Pic dump

 I am really excited about gravel road riding and enjoy it a ton every time I get out.  I have developed a nice course starting at the Fleet Farm by my house.  Great climbs, quiet roads and just the right length for an evening ride.

 I have been making kale chips from my garden's kale supply.  Just rub some olive oil on and a little salt.  Bake in about a 400 degree oven for 5-15 minutes depending on how crispy you like them.

 I did 2 1/2 hours of fat bike exploring on the south side of the river at the old Bloomington Ferry bridge road.   Lots of side trails to explore.  I had Bud and Lou on and love them for slow speed exploring.  Logs hidden in thick brush are much less of a problem as these tires just roll up and over most things hidden.  Also the fat footprint makes extremely slow riding very stable.  Almost like walking in the thick brush rather than riding.

 In the middle of seemingly nowhere with no sign of vehicle access I found this thing shooting out water near this old set of stairs.  Note the large tree in the background that would have been inside the house suggesting the house has been gone for 50? years or more.

 I eventually made my way west by Blue and Fisher lake.  I have been trying to make an off road route from Sibley house by Heath's house all the way to my house in Chanhassen.  As a result this stretch of that route from just west of Savage to Shakopee has been on my to do ride list for some time.

 I found myself in some great trails back here.  These are when I was getting close to the Valley Fair Grounds.

 Sadly I will have to go up onto paved trail and highway 101 for about a mile when I go past Valley Fair and by The Landing old time pretend town thing.   At the end of my ride I talked to two other riders up on the Bloomington Ferry Bridge Road.   Josh is the author of the blog Full On and his friend who is the main man behind athletic architects.

 My dad talked me into driving his 1941 Model D tractor in a Dilworth MN parade.   I resisted fearing I would have a slow motion crash where I would not remember how to stop the tractor.  I would then slowly careen towards and squash some old parade watcher who could not get out of his lawn chair to walk to safety.

 The 45 minute 6 mph drive from the Probstfield farm to Dilworth was some good practice time.

 Troy drove this old car of Howard's with his kids in the Rumble seat.

 Ella and Maya rode in the back of the 1946 truck Howard drove in front of me.

 I think Howard has 17 tractors.

Not sure if I am the first person or not to do this or if I should be proud or ashamed but I was texting while driving a 72 year old tractor in a parade.

North Shore Trip

Trip to Duluth and North Shore with most of our time at Blue Fin Bay.   This first pic is just to remind future me to stay in cabin 69A.  We apparently got lucky and called just when the owner opened it up for the time we needed.  It is furnished nicely and is on the end so you have great views of the lake.  It is also close to the outdoor pool, Coho Cafe and the little General store.

We saw a cool moth.  Luna moth?

While leaving in my car just after a ride on some remote trails  this big wolf crossed the road right in front of me.  He then dropped his head and stared up at me through the brush for a while before running off into the woods.  This is a terrible pic of his hind quarters.   If you could see it the head is on the right.  

While driving to the Trestle Inn for lunch we also saw the biggest black bear I have ever seen.  Looked like a grizzly bear wearing a black bear costume.  It also ran away.   All the wild life we saw on the trip looked remarkably healthy for some reason.   Big in size, healthy fur and lively behavior.  

One of the hikes we did was up around Oberg Mountain.  I love the views found on that hike.  On a later day I decided to try to ride the Cross Country Ski loop next to Oberg Mountain on the  Moonlander.  It was a super fun, memorable boggy death march kind of ride.  My Cardio Trainer app says I was out for 95 minutes and covered 3.3 miles.  That is about a half hour per mile.  

This pic is a big part of my slow speed.  The trail would look normal but was liquid mud just under the surface.  Very weird especially since I was climbing much of the ride.  Kept thinking I would climb out of the wet but never did.  Lots of big moose tracks around but didn't get to see one.

More pics along the ride.

Should have used the bud and lou wheels.

Ferns are surprisingly easy to ride over.

Trestle inn is a fun drive up a little ways from the lake.  Both times we have been to it we have seen our best wild life in the area.  They are isolated enough that they have no phone so cash only.  They do however have satellite based free wifi.

Back side of Oberg Mountain.  In the pics above I tried to ride around this lake but only made it less than half way.

Lots of fog on the trip kept the temps very comfortable.

That sail boat is part of the Blue Fin Bay world of activities and is actually quite large even though it looks like a floating toy.

Whale rider revisited

I have to believe I have blogged this gif before but I love it so here it is again.   It is endomorph old yet the guy has front suspension and what looks like a big disc on front.  

In think I read that the new Moonlander has gone up to 180mm disc's in front with 160's still in the back.  That's nice to hear since I just happened to ordered a new 180mm bb7 brake and rotor and should be getting it in the mail today.  I found the brake, rotor and mounting thing for about the same price as a rotor and mounting thing alone so now I have a spare brake.  

I can't believe the whale just keeps sleeping the whole time he is riding over it.  

