A Good Week For Mountain Bike Rides

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We did some nice singletrack riding close to home this week. Get out on the bikes in the morning, the temps about 38 - 40 degrees. It's always great to get out in the woods in the late fall, with the leaves on the trail and surface a little damp from the frost in the morning, it can be a little slick. I always like twisty singletrack to work the reflexes and the short climbs to stretch the legs and work the upper body. I like to end the ride on the pavement to finish with a steady power pedal and spin the legs.

It's great to get out in the middle of the week, without the week-end crowd. Three bike rides in the last 4 days, I like it.

Mountain Cat in the Den

Click on pictures to enlarge.

The new sled in the trailer, a 2008 M8 162" Arctic Cat. It's a long story, but I'll keep it short.

I sold the 2008 700 RMK 155", it had about 400 miles. I kept the 2008 700 RMK Dragon 155". Ended the day with a 2008 800 Mountain Cat 162" track, the sled is in excellent condition with about 500 miles.

The Cat is going to be an awesome sled for sledboarding. With a 162" track it's going to hook up and climb anything I dare. The Cat is supposed to be the top deep powder boondocking sled in the mountains. The Polaris Dragon kicks out 140 horsepower, the Cat is putting out about 146 horsepower. For sure the 800 will have more grunt up the steep mountains pulling a snowboarder. This is going to be an excellent opportunity to ride two of the top ranked mountain sleds. The Polaris Dragon 700 and the M8 Arctic Cat. I didn't plan this scenario it just fell into place.

I have the Dragon set up completely for us. I raised the handle bars up to 5.25", put a left hand throttle, snowboard rack, ice scratchers, gas can rack, removed the windshield and mounted a set of hand guards. This sled rocks. The Cat will be my project over the next 4 weeks. To set up for my riding style, I'll need to put a riser block for the bars (90% of the riding in the mountains is standing up), hand guards, ice scratchers, and a new taller, shorter seat. Then mount a snowboard rack.

I rode the Dragon on two of the 4 trips last year. The second trip with the wild bunch, we rode in epic conditions, 4 feet of fresh powder over 3 days. The first day in the backcountry it was about -12 degrees, with 35-40 MPH winds, it was super light powder. it was great on the ridge tops with the snow blowing across. The Dragon performed great in theses conditions. I will be looking for these conditions to run the Cat in and add more snowboarding to the adventures.

Two different sleds, it will be great to ride both different set-ups, first hand comparing. Two trips in December, coming up fast. The planning and gearing up for the adventures is a huge part of the whole experience. Both the gear and the body have to be in shape for the, GOOD TIMES!!

Many paddles to move the powder and climb the mountain.

THE TRUTH IS, IF YOU RIDE A MOUNTAIN BIKE OR SNOWMOBILE WE COULD ALL LOSE GROUND

When one group loses, we all lose. The skiers will probably be the next group on the list if it keeps going this direction.

The following is from an article in Bikemagazine in the Spring of 2009. the Forest Service is deciding what to do with OUR LAND. This article pertains to Montana.

The rules are clear when it comes to Congressionally designated Wilderness: no roads, no buildings, no mining or logging, no motorized travel, no mechanized transport, and no bikes. They were written into the Wilderness Act of 1964. But the policies on how to manage Recommended Wilderness are less clear, especially concerning mountain bikers. The question for the Forest Service boils down to this: If a piece of land is recommended for Wilderness, and the Forest Service is required to preserve the wilderness character of that land, since mountain biking is banned from Wilderness, should the Forest Service ban mountain bikers from Recommended Wilderness, even if people have been riding on the trails for decades?

Foresters in the Region 1 offices of the Forest Service debated this question. But while they debated, demands on these lands grew greater every year. More hikers were hitting the trails. Mountain bikers, too. And snowmobilers were riding higher and further into the mountains than ever before. The Forest Service felt compelled to do something. So instead of a policy, it created a philosophy. And the philosophy is this: These lands should be managed as if they were Wilderness.

In doing so, the Forest Service sidestepped Congress and created de facto Wilderness— land managers in Montana found a way to create what is essentially Wilderness without any oversight, legislation, public comment or approval of any kind.

The effects of this philosophy first rippled through Montana three years ago, when the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest released its travel-management plan, a document that dictates how the forest manages recreational uses. The Beaverhead Deerlodge includes 16 Recommended Wilderness Areas, and the new plan offered a similar recommendation for them all: ban mountain bikes, a move that closed 350 miles of singletrack in the forest to riders.

Tis the Snow Season / Snow & Cold in the Mountains

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Finished the Fred Flintstone / St. Paul Landscape Project

This is part 2 of the September 4 Post

Click on picture to enlarge.

The creating part of the landscape jobs are done, now the fall clean-up is in full swing. It is snowing/raining today and we cleaned up one yard and checked out another job that is a yard clean-up on a big house. These are good jobs before the winter season starts.

