An Adventure

 Got out for another day ride before hunting season starts.  The above picture is one of the creeks I had to pass through today.  I didn't use the noggin when I started through it, but it wasn't a matter of if you could ride through or not, it was could you do it with out dipping your feet it.  Ended up just getting the toes a little.

 This one was still shaded and not deep anyhow.

 I was exploring and rode several little paths.  All of the rut paths usually dead end at old logging sites.

Lunch was at the Moose Branch Flowage.  I am sitting on the little dam that creates this flowage.  I have eaten lunch here several times this summer, and today was again one of those days.

The little flowage is starting to freeze for the winter.  Not hard enough to walk on as of yet...I checked.

 This was another trail I rode.  Notice the bark on the little trees on the right side of the picture.  They are called rubs.  Around these parts, it is the male Whitetail deer that make these.  The link provided here explains it well.  It is very interesting.

As the day warmed into the lower 40's, I ended up riding a lot of mud.  I checked the Garmin and one stretch alone was about 7 miles.  It was bad...as in about 2 inches of slime.  I almost kissed the mud a few times and my heart rate was near max for most of it.  I tried to ride around as much of it as I could, but there was no avoiding a lot of it.  If I had known it was going to be as bad as it was I could have avoided the road completely, but by the time I discovered what it was like, I was committed.  And I will add, some probably think I should be committed.  But, it is things like this that make an adventure. Something that I will not soon forget, if ever. 

The ride yesterday had me out for 3 hours 51 minutes including lunch.  The bike performed flawlessly.    I didn't see as many people as I expected with it being close to the opener of deer season.  I saw about a half dozen vehicles parked.  I met a forester truck twice...same guy, and he had a smile on his face.  Then I met a logging truck.  And just before I came out of the bush, I met a pickup hauling a camper.  I could see the window rolling down before we met and I knew he wanted to chat. So we chatted.  hehehe

Lets get outdoors and have some fun!

Thanks for reading!!

Rolling the Fattie

 Tuesday had me riding the Fatbike.  I rode mostly trails like pictured above.  The temp was at 32°F when I left and read the same when I returned 2.5 hours later.  Any place the sun could get at, the sand was soft.  No access to sun equaled a nice hard surface to ride.  

 It's is not easy to see in the photo, but this was another trail I rode.  Those fat tires roll over and through a lot.  But just as with the mountain bike, it worries me when I hear brush slapping against the derailleur and chain.  Although I do have a spare hanger, I don't care to use it.

 I enjoy riding these trails.  Nobody did I see today.  2 and 1/2 hours of me.  Scary thought, isn't it.  That will change within the next couple of days with the coming of the Whitetail Deer rifle hunt.  Scores of people come to our area to try their luck in tagging a deer.  Most are good.  But as with anything, there are a few bad apples.  It is for this reason any riding I do during the hunt in our area will be done at night.

   

 I rode by several little potholes today that were covered with ice.

This was the lunch spot today.  Peanut butter and honey on whole wheat.  

Lets get outdoors and have some fun!

Thanks for reading

Riding the Night

Monday night had 6 guys riding the Lake Superior beach on fatbikes, but that's too far for me to drive on short notice for a ride, so I was not one of them.  I may join them sometime if it works out.  I did end up going out for an hour ride on my own though.  The temp was a chilly 22°F with the wind howling, pitch black out and the roads mostly covered with a dusting of snow.  Getting out and making that ride, all be it short, was fantastic.  It makes a person feel alive.  It sure beat staying indoors.  I have them to thank for this ride, because I thought they're out riding, I might as well be also.

Lets get outdoors and have some fun!!  

    

Riding the 9:ZERO:7

Even though the weather is what they called "blustery," I made it out on an inaugural ride on the new bike in the stable.  Blustery isn't bad.  It was actually nice to be out.  

I rode some rut trails as well as some sand roads.  After I loaded up the pictures, I realized I snapped no pictures of the sand roads.  To me, the sand roads are especially interesting in the morning.  The tracks from the previous night and early morning activity show easily. I am of the opinion that there is a lot more going on than most people realize, and seeing the tracks is only a fraction of it. The trail cams we have out give proof to that. 

The bars on this ride are 750mm wide, wide.  This is also the first time I have used Ergon grips.  This setup feels great.

 More trail. 

 I had decided on the centered 170mm 9:ZERO:7 because I still have another fatbike in the works that will also be centered.  The frame, wheels and some of the other components came from Penn Cycle & Fitness in Blaine, MN.  They were the closest dealer of the 9:ZERO:7 to me, so that is where I went.  I did most of the planning over the phone with Brian.  He was great to deal with and would recommend him to anyone that is interested.  His input was great, he returned my calls promptly and also called with the progress of where parts were in the order process.  This one I built up with a 3 x 10 drive train with 82mm rims.  It still has room and with some minor modifications can also run the really fat 100mm rims. I am no wrench, but Steve at Penn Cycle is, and he too is great to deal with.  I had all the tools with the exception of a fork cutting guide, so I had them cut the fork, install the headset, and build the wheels.  Well, I guess my previous post shows that.  I have a few minor details to work on yet, but I am happy with how it turned out. 

I want to give a shout out to Trevor from the Purple Traveller blog.  He has 10,285.49 miles so far this year.  That is a big number. He is a great guy with a great blog.  Click on this paragraph to go to his blog.  Congratulations to Trevor!!

Lets get outdoors and have some fun!

PS...As always, thanks for reading and your comments.  :-) :-)

Taking it's First Breath

Quick post.  A couple people had requested pictures.  No turning back now!! I am waiting on the custom EP Cycles frame, so in the mean time I am building this up.  I had originally thought it would take a couple months at the least, but I have what I think is everything on order but brake cables. I didn't go top shelf, but I think it will be nice.  

