I met some friends up at the Carlton, MN trail head again for some great company and a ride thrown in for extra credit. We had 5 riders this week. Awesome fun! The tamarack trees are in their glow. So much so I decided to start and end this blog post with tamarack pics.
See anything wrong with the the newly paved Douglas County HIghway T in this pic?? I mean really!! That is the best they can do? I see what uses they have in mind here. I mean, at most a 2" bike lane. Pathetic! Really?!? I guess the only thing to do is take the lane! End of rant. :-)
I have been riding the what I call the Black Bear loop quite often. Good country back roads, but it does involve riding the rant road.
On this day I was out early. A little fog in the air.
Ahhh, there is the bike/water pic. hehehe The sun rising up over a pot hole.
The road is wet when you ride in the morning these days, but at least we can see the road.
The leaves are falling but it is still very scenic riding.
More water/bicycle pictures.
Popples and Oaks are now in color with the Maples and others stripped bare.
On this particular day, mid morning, there was no one golfing here at Black Bear Golf and Tennis Club. I couldn't believe that. What I mean is this, 50+ and sunny in the middle of October in northern WI with winter closing in, I figured people would be getting in those final rounds. Guess not?!
As of late, I have made a couple rides on the Willard Munger Trail. I used to ride it quite often when I worked in Duluth near to a trailhead, but it had been waaay too long since the last ride here. I do not know why it took so long to get on this beautiful trail. I mean I know it is a 50 mile drive to the trail. Which is most likely why I haven't been on it. But that being said, I need to get to more of these type of trails. I do enjoy them!
While we were parked at a picnic area, a bicycle blogger from the past stopped and visited. I really enjoyed the visit and that added even more to an already great day.
A nice warm beautiful fall day. The leafs in their glory. A smooth blacktop trail with no vehicles. Nice picnic/rest stops. Meeting new friends. And to top it off, it was my wife's idea to ride this trail on the tandem. IMO, days like this is living life at it finest!
Looking down on the St. louis river from the trail bridge between Carlton and Thomson.
The trailhead n Carlton was our lunch spot on Saturday. It was also the spot I met two friends for Tuesdays ride.
I showed up early to Tuesday's ride to make a trip to the next town of Mahtowa and back before our meeting time of 4:30. Getting back on a road bike after riding cross, fat-tire and tandem was unreal. Even going against the wind I felt fast.
The above is a little picnic spot along the Munger in which I stopped for a brief rest.
Seems I can't resist taking a picture a bicycle near water. hehehe
I met my friends back in Carlton at 4:30 for a ride on the Alex Laveau Memorial. It was great to back riding with them. Just like the last time I visited the Willard Munger trail, it had been waaay too long since we had been out for a ride together. I thoroughly enjoyed it. To learn about the trails I rode in this blog follow the link here. I would encourage anyone who hasn't rode these trails, or like me it had been a while, to get on out there. They are nothing short of fantastic. Riding a road bike for many miles and not worrying about automobile traffic is a bicycling bliss.
Thought I would try something a little different with this post. It is this weeks rides combined into this one, which turned out to be a mumble jumble of photos and a video at the end. Not sure about this idea.
Monday this week had me spending about 3 hours on the Kona. The wind was fierce. They said 20mph and they were not lying. I went out against the wind and rode the wind home, which is the way I like to do wind when I can.
A cabin I rode by.
Did I mention the wind? I passed by here on a slight downhill with the wind at my back. Moving I was. I rolled on by and then went on back and cleaned it up.
This week in biking has had me once again seen me splitting my time between the Kona Jake and 9:ZERO:7. The 9:ZERO:7 was used on Sun, Tues, Wed, Thur and Friday with the Kona ride on Monday. ummm 5 to 1. It's funny because I seriously looked at the road bike and the mountain bike thinking that there was not much chance of riding those left this year, but once the fat bug bites it is hard to shake it. With that being said, tomorrow will be my favorite ride of the week. I say that because the tandem is loaded on the truck and ready for Saturday morning. Yeehaw!!
Freshly graded trail. That seems to always loosen it up some.
One of the little trails I rode on Thursday. This one ended up to be a dead end. I then threw the fatty on my shoulder and made a hike-a-bike to the next trail. Turned out to be further than I thought through some very thick woods. Have you ever hiked a fatty? Not my brightest moment of the week.
An old deer stand I rolled by.
These trails are sweeeeeettt!! I saw a Grey wolf (aka, timber wolf) on Fridays ride. It was a small one. I have seen much bigger. It wasn't grey, root beer is the color I would say. But, it was timber wolf. It crossed the trail a short way in front of me.
This is the trail the video on the end of the post was made. That video will explain this trail.
One of the side trails ended at this bear bait. There were fresh tracks there.
The above is a video I shot on Friday. It is a trail that brought back good memories.
Lets get outdoors and have some fun!
Thanks for watching and any comments you may have!
SO, I know it has been a while since I have loaded anything up on the blog. I have been riding, and most times with the camera, but I don't stop and shoot pics. The blog has taken a hit on my radar screen. Please forgive me! On this particular fall day, I was out on the bicycle for a couple hours and took the time for some photos. I was on the fat-tire today and it felt good to be back on that. I have been riding the Kona Jake mostly, but the recent snow we had put the fat bug in me. That and this last weekend we watched some of a gravel ride/race in Duluth MN. It is called the Heck of the North.(linked) There is a nice video part down their home page. We spent 3.5 hours watching the riders come in at about the 67 mile mark. It was looking like a tough ride this year. I am glad we went, as I learned a lot from watching. That sealed the deal on getting the fat! I added a video of Sundays fatty ride at the end of this post.
The ride today took me by this local lake.
This lake is said to be 102 feet deep, although when I have been out fishing I have registered more than on my sonar until. Very clear and deep! It will be the last of the lakes to freeze in our area.
This little pond will be one of the first. I enjoy having lunch here because it is on a little path a quite a ways from a road. Nice and quiet.
Almost two hours of stuff like this on this day out.
We have had a lot of moisture lately...well really since the summer of 2013.
This is another of my favorite lunch spots.
These trails are used mostly by the locals. The mapped ATV/snowmobile trails are much wider. Almost like dirt highways...at least some of them.
After riding on this day, Janice needed some steps for her Fitbit. So, we went for a hike on the North Country Trail (linked).
It was a 3.5 mile hike and the time was just past lunch, so we packed a couple sandwiches and had a mini picnic on the shore of the St. Croix River.
This was near our finishing spot. We chased many ducks from here. All around, this was another great day to be here in the northwoods of WI.
This is a little video from Sundays ride. I shot a small video form the hike...very small, as the battery went dead on the camera. Reached for the other battery and remembered I left it in the pannier on the bike.
Lets get outdoors and have some fun!!
Thanks for reading, watching and any comments you may have.
