I really need to commute more

Finally decided to take the bike in to work today. I really don't know why I don't do it more often... well, I do know why, but many times it is not for an actual good reason. We should make a new SPH challenge... whoever can commute the most miles (can't take ridiculous detours just to pad your stats) the rest of the year gets something really sweet... ready? GO!

Mission Creek

Just a little riding in Duluth...

GCSSC 2016 is set!

November 6th!

Warrington compound

About 1:30 or 2:00

Same course, unless we want to add in some city streets and the .125 mile trail up on Sand Hill.

Beef Stew, Cornbread, and whatnot for post ride dinner.

Families are encouraged to hang out and eat and play.

SPH get togethers have become less frequent, so be there or be square!

Vacations and Work Trips

Not much riding in the past couple of weeks... but life goes on!

Work trips to Idaho, and family trips up north to fish... Looking forward to racing in Duluth in a couple of weekends... maybe an SPH weekend trip someplace... maybe a WEMS race in September if I get off of my butt.

Bike shop opening up this week Friday is the big news... who will make the first purchase!?!?!?! I have some things already on order... gah!

Flying back from Idaho Falls

Can we eat it?!?!?

Last morning up north

Turkeys!

4th of July Weekend!

It's been a little while... life is crazy!

4th of July weekend brought us back up to Duluth.

Some hikes....

Congden Park - Tischer Creek hiking trails

The Lift Bridge at night

And biking! Thanks Mike for the guided tour! Sorry to need to get going early and have a deadline to be home!

Tree thinning is underway

DEER!

After the ride... Happy 4th of July!

Racing! and New Bike! And summer....

Last weekend the family piled into the Pilot and headed over to a hot race at Mt Kato. Always a fun course... and usually a bit hot... this one was hotter than most I think. They even had a second water stop up on the top of the hill...

(photo taken by tmbimages.com)

That's actually a fairly gruesome photo.... large melon head the wrong shade of red... my hairy legs looking chicken like... yikes

Anyways... it was also Graham's first ever "race" too... this was the highlight of the day probably. He was nervous at the start, but really flew around the course, winning his "little kids" heat easily!

This week also heralded me getting a new bike for the first time in about 8 years (I'm not counting my fat bike... which barely has been ridden.... gah!)

Salsa Deadwood... 29+, dropbars, weird. One ride and I think there may be some potential there... but I will need to tweak things a bit I think (thicker bar tape, slightly higher position).

Memorial Day Weekend

The weather cleared up just in time to have a couple of enjoyable days outside on a long weekend.

Saturday was a wash, but Sunday was nice, and Monday was perfect!

Sunday after breakfast I loaded up the kids onto the trailer and headed toward Colvill. Jillian wasn't happy with things at first, but we got moving and she was happy. Graham had a blast pedaling. He was about 50/50 with pedaling the correct direction, but it was fun. Let me tell you though... pedaling a fat bike (with non-good rolling tires) with a double Weehoo loaded with almost 70 pounds of kid is tough! Glad I didn't remove the gears from the fat bike! Definitely need gears to pull 110+ pounds of trailer!

Memorial Day was time for our RAMBO Mem. Day ride! Memorial on Memorial!

Lower than hoped for turnout, but it was still doing a lap with the guys and chat while eating brats and chips. After eating I headed out to see what happened if I rode more and more and more. I ended up with another 2 hours of riding and the realization that I'm in ok shape, but not really ready for 30+ miles of singletrack....

Stairway was hot!

FLAT TIRE! 32 oz. of Powerade and I was still thirsty...

Anniversary Weekend

5 years!

I took off a couple of days of work so we could get out of town. The project at work isn't going as well as hoped, so it wouldn't be anything too crazy. Just a trip up to the North Shore/Twin Ports Area without the kids to try and relax and spend some time together.

Friday started with a quick MTB ride in town. Nothing too special, just fun to not be racing to get home and help get the kids up.

2112 early in the morning

We had a little shopping to do and then got up to Duluth a little later than planned. We still got fed and relaxing in time to wake up early Saturday to head up to hike the high point of MN... Eagle Mountain!

After practically a 3 hour drive we made it to the trail head. What we thought was going to be fairly tame was actually the most rugged 7 miles of hiking that we've ever done. Nothing extreme, just not too many steps that you didn't have to pay attention to. Past rocks, roots, and moose poop we made it up to the top! The actual top is in the middle of the woods so there isn't any views... but the overlooks just before the marker were pretty amazing. 2nd high point in the books!

The map... they didn't have any hard copies, so this actually helped!

Fresh moose poop! Tons of dried stuff, but this was pretty recently dropped off.

