Fat Tire Fun

Yesterday, Trish and I took a trip down to The Angry Catfish in Minneapolis where I became the newest member of the fat tire club.


The latest addition to the family is a size XL Salsa Mukluk 3.

Today seemed like a good day to break it in, so we took the bikes out to a couple of nearby forest roads.


The roads were actually pretty grassy and rutted, but it was nothing the big tires couldn't easily handle.


One of the local spectators who was watching us ride.


A pretty place to take a rest.


We eventually made it to the North Shore State Trail.


We ended our day with nine miles and two very muddy Mukluks. Bring on Winter!

That's Crazy!

On Sunday morning I set out on a semi-solo bike camping trip. My plan was to ride north towards Hwy 1, find a spot to camp, and then ride the next day to Split Rock Lighthouse state park, where Trish and I would camp together. Her sister, Kim, thought that my riding and camping solo was a crazy idea, and while I don't completely disagree, I think it's good to be a little crazy.

This is the only picture I took on Sunday. It was raining at 10:00 when I left the house and it just never let up. The only times I was willing to stop was when I came across a public building with an awning.
Thanks to a good tailwind, and despite carrying 40 lbs of gear, I was able to make it 85 miles to McDougal Lake campground Southeast of Ely on Hwy 1.
Due to the rain and the fact it was a Sunday night, I got to have an entire loop in the campground to myself. It was very peaceful, and once the rain stopped, it turned out to be a beautiful moonlit night.

I awoke Monday to a bright sunny day. Things were starting to dry (I wish I could say the same about my camera, pardon the blur) and I headed out to meet Trish at Split Rock.

Despite the sunshine, I actually enjoyed the previous day's rainy ride better. Highway 1 is very hilly, or at least it seemed hilly with my tired legs. The entire 47 miles was constantly going up and down. It seemed to take forever to get to the final descent down to Lake Superior.

The highlight of the whole ride was seeing this young wolf standing on the side of the road. I came across a sibling a few minutes earlier, but wasn't quick enough with the camera to get a shot. This time not only did I have time to get my camera out, but he actually stood still about 30 feet from me, giving me time to shoot several pictures.

I arrived at our campsite with about 4 1/2 hours in the saddle for the day, slightly delirious and a little bit sunburnt. After eating and resting and more eating, we hiked to the top of Day Hill and took in the views. It was a beautiful ending to an overall pleasant and fulfilling trip. Not crazy at all.

Smooth

The only thing better than a woodsy road is a smooth woodsy road, and the county just finished another one.
This is Emerson Road, which runs for two miles between Howard Gnesen Road (another smooth one) and Rice Lake Road (it will be smooth sometime in October).
Next year Martin Road is scheduled to be repaved, which will give us dozens and dozens of miles of riding with with nary a bump.

Coincidentally, when I stopped to take this picture I had just hit 4,000 miles on my Trucker (give or take a mile). All 4,000 miles have been relatively trouble free. I'm still running on the original Schwalbe Marathon Supremes without a flat, and the only parts I've had to replace were the chain, cassette, and middle chainring. I also replaced the front brakes, but that was just to quiet them down.
Hopefully I didn't jinx myself just now, and the next 4,000 miles will go by just as smoothly.

Oh Heck! I'm In

After four months of waiting, I finally made it to the top of the wait list and got the invite to participate in the Heck of the North, a hundred mile gravel race on the roads north of Duluth.
Had I gotten the email 9 days earlier I probably would have turned it down. Once I finished my first century last weekend, I didn't want nor need to participate in the Heck. I did of course change my mind the next day. It's amazing how just 1 day of rest can change the way you feel.
Even though it's called a race, I'm just going to consider it a ride (I'm kinda slow). The only thing I'll be racing is sunset.
I'll be riding my Trucker. It's a really good all purpose bike. All I really need to do is pull off the racks and fenders and strap on my handlebar and seat bags and I'm set. 
I plan on riding about half of the route (or at least the roads that I think are on the route) Saturday. I may still bale on the race if I don't think can ride fast enough on gravel to finish in about 8 hours. I'm pretty comfortable on hard packed dirt, but loose gravel (especially going downhill) causes me to be a bit skittish. I'll most likely post an update Sunday on how that ride went and whether I decide to stay in the race.

Century

This past Saturday I completed my first ever century. My previous best was 83 miles 4 weeks earlier, so I was pretty sure I had 100 in me.
I was really hoping to have a good story to tell when all was said and done, but riding the century didn't seem any more spectacular than any other ride, just longer.


One of my favorite parts of the ride was watching all the clouds. Despite the sheer number of them, they never seemed to block the sun. Good thing I remembered the sun screen.


I think I saw about 4 deer the whole day, which was 2x the number of bikes I saw. This guy was the only one who wanted to pose.


One of the best parts of living here.


After 20 miles of pavement I got to hit the gravel. For the first couple of miles the gravel was thick and loose. I debated turning around and going a different way, but I was pretty certain the county wouldn't put down fresh gravel along the entire 18 or so miles. Luckily I was right. It got much better (and faster) soon enough. I just wish the 10-20 mph headwind wouldn't have lasted the entire 25 miles that I was going west.


As per usual, I had to stop and take a picture of the Trucker on a bridge.
I decided to go with 3 water bottles today (96 oz total). There aren't a lot of places around here to get water. I didn't get to a store until mile 70.


At one point the sun had a halo. I don't think I've seen one in the summer before.


They don't make bridges like this anymore.


Back at mile 50 I decided to forget the century and just ride straight home. By the time I crossed this bridge at mile 63 I had changed my mind and decided to go for it. It's amazing what a nice tailwind will do to improve your outlook on things.



In order to get to 100 miles I had to go 4 extra miles out and back on a side road before hitting the final stretch home. Just after turning back around (into about a 30 mph wind) it started to rain. Needless to say, I was not happy. Fortunately the rain only lasted a few miles and I was rewarded with a rainbow to accompany me during the last few minutes of daylight.


The final tally. 
I've  reached a milestone that I've been aiming at for a couple of years.
I'm glad I finally got it out of my system. Now I can just ride to ride. 
I can just go where the road takes me.
(at least till the double metric century bug bites)

Rest Stop

Yet another reason I can't seem to get anywhere quickly around here. There are just too many beautiful places to stop.

Naked

Today was bath day for the trucker. I don't wash the bike as often as I would like, as I always find it to be a pain getting into the various nooks and crannies. Because the racks and fenders don't help at all in this regard, I thought I would remove them to make things a little easier.

Although it did end up being easier to clean bike without them. I don't think I'll make a habit of it. The hassle of removing them doesn't offset the ease of cleaning.

Another reason I had for taking them off was to see what the bike would look like without them.
It turned out as goofy looking as I thought it would. Between the 26 inch tires and the 62cm frame, it definitely needs the fenders and racks to help even things out.

I plan on riding it like this for a few days to see if I notice any difference in the way it rides. The weight went down from 36 to 29 pounds. That's quite a difference, although it's only 3% of my body weight, so I don't think I'll notice a thing.


 
A proper touring bike.


Goofiness