Camping weekend

Heading out the Gateway

One of my favorite things is bike camping.  It goes right along with self-contained touring but is much less demanding, mostly of time.  We here in the twin cities are extremely fortunate to have a plethora of camping opportunities easily within an afternoon's bike ride.  I haven't done a "sub 24 hour" ride for quite a while.  It was about time.

I sent an email out to a core group of bicycling friends and only heard a tiny response.  Some plans were made and by the time we were ready to roll out Saturday, 7 people were in for a short adventure.  I made sure to let people know their bicycles should be prepared for any type of road surface as I had a few gravel roads in mind for either heading out, or home, or both.  It turns out we ended up with a bit of both.  Just how I like it.

As always, we started out a little later than normal, but everyone was a bit excited to be on the bikes so our pace was spirited.  We wound our way out of the cities via the Gateway trail and shortly before the end at Pine Point Park, we edged north and picked up May Ave which is a lovely gravel road.  With only a short stretch of oil, we wandered off to Old Guslander Trail to ride a bit more gravel before entering into Marine on St Croix.  There is a bit of a dip down to the river and the group was flying!  My new hat had not been secured to my head via the chin strap and whoosh!, it was lying in the road several meters behind me.  I turned around to retrieve it and rode solo into town.  It turns out there was an art fair happening that weekend and the entire town was filled with tents, closed up for the evening, but I was afraid there would be no room at the bar.

Brookside Bounty

Fortunately, there was plenty of room for us and we were cramming food into our faces in no time.  Brookside seems to have expanded since the last time I was there but the beer is cold and the food a perfect balance of grease and fat.  Just what a healthy cyclist needs to fuel them the 2 miles or so to camp.

We rolled into William O'Brien State Park sometime after 10:30PM (I think) and found our way to our site.  Everyone set up there sleeping arrangements and we were gathered around the fire pit struggling to start the fire when the park ranger walked up.  He talked to us a bit about our overpopulation of the site, too many shelters that were erected, and firewood.  After all that, he mentioned the actual reason he came over which was to tell us to keep it down during quiet hours.  Rowdy cyclists.

Sleep was a bit difficult for me as I had a raging headache.  I later determined I had not had any caffeine that day and that, matched with my lack of hydration made a long night of trying to hydrate and sleep as much as I could.  I figure I snagged a couple hours.  It turned out I was too warm for the overnight and actually crawled completely out of my sleeping bag at one point early in the morning.  That is usually unheard of for me after 2AM.  Too soon the sound of the squirrels rummaging through the food we left on the picnic table was beckoning us to rise and shine.  John had made a quick trip to pick up firewood to have a proper fire.  Coffee was made and shared and we made ready for the slog to breakfast.

We grabbed a nice little breakfast in the nearby town of Scandia before turning our steeds towards home.  I was hoping to discover some new gravel so we started winding our way a bit west before riding too far south.  With only 1 small navigation error, we did find some amazing gravel and wonderful countrysides.  I hadn't ridden much through that section of roads as we are usually farther east to try to avoid certain highways.  It turns out if split just right, there are at least a couple extremely decent routes around the northern suburbs.

By the time we were back into the city proper, my food level was pert-near empty.  It seemed to take a very long time to return to the shop and just when the thought of finding a patio for some food and grainier consumption was taking shape, I was reminded of other commitments I had made for the afternoon.  In fact, I just made it in time.  It seemed like everything worked out just right for the camping weekend.  So much so that I have the idea of doing another one in the not so distant future.  Practice makes perfect.

Amazing gravel and views

2015 RAGBRAI tour *Part 2*

We found this guy by chance

  We rode the next day with the RAGBRAI crew to Eldora.  There were no super antics that happened, just good clean fun.  It was hot and the heat again grabbed ahold of me and took me for a spin.  I did stop and help a young woman who had a flat but nothing with her to fix it.  I try to not play bike mechanic on the ride but sometimes it just makes sense.  It was easy to find shower and food in Eldora and then it was hanging around the square, lounging and having a couple drinks.  When it was time for sleep, we rode around for a few minutes trying to find a good spot where we wouldn't have to put up our tents.  This is when we rode by a small group of people that asked, "Do you want to see Saturn?"  I thought it sounded fishy but after double checking, off we hopped and sure enough an amateur astronomer was zoomed in on Saturn.  It was super wild to look at it.

