A little bit of high desert country

Over the past few months it has been tough finding the motivation get outside. For me, that can cause some serious issues when heading in to the dark and cold December through February that plagues the mid-west. A few weeks ago my thought was that a week of hikes, rides and runs in some warm weather would help me reset, or at least ease me back in to a training regimen for the spring gravels classics that I'll soon be registering for. So, sort of out of nowhere a flight to Albuquerque was booked, and I was shortly on my way to the southwest to visit family for Thanksgiving. Although it was sunny most of the week, the weather was unusually cold for this early in the season. Even though I was expecting warmer weather than Wisco, it was probably foolish of me to pack several pairs of shorts.  The sunny, windy and brisk weather was still a nice break from the freezing rain/sleet that was coming down for several days prior to my departure.

The first full day out there my bro and I rode about 40 on the bike paths that run throughout the city. It was a nice and easy ride and helped loosen up my legs a little after having been slacking for a while. I failed to take any good pictures on this ride...so I'll just start with introducing my bro's dogs, Roja (left) and Chica (right). They would accompany us on the rides and hikes for the rest of the week.

On Thanksgiving day we did roughly a 4 hour hike in the Sandias. My bro knew of a trail less traveled that ends up underneath the tram cables and provides many scenic views. Unfortunately I didn't take too many pics this day either...but here's one looking up at the tram (the little white spec in the sky).

The day after Thanksgiving we threw the mountain bikes in the car and headed out to the White Mesa Bike Trails, roughly one hour north of Albuquerque near the Ojito Wilderness. This is where I took the bulk of my pictures, or at least the decent ones...

As you can see it was quite rocky, but the gypsum that forms the mesa is pretty brittle. Many rocks that couldn't be avoided would simply shatter beneath the tires upon impact.

It was a little chilly, but not a cloud in the sky.

I still can't believe how fit these dogs are. It didn't matter how fast you could possibly ride or how hard you could push them...they simply had insurmountable energy and would eventually catch you.

The Dragon's Back trail. You can see the ridge down the center of the picture that the trails follows...beautiful trail/views!

It was pretty neat to ride some different singletrack trails other than what I'm used to. Rocky, but at least you aren't constantly worried about being ejected off the bike in to a tree, as is common at Levis or in the Chequamegon. Being ejected off a cliff however - still a concern!

Over the weekend we decided head down to the Ladron Mountains roughly one hour south of Albuquerque for an overnighter. We built a "legendary" rock pit/ring for a fire as is the custom on my camping trips in New Mexico. Enjoying some whiskey, cigars, a few growlers filled with local brew pub beer, delicious leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner cooked on the skillet, and spending time with family around the fire more or less completes the trip.

The following morning I only managed to take one picture (above) at the beginning of the hike before my phone died. This was essentially my view through the tent window in the morning. Considering this was now my golden birthday...I couldn't have asked for anything better!

On the last day of my stay, I was actually feeling a little lazy and wasn't sure about lining up another hike or ride for the day. I suggested to my sister that we do something touristy. She in turn suggested we do the Eye of Sandia hike...possibly the most touristy hike you can find in the foothills. Works for me!

A little snow flurries and decent winds gusts blew in mid-hike. As soon as we were tucked around the canyon near the painting the sun came out for a bit, and made for a nice day.

"Urban legend has it that the eye represents the mountain crying over the encroachment of the city. Nobody knows who is responsible for the original painting or the recent new coat of paint, but half the fun is the hike anyway." -- http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/26952

We had to hike out soon as we were running out of daylight. The brief moment I had snapping pics of the eye actually felt like more of a reflection on my own sadness that it was already my last day in New Mexico...what a great trip! Heading back to the frigid mid-west...but there's no doubt that I'll use the week of fresh air to pull though the rough winter. Cheers!

Blue Hills Felsenmeer State Natural Area Part 2

Click HERE for the more brief Part 1 from back in May.


I finally made it back out to the Felsenmeer again, and I have also found some time to put together another blog post. For part 2, I promised I'd include some more details on where it is located, how to find it, and some geological info with links to research projects on the area...here goes.

Parking roughly 2.5 miles south of the Blue Hills Inn on Rusk County Hwy. W seems to be a pretty simple way to get there. I whipped together a Gmap Pedometer route to indicate which logging road I follow. There are 2 or 3 forks that shoot off from this trail going south, but taking a right at each will keep you moving west toward the Felsenmeer. Today I noticed a cairn on the last fork where a right is needed. At the cairn, there is a relatively steep, rocky hill that you must go up. Continue roughly another 300 yards and keep an eye out for a yellow No Motorized Vehicles sign on the left side of the trail. If the water is high enough (this year we have received substantial rain), you will cross a creek about 150 yards after the cairn, or roughly half the distance to the sign. Once you're at the yellow sign, hike another 100 yards in the woods directly behind this sign and you're sure to find it! Follow the rocks!


http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4068448

Parking at the trail head roughly 2.5 miles south of the Blue Hills Inn (as seen on the GMAP above) has been the only way I have traveled to it. I am told that an entrance from the North is also possible...and I believe that the trail I chose simply continues and/or is the same trail as the North entrance. I may try this way another time...

