Great River Energy-Mesabi Trail Tour '08

On Friday Margeaux and I convoyed up to Virginia, MN to participate in the Mesabi Trail Tour.   We made our first stop at Gordy's Hi Hat in Cloquet, MN, Gordy's is by far one of my favorite places for french fries and strawberry milk shakes. After eating lunch we headed to Carlton, MN and the Jay Cooke State Park for some hiking.  While at the park we picked up a GPS and did some geocacheing, that was a new adventure for the both of us.  We found the test cache fairly quickly but the second one took us a while. After locating the cache we did some hiking along the St. Louis river. What a fantastic way to spend the afternoon. 

After leaving the park we traveled back to hiway 33 and on up to Olcott Park in Virginia. Once we arrived at the park we picked up our ride packets and dropped off the bikes.  This is the only thing I did not like about this ride, I hate not having my bike with me.  You need to drop your bike off the night beforehand and they transport it to Marble, MN where the ride begins.  After taking care of business we headed to our friend Julie's cabin in Biwabik, MN.  We chilled at the beach and went for a boat ride then drove to Julie's mom's house where we would stay for the night.

Saturday morning we were all up early and off to Olcott Park to catch a shuttle to Marble to begin our ride. The ride started at 0900 and Margeaux and I crossed the start line about 0915.  After about 10 minutes into the ride we hit our first hill, lots of people having issues.  Things flattened out after that until the first rest stop.  We made a quick stop, grabbed some snacks and on our way again.  The next stop was Hibbing, MN where we spent a little more time, lots of snacks and music.  The halfway point was Buhl where we took a nice long break.  Kayaks were available so we each took one out and paddled around for about 45 minutes, very nice, relaxing and quiet. This stop also had ice cream, mmmmmmm. We skipped the third stop and cruised on into Virginia around 1430.  We relaxed, ate lunch, listened to music and picked up our t-shirts. Afterwards we packed up our bikes headed back to the house for a quick shower then back over to the cabin to spend the evening.  

Margeaux says this was her favorite ride so far this year, I rank it in my top 3.  It certainly has a lot of beautiful scenery, lots of hills and curves to the trail.  I did not encounter any riff raff on this ride but did see one man peeing in the woods, I could have done without that, YUCK!  The open pit lakes were spectacular, the bluest water you can imagine. I plan to do this ride again next year and would love to take a road trip up there this fall to see the leaves change. 

So anyone up for some riding this fall let me know, I'm in.

Whew! Lotsa Water

I went for a super nice long ride today, started about 0930, my plan was to get started much earlier but just could not get motivated. Anyway, I grabbed the Gateway Trail off White Bear Ave and headed East to Pine Point/Hiway 55/Norell Ave, whatever you want to call it. I took that North to Square Lake Trail then headed East to May Ave. I turned Right (Northish)  on May Ave.  About 1/2 mile into it I discover May Ave is no longer paved, OOPS! I had to make a decision to turn back and find a different route or just keep going. I decided to "go for it", the road was hard packed dirt and rocks and fortunately it was not too dry so the riding was not as bad as it could have been. This would have been no problem with a hybrid or mountain bike but I was riding my road bike with skinny tires. Not much for traffic only three SUVs and one orange bobcat (the heavy equipment type not the animal variety)beautiful area, lots of trees, ponds and wildlife, well worth the dirt. After about 4 miles I hit 170th and turned Left, saw a wee little snapping turtle, that I wanted to take home with me.  

At Manning Ave I turned Right and headed North, experienced a little headwind but nothing bad. While traveling on Manning I observed one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time.  I saw a horse plop down on it's side, wiggle in the dirt, turn onto it's back, wiggle in the dirt, turn on the other side, wiggle in the dirt then get back up again.  I had to laugh out loud, it was just like my dog. 

A few miles on Manning and I came to Scandia Trail, took a Left, then a Right onto N. Shore Trail and headed North around Forest Lake.  I traveled along the Eastern and Northern part of the Lake, very nice, lots-o-money in Forest Lake. Not much of a shoulder so I had to be careful of the cars.  When I came to Hiway 61 I crossed over and headed South.  

