Spring Fever

On a recent bicycle ride I stopped and ate my lunch here by the river.  I was thinking then that it would be nice to spend some time here in a canoe or kayak again, as I had when I was younger.  Today was the day.  I put the kayak in here on St Croix River near Gordon and paddled up river about 4.5 to 5 miles.

Nice day to spend not working.  The place I work at has cut hours to 32 hours a week due to a downturn in business.  Today is the day I am off this week...so far.  For those that don't know, soon I will be off full time.

I also paddled up the Eau Claire River from the St. Croix as far as I could go and not make too much work of it.  Beyond the downed trees is one of the local swimming holes called Finstads Bridge.  Local kids come here to swim when parents won't take them to one of the many lakes surrounding this area.  I spent some time there in my youth.

This is still the Eau Claire...but I think you can see where it dumps into the St. Corix from here.

We used to duck hunt this area when we youngsters .  Guess what we called this...The Big Rock...creative huh

Stopped here for a little break and a snack.  The river is a little wider here, so that is what made it good for the ducks.  A nice flyway.

An Eagle nest.  We are fortunate to have many Eagles in our area.  I saw some today, but the pictures didn't turn out well because I was too far away...that and I have a cheapo camera.  Good enough for me though. 

It was nice to be out today.  Spring fever one might say.

Get outdoors and have some fun ! ! !

Soup's On

With my new found freedom close at hand, not only am I hoping to get some bicycle trips in this summer, but also spending some time in the bush.  Multi day kayak trips and such.  One of the ideas we had was to vacuum pack some soup mix to cook up.  I experimented today with how it would work and it is a go.  A bag of Mrs Grass soup will make a half gallon so I decided to divide it to make 2 cup servings.  This brand comes in many different flavors and is mighty tasty. 

This will be year 3 with this stove.  It has gotten a lot of use and works very well for us.  It is not the smallest out there, but I like it because it is very easy to control the heat.  I looked around for a can of pop to give an idea of the size but we didn't have one in the house, so this bottle will have to do. 

It is a MSR DragonFly model.  It weights in at 1.2 lbs and will burn several different types of fuel  We choose to use white gas.  The burn time with this stove running full bore high with the 33oz  fuel tank filled with white gas is 208 minutes.  Running it with kerosene would extend the run time to 253 minutes, but with that comes a loss of the rate at which it heats.  With white gas this stove will boil 1 liter of water in 3.5 minutes, where as kerosene is 3.9 minutes.  Diesel heats at the same rate of white gas, burns longer at 225 minutes for 33oz, but I think the gas is all around cleaner to deal with.

They make 3 different size fuel bottles for the MSR.  The largest is 33 ounces, another at 22oz and yet another at 11oz.  We use the 33 because there are usually two of us.  I may consider getting a smaller one now.

With only two cups of water used to make this soup, it was boiling very quick.

As I said before, it is very easy to control the heat so simmering the soup was easy.  However, I am curious how much fuel this stove burns with it turned down.  I know it is much less, but what I don't know is how much less. 

To me soup taste especially good on cool rainy days, but it never rains when a person spends time in the backwoods...does it?

We took the bag of soup, which we got on sale for $2.49 at a Farm and Fleet store, divided it into 4, wrapped it in a coffee filter and vacuum packed it.

Ready for the pack.

Riding with an old friend...Mr. Derailluer

With the temperature around +50F on Wednesday, I figured it was a good day to get out on the bike.

A sure sign of spring in our area is when the local townships post wieght limits on the town roads.  They do this because when the frost comes out of the ground, the road base gets soft and they are vulnerable to damage.  The limits this year went in to effect March 14 at noon and usually come off about May 1st.

There is still some snow on the ATV/Snowmobile/Multiple use trails.

Nice quiet roads to ride...

And this is why.  I would guess that 80% of the driveways are not plowed meaning they are not being used.  I rode in the vincinity of 15 lakes yesterday.  A lot of these lakes have cabin/houses that belong to snowbirds and then there are others that just don't use them in the winter.  That is good for me.  I like that.  It doesn't bother me that they're not around.

It is election time for the townships around our area.  If any of you out there think national, or state elections for that matter, are down and dirty, you should witness the small town politics.  The national and state scene doesn't hold a candle to this town.  It is not always that way, but has been for the last few years.  This township covers 133sq miles and has an overall population of about 754.  The nearest building to these signs is probably over a mile away, but there are 5 campaign signs here.  Bill Moyers says “Intelligence has nothing to do with politics,” and I believe him.

Another quiet road

Stopped by the river and birds are plenty this time of year.  The Trumpeter Swans are year around residents, as are the Eagles because this section of the St. Croix River very seldom freezes completely over.

I sat here, ate my banana and watched the birds.

I chased up two Mallards when I walked down here and the geese are plentiful.

It was a great afternoon with about 25 miles of riding.  Just one of the good things was my steed had a derailluer.  I ride the fixed gear in the winter, but it was nice enough yesterday to get a road bike out and it was nice to be able to coast.

Get out and have some Fun ! ! 

Short Timer?

I have been riding almost every night after work, although they have been short rides of about 15 miles.  Ummm, maybe that's why they are calling me short timer at work.  I don't think I'm short.

Oh Goodie!!!

Was it a nice ride tonight or what?   At about 15 miles, the temp around 45F with the wind from the northerly direction and best of all, no cars.  I did see one, but he turned on another road before we met.