  We did find an ok spot to sleep but it turned out to be a bit close to the driving action so there was a bit of traffic until quite late and started up pretty early the next morning.  We grabbed a little breakfast and ended up sitting alongside the route as there was quite a traffic jam of everyone trying to leave town.  We made coffee and nibbled until things cleared out and then we were on our way.

  I found riding out of town after 9 the riders we met were more my style.  A few more baggers and general attitudes of calm and fun.  We stopped at a stop for coffee and cruised into the first rest town after only 9 miles or so.  We stopped just for a quick bathroom break and then cruised out for the next grueling section of 7 miles to our last stop with RAGBRAI.

The most difficult mechanical all week

In Ackley, we wandered through the streets and happened by Aaron, whom we were somewhat looking for that morning.  We grabbed a slice of pizza and hung out watching antics and people for a good amount of time.  We then found a shady spot near the library where Cayley could change her cleats over to her sandals and departed town.  It was only a mile or so until we turned off the route and apart from the normal, "You're going the wrong way!" shouts, one person bellowed out, "Come back!" which was the second of memorable quotes from the week.

  We turned onto Franklin Ave which turned into gravel after a short time and went straight north for as far as we could see and then some.  Cayley did have a flat tyre, having a 10cm nail go through the rear but fortunately not through the rim.  There was shade nearby, so changing it out was not much of a bother.  Back on the bikes, we continued to ride north on gravel until just outside Nora Springs, IA.  I had a small mechanical with a loose rear fender bolt but thanks to a well documented packing list, I had the correct wrench to make the repair super slick.  At Nora Springs we took a shade rest and topped off liquids before making the short trek over to Rock Falls.

I love this place!

  There is a fabulous campground at Rock Falls with the best showering facility I have encountered at a campground.  There is also a great little bar and grill just a short walk away from camp.  We cleaned up and walked up to the bar.  The place was packed!  Turns out it was two dollar burger night and most of the town had shown up.  We were able to find a couple stools at the bar, sitting down next to the former owner of that bar.  He was a friendly gent and I talked with him most of the evening.  Weirdly enough, a couple other RAGBRAI'rs stopped in for ice so they could make cocktails out on the road.  They were also done with their RAGBRAI and were heading to Osage for the evening.  They had ridden over from Denver and it just amazed me that we would bump into them there of all places.  Total bill for 3 burgers, 2 orders of fries, and 6 beers totaled $23.

  I miscalculated our mileage for the next day so we started a bit lazy which I would change if doing it again.  We didn't have Butch follow us out of town like I had happen to me the last time I left Rock Falls, and we found what I thought was a great route over to Northwood, IA for breakfast.  Stocking up on drinks again, we again found wonderful gravel routes over to Geneva, MN for lunch.  There is a nice little bar and grill there which we used for lunch last year and again I don't think they disappointed.  Turns out we were a bit of talk and while we rested in a park after lunch, several locals came over to talk to us.  I haven't had that happen too often and it is a bit flattering.

  The maybe worst part of the entire tour was the stretch after lunch riding into Owatanna.  I am not a big fan of this bit of road and we took a direct route as it was getting later in the day and we wanted to conserve a bit of time.  I was not feeling very spirited at this point and when we stopped at HiVee for supplies, I did not have a lot of fight left in me.  Not being a huge distance from Nerstrand State Park, we headed out and shortly found even more good gravel.  The back way into the park is gravel and just a little bit hilly.  I used my small ring for only the second time during the week.

  Also very nice shower facilities at this campground offered pleasant cleanup after having a bit of dinner.  We were expecting rain overnight so we prepared everything and hunkered down for the night.  And rain it did.  There was quite a storm and the ranger the next morning told us we received over an inch.  I did end up with a bit of water in my tent but being the last day, it was not a big issue.  We made the little ride over to Northfield for breakfast where we bought food from a TRAM'er.  She was donating her tip money to the MS Society so it was one of the few times when my tip was more than my actual bill.

