Wednesday Fun

We had the biggest crew yet for the weekly after work ride...8 people, plus 2 fellow bloggers were there in spirit.   I will add, we were missing two hammers...one was busy with his one day old baby girl and the other was auf Kinder aufpassen.  Saying it was fun would be an understatement.  It was great.  The group we had riding tonight are all in good shape, so the jovial "catch the rabbit" game was played out now and then.  It was an out and back ride with 1100 feet of gain, 25 total miles and a headwind on the way out.  That made for some fast times on the way back. 

I didn't take any pictures, but trust me on this one...It was fun.

Windy

I had not been on the bicycle since last Wednesday, bad bad bad, so I rode the Black Bear ride this afternoon after work.  It was a strong south wind, so the direction I rode tonight meant the first 12 miles were into the wind...then 4 miles quartering into and then it was spread the wings and fly towards home.  If it is windy, I like riding into it at the start and taking advantage of the wind on the way home,  although my average speed seems to suffer riding this way.  I think when I start with the wind at the back and the average starts out high, I may push a little harder to keep the average up when the ride turns to the wind.  Probably shouldn't watch that crap.

On another note, if any of the bloggers or readers want to join us for a Wednesday afternoon ride up the Munger Trail, we will be leaving the corner of Raleigh and Central at 3:15...pasing through the Munger trail parking lot behind the Munger Inn shortly there after.  Meeting us at the corner would be best though.  Please feel free to join in.  We have 6 or 7 lined up so far.

Trying Again

It is starting again.  We are trying to get our one night a week after work ride going.  It has been on Wednesdays, but we can be flexible.  Last night was the second ride of the year.  The first night we had two of us and last night three.  It is an increase...not bad...now, if we could gather a few more.  We rode up the Munger Trail from our work place in Duluth to Carlton MN and back...33 miles.  A very strong headwind greeted us making the slight climb out of Duluth...but the same wind was our good friend on the way back. 

On another note...My check cleared the bank ! ! !

Excellent Weekend

After cutting firewood Saturday and again Sunday, I thought this afternoon would be good for a recovery ride.  I rode the Black Bear Ride at about 60 degrees and a medium southwest wind.  Just nice to out.

This is a start to replenish the wood we burned this last winter.

We just make piles along the trails and then sneak our plow/wood truck through the trails later to haul it in.

When I went by the Black Bear Golf and Tennis Club late this afternoon, there were still golfers out.  Back in the day, I would have been one of the first out there, but now I don't hurry it.  I still play the pasture pool, just not as intensly.

I went by some wood cutting of a little bigger scale than what we did this weekend on todays ride, so I stopped and shot a couple pictures.  This is a young, about 30 to 40 years old, Red Pine planting that is getting it's first thinning.  It is what they call an every 3rd row cutting.  They will cut one row and leave two, cut one, leave two.  They will get about two or three 100" long sticks per tree on a first thin.

This would be what they call a woods road.  They pile the wood alongside the woods road, or what they refer to as a landing, and then truck it out to either a railroad spur to be hauled by rail car, or truck it directly to the mill.

They cut the wood these days with what is called a processor...didn't see the processor...and bring it to the landing with this unit called a forwarder.  If there is any interest, I will do a more indepth post on a logging site a little later. 

This was the ride a friend and I did tonight. It was very good company.

Beauty of a Ride

After work had me making a stop at the bike shop, and then it was straight home to spend some time on the road bike.  It was 69 degrees, wind from the NNE I would guess at about 10 to 15 MPH, and very little traffic tonight.  I put in a good strong ride to which I would say, and you can quote me on this..."It just doesn't get much better than this" 

The Tandem Spoke

The temperatures in our area reached new heights for this year...+63.8 F.  Janice and I had gotten the road tandem ready Saturday, so with today's nice temps, it was calling our name.  We packed stuff for a picnic and set off on a 30 mile ride.