It is very lightly clamped just to get the pictures...seat post on order.  I have 3 posts, but none the right size and I didn't feel like looking for shims.  I am thinking it's going to be great fun!!

Lets get outdoors and have some fun!

Halloween Ride

 It's Halloween.  I went out for a ride dressed as a cyclist this afternoon.  Around here, I know of some people that would consider that a costume.  I have heard my share of the leotard, spandex and clown clothes comments.  It concerns me when I hear them...not!!  Not many cyclist in my neck of the woods, so to give those people some validity, I am in the process of building up a fat bike.  Tomorrow I make the trek to see Brian at Penn Cycle in Blaine, MN. I will pick up some of the key parts to start the build. He has been very helpful in answering my questions and helping me out. It will be a 9:ZERO:7 in orange.  Pictures of parts will be on shortly. I am still holding on to hope to get the EP cycles frame. 

    

I found this on the road.  A trappers trap.  I recognized the name on it, so I made the ride a little longer and dropped it off at his house.  All in all a good ride.

Lets get outdoors and have some fun!!

Autumn on the North Country Trail

Autumn Hike On The North Country Trail

 Yesterday I hiked a portion of the North Country Trail (NCT).  The trail when completed will stretch 4600 miles from North Dakota to New York.  We are fortunate enough to live within a couple of miles of this gem. I started here at the Gordon Dam.  

 I started a little late in the afternoon because at the stage I am at in my life, I sometimes like talking to people.  I can't explain it because in the past, and still today at times, I avoided conversation.  But I digress.  I bumped into a guy at the parking lot at the Gordon Dam, never met the guy before, but that took 45 minutes.   hehe   I enjoyed every minute of it!

 The hike yesterday had me carrying my REI Double Shot belt with two water bottles, a bottle of Gatorade, 2 of CADs secret recipe energy balls, a container of peaches, light jacket, hat, camera, my multitool and bear spray.  

 A lot of the leaves are now gone in our area.

 It is time for the Tamarack tree to shine.  It's funny because I hate to see fall come, but it seems the Tamarack makes it worth it.  If we are lucky, CAD will tell his Tamarack story in the comment section.  Say, maybe one of these beauties will work for "TARATS"

 The above picture is one of the many board walks on the section I hiked.  They put the boardwalks in to avoid damage to the wetlands.  The longest boardwalk on this hike was about 270 feet, although I probably crossed a couple dozen of them.  The section of trail called the Brule Bog has 3500 ft of boardwalk on a 2.3 mile section of trail.  Pretty cool stuff.

  

 Here they have hauled in material to build more boardwalk.

 A bridge on the trail crosses very near this beaver dam.  This picture was not zoomed on my $100 cheapo camera.

 I wasn't going to include this picture as it didn't show what I intended very well, but I added it anyhow.  The path it shows is not the NCT, but a beaver trail leading to the waterway just above the dam.  They have been busy!

 The trail is marked periodically with these blue rectangles.

 A few posts back, I mentioned the Bird Sanctuary.  The trail runs through this area also.

 The above picture is as I was coming up to Rovers Lake.

 The trail has camping areas along the way.  This is the Rovers Lake camp area located within the Bird Sanctuary. This lake was loaded with waterfall on this day.

 At each of the camping areas/rest stops there is an ammo box mounted on a post with a log, trail maps and etc. I stopped and logged in with the date, weather conditions, trail conditions, unique sightings  and how far my journey was taking me this day.

The hike had me covering 8 miles on this great fall afternoon.  Although, I ended up trail running the last .75 mile because getting back to the beginning of the post, I spent time making a new acquaintance rather than hiking.  This was a one way hike with a ride waiting on the final, so I didn't want to miss that...although she would have not complained if I were a little late.

Lets get outdoors and have some fun!!

Thanks for visiting!

PS...for those that do not know, highlighted areas are links and click pics for big.

Look Ma...No Cars

 The leaves are starting to fall in our area.  Giving it up and giving back, they are...mulch, one might say.

 I decided to ride some back trails and roads today.  It was a good choice.

This is, or was, a whitetail deer hunting stand.  One sits behind a pile of sticks and brush hoping to harvest a whitetail.  It was a good spot back in the day, but is getting grown up around there now.  

 I noticed a bear hunter had driven some of the roads this morning looking for tracks.  I also rode by a couple of their bait stations.

 I suffered through some sand and loose gravel.  If one keeps their speed up and slides their butt off the back of the seat, you can ride a lot of it.  This is where the big fat tire bike would come in handy.  When I do score the fat bike, I plan on riding it year around, not just winter.  I am in what one would call a quandary when it comes to that fat bike.

 Some sand   and   some gravel

 Some hard pack.

 I stopped to grab a picture of this tree for the smackdown (linky)...but it's not worthy of such an honor.

  We had a widespread wind storm on July 1, 2011.  This trail had some of the damage. Now I will readily admit I m not the best at bunny hopping...but.  

 I had probably close to a 1/2 mile of downed trees to get around. 

 These bigger trees where the easy ones to get over and around.  Some of the others were really a pain.  A lot of brush and briers. It stung pretty good when I got in the shower after.

   

 A newly dozed road to explore.  They are always fun!!

The ride today had me riding 26.5 miles of town roads, rut roads and some trails. Oh, and a little on a county highway.  In that 26.5 miles, 2 hours 39 minutes of ride time, I saw a total ZERO cars, trucks. atv's or whatever.  It was just me and the bike.  Now granted I was in some remote area...at one point over 6 miles to the nearest house...but still.  That is pretty amazing I think.  It was good to get out while the weather is still nice. The above picture was the lunch spot today...another peanut butter and honey on multi-grain. hhhmmm.

Lets get outdoors and have some fun!!

Thanks for reading,

RL