Another ride and other pics of things I like

The trail we tried to ride on Tuesday evening was flooded out so we decided to ride on top of the Chaska levee.    The water is high enough that what is usually forest off to the right in the top pic is now a temporary mangrove with large fish jumping for bugs in and around the trees.

The girls said they wanted to try to ride out to a hidden beach so I said "ok" thinking they would not make it more than a hundred yards or so.  They of course rode the whole way out and back.  The only time they fussed was the few times Ella rode into the back of Maya's bike.  Each time Maya had a bunch of mosquitoes eating her alive causing her to skid to a stop to "itch them."  Glad I had extra bug spray along.    

 I was a little sad to find the beach did not exist that day with the high water.  They were troopers about the bad news even after they braved bugs and plants trying to eat them during the ride to get to it.   

Maya has gotten really good at ridding off road in no time at all.  I think they could both do well along the Minnesota river in spots without too much sand.

On a side note I am pleasantly surprised to find that I cold easily get three bikes  in my car with just the front wheels off of my Moonlander and Ella's bike.

Maya wanted to show me she could hold the cat like a baby now.   Looks like she can.

We went to the open streets event last weekend.  It is fun to walk down the middle of Lyndale Ave with all the people walking and riding on their bikes.   I like bike people.  During the event we walked by Flanders bike shop.    I did not see any sign they were helping promote, participate in or sponsor this great event that happens in front of their store.   A constant stream of bikes going by the store on a sunny weekend day and they were closed.   It is too bad they suck so bad.  I really want to like that shop with its racing history in the area.   Great newer shops like One on One and Hollywood's really expose how little Flanders has to offer.

Found a great little basket at a thrift store for Maya's puppy and water bottle to ride in.  Big crash the next day crunched it.  Good thing we bought a spare.

A nice ride/smores event with Maya

Maya and I rode from from Chaska towards Shakopee last night. As we drove the 2 miles from Chanhassen
into Chaska for our ride Maya says, " Oh! I like it here! What language do they speak in Chaska."  Me, "Maya, we live right up there. They speak just like we do." Maya, "yea, but if we talk would they understand what we were saying?"

Maya is 5 and ready for a bigger bike I think.  

She was a little sad that I would not bring the turtle home with us.  

My supercat stove worked great for roasting the marshmallows.  Maya carved her own stick for roasting and did a great job.  

We rode to the old brewery ruins which was about 4 miles total.  

Oddly my right crank arm loosened and fell off on the way back.  Keeping up with Maya is harder than it looks.  

Random internet show and tell

Borealis is a new bike company and their fat bike is the  nicest looking full carbon fat bike I have seen.  Interesting collaboration of people who know fat bikes making this happen.  190 mm hub fits 100mm clown shoes with Bud and lou on a symmetrical rear end.  Fat-bike link for more info.

In other news the Tour Divide race starts next Friday 6-14-13.  Banff Canada to Mexico 2700 miles, riding unsupported mostly off road, along the continental divide.  Record is about 16 days.  

Starting at about 25 seconds into this video there are a bunch of tour divide rigs.  Nice way to see how people are packing for off road racing/touring.

A story with some Morels.

 Mazy and I spent a couple hours exploring in the big woods on Sunday.  Mazy was able to find a stinky patch of decaying muck to roll in but was unable to detect a big young buck sitting down watching us walk by.  Terrible pic I know but the deer seemed so comfortable I didn't want to get closer and make him get up from what was likely his sleep time.

Above is a pic of the woods.  About 300 yards per side.  I think I may need an App or to figure out my google maps/google earth settings better to mark with GPS the big maple trees I find but maybe not.  The dot above is from a pic of a tree I took with the location option on my phone camera turned on.  So if I want to know where a tree is I look at the pic and then hit show on map.  Seems to work but sometimes it goes to a location near by rather than the exact spot.

I really want it to work so I can come back to the 4 or so spots I found morels.  At this point I would not have a clue how to find them again.  

I tried to teach Mazy to find the morels for me but failed.  I bet with some treat rewards I could get her to be  a shrooming dog.  Or maybe she would prefer to just roll in stinky crap.  

 Great quality morels.  No cleaning necessary.  Just some salt, pepper and butter.  If it looks like a morel and has a hollow stem you can be pretty confident it is a morel and not poisonous.

So good.  I have some left that I am thinking of making a homemade morel ravioli with them but need some filler ideas to go with the morels inside the ravioli.  A cheese that is mild enough to not over power the mushroom perhaps.

 Even with my mushroom book I find that confidently identifying mushrooms other than morels is surprisingly difficult.

 Three Maples to remember.  The foreground one has a big arm torn off.  Behind it is the arm wrestler and if you could see through the trees the tree below that looks like it has a lazy arm is just a bit further.  After that is the rhinoceros looking tree (not a maple).   To get to this set go in a third of the way from the south west corner to the rhino tree or lazy arm.