Pristine lakeside views on one section of trail

The top in all of its underwhelming glory!

The view from the top. Just birds and the gnats buzzing in your ears...

On the way back to Duluth we stopped off at Palisade Head Park. Awesome views, but ridiculously narrow road heading up... at least it was short so it wasn't too nervewracking...

View looking north from Palisade Head

On Sunday we got up a little less early (but still early) and went past Gooseberry Falls to bike on the Gitchi-Gami State Trail. We clicked off ten miles of fairly windy and hilly bike trail!

A little more walking around the 'hood in Duluth and then over to Sis and Bro-in-law's house for some Game of Thrones action and a very active and relaxing trip was pretty much over!

I do love Duluth/the North Shore!

Duluth 1.0

Now that my in-laws have a house up in Duluth, we'll be making more trips up to visit family and just generally get away (since it'll be free outside of gas). One thing I am going to make a point to do is bring my mountain bike every possible trip up there.

So far I have hit Hawk Ridge and 1/3 of Lester only... if I'm going to use the Traverse as much as possible I'll have to build in a bit more time to my rides (especially since everything is new, so slower).

Takeaways... Different trails are fun! Red Wing's trails do stand up when taken alone... but factor in the sheer quantity of different trails and the long term Traverse and I can see why Duluth is going to be a destination for mountain bikers!

Next trip up? Either try and get all of Lester under my belt or head to Hartley

Another great SPH weekend!

Got in a little riding and got Graham out on some trails (along with some yard work, and a trip to the zoo among other things). Saturday turned out to be a pretty much perfect day to do just about anything.

Woke up Saturday morning at 5 to get in a couple of laps before a big day of mulch work, accurately assuming that we'd be working into the kids' naps so wouldn't have a great window for riding. I headed out to the garage and found my front tire mostly flat... don't actually fix it... just pump it up!

Headed up the Cowpath for the first time of the year. It went alright. I sort of want a technical but more SS friendly path around the big rock... but sort of don't want to cheapen the trail... yeah... getting off and walking isn't a problem. No ride around!

The trails were a bit damp from the morning dew, but other than getting a little dirty it was pretty much perfect. On my second lap, I noticed that my rear tire was now pretty much flat... GAH! Up the ski trail climb and out to the meadows to head back. I ended up blasting some CO2 into it and it held all the way home. I PROBABLY should actually look into it and make sure I don't have anything destroying tubes...

Love the views on the South Side of the bluff

The views on the North Side are also pretty good in places

After naps and yardwork was complete we headed back up the bluff as a whole family and Graham got to hit some singletrack. 4 loops of our personal "green loop" (with a couple of re-rides of the "hill") and he was excited but exhausted. Carly was toting Jillian in the backpack so she was a bit pooped out too... a solid day!

Carving a curve on the "hill"

"Riding" the log skinny

She's got personality

A beautiful weekend!

Carly was working so it was a "Mr. Mom" type weekend. Saturday ride plans had to be scrubbed due to lack of tried and true babysitting options... while I think Bubble Guppies could do it for a lap of the bluff I don't know that I should test those waters...

Because of the no Saturday riding, I decided to take off of work Friday afternoon. Met a couple of fellow SPHers up on the hill for what proved to be a fun and exhausting ride! 3 turned to 2 turned to myself for the last of 3 laps. The hills were definitely getting tougher on the last 1/2 of the lap! And I skipped Stairway on laps 2 and 3 along with skipping the Quarry on 2 and 3.

I did attempt a section of Southern Cross on lap 3... possibly my favorite 10 yards of trail on the whole bluff. It's not IMBA approved... it's not pretty... in fact it keeps getting worse... did I make it?

If I have a picture of it... I don't think I made it. Love the challenge of the roots! There is probably a better line but you have to just throw yourself at this wall...

Saturday Graham and Jillian hit a section of singletrack for a couple of little loops. I was walking with J in the backpack... Graham "shredding" on his balance bike... he loves it. Can't wait to see how he progresses (if he does... no pressure from my end) and picks up pedaling later this spring/summer.

You can make a fairly nice "green" loop out of most of Margaritaville... 

Graham has such a game face on... he really does say he had a lot of fun!

This Past Weekend

So far the weather has been spotty for allowing lots of biking/family time (and work has been stupid nuts).

But this weekend was pretty good and other than throwing out my back moving a boulder was pretty good.

The drive to check on roads for the 'Rok went well. Tasty new section of MMR just south of Millville was found, though to our knowledge there is no public way to get over a little stream...

Graham biked (balance version) for at least 3.5 miles yesterday... lots of gliding and a little singletrack thrown in. In a couple of weeks the trails will be open, so we'll have to try and hit some together maybe!