Anyway, I guess at some point there were debates on whether or not this area being called a "Felsenmeer" was in fact a true Felsenmeer. For a little background, here's an excerpt from Wikipedia on what an actual Felsenmeer is...


--The term felsenmeer comes from the German meaning 'sea of rock'. In a felsenmeer (also known as a block field), freeze-thaw weathering has broken up the top layer of the rock, covering the underlying rock formation with jagged, angular bolders. Freeze-thaw weathering occurs as water that is trapped along microcracks in rock expands and contracts due to fluctuations in temperature above and below the freezing point. Felsenmeers are formed in situ, meaning that they are not transported during or after their creation.--

Some geology students from UW-Eau Claire did a research project on this area a few years ago. As stated in their report, they discovered that this is actually a talus slope, and the term Felsenmeer is incorrect...although the Wisconsin DNR still labels it as such. In order for it to be a Felsenmeer, the rocks would have been shattered by freeze and thaw in their current location, and could not be transported from somewhere else. The rocks that you now see were likely shattered on the hillside north and south of the canyon, and as the glacier's runoff carved out a channel the rocks fell to their current location. The rocks remaining on the hillside adjacent to the canyon may still be a true Felsenmeer.

The center of the canyon seems to maintain a fairly cool temperature throughout the entire year. I suspect that that the steep grade prevents the southern rocks from getting any sun. When I traveled there in April it was an 80 degree day and March was an abnormally warm month. Some snow remained in the valley weeks after almost all the snow in northern Wisconsin had melted. I'm not a botanist, nor was the person who informed me of this...but I was told that the fairly constant temperature of the rocks allows for the growth of very rare lichens and other plants not native to this area. Many of these species must be found much further north of here. I wish I had some more info on this. With that said, there certainly is some unique looking vegetation nearby, and the lichens provide the rocks with their strange blueish hue. Without these lichens present, the quartzite rocks would appear much more red or orange.

Honestly, I'm no expert on any of this really. Overall it was simply another enjoyable hike/bike out in the Blue Hills. With an abundance of farms, lakes, rolling hills, woods etc. around here, northern Wisconsin is nothing shy of beautiful...but if you're up for a little change of scenery, this is worth checking out.  Other than that, I don't have much...

The photos are courtesy of Troy Lynch...with a little cheesy doctoring on my part. Also, as promised here are a few links for more info...

http://www.uwec.edu/geology/pdfs/felsenmeer.pdf
http://dnr.wi.gov/Org/land/er/sna/index.asp?SNA=74
http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2007SC/finalprogram/abstract_119778.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?

29ers - Go Anywhere and Everywhere

I snatched up my bro's Soma Juice 29er yesterday from my parents' place...I was antsy for a solid afternoon of riding some Blue Hills gravel and ATV trails. Since the 29er is such a versatile bike, along the ride I decided to explore a few dead end roads and ATV trails that shot off from some of the main drags. I had some success...

I found a neat creek crossing on what I think is a 6 or 7 mile rarely used two-track loop...which might also connect to some other trails and gravel roads I've ridden. I was limited on time so I couldn't explore the terrain as deep as I wanted, but it seems promising...so possibly another day. For now, back to the roadie - which has just been converted from downtube shifters to STI. It has been out for a short test ride, but a nice fall colors hundo is due. The leaves are falling already...

First WEMS Race - The Levis/Trow

Well, we can basically scratch all that hoopla in my last post about not racing for a while. Last weekend, my brother Derek roped me in to doing an endurance mountain bike race near Merrillan and Columbia Wisconsin on the Levis/Trow trail system. This course was the toughest/nicest single-track riding I've ever been on. There were plenty of granny hill climbs, abundant roots, rocky technical uphills and downhills, flat/fast windy sections, boardwalks, and a few newer sandy sections of trail. The scenery was beautiful...I wish I had my camera. You skirt along rocky bluffs that provide you with views from several hundred feet above your starting point. It was a classy, well maintained trial that I'll visit again, but next time with a camera! Click here for an article on the trails.

Going in to this race I had mixed emotions on my abilities. On the one hand, I hadn't ridden any single-track since a trek up to Hayward last summer. On the other hand, I have been basically resting since the middle of May. I was so antsy to do something brutal that my drive to get totally worked outweighed my lack of experience riding single-track. Derek was planning to do the 50 miler, so I entered the same.