I think it happens almost every year, the weather starts getting more like spring and then Whammmmy...calling for blizzard conditions with 8 to 16 inches of snow.  Great.  I hear they are already revising the forecast though, that and depending on which channel one listens to, who knows?  The Shadow knoooows. 

Look Ma...No studs

I haven't updated this in a while, but you haven't missed much either.  The weather here has been well received by everyone I know of, except for maybe Eric who wants more ride time on the big tire prototype.  It was over 50F today with the sun shining bright so it was time to get outside.

The blacktop roads are clearing up nicely so I changed out the studded tires on the fixie last night.

The fixie sporting the summer cross rubber.  Don't get me wrong, the studs are nice on snow and ice covered roads, but the first ride of spring with the studded tires hanging in the garage sure is sweet.  The tree in the background most likely will not be around much longer as it was food for the Porcupine this winter.

For you Jeff...They have plowed the driveway to our local golf course.  Now if we can just get rid of some snow.

Great roads with rolling hills and not one auto did I see, made for a very nice afternoon for the fixie and me.

This is one of the multiple use trails in the area.  I think the snowmobiles are done using it this season.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. ~Lao Tzu

Smile Ride

Guess who's turn it is with the EP Cycles prototype...if you guessed me, you guessed right.  This thing is amazing and I had loads of fun riding it this evening.

It was a 12.3 mile smile ride. 

With the 2 x 9 gearing, I didn't have to hike-a-bike any hills and never once got near the top gear.  The Sram XO shifters were smooth and crisp.

I rode some of everything tonight.  I had about a mile of this 2" of fluff snow on top of our now very hard crusty base...handled it well. 

This section of the ride was my favorite...the single track snowmobile trail.

Here I was riding on one of our snowmobile highways.  I didn't see anybody out on the trails tonight.   

The above photo is of my son and their dog Nitro.  Even though it is a little blurry because photography isn't my strong suit, it is good enough to see the smile on his face.  I am of the opinion that anybody that gets on this will have a smile.

From The Builder: EP Cycles Fat Tire Prototype

With great honor, I, Eric was asked to do a write up on the bike.  This is my first blog posting, so go easy on me. :)

It seems as though it has been forever since we originally discussed the fat tire build and now the dreams are finally a reality.  I finished fabrication Friday morning and quickly brought it over to the paint booth to throw some self etching primer and a nice satin red paint on it so I could start assembly right after work at 3:00.  I got about halfway thru assembly on Friday before the girlfriend started requiring more attention, so I put the tools down until the morning.  I woke up early Saturday due to an inability to stay asleep so i went to finish the build and take a quick shake down ride.  Everything seemed to go pretty well with the assembly, and with the exception of 2 things I am very pleased.  The first is the fork.  A minor/major detail was overlooked when purchasing it.  Apparently Salsa uses a REAR 135mm ss hub with a FRONT disc mount(IMHO two thumbs down). We have a FRONT 135 hub and the rotor flange is located just under 1/8" further outboard, and although it's kinda irritating, we do have a few options. 1: No front break for now(which is what I did and liked) 2: Cut the mount off and relocate it(which is what I will eventually do) 3: Switch to a Fatback fork(Which we will probably do for the future builds).  4: Switch to a rear hub for the front(which we will definitely NOT be doing).  The second issue is with the front derailleur.  It functions great but is way too big for what we need.  I'm thinking of going to a small road d that I can modify to work better.  There are many options here too.

 

I made it out for about 2 hours on Sunday and let me tell you, this thing is amazing. I couldn't help but smile and laugh the entire time.  I've been mountain biking for some 20 years and must say this thing is the most enjoyable bike I have ever ridden..... by far!

Running all 3 internals in the down tube was crazy but I think the results are exceptional.

 

 I picked up some red single speed chain ring bolts from Dennis which I think was definitely the right move.

 I really like the look of the internal housings, but I love the way the rear brake housing just lines up perfectly with the brake.  It was no accident, it was not easy, and it was way worth it!!

 The seat post clamp that I got down at the bike swap for $1 was just a bit on the big size so I appropriately made some aluminum shims for now.

I tell Ya

I am sure most have heard, "The younger generation, I tell ya."  Well, let me use today's write up to tell you about just some I know.

 The first lighting system Eric put together 2 years ago which I have put a lot miles on and still use.  This year Brandon has an improved version.  The picture above is of the DIY lighting system put together by Brandon.  These have machined aluminum housing with the weight strategically reduced. This system uses 20 watt halogen bulbs and has a battery life of 2.5 hours for each pack.  Did I mention these are blinding bright.  They work well. 

This is the handlebar version and it weights in at a shade over 10 ounces including the housing, light, switch and mount.

And this is the helmet version.  This little beauty is only 4 oz.  Also the remote battery packs are nice and light coming in at 14 oz.  The combination of the battery packs with the halogen bulbs make this a very nice lighting system.

The big tire frame is coming along nicely.  Jeremy and Chris are CNC machine specialist.  They have been helping all the way along with fixture and frame parts.  Carbon fiber fenders are also in the works and I am here to tell you, even though they cover a very big tire, they are very very light.  Jeremy has already manufactured some and they are going to be sweeeeeetttt. 

I have mentioned that Eric is the designer and welder of the big tire frame.  Here he is doing some polishing.

With in a week, the proto-type will most likely be completely built and ready to ride.

Man, this younger generation...I tell ya! !