Phone pic dump

This is Maya being me when she is in trouble.  

I really enjoyed making and eating this chicken parmigiana. 

Bone pile I rediscovered in some woods near the house while looking for early morels.

Ella and Mazy on a Louisville Swamp hike to some not super old ruins.  

The new Gran Bois tires did well on the ride around MPLS and to Artcrank.  Sadly even with a giant trailer I managed to crunch my poster.  The trail system, bodies of water and parks in the metro area are amazing.   They also appear to be used by more people than ever.  

Mazy got her baby making parts cut out.  She is mostly very proud of her collar and will actually bring it to me to put it on her at times.  Much better side vision than a cone.  

Easter was fun.

Looking for a good hossenfeffer recipe.

Saw cool stuff riding along the Red River in Fargo.  Really like riding on river banks with the Pugsley.

Took the girls to the Dead Zoo (Cabella's) on the way back from Fargo.  

Back home

Bikepacking

Been playing around with Instagram.  I like it so far.  Basically Twitter with pics and words if you want.  

Bike packing with Heath

We rode in an area north east of Detroit Lakes MN here is a link to a map of the area.   This was one of the best trips I have taken and hope to go back soon with others.  

We didn't ride far or fast but the weather was perfectly cool with great sunlight.  The Pugsley with my new gear set up really seemed to be in its element.   

We heard an ATV in the evening but otherwise we were free of all other people for the trip.  

I used two industrial strength bungees and nothing more for my tent.  So simple yet it worked perfectly.  On fast rough descents the bike and gear seemed to disappear underneath me as I floated down the trail.  

I don't like pic's of me any more than anyone else but I think this one shows my gear set up well.  Tent on the front, sleeping pad and bag in the back, cooking, clothes and tools in the frame bag, snacks and phone in the gas tank bag.  I really started to understand why the Tour Divide riders use this bag set up.  It did great with bumps while going fast and it handled bushwhacking and brush from the trail well since it is less wide than me.   My new Husker Du tires were a joy.  Rolled fast, gripped well and softened the rough stuff with all that fat bike float.   

12 new pounds of coffee roasting potential

Flight 5 1941

I have been enjoying the Minnesota history photo Link Heath provided the other day.

Date:	30-OCT-1941
Time:	02:04
Type:	Douglas DC-3A-269
Operator:	Northwest Orient Airlines
Registration:	NC21712
C/n / msn:	2124
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 14 / Occupants: 15
Other fatalities:	0
Airplane damage:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	Moorhead, MN -    United States of America
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Domestic Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:	Minneapolis, MN
Destination airport:	Fargo, ND

Narrative:
Crashed in fog due to icing. Twelve passengers and three crew were on board. The pilot Clarence Bates was the only survivor

Here is what else I could find:  The plane crashed where the Crystal sugar plant is now and the pilot Clarence Bates was found wandering 250 feet away.  He was thrown out the cockpit windscreen.   

 

Almost exactly one year later on October 28 1942 the 42 year old Clarence crashed a  B-24 Liberator he was testing for the military.  The crash happened at take off in St. Paul and he did not survive this one.  He is buried in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.  The following is written by his son from an obituary:

Clarence Bates, was a romantic, barnstorming white silk scarf and helmeted pilot in the 1920s and 30s.
He loved flying more than money. In that era the idea of greed did not enter the minds of those who were pursuing their dream. He joined Northwest Airlines as operation manager at Hector Field in Fargo in 1933. He flew the mail run to Chicago and Winnipeg in a plane with skis. Amelia Earhart was stranded at the Fargo airport and he invited her to our home for supper where she regaled our family with tales of her exploits. He was promoted to Minneapolis as co-pilot in 1934. When he became captain he was elected as chairman of the pilots union where the issue was safety, not money. His love of flying was shared by his fellow pilots along with his loyalty to the company under Croil Hunter.
My father was killed testing B-24s for the army on Oct. 31, 1942, while on his vacation from NWA. 