The start of the race was a typical Le Mans style start. There was a bike staging area, where all bikes were laid on the ground roughly 50 yards away from the actual start. When the bell rang, everyone sprinted to their bikes and off we went. I thought we'd be shooting for 4 loops on a 12.5 mile course to achieve the 50 miles, but just before we started we learned that the the loops were in fact 16 miles long...so now what? Just ride 2 or 3 in my semi-wounded state? We'll see...

My plan was to chase Derek for a while and see if I could hang with and/or drop him...haha, but on the first hill - PING! - my chain snapped! I have the oldest/crappiest multi-tool in northern Wisconsin, so I killed 30 to 45 minutes on my first lap trying to fix my chain. I really needed 3-4 hands to do this well...I ended up pressing my knee against the rear derailleur to ease the tension on the chain to press the pin back through the eyelet. This is really only a temporary fix anyway. Hopefully it would get me though the first loop - when a chain busts it's basically shot. Note to self: Always carry a few extra master links in the saddle bag... About 2 miles down the trail it happened again, killing more time and losing another link. Being a rookie, I'm sure I made the mistake of shifting while pedaling...oops. I was probably more focused on choosing good lines and keeping Derek in sight than shifting properly...but when racing, you have to keep it all in order! The chain was then short enough where I had lost my granny gear. Oddly though, if I accidentally shifted to the granny, it would allow me shift to it, but the chain and derailleur would then be maxed out and there wasn't enough slack to shift back down when needed. Now, each time I accidentally shifted in to that gear I would have to stop, pop the wheel out, move the chain back down to a smaller cog and start again. I felt like I was spending more time with mechanicals than actually riding. Bummer...

I kept cruising along anyway. I finished my first lap, slammed a Pepsi and some electrolyte pills and wondered where Derek was at on his 2nd lap and whether or not he'd be going out for a 3rd. My bike worked (mostly), so I went out for another lap...why not? This one was much quicker. I ended up getting lapped by the front 2 or 3 elite guys, so I was having fun chasing them for a while. I would get passed, then chase that guy - usually hanging right on his wheel for several miles...they might disappear but along would come the next guy...etc. etc. I think I got dropped once or twice, but mostly I kept shifting in to that stupid granny gear. I think I basically cut my time in half on the 2nd lap versus the 1st lap. It was fun! I am confident that I would have had a reasonable time without the mechanical issues. After the 2nd lap my brother Derek and his buddy Chris Hammer (yep, his last name is Hammer) were hanging out at the cooler. 32 miles on this tough course was plenty for the day! Here's sample of what the riding was like....



My body hurt for a few days...my rib and shoulder especially. I think I may have jumped the gun on this one. The awesome thing is...my legs actually feel OK - they were well rested and had the strength to muscle through all of the hill climbs. I really enjoyed the steep hills that force you in to the anaerobic gasps. Did I just say that? Simple road riding around here just can't match that, but I can see how the two can compliment each other. Explosive hill climbing power can be developed very quickly when mountain biking, while aerobic endurance on the road bike is also tough to match. At the moment, I don't have a ton of core strength, and I'm not accustomed to the amount of beating the upper body takes when mountain biking. I was always looking forward to the long flat sections of trail where you could really open up and roll the big gears. Not riding single track for a year, then randomly deciding to ride over 30 miles of it may not have been the smartest/easiest thing...but oh well! It's not really supposed to easy...

Overall, I had a lot of fun! I got to test out the Salsa El Mariachi on some of the best riding around. Those 29ers make the old 26 rigid that I'm used to riding seem like a little kid's BMX bike. That Salsa is a dirt eater! I would like to ride some more single-track here in the near future, but in my condition I should probably stick to gravel grindin'. That's it for now...cheers!

Back on the bike!

I know that it's July, but something got me thinking about this picture I took back in January on Wagner road. (secretly I just think it's a good picture and I want to show it off a little more...hehe) I have been off the bike for the past month and a half, so I have had plenty of time to think about what type of riding I have done, would like to do and/or will do. I don't think I'm longing for another cold winter, but riding the Blue Hills' sledneck trails in January/February was some of the most spectacular riding I have ever done. From cakewalk pavement flats early last summer, to ATV trail and single-track, to winter snow riding, early spring fixie riding, late spring gravel grinders and back...I'll say I've had the most solid year of riding in my life. It's pretty awesome to ride year-round and see the full spectrum of seasons outdoors...seeing/noticing slight changes from day to day in leaf colors, snow melt, budding of trees, etc. really makes me feel sort of in tune or, kind of like I actually know what's going on in the world...but we all know that's just ridiculous. So anyway, I have neglected to post anything since my crash, but I'll give you a recap of how things are coming along, and probably some additional ramblings...