After spending the winter riding alone on the fixed gear, the tandem felt ultra fast.

At about a mile and a half into the ride, we heard a ping.  I asked Janice if she had heard it and she had.  There is still a lot of sand on the roads and she suggested maybe a rock, to which I replied, that or a broken spoke.  It wasn't making any noise, so we contined on for another 3 miles before we stopped.  This is one time I wish I was wrong, but it turned out it was a broken spoke.

We were not going to be cheated out of our little picnic, so we sat down right there and had a snack in the warmth of the sun.

It turned out that because of the broken spoke, we had only got in 10.5 miles on the tandem, so I headed out alone for another 20+ miles. 

Hoping for FAT

Entries into the Chequamegon Fat Tire lottery need to be postmarked no later than Monday.  It is a very good time, so get em in.  I am 2 for 3 so far...3 for 4 sounds better, doesn't it.  Wish me LUCK ! !

Wash Day

Studded tires came off yesterday and I know...too early, but I am hoping when we get more snow, it doesn't last long.

One of these got a wash last night.  Can you guess which one?

X-Cellent Weekend

We spent the weekend at our family cabin, and it had been a while since we had spent an entire weekend there.  It seems there is always something going on that keeps us from spending the time there that we should be spending.  If I told you it was a great weekend...I would not be lying.  Saturday morning early had me skiing around the perimeter of the lake while the snow was still fast.  It warmed up nice, so it was a 15 mile fixed gear ride in the afternoon.

Just a standin there.

This is a creek that leads into the lake that our cabin sits on.

And...This is the same creek leading out of the lake.

This is the city hall of Casey...OK; they call it the Town Hall.  Not many residents in the town of Casey, although my grandfather was born there in 1902 and lived his entire life in the Town of Casey.

The snowmobile trails have been taking a hit as of late...Goooood!!!

I rode the bike home from the cabin Sunday afternoon.  There are many options to vary the distance but it was the 33 mile route I chose to ride.  It was a good thing I chose that shorter route, as riding the fixed gear with the studded tires made it about all I wanted to ride.    

One last thing...Daylight Savings Time...Next weekend.

Spring Fever

I have been enjoying the warmer weather that we have been blessed with as of late by riding the fixed gear every night after work.  Last night I rode what I call the Little Bigger Circle Ride.  It is a 15.5 mile loop with low traffic and some little rollers.

This is a bar that is a little further on down the road from our house called The  Look Out.  I used to spend a lot of time in this place back in the day.  I can not remember the last time I have been in the place...nothing against the owners, in fact they seem very nice...I just try to avoid bars.  We do order food to go once in a while, but either Janice or our son makes the run to pick it up. 

This is how it gets its name...The Look Out.  It looks out over Lake Gordon, or as the locals call The Gordon Flowage.  I noticed the panfish must be biting because there seems to be a lot activity at one of the lakes hot spots we can see in this picture.

The county road we live on comes to an end at a Douglas County park about a mile past the Look Out.  In the winter time, the last mile of the road is closed to vehicle traffic and used as part of a snowmobile trail.

I have noticed the deer have been coming out near the roads this past couple of weeks.  I have saw a lot of them this past week.  On last nights ride, I would say in I seen about 15. 

There is very little traffic this time of year.  Last night I saw a school bus, one pickup and one car. 

This area of the road is not bad because you can go around the ice, but there are several places where the road is still completely covered with ice.  It gets better every day though.  I bear witness.

Nice

Nice...That would be my way of explaining the weather we have had the last couple weeks.  The high temps have been in the 35 to 40ish range with lots of sunshine.  I have been out on the bicycle the last few nights and it is amazing how much the weather changes the road conditions daily.  When a person rides the same route a few days in a row during this time of the year in this area, you really notice the difference.  There still are some areas of ice on the roads, but it is breaking up.  We can't be complacent, as we will be getting more snow...could be a lot, but...Spring is on the way.