  The tailwinds were phenomenal almost all the way into St Paul and we covered the 50 miles in something like 4 hours.  That was with a couple stops as we were not in a huge hurry and it was quite hot and humid.   It felt a bit like cheating riding the wind like that all the way home, but it was a nice easy end the the week.  All those sunny days and miles behind me and not a bit of sunburn, one tiny mechanical and tons of smiling makes me think it was a successful vacation.

2015 RAGBRAI tour *Part 1*

Wow, it has been a while.  It turns out I did a fairly thorough recap of the week so I think I will break this up into two parts to make it a bit more readable.  I just finished my 3rd consecutive RAGBRAI tour.  We rode right around 550 miles over 7 days which I feel pretty good about.  I have a 600 mile tour set for the end of August so this feels like a very good warm up for that.

4 heading out for breakfast

  We headed out with three last Saturday morning after picking up my newly altered Chaco sandals.  I did not plan well and did not have enough water with me.  That sent me into a pretty solid dehydrated state by the time we rolled into Northfield.  We ate some lunch and I was still not feeling very healthy and fortunately everyone was up for a small nap.  Well that felt good.

  Unfortunately, it did not help my pedaling mood and it was a bit of a slog into Faribault.  We picked up some dinner supplies and headed down the trail to Sakatah State Park.  We VERY quickly decided to skip the bike camp site and head to the regular campground.  We also made dinner as fast as possible to try to escape the swarms of mosquitoes.  WOW they were insane!  A quick shower and crawled into the tents to escape the swarms.

  In the morning, we packed up super fast and rode into Waterville for some breakfast.  It was here that Ken departed us and we continued down the trail.  I tried to start drinking regularly and it did eventually pay off but this day was not to feel much better than the previous.

  We made it into Minnesota Lake for some lunch and fortunately found a bar open (Sunday at noon).  I ordered a burger and fries and a PBR, it is a RAGBRAI tour after all.  Here, my riding partner was barraged with smartphone questions and when trying to explain what we were doing, the bartender replied with, "You don't want to ride gravel!".  Oh, but we did.  We caught a couple z's in a small park by the lake and after resupplying, set off to find some southern Minnesota gravel.

We did not choose this route

  The winds had picked up a bit by now and not in our favor.  But the gravel was quite spectacular and it really wasn't too long until we wandered our way into Blue Earth.  I was seriously overheating now and had to take a small break to escape the sun.  It was here I had the thought (or guidance) to search for "park" instead of "camp" and behold, a nice little park popped up just 8 miles south of Blue Earth.  We again, grabbed dinner supplies and set out for camp night number 2.

  I must have had the right combination of liquid because I felt a bit better on the ride to camp.  It was easy to find and it was 8 miles of gravel to get there (bonus).  The mosquitoes were much better but the showers not quite so nice.  We had a light dinner and hit the tents pretty early.

  The next morning we had some light rain but it wasn't enough to need rain jackets.  We rode about 5 miles into a small town to grab some breakfast in Elmore, MN.  While eating, it rained pretty solid but stopped by the time we were ready to roll out.  We had a small panic about finding water, but fortunately there was a hydrant right along the road.  Off to the small roads of northern Iowa.

  I started feeling better this day and with a long day ahead of us, we wasted no time in tackling a long stretch of freshly graded Iowa gravel.  We did make one small navigation error when leaving the town of Lakota but it only added a couple miles, and it was very nice gravel.  The tailwinds began kicking in and we cruised into Algona after a busy road section, ready for lunch.  We picked some groceries and lunched in the grass outside the grocer.  And of course, all too soon, it was time to climb back on the bikes.

  We wound our way through Algona, picked up some final snacks and headed out west into the wind.  We battled the somewhat headwind for a couple miles before turning south on what was a fairly busy road.  We watched several large trucks and farm equipment head down our direction but as there was no other option without going a ways farther, we embarked down the busy road.  Fortunately the heavy equipment didn't last long and the tailwind really started to push us along.  We rode that wave all the way into the RAGBRAI route stop at Clare.