While recovering from the crash, I was able to squeeze in a few rides here and there on the Lemond (fixed - mostly short rides on the flats just outside of town), the Salsa El Mariachi (29er - simple trails in and around town with a few less active friends/riders), and maybe 2? rides on the Waterford (9-speed STI roadie - cheater bike rides where you seemingly coast everywhere). Finally, this week is the first week where I actually feel comfortable getting a little aggressive on the bike...the shoulder is CERTAINLY not completely healed, but it will do for now...I can sit on the couch no more!

So, I rode my first Turtleback Tuesday group ride last week and met a few excellent riders. I hadn't been on the bike for over a week - I had to work out plenty of kinks - but it was a good 35 mile ride at just under a 22mph average. I took my turn with a few pulls and spent plenty of time socializing as well. They seem like a great group of guys - good camaraderie and a collective enthusiasm for bringing new riders out on Tuesdays, regardless of skill level. I'm really looking forward to getting to know some people in the area interested in the sport. I have yet to determine if any would enjoy accompanying me on some weekend Blue Hills gravel grinders, which seems to be my preference for the time being, but if not, any riding will do!

Even though I was so fired up for an active season of racing, I think I might be throwing in the towel for the time being...I don't have the guts to get racing again just yet. A few more rides could honestly sway that in either direction...we'll see. Actually though, not doing any races for a while might be OK for a number of reasons. I'm still a little concerned with what another crash could do to my shoulder...I would hate to delay the recovery several more weeks/months. Mainly though, I'm really starting to get the itch to do some bikepacking...and I'm also considering stepping it up a notch when it comes to commuting. I think I would truly enjoy doing a handful of 2-3 day bikepacking trips around northern Wisconsin this fall, while learning the ropes of surviving on a bicycle. This is a must if I'm considering races like next year's Trans-Wisconsin, the Trans-Iowa, or maybe one day even something like the Tour Divide. I have little to no experience in multi-day biking excursions...but that could quickly change. I have always enjoyed backpacking, and clearly I have an interest in cycling...what better way to fill an insatiable appetite for the outdoors than to combine the two?!!! This way, I could prepare (actually prepare and correctly prepare) for the Tuscobia this coming winter. I probably won't find a better time in my life than the next 6 months to challenge myself on the bicycle in this particular way...so this could be, as they say, EPIC! I'm really looking forward to a life on the bicycle. These are the gears I'm currently turning...I hope to keep you posted on these happenings...

On another side note...here's a short film by Chris Skogen (MC extraordinaire of the Almanzo 100) about gravel road racing and putting on these types of events. Many props to Chris for hosting such an awesome race!


From the Ground Up from Chris Skogen on Vimeo.

Bikeleague.org Blog » How Does Your State Rank in Bicycle Friendliness?

I am impressed that Wisconsin and Minnesota came in at 2nd and 4th respectively. We do have some great roads!

"The BFS rankings are based on a 95-item questionnaire that evaluates a state’s commitment to bicycling and covers six key areas: legislation, policies and programs, infrastructure, education and encouragement, evaluation and planning, and enforcement."

Bikeleague.org Blog » Blog Archive » How Does Your State Rank in Bicycle Friendliness?

Here's the entire state ranked list:

http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/bicyclefriendlyamerica/pdfs/bfs_ranking_awards2010.pdf

...and a breakdown of how the states fared in each evaluation category:

http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/bicyclefriendlyamerica/pdfs/bfs_ranking_2010.pdf

NCC-HAC Gravel Metric Invitational

Although this ride takes place tomorrow and it's too late to be of any benefit, I still wanted to share this video. I think it's awesome!

Blue Hills Felsenmeer State Natural Area - Part 1

I have been meaning to put together a decent post about this but I was hoping to take another hike out there, as well as do some more reading prior to writing up the full report. I will try to squeeze it in this weekend. In part 2 I will include more pictures and details of where it is located, how to find it, and some geological info with links to research projects on the area. For now, here are a few pictures from when I visited the area this spring. Although they've been doctored up quite a bit, I will say that so far I'm impressed with my phone's camera!

It was an 80 degree day on April 1st. We had an interesting spell of warm weather throughout the month of March, nearly reaching record high temps on several days. I hadn't seen snow on the ground elsewhere for over 3 weeks, but the bottom of the valley was a nice and cool temp - some snow still remained in the bottom.

Above is a view from the west end of the valley - I'm sitting on the ridge seen in the photo below. I would guess that the rocks on the south side and center aren't exposed to sun until mid-April or May - possibly later. They were noticeably cooler than the rocks on the north side. Also notice the abundance of lichens growing on the southern rocks - to me this indicates that they probably maintain a fairly constant cool temperature throughout the summer.