Yeah, Bring on the Powder

Some pictures from last year, some epic powder. The beauty of not having a home base in the mountains is that one can chase the powder. I very seldom make reservations, just track the weather on the link to the National Weather Maps. Just go to the snowstorm.

The new tool that I will be able to utilize is my new laptop computer which is set up with Verizon Mobile Broadband. I can access the Internet and get weather updates and avalanche reports right in my pickup on the road. I can check the avalanche reports from Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah to help me keep up with the snow conditions as the weather systems move through.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Last run of the day on my 166 Burton Malolo. This is one awesome board, I rode it at Copper Mountain for 3 days and then in the backcountry for 2 days on this trip. It just rips in the untracked powder. I used it on a couple of sledboarding trips last year up on Buffalo Pass and in Montana it floats up on top of cold powder.

What rides down must hike back up in the dark. 10th Mountain Hut trip, December 2008.

Weez hiking up with the 156 Burton Fish, powder board. This board rocks in deep cold pow.

Colorado

Powder morning at a 10th Mountain Hut in Colorado.

Wyoming

Just needed this little powder fix. It's been snowing out west, still early, but time to start tracking the weather.

I'll be checking out the boards, the sleds and going through my backpacks. Fresh batteries in the avalanche beacons. Preparing the winter gear. GOOD TIMES!!

"deeper" / TGR Snowboard Teaser / Jeremy Jones

Avalanche Burial and Rescue in Haines, Alaska

Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska from Chappy on Vimeo.

This a video from a helmet cam on a guy in Alaska. I found this on the Wildsnow blog site. He was dug out in less than 5 minutes. When the guide and the rest of the group started their search they found one of the buried skiers gloves on top of the snow which helped speed up the search. Notice the Tracker Avalanche Beacon hanging from the rescuers chest. This why you should have avalanche rescue training.

I have taken Avalanche I and II courses and did a refresher course 2 years ago, I learned new information each class. In the winter I receive 4 emails a day with the daily avalanche reports from Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. It keeps me up to speed on conditions in the different areas that I travel to in the winter snowmobiling and snowboarding. You can also get daily reports on many different areas just by checking the avalanche links on my blog. Click on the Avalanche Links. For up-to date weather reports click on the National Weather Map link on my page.

Crossing Open Water

Crossing Whitefish Lake on Thursday with a 24 foot pontoon and 90 HP motor. 40 MPH winds, raining to beat the band, temp at 40 degrees, my kind of weather. Didn't see any other boats on the lake. Felt like we were on the Bering Sea when the waves washed up over the deck when we were cutting into the swells. GOOD TIMES!!

These pictures were all taken after we got into the shelter of a bay. Winds were coming out of the east, south-east this day.

Gotta have the good rain gear, ya! Marmot jacket and North Face rain pants.

AWD Forest Roads this Summer

Exploring the forest roads up north ,ya.

The deer flies were thick.

Found some good back-roads to rally around on.

Mountain Biking in the Fall

Tossed to the ground, yeah! Weaving through the trees and caught a root with the front tire. Smacked the helmet on the trail and received a sweet bruise on the thigh. Laid on the trail and wondered what the hell just happened...?

A view from the saddle.

Jr. enjoying the mountain bike.

Mountain biking in the fall on twisty single track is great reflex training for the western mountain snowmobiling and backcountry snowboarding. Also the endurance aspect is huge. Just need to keep up with the upper body strength from the landscape jobs.

Gets dark in the woods early in the fall.

Chequamegon Fat Tire 40 Race

The 3 Amigos of the early 90s'. Jeff Hall was winning the Short and Fat, Scott Hebel was placing 2nd behind Greg LeMond in the 40 and I was chasing these 2 jokers with top 50 finishes in the 40 miler. We all raced for the Diamond Back Team, Scott was one of their national riders and Jeff and I were DB regional riders. We had good times all over the Midwest and raced with Scott out in Colorado.

The Man of the hour, Gary Crandall, the man in the middle with the beard. The head Chequamegon honcho. He and his crew have put together the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival every September for the past 27 years. I heard about it back in 1984 and raced it for the first time in 1985.

Starting, staging area.

The front pack of 1900 riders after 3 miles of pavement, reaching speeds of 35 MPH.

After this corner they ride into an open field (Rosie's Field) and it is all off-road and dirt trails for a total of 41 miles(1 mile longer this year I heard).

This at about mile 11 into the race, still a very large group of riders. Jeff is just popping over the little rise and I will hand up a water bottle to him. I will see the leaders 7 times in the race.

Yours truly at OO trail crossing, about 17 or 18 miles into the race.

The lead group has whittled down to a select fast group. Jeff is in this group.

Jeff at the finish, 9th place on the day. time of 2:04. Last year he finished 2nd at 2:08, the riders and the course were very fast this year. The old course record was 2:07.

