this while on a snack break during my ride today. It looks as though the swallows are on a snack break too.
It was a beautiful, but buggy day, so I was glad to see them helping to cut down the local mosquito population.

One Thing Leads to Another

So I'm riding along, minding my own business, when I am forced to screech to a stop in order to get a picture of this happy family.


I backed up a little bit to see where they were going when I saw a bald eagle perched in a distant tree.


I would never had seen him if it weren't for the geese.

Weekend at Temperance

Just in time to set the tone for the Memorial Day weekend, I'm finally getting around to posting about our car camping trip at Temperance River state park last weekend.
We were debating even going as the forecast was calling for rain pretty much the whole weekend, but Temperance is a very hard park to get into, and we had a reservation, so we decided to just brave the elements and go for it.


We got to our cart in site around 11:00 and, being the smart people that we are, decided to get the tent up right away before the rain started. It was an excellent site right on the lake, although a little greenery between the sites would have made it better.


The view was gorgeous, and we got to spend our night hearing the waves crash against the shore.


We were able to wander around by the lake for a little before the rain started.
Since we didn't think that the rain would be letting up any time soon, we decided to take a drive up to Grand Marais and check out the local bike shop. While we were there, we picked up a new collar for Loki, and I was able to obtain what I believe to be the only tin of proofide to be found in any bike shop north of Minneapolis.




Although the rain never stopped completely, it did lighten up enough to allow us to take a short hike up the river. Thanks to the rain, we had the trails all to ourselves.






The wind had been blowing off the lake pretty good all day.

By the time we turned in, the wind was starting to calm and the rain had stopped.
We awoke early Sunday morning, and after a quick breakfast of eggs and sausage, packed up and headed for home. We had beaten the rain once again.

Despite the rain.....and wind......and cold, we had a really good time. We plan on stopping back again this summer, most likely for a day hike, although this would be an ideal base camp for riding the many miles of forest roads nearby. We can't wait.