Stay tuned for more info in Part 2. Cheers!

Almanzo 100 - May 15, 2010

As usual, I have some serious catching up to do on this blog...still working on that whole procrastination thing. ;) I'll do my best to give a recap of the Almanzo. First off, here's a GMAP of the course: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3758875. I believe it was roughly 6500 ft of climbing.

I was extremely pumped about this race for a number of reasons. First, most of my older siblings grew up in the Rochester area. As a bike racer, my oldest brother Bryan had covered quite of bit of ground in southern Minnesota doing races of his own. From what I can remember, my brother Derek also had done some racing around the Rochester area, completing a century at a pretty young age. Although this year's race was moved from Rochester to Spring Valley, I was still excited to do some serious riding/racing near the old stomping grounds. Secondly, this was the first race I'd be participating in since the dreaded Tuscobia...where I failed miserably due to poor trail conditions and a lack of the proper snow bike to get the job done. Thirdly, since January I have been riding like hell, spending a good 10-15 hours per week in the saddle. By race day I had completed several 100 mile rides, with a bulk of the miles consisting of the loose Blue Hills gravel. I also spent the 2 weeks prior to the race chomping plenty of food, thoroughly hydrating, and properly tapering down on the riding time to build up the reserves needed to hammer the entire 100 miles of river valley gravel. I was ready!

Race day rolls around, and it was pretty neat to see 400 plus bikers geared up ready to eat some gravel. Lining up early, and near the front of the pack, my plan was to hang behind the front group of 10-15 guys as long as I could.

As we roll out, I can already tell the pack is antsy to get movin'. The first 2 miles were pavement, then 3 miles of gravel, and already the pace is picking up to 30-35 mph on a long descent. Noticing a left turn coming up I make my way over to the left shoulder to avoid any stragglers swinging too far right - sending folks off the right hand side of the road. All within a flash, I see some commotion in the front right - certainly a crash - then the entire pack reacting to the initial crash swinging left hard and fast. I begin bumping shoulders with the guy to my right as the pack is pushing left. Soon enough, myself and about 6 or 7 other guys get shoved off in to the ditch at a good 30 mph. The ditch dropped down 3-4 feet below the road, and damn was it rocky! From this point on I honestly can only remember bits and pieces...

In a confused daze, I notice my head is now POUNDING, my knees and forearms are scraped and bleeding, my bike is lying roughly 10 ft away, my helmet visor had popped off, and most everything that was in my jersey pockets (snickers, clif bars, a water bottle) are scattered between me and my bike. Somehow my cell phone managed to not receive a single scrape. "Well", I guess I thought to myself, "does Derek's bike work?". I was riding my older brother's Gunnar Crosshairs for this event. Picking up the snickers etc. and stuffing them back in my jersey pocket I realize that my left shoulder stings a little, and it's difficult to reach my left jersey pocket. No bother...let's check out this bike. I pick it up and try to pedal it...but it's not moving...shit! Hmm...after a few seconds of blurred adrenaline filled examination I notice the quick release lever is loose and all I need to do is tighten it back up and realign the wheel. Awesome! Bike looks good! Back in business!

Not knowing where my riding buddy Brent is at this point - I hoped he wasn't involved in the crash, I hoped he had passed me - I'll try to catch him! A few miles down the road and sure enough, here's Brent on the shoulder tinkering with his chain tool...he busted his chain. "YO!", I yell. Puzzled why I was behind him, he looks at me and says "Daaaaayam, did you crash?". Uh oh, that doesn't sound good. I realize I look a little worse than I felt. He needed my multi-tool as his wasn't working too well...so I stopped, handed him my multi-tool and began to examine my wounds a little better. "Your nose is bleeding, dude". Damn, it was...but not too bad. My chin was also bleeding, and my sunglasses had some - not really scratches - deep gravel grooves throughout. I must have whacked my chin on the handlebars and done a nice face-plant in the dirt. "Umm, Brent, I'm pretty banged up aren't I? I might as well just finish this race with you...there's really no sense in me racing it at this point. We can cruise it."

After this, I really don't remember too much. I think something happened with Brent's chain again...so there was one stop. Later I get a flat tire...so there's another stop. It was a good thing Brent was there, because as the ride continued my shoulder was hurting more and more...enough to the point where I had a hard time pumping up my flat tire. I was told by Brent that I didn't stand up on a single hill for the rest of the day. Bummer, I had developed some decent climbing skills on these Blue Hills rollers...but it was hurting my shoulder too much to do any aggressive climbing. Well, sans crashing, mechanicals etc., I probably could have shaved a good hour and 30 min to 2 hours off my time...but that's OK. Needless to say, I still had an excellent time, and we finished!!!

