Weekend Ride

Janice and I rode the road tandem down to the family cabin this past Saturday. The route we ended up riding was about 35 miles. It was a little windy with the temp in the low 70's. The tandem seem to handle the wind well, but when the wind was across us, we knew it. You have to be a little careful. We seemed to move quite well head on into the wind tho. A rest stop at the Namekagon river

Another at the Island Lake boat landing.

These signs at our boat landings. They are reminders to remove weeds and ect. from the boats.

More Fun

Janice and I rode the Burley tandem on the Munger and the Alex L?? trail this afternoon. We got in 43+ miles at a good pace. We did not stop and take many pictures, although there were many opportunities, we just kept cruising. Rest area on the Munger

Fun Ride

Looking Forward

After I have served my time tomorrow, Janice and I are going to ride the Munger trail, probably starting in Duluth. Hopefully we will get some miles in...that's the plan.

Weekend Bicycling

We did not do near as much bicycling as we intended on this long weekend. We started the weekend Friday with a short mountain bike ride at the Wildcat trails in Spooner. Then on Saturday morning we took the Tosa tandem for a ride from the cabin Saturday, but we only did 17 miles. We were shooting for more but had some mechanical issues...have that taken care of I hope. On Sunday we headed over to Hayward, stopped in at New Moon Ski and Bike Shop and can say I was impressed with the service there. It was Chris Young we talked with while we were there...very helpful and knowledgeable. We will go back, for sure. After the bike shop, it was on to the Hatchery Creek mountain bike trails for Janice and I. We wanted to get a long ride in this weekend, but it just didn't work out. Hopefully we get some in the next week or so.

Black *Bear* Ride

Janice and I rode the Burley Tosa on the Black Bear Route this evening and what did we see...a Black Bear. We watched it walk on to the road as we crested hill. We stopped and watched as it walked up the road towards us. These pictures are not cropped and super zoomed in, so as you can see it got close. This is the 4th bear we have saw this year while biking. It was about 70 degrees with a strong SW wind...almost 32 mile ride. I need to work on getting the big rings to shift better. Walking towards us
Decided to head in the woods

A good sized bear

Windy and Hot

The wind in ones face makes one wise...........George Herbert

Sunday Biking

This past week has been crazy busy and will continue for another month. We were in Eau Claire this past weekend as Saturday was graduation day and Sunday was bike day. We started out at Lowes Creek doing the single track trails. It was 2 hours and 20 minutes of doing the skinny. I then checked out the skills park they are building. In the afternoon we headed over to Carson Park and parked the truck...because that is what you do at a park...you park. Last week we purchased a used Burley Tosa. It is of the 2002 road tandem family. We rode the new used Tosa on the Chippewa River trail to Durand and back...over 50 miles. Between the two rides, it was over a metric century. I cannot put into words how nice it is to spend most of the day on the bike...just the two of us. Lilacs in bloom
Our first rest stop in Caryville

Another rest area overlooking the Chippewa River

Checking out the skills park.

Janice riding the skinny.

Riding the Onion trail at Lowes Creek

Some nice burms on the Onion.

And...finishing out the Onion riding down the rock face.

Congratulations

Our CONGRATULATIONS to our niece, Sarah, who graduated from UW-Eau Claire on Saturday.

She had University Honors, Summa Cum Laude and was also the outstanding Senior of 2009. We are very proud of her...and not only because of school...She is very nice.

Snakes and Bears

Janice had a follow up doctor appointment today regarding her knee. The doc says the knee has made good improvement and to keep doing what she was. So...after we got home we went for a ride down some fire roads. Goooood time, those fire roads. Tonight on our ride, we saw two snakes and two black bears...in different spots. I got a pic of the first bear we saw, but the second one was on the South Crotty road...fire road...and he was movin. That one crossed the road about 50 yards in front of us. Then as we sat down for supper, a big bear came walking up the driveway. I thought for sure we would get a nice picture, but when I slid the door open he spooked and bolted to north thru the woods. So we seen 3 bears tonight. We also saw a few deer. We logged 2 hours 40 minutes of saddle time with the temp at 75 and with a strong southwest wind. From the Buttercup family, these are Marsh Marigold.
I don't know...we may have called this a blow snake

Anybody know???Let the rest of us know.

The first of three Black Bear we seen tonight.

A green snake sunning

We also saw some dandelions, took a pic...but loaded the wrong pic...so back to the Marsh

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

Happy Mothers Day to my mother.

Love you Mom.

And a pic of Mom and Dad at Loveland Pass, Co.

Tandem ride

It was very warm and also very windy and that adds up to an excellent ride. Janice and I rode the Black Bear ride this evening on the tandem. We started out against very strong winds...radio said gusts up to 35mph...and finished up with it helping, although it had let up a little as it was nearing dark. We tried out the clipped pedals I had put on last night. We thought they were an improvement from the standard platforms...but we will be going clipless for sure. About 32 glorious miles...yeah!!!

Maintenance

I had a night of maintenance tonight. I didn't get thru all of them, but got some stuff done that i wanted. I wanted to get a bicycle set up that my Dad could ride if he so desired. I only have one that we could get to fit him, so I worked getting that ready...changed tires, lubed cables, chain, adjusted brakes, lowered handlebars and seat. Should be good to go if he decides to use it. Also went thru the Anthem mountain bike and changed pedals on the tandem. Things I wanted to get done...but no ride tonight.

Test ride

Well...I think the decision has been made for the MS ride this year. It has been up in the air whether we would ride the tandem or each ride separate bikes. We rode 20.5 miles last night...Janice on her hybrid and me on the fixie...we will be riding the tandem. The tandem we have is a mountain type with 26" tires and heavy. I am going to put on some new higher pressure tires and two sets of clipless pedals. Janice has never used clipless and I think learning on the tandem with someone that is used to them may be a good thing. All and all...another great ride in the books.

Whip-poor-wills are back

Hearing the first Whip-poor-will of the season as I am typing this.

Friday, we went to our family cabin. Although it isn't far from where we live, it is nice to get down there. Our family has roots there that goes back many, many and many years. My grandfather... my mothers father...was born on the same piece of property that the cabin sets on, in 1902. The lake we are on was used for storing logs during the logging days. My grandfather's parents had a farm and general store during that time. You would never know that at one time it was a bustling area, as it is out in the middle of nowhere. I won't go into that now, as I could write a lot about that...and for that matter, also my Dads family history. Maybe someday.

We made a nice tandem ride this morning. It ended up to be 37 miles, of what in my opinion, is some of the best riding there is...low traffic, mostly smooth blacktop roads that twist and turn between lakes and streams. The cabin area is a great place to ride. Someday I would like to organize a ride, and maybe a picnic after, in that area. My dads family is also from the same area. They go way back in this area also...I mean way back. One of their swimming hole's when they were children, was about 50 feet from this sign.

We had a snack here at the McDowell Landing. On a side note, I sure like the Selle An-Atomica saddles. The one I am using here is one of the latest that we purchased and after a short break in period, today it was perfect.

Namekagon River