I stopped at Big Apple Bagels for lunch, nice people and the manager gave me directions to the bike trail that runs along Hiway 61. After lunch I caught the bike trail and shortly after getting on the trail I spotted two fawns. At first I didn't think they were real, they were standing so still but as I approached them they moved, they were no more than 10 feet from me, I wanted to take them home too. 

I followed the bike trail to Hugo, turned Right on Hiway 8/Frenchman Rd and continued East till the end. I encountered lots of road construction around 35E. Hiway 8 brought me to the Lino Lakes area; I had a little trouble finding the bike trail and rode a few cul-de-sacs before locating it, that sucked! I traveled along the Rice Creek-Chain County Park bike trails not really knowing where I was and hoping it would take me to where I needed to go. I missed my sharp left turn and had to turn around and finally found Black Duck Drive. I zigged-zagged my way around to Centerville Rd and took that South to Hiway 96. Next time I think I will take Otter Lake Rd, it looks much more scenic. 

I headed East on 96 into White Bear Lake, took a wrong turn again and ended up going around the North side of the Lake instead of the South side.  What really sucks is I can't blame anyone but me, I should have been paying attention but I saw a bike path and just took it. Thank you so much to the man at the bait shop for giving me directions. I had to turn around again and catch the trail around to S. Shore Dr. A Right turn on McKnight and I was on my way home.

I had planned about a 65 mile ride but I'm sure I went beyond that with my mishaps.  You can check out this ride at map my ride. I think I'll tweak it a bit the next time I go out.

This was a really nice ride, I have to remember to bring sun screen next time, I was bakin' out there.  I discovered several more routes I want to explore. 

There's nothin' like a day on my bike.

Mesabi Wins!

The decision has been made, I'll be doing the Mesabi Trail ride with Margeaux and Julie.  Margeaux and I plan to convoy up on Friday afternoon, chill out Friday evening and do the ride Saturday morning. If all goes as planned we'll attempt our first century ride (100 miles in one day). The ride itself is 51 miles with an additional 9 miles for those who want to do a metric century but we are thinking of going for the 100 mile mark!

I have not been riding much lately, actually I've not gotten on my bike since last Wednesday when I met Rhory in StillH20. That crash I had last Tuesday really did a number on me. I'm just now starting to feel better, I can turn my head without pain in my neck and my left knee is almost healed. No more playing with a camera on my handlebars and now I need to go purchase another camera.  I was able to download the video but I cannot use the camera anymore.  I think it will be cheaper to buy a new one than try to get it fixed.  I may decide to take it apart myself to look at it.  Who knows maybe I can fix it, the Navy told me I have a mechanical mind :) but I think they were just trying to get me to sign up. 

I plan to go mountain biking with the Penn Cycle women's group tomorrow then get a nice long ride in this weekend either Friday or Saturday.  I prefer riding on Friday mornings as there's less traffic. I think I'll map something out tonight and see if I can't get someone to ride along with me. I'm also going to try to upload some video of my ride from last Tuesday.

peace, ride on...

On the Boardwalk

San Diego 2008
Kathy and I cruisin' the boardwalk on Mission Beach

Trek vs Harley Davidson

I raced my mountain bike yesterday. OK, well it wasn't exactly a race. Ya see I rode from my house to StillH2o to meet Rhory for "coffee."  I arrived in StillH2o around 5PM and discovered it was Lumberjack Days, we had no idea it was going on otherwise we would have chosen a different location to meet. Upon my arrival I dialed up Rhorstar and we arranged to meet at PD Paddy's on the river. I know, I know a funny place for coffee but one person's coffee is another person's beer. Rhory arrived shortly after I did and we enjoyed an evening of chatting and had a couple beers.

When the time came to leave Rhory straddled her Harley Hugger and I leaped upon my Trek EX8 and off we flew, well to say flew might be a little strong ;)  Rhory to Blaine and me to St. Paul.  The climb out of StillH2o as always was a challenge but once atop the hill it was smooth sailing.  

