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.