My shoulder, and now one of my right ribs was hurting pretty bad by Monday, and I can clearly tell I won't be participating in the following weekend's Cheq 100...and in my opinion that's the saddest news of the whole story. =( After some consultation with the family doctor - well, my sister...who happens to be a doctor - it was advised that I head to the clinic for some x-rays. It turns out that adrenaline can do some wonderful things. The crash at mile 5 left me with a broken rib and possibly some torn tissue in my rotator cuff. It has now been over a week since the crash, and I'm gaining some movement back in my left arm/shoulder, but it still stings like hell. I'm crossing my fingers that in a week or two I have full movement back in my arm, and that my shoulder was simply badly bruised, in which case there will be no need for an MRI and/or surgery. The rib will heal in time.

It really was an awesome course and an awesome race! Thanks very much to Chris Skogen for planning/hosting, Craig Linder for these excellent photos, the town of Spring Valley for letting the racers use their facilities, and all of the volunteers who helped put together this awesome event, especially the nice lady who gave me those 2 Ibuprofen at the checkpoint. I will definitely be back next year!

With that said, I'm still super excited and anxious to get back on the bike. I'm about to drop some cash on a Salsa El Mariachi 29er that rolls pretty damn sweet, and I'm itchin' to get it up to the CAMBA trails...but I think I'll have to stick to some easy road and fixie rides for a few weeks. Just the other day, I heard a wise and seasoned racer say, "Don't be surprised if all this rest brings you back stronger and faster than before". I sure hope so!!!

Northern Blue Hills Ice Age Trail Segment

I had an excellent time hiking some of the Northern Blue Hills segment of the Ice Age Trail yesterday afternoon with Ben, Sarah and Ellie. We only had enough time to complete the section from Stout Rd to Bucks Lake Rd, but this really is a beautiful section of trail. It consists of several beaver dam crossings, a lot of mixed hardwood forest and many, many rolling hills. It joins an old narrow logging road as it follows and crosses a creek several times. I would like to hike it again in just a few months when it's a little greener.

Afterward, we also made an attempt to hike back to the Blue Hills "Felsenmeer" west of Hwy. W, but were unsuccessful in finding it...I need to do a little more research on which logging road gets you close. Finishing up just in time for happy hour, clearly we had to stop in Birchwood for some dirt cheap pints of Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale!

Up until yesterday, I hadn't really done much hiking this winter/spring...just a few runs here and there. After a typical 3-4 week session of grinding the legs down to nothing on the bike, this week has been nice and relaxing...I'm trying to allow my legs to rebuild and prepare for the last session of hard work before tapering down in May. The Almanzo 100 will be here in no time, and the prospects for the Chequamegon 100's waiting list (including myself) are looking good! Whether or not I'll be truly prepared for these back-to-back events only time will tell...

St. Patrick's Day

I must say it was one of the nicest St. Patty's days I have seen in years. The tremendous bout of snow biking this past winter was a lot of fun and it certainly kept me in pretty good shape, but with spring rides and warm sunsets like these I can't say that I miss it! We are fortunate to have warmer than average weather this March that is contributing to some excellent early season road riding. The day's fixie ride is recapped in The Log .

This is why - Part 2

“Sunday is the golden clasp that binds together the volume of the week” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

...and it most certainly did. Crouching down in the drops, diligently pushing through the NE headwind for most of the afternoon turned in to 85 miles on the fixie...a painfully excellent cap on several hard rides this week. We had a record high for March 14th! The sunset was simply icing on the cake...

This is why

When I go biking, I repeat a mantra of the day's sensations: bright sun, blue sky, warm breeze, blue jay's call, ice melting and so on. This helps me transcend the traffic, ignore the clamorings of work, leave all the mind theaters behind and focus on nature instead. I still must abide by the rules of the road, of biking, of gravity. But I am mentally far away from civilization. ~Diane Ackerman

He's a lumberjack and he's OK!

I had the afternoon off and the weather was gorgeous, so I had no excuse to not push myself through a grueling ride on the fixie. What a painful day...but holy smokes I feel fantastic! Check The Log for details...

On the road again!

First road ride of the year today! After a 40 mile MTB ride with 3000+ feet of climbing yesterday, it felt really great to ride some flats and loosen up on the fixie. The sun was shining, the roads I chose were clear as can be, and since I had forgotten the simplicity of riding pavement I had the largest grin on my face in months. Ahhh, we're almost there!