RAGBRAI found!

  Unfortunately, we had been riding for quite some time and didn't really feel like starting the drinking, so we moseyed with the riders over to Ft. Dodge.  I felt the little bit of experience I have kick in and we rode straight to the high school where showers were.  After cleaning up, we found a nice camping site and set up tents.  Then we were off to procure dinner and some drinks.  Eventually, after walking WAY too far, we headed back toward our camp and hung out with some friends.  All-in-all a good day.

  Up next : RAGBRAI finishes up and the road home.

El Monzo

Kinda late Friday night, I decided to give the Almanzo 100 a try.  This race has super exploded over the last few years.  There were quite a few of the Omnium race members heading down, and I was fortunate to connect with one that had a little space for me to tag along.

Then the worry started to set in.  What do I wear?  Should I change my gearing?  What food should I bring?  Will there be places to fill water along the way?  Should I worry about tyre pressure?  And the biggest question of all, not having registered, would I be legally allowed to ride?  I finally decided to go with what I know and not worry too much about the bike related thing and focus all my worry about the stupid decision of not sending in my postcard 4 months ago.

Saturday opened with an extremely pleasant all be it chilly start.  I rode over to Al's house, just a few miles away.  We loaded the truck, picked up one other person and pointed the nose south to Spring Valley.  We left early enough that parking was not an issue and I strode off to the registration building.  All I can say is that everyone I spoke with were super helpful and didn't make me feel like an ass at all.  These folk are top notch and I know I will not make that mistake again.  They are beyond nice.

Suffice it to say, they hooked me up.  With that pressure off my mind, I changed into my riding apparel and began the waiting process.  We had close to an hour until start time and I was surprised by how many people I ran into that I knew.  In no time, it was time to line up.  I stayed toward the back as I was not racing but just going for a fun ride around the country.  We rolled out right after the singing of happy birthday to Chris's son and I was engulfed in a sea of riders.

I tried a strategy that seemed to work out very well, I stayed all the way to the right for the first few miles.  Racey riders sped by on the left and after 10 miles or so, I settled into a rhythm more my style, though it was a bit fast.  We started out with a pretty good tailwind and some decent downhills and it wasn't unusual for me to see upper 20's on my computer.  Way faster than I normally ride.  And I began to be nervous.  It was about this time and 30 some miles in that I ran into the Smith brothers.  They were rolling along at a more me pace and I decided to ride with them for a bit.  It was shortly after that we caught up with Al and he stayed with us for some time.  I can't explain how great it was to find someone I knew along the route.  I don't mind riding on my own, but having someone else there to chit chat with was super helpful.

We were just nearing the halfway point when I saw an Omnium rider alongside the road.  It was Boyd and his singlespeed chain was not happy.  I sent the Smith's and Al off and I worked to see if I could help.  After 5 minutes or so, I was able to connect a 10 speed chain pin onto an 8 speed chain and we rolled out.  I sent Boyd ahead as he is a much faster rider than I and had an enjoyable conversation with Mark who had also stopped to help.  Only a few miles later we came upon Boyd again, walking his bike, chain in hand.  I stopped again and made arrangements for Boyd to be rescued and started the chase back to the Smiths.  This was the low point of the ride.

I still haven't mapped out the route, but it is my understanding that as I was nearly at the half-way point, it was also where we started our way back...into the wind.  Now it wasn't always directly head on, but not having Kenny and Mike there meant I was mostly on my own, and wanting to catch back up.  Those were a few grim miles but fortunately there was a rest stop not too far down the road at a local farm and the Smiths were still there.  A quick fill of my water bottle and we set off.

We settled into a pretty good rhythm.  Mike and I would sit and chatter with Kenny usually just a bit behind.  Unfortunately for Kenny, he was having a touch of a bad day which put him just a touch behind our pace.  This just meant we would hang back for a while and keep him going, or slow up for him to reconnect.  We had a quick stop at the park to reposition supplies and up the hill we climbed...and up and up and up.  This route is a bit nasty as it seems the most difficult climbs come toward the end of the day.  Just a small amount of evil.