A nap sounds nice

Carver Fat bike with carbon fork

Image and info taken from davelees1 on the mtbr fatbike forum

Carver Ti Frame + carbon fork = 4 lbs. 10oz. for a size 19".

Carver Ti - Complete Build on BFL's = 30 lbs. 10oz.

Complete write-up and spec's can be found here: snowbikes.wordpress.com

The Iditarod Tail Invitational started on Sunday 2-26-12 at about 5:30pm MPLS time.  These are the early leaders and one of them will likely be the winner.


It is snowing a bunch meaning anything can happen.  None of the following will likely happen but a minor variation of all likely will.  A leader may get in  front of the snow storms and cruise on good trial to the finish.  The leaders may get caught in the deep new snow and then get caught by the others.  Everyone may push their bike 350 miles or camp out until spring.  Fat bikes are not snow shoes and you need a surface about as firm as it would take to walk without punching through.  The majority of the trail is much more thin than these early pics show.  If you happen to steer off of the narrow poorly defined path that has been packed by snow machines and bikes you will plummet waist deep in snow and have to crawl back out and up onto the trail to start again.  This is easy when minds and bodies are fresh and it is daytime.  They call it auguring in when you fall off the trail and find yourself laying on your side half buried in the soft edge snow.  Surprisingly hard to get out of this position.

Iditatrod Trail Invitational

Starts this weekend Feb 26 2pm Alaska time.  Some good links here to see the roster of racers, see better maps and photos of the course and learn about the rules.  I am pretty sure this will be the link when it starts to follow the race.  Basically you can just follow when people reach each checkpoint.


People I will follow in addition to whoever is in the lead include Jeff Oatey, Peter Basinger, Jeff and Peter are two of the best ever.  Louise Kobin is the female record holder to McGrath (the 350 mile race), Tim Hewitt broke the record walking to Nome (1100 miles) last year in 20 days.  Just 3 days short of the bikes, Geoff Roes foot racer (Jill Homers old boyfriend), Beat Jegerlehner foot racer (Jill Homers current boyfriend)  ooooo! imagine the tension.  Ok they are likely friends but still its an angle on the race.   





Some people walk or ski the 350/1100 miles

Lot's of snow this year is the report.  

Best coffee I have roasted in about a year.

Honduras Cup of Excellence -Finca Ovidio
With only 15 hours of rest this is already proving to be a fantastic roast.  Sadly I was keeping it for a special event since it is a cup of excellence winner and a little pricey.  Now I know I love it and it is all gone.  A special event in this case turned out to be no more other coffee to roast. 
The first crack was so quiet I was into a rolling second crack before I  figured out what was going on.  I couldn't figure out why first crack was so late and sounded just like second crack.  Looking back I actually had a pretty good roast and hit most time/temp marks as I would have wanted.  Ideally I would have pulled this roast just before second.  The beans are just a tiny bit darker on the front end of the taste in the cup than I would like.  Otherwise this roast turned out great.  I love this coffee.  
  

Tom's cupping wheel tells the tale with high numbers in all areas.  Balanced but not boring.  



For Tom's write up go here

Hike on Bluff Creek

My favorite grocery getter

Silver and Blue

Last weekend Ella, me, a bunch of locals and our Sponge Bob fishing rod competed in the Chanhassen Feb Fest fishing contest.  We didn't catch any fish but did set some deserving minnows free, ate good food, went on a sleigh ride, found out that I can throw Ella about 30 feet over the ice and enjoyed a bonfire out on the ice.  That last one weirds me out every year.

Ella using my two legged chair like a boss.

Ice seemed about 8 inches thick.  

Ella preparing to be ice tossed for a new record.

I sure love my little Ella.  

Bear?

Mazy and I followed Bluff creek into an area rarely visited by people and found lots of animal tracks.

 Deer, turkey, coyotes and raccoons were pretty easy to identify but not these.   

   

I think the big ones may be a black bear.