Much Needed Rest

Over the past few weeks of riding I haven't had much luck with my camera and taking photos. Since I am typically limited by daylight and free time on the weekdays, I usually have been pushing harder during these rides - in turn spending less time looking around for that "perfect picture". A few other times I have forgotten my camera altogether...and when I do remember it, I always seem to be faced with the cold weather camera failures of foggy lenses and failed batteries. Grrrrr...looking forward to spring! This time around however, I'll plug in a few videos from a past ride...



As far as the training schedule goes, I think it cracked me last week. A few weeks of pushing hard had whittled my legs down to nothing. I ran out of steam and needed some rest. Over the past week I have been breaking up the rides a bit, not pushing too hard, and squeezing in some extra rest. On Sunday I was feeling full of fuel once again - back to normal. The next few weeks should be fraught much needed pain, but I suspect the snow biking days are numbered...

Little Sissabagama

I just wanted to pop this little snippet on here to reminisce about the awesome off-road and gravel rides from this past fall. Looking forward to the Almanzo in May!

A January Saturday

**Pictures to come**

Once again I am doing a poor job of keeping up with these posts...another recap from last Saturday (1/30/2010)...

So far this year I've done a pretty good job keeping a rigorous riding schedule. In the past few rides I have really noticed some results, which helps with the motivation. Recovery time on the legs has become much faster. They're allowing me to push for a hard 2-3 hours one day, and still have enough gas in the tank the next day to crank another 2 or 3 hours. This Saturday's ride was a pretty good way to round out the month.

Two goals in mind for the ride: ride as much as possible on snowmobile trails (use the roads only if time becomes an issue), and make it to my parents. The trails were great! Although they were packed well enough to go fast, we paced it easy for most of the day knowing that it would be a long haul. We left my apartment at about 10am - temp was 10 below zero but the sun had some serious power! Over the next 5 hours it warmed up to 15 degrees.

We cruised north on the WRT to connect with 1 of 2 trails going west over to Cumberland. We took the north trail as I knew there was a nice winding section through Barron County forest land. With the trails as hard as they were, we figured this would be one of the few days that we could ride this section end to end on skinny bikes. We couldn't have picked a better day to do it!

The forest section was fairly hilly, and we hit some loose snow in spots slowing our pace down. It ended up taking a little longer than we anticipated. We then realized that we were running short on time so we jumped on an 8 mile section of roads to get closer to my parents. This allowed us to really turn on the gas for a bit...and remember what it's like to draft!

Each of the big weekend rides we've done have included a mix of trails, roads and lakes. Sticking to that...we took the last lake section to my folks back yard. Post-ride priority number 1 - recovery beer.

We must have paced ourselves pretty well. I wasn't feeling too tired even though this was the longest stretch of snowmobile trails I've ever ridden. It's too bad we were crunched on time...one or two more hours on the lake would have been right painful.

I have had an excellent week of riding pushing roughly 2 hours per day in the snow. Two rest days should set me up for a Super Bowl Sunday-fun-day of punishment!

Granite Lake to Hilltop loop

Here's a quick recap that I forgot to post from Saturday Jan 16th...

I was dog/house sitting for the week...so the ride started from my sister's place on Granite Lake. In the morning before Brent showed up, I took the dog out for a little cruise up the road. I figured that she would be cooped up all day while we were riding so I gave her a good run while I could. It was also a nice 30 minute warm up for me.

Great Picture Courtesy Of BKM

We wanted to make the best of all daylight hours...so the first rule was "no sweat to Barronett". We took the first hour or so to just loosen up and feel out the day's conditions, snap some pics etc. before doing any tough work.

Hats Off!

Gorgeous day! --for January-- 35 degrees and sunny. It was strange to actually feel some warmth on your body when standing in the sun. This doesn't happen much in January.

Wisconsin Steel

We planned for a pit stop out at Hilltop restaurant. So, from Barronett- 29th Ave to H, to Lake 32 road - we then jumped on a section of the snowmobile trail that took us right to Hilltop. Wings and Beer!

Creek Crossing

From there we loosened up for a few miles on the road again before jumping on the lakes...our route back to town!

"Ice Road Biker"

Bucks Lake, Fire Lane, Wagner Road (trail), Perch Lake Loop

I loosened up for about 45 minutes on the trainer Sunday...it was a nice and easy recovery spin session after the previous day's 5 hour Blue Hills Inn loop. After finding out Monday morning that Brent's car wouldn't start, which turned in to a day off from work...I also had the day off and we figured we better hit the roads/trails. We threw the bikes on the rack and shot out of town for a nice Blue Hills loop starting from Bucks Lake road.

From Blue Hills Biker

There were some really neat photo opportunities at this creek...and there happened to be a parking space (actually a campsite - note to self) there as well. We planned to be riding on hard-packed snow (dirt roads) all day so we pumped the tires up to about 40psi. We both assumed this would be a nice and easy loop - not too grueling as we were still sore from Saturday's ride.