Mile 76 found the Banjo Brothers tent and one of the most amazing cans of Coca-Cola I have ever had.  I was conserving water and for anyone that knows how I drink when I ride (or don't drink if you will) knows there was very little water entering my system.  A couple of Chips Ahoy cookies to top me off and a quick lie down (laying down always feels so good!) and we set off to finish the day.  All we had to do was a quick stroll through the river crossing which was at a perfect level, enough water to cool the feet, but not enough to wash rider and bike away.

I was slightly disappointed that I didn't clean the hill at mile 90.  I was working my way up this nasty steep, loose dirt climb and I thought, "I can walk this one hill".  I hold on to the excuse that my 38/26 was not the correct gear for that climb.  Certainly if I go back, it will be with some smaller gearing.  There was one other hill at mile 95 but that was much more rideable...longer, but not nearly as steep.

One last interesting thing is that this one hundred mile gravel ride, finishes off with a brand new asphalt bike path.  It is a great place to finish, people hanging out watching others come in and having a great time.  There is just some serious irony in the road surface.  I met up with Al, we waited for Ben to come in and headed for home.  All in all it was a fantastic day.  The wind, while being noticeable, was not enough to really be devastating.  The temps were almost perfect.  The roads were in brilliant condition.  And the people were beyond amazing.  Everyone had a smile of their face and if they don't convince you of Minnesota nice, than I don't want to know you.

Till next year El Monzo.

Too much to ask

I am at a clinic over the next couple days and I always want it to be different and it never is, there's always someone who makes these things unbearable.  By unbearable, I mean slows the whole clinic down with stories and repeated questions that are either not relevant, or have already been answered.  I am not saying that questions should not be asked, but I wish some people had a better sense of what can be answered immediately and what might wait till a break, or even a follow up email.

I remember waaaay back in college we used to make fun of the non-traditional students (i.e. old people) and the way they always asked multiple questions and slowed class down.  Now that I fit in that category, I am aware that I am not as sharp in some aspects as the younger folk, and also that I am not going to be the one to cause them to tune out.  I saw it today, about half the class zoning out and almost becoming unruly due to the instructor answering a question a 3rd time.  

That being said, this training looks like it will be extremely informative and I am glad to already have taken away some good techniques and helpful hints.  This is reassuring as I have another 1 & 1/2 days to try to deal civilly with annoying people.  I really don't think it is too much to ask for people to be aware of their surroundings.  On second thought, I better wait to ask that question when it doesn't impinge on other's time.

Fixed what didn't know was broken

no coasting anymore

I have a good friend that has been riding fixed gear off road for a couple years.  I have been curious and last week decided to give it a go.  It is amazing!  My first ride was last Saturday and it was like riding a new bike.  I am pretty sure I was riding obstacles faster than with my freewheel.  There definitely is something liberating about not thinking about pedaling, knowing that there is no choice.  It doesn't matter where your crank arm is, it is always going to be moving forward.  There is a tiny amount of control, but pretty much if that rock is big enough to hit that arm, it's going to hit it.

We went out this morning and rode a different course that doesn't have as many technical sections and boy did I pay for it.  I knew I was geared too low, but I ran out of time to change things up.  It appears I should change gears depending on what course we ride.  I also switched back to a rigid fork which definitely changes the ride.  Kind of old school in a way and I think I can really dig this reverting back to old school riding.  We have an off road weekend planned in early October and it may be a difficult choice on what type of bike I take.  Maybe I will have to make space to take more than one.

Really never saw this before

otherwise boring fence

Spring is very promising.  One of the wonderful, twisted delights of spring is finishing work before the sun goes down.  Riding home this evening, I meandered my way home and came across this scene which I have ridden by countless times.  I really don't know that it was anything but my project of taking in my surroundings that made me stop and look harder at this fence.  I just love the way the shadows streak across the snow.  Another few days and this will not be near so dramatic.  We are at the last days of the deep snow pack.  I guess I should enjoy it while I can.