When I arrived back home I called Miss Rhory and she had just turned off the engine of her HD. I traveled about 14 miles to my house and Rhory traveled about 40 to her house, I arrived just moments before her. So in my book Trek 1 Harley 0. I don't think Rhory will feel the same but that's OK, it's my blog. 

bike cam

So my friend Kim sends me a link to a site where this guy shows you how to mount your camera to your bike.  Great I've been checking out small cameras and helmet cams so I'm excited to check this out. I've taken my camera with me and video taped while riding but I thought with the camera mounted to my bike it would be hands free!!!  Well let me tell you what happened...

First I followed the directions of the guy on the website, 2 inch bolt, rubber washers, metal washer, wingnut and one nut.  I assembled everything and attached my camera.  Off I went for a spin through the neighborhood.  I cruised to Lake Phalen, around the lake to Round Lake, then onto the Gateway Trail.  Everything seemed to be working fine except the camera was bouncing around quite a lot.  I return home downloaded my video it was pretty good but kind of boring. I then decided a shorter bolt is in order. 

I made my adjustments, shorter bolt and thicker rubber washer, skipped the wingnut and attached my camera to the bike. This time I decide to do a little off road riding.  On Tuesday head out on my mountain bike, catch the Gateway trail heading East and grabbed the dirt trail at around the 694 underpass.  I'm cruising along having a great time.  Catching lots of video, at least I thought I was.  I rode out to Pine Point and instead of heading South on hiway 55 as I had planned to do I decided it was so much fun riding in the dirt I would turn around and ride back along the same trail.  Again turning on the camera at different times throughout the ride.  What I discovered is that having a camera mounted on your handlebars leads you to be watching the camera and fiddling with it instead of paying attention to the road ahead.  And as expected when riding a mountain bike off road if you don't pay attention something unexpected will happen; like a big ass pile of gravel shows up just as you take your right hand off the handlebar to make a camera adjustment.  If you've ever ridden in gravel you know what happens next you lose traction and steering becomes difficult.  Now imagine what that means when you only have one hand on the handlebars.  You guessed it!  YOU CRASH. I took a nice spill in a pile of gravel and asphalt, OUCH! And as the cartoons say #$@W*!  Of course I could not crash when there is no one around to witness it, NO, I need to have an audience.  I hit super hard, seeing stars and everything and these two older women, I can say older because I'm old and I'm sure they were older than me are all like "are you OK?" I say "yes, absolutely, I'm fine" as I'm seeing stars and have blood running down my left leg. And you know what really sucks??? It's not on video!  Of all things, if I have to crash the least that could happen is that somehow the camera catches it, but nope, nothing on tape. I take a moment, collect myself, adjust my seat and the camera, check out my bike, get on and ride home. I get home, immediately jump in the shower and wash the gravel out of my knee, eat, have a recovery drink, and ice both of my knees. My little brother came down and put a bandaid on my boo boo.  

I would say a camera mounted to your handlebars will work while riding on a paved surface but it is way too bouncy for off road riding.  Plus if your anything like me it's distracting. So I'm back to searching for a helmet cam. I do think I will attach the camera for some road riding, I think it will be fun to travel through traffic on a busy afternoon. 

One word of advice: keep both hands inside the ride at all times :)

Real Estate Riders - MS150 ride

I want to once again thank everyone who has sponsored me. As of July 18th the Real Estate Riders have raised a smokin' $110,231.33!!! Our closest rival was Team Donaldson with $99,518.95.  Without your support we never could have reached our goal.  Thank you so much, I hope you realize what you have done and the impact it will have on the lives of thousands of people who will look to the Minnesota MS chapter for assistance this year. The chapter's programs and services would simply not be possible without donations from people like you.

MISSION OF THE REAL ESTATE RIDERS

WE ARE COMMITTED TO RAISING FUNDS TO FIND A CAUSE AND CURE FOR MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS. WE WILL RIDE INTO THE FUTURE WITHOUT THIS UNPREDICTABLE AND DEVASTATING DISEASE.

IN DOING SO WE RAISE AWARENESS OF MS, IT'S SYMPTOMS, AND HOW MANY PERSONS ARE AFFECTED BY MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS.

THIS IS WHY WE RIDE.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

peace and good night