From Blue Hills Biker

We were cruising along making good time on the roads while snapping some pics. We get to Wagner road and conditions start to change. It started as a hard-packed road, but little by little we notice more and more snowmobile tracks and less and less hard-packed snow. Eventually it's not plowed, it's only a groomed trail...and not nearly as hard-packed as we would like. Soon enough we're spinning on what are nearly mashed potato-like conditions...but, at this point we're over halfway through our loop, so there's no turning back!

From Blue Hills Biker

We drop the psi down to about 20 just to stay afloat. The sun begins to go down...pretty quickly...and we are still nowhere! With the awesome scenery around us we didn't mind so much.

From Blue Hills Biker

What an awesome sunset!

From Blue Hills Biker

However, the real problem is...it's getting dark...and really cold, really fast. My toes are starting to feel like ice cubes. We continue to spin, spin, and keep spinning the granny gears on the trail with our big fat low pressure tires back to the road. I cruise with Brent for a little while, but eventually choose to hammer back to the car as quickly as possible.

From Blue Hills Biker

It's now pitch black outside except for the slightest starlight reflection on the snow...and the batteries are frozen on my headlight. So, I follow the blurry white tunnel in the dark, pushing the heart rate up to over 200 bpm for about the last 40 minutes. I begin panting, grunting, then yelling and screaming at every hill not knowing when I'll be to the top of any given one, likely scaring away any wildlife within a 5 mile radius. All I really had on my mind was getting to my sister's ASAP for some burgers and a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA! I finally round out the loop and make it back to the car in just over 4 hours. Yo BKM...next time we leave earlier mother lover!

I'll leave you with the last picture taken for the day. Brent's camera fails after this...its batteries have also frozen...

From Blue Hills Biker

Blue Hills Inn Winter Loop

I have a few rides over the past week that I need to recap...I'm already getting behind...and I just started this thing! This post is a recap of my Saturday Jan 9th, 2010 ride. This was a tough one. Before the 9th I was just doing some light jogs, and maybe a few short rides while recovering from the Holiday feasting and boozing. Although I hadn't yet been on any challenging rides in 2010, it will certainly be tough to maintain this level of intensity...

On that Saturday, feeling pretty sluggish after the Holidays I decided it was time for a good ol' 4-5 hours of outdoor suffering...I needed to punish myself for slacking during the Holidays. On Friday I went for about a 6 mile run around town, and I'll admit that I was feeling a little stiff the following day. I hadn't been running much at all for several months, as most of my preparation for the Tuscobia Ultra involved regular cycling....little did I know...hehe, running was what I should have been doing!

Brent and I decided to jump on the bikes at about 1:30PM, and our goal was basically to "head east, maybe we'll end up at the Blue Hills Inn". We left from my apartment and crossed the lake. When we left it was about 6 Fahrenheit - we were expecting a high of 12, but it was already after noon and I don't think the temp got much higher than that the entire ride.

We head east with the intention of jumping on the snowmobile trail at some point, so we zig zag northeast until we hit one, then follow that trail straight east out to the blue hills. It's beautiful heading out there...flats, flats, flats...hills approaching until you're immersed in more rolling Wisconsin hills than you know what to do with. The occasional run down houses and shacks also confirm your location....nowhere!

With no map on us...we decide that 22nd ave is the road to follow. I remember from summer rides and glancing at the map a few days before there being a dead end which turns in to snowmobile trail. That trail should take us directly through county forest to our destination....our mid-way warm up point and food stop...we just didn't know how far that was.

My guess was no more than 8-10 miles of snowmobile trail, so at the pace we were making on the semi-packed trail conditions (at least they were ridable), which the hills only make worse, we're looking at hitting the food stop within 2 hours. We're spinning along in the snow, committed to the entire route at this point...but after roughly an hour...I'm starting to wonder where the heck the next road is. At the point when I'm thinking Brent is about to call it quits (not that quitting is even an option...), we see the best sign all day - "STOP AHEAD". Ahhh...food, a few beers and warmth.

We pop in to the Blue Hills Inn for a few Leinenkugel's and some BBQ pork sandwiches and fries. There were some very nice people out for a Saturday snowmobile ride chatting away, completely perplexed why the hell we were out there on bicycles...and riding on the snowmobile trails nonetheless. "Why don't these guys just get something with a motor?"

With a full stomach and slight buzz...we hammer the roads back to town. Clearly, we're not making it back by dark.

We stopped at the Village Dell to pick up a 12er....but I couldn't resist also snagging a 22oz of Central Waters Hop Harvest - 100% Wisconsin grown barley and hops....tasty beverage after a great ride!