Gotta like the dust on this day, 41 miles in 2:04, 19.7 MPH average.

Finishing area.

My old race teammates Dru, Tim and Tim's son Joe. Tim and Joe still flying the Finish Line Finder jersey. Back in the 80's and 90's this was the jersey that sent shivers down the spines of lesser mountain bike teams...ha,ha. Jeff was even a Finder back in his early days. GOOD TIMES!!

1:22AM Chequamegon Morning

Just got done preping Jeffs bike and finished packing everything back in the truck. It is like a ritual of the Chequamegon to prep Jeff Halls bike the night before the big 40 mile race on Saturday. I finish working on the bike, have a beer and hit the bed for 3.5 hours of sleep cause the alarm is set for 5:15 AM. The race starts at 10:00 AM this morning. Jeff finished 2nd last year, there are 1800 riders in this race and this is the 27th year of the race. It's a true classic.

The year of 1995 when Jeff won this race, I had to rebuild his rear derailer and it took until 4:00AM the morning of the race. I never told him cause I didn't want to distract him. Well it worked, with him winning by 4 seconds over Eric Ringsrud.

Got to finish the 16 oz. Silver Bullet and get some sleep, GOOD TIMES!!

Riders of the Fall

Youngest grandson running around.

Sunday ride in the country.

My son, Chad and oldest grandson, Tyler finishing up a 1.5 hour bike ride. Heading back to Chad's house for a great grilled steak dinner, prepared by Ellen, Chad's wife. GOOD TIMES!!

Biking With My New Computer / Test Riding the New Computer

Trying out the photo capabilities of the new photo shop on my computer. Jr. is the test pilot.

Rack of bikes. Spent an afternoon up north, cleaning, lubing and adjusting the mountain bike, single speed cross bike and road bike.

Nothing like a tailgate to spread out the gear.

First post with the new computer, It took a bit, but one step at a time. I've had my other laptop for 41/2 years. It is an hp. The new one is up-to date, another hp, with wireless (wow) and Verizon enabled. A little more compact. It's a bit of a pain to get it set up as familiar as my old one, it will be worth it. It will come in handy with my travels, that's the plan.

Minnesota River Trail

Grandson and yours truly going for the energy drink. Got'ta fuel the motor! GOOD TIMES!!

Fred Flintstone Month <> I Get'ta Play with Rocks From the Quarry

This is a job we are on right now. 10,000 pounds of flagstone for the garden border.

This is where the truck earns it's keep in the summer. It is on the job 4-5 days a week hauling whatever needs hauling, plants, trees, yard waste and mulch. The trailer follows me 80% of the time for the jobs, load after load.

It took a couple loads, this load was about 4000 pounds total in the truck and trailer.

We did about 10 yards of black dirt fill before the stone.

The wall making it's way to the new Maple Tree.

Then along comes the River Rock. I've done 3.5 yards, 3 trailers in the last 2 days. It takes 1.75 hours to unload a trailer load of River Rock. Everything has to be wheelbarrowed into the backyard. The flagstone, dirt, River Rock and plants.

Don't need no health club. This will get us in shape for the snowboarding, snowshoeing and mountain snowmobile season. Just add some good mountain biking this fall for endurance and reflexes for riding through the trees.

The stone wall was complete as it circled the tree.

Everything is coming together and put into place.

Back for 2 more loads of rock tomorrow, and some more next week to finish the garden. Then the plan is to seed the black dirt and start the watering and let the yard start to grow.

It isn't as exciting as surviving a deer <> motorcycle collision. The dang deer never try to take on the 3/4 ton pick-up. I'm working outdoors so it is all, GOOD TIMES!!

I feel very lucky and I want to extend a my good wishes and good luck toward a friend of mine, MIKE KELLY who I worked with for 30 years and is going through a very tough time right now after falling off a ladder last week and fracturing his skull. Mike is a tough guy and I am willing him to pull through this. He has a great family to support him. Don't take life for granted because sh!t happens so damn fast and we don't get a redo. BE READY!

Sunday Ride Turns Ugly / Then Good Times Watching Dirt Bikers Playin in the Woods & Mud

Packed and ready to roll Northward.

The gear and a last minute cheese Burrito at 7:30AM Sunday.

At the St. Croix River north of Sandstone, MN, off Highway #23.

Took this picture as the river was so calm and the sun was in the eastern sky reflecting off the water. It appeared as a kaleidoscope effect. The morning was turning out to be a great ride adventure with plans to ride to Duluth and continue on up the North Shore of Lake Superior. Ride till 1 or 2PM and turn back and head south back towards home... Annnnyway, I don't do anything without a little adventure creeping in. Heading north on Highway #23.

THE DEER STORY

The next thing ya know ole Bambi is a dead deer. Hit that sucker at 64 MPH. There were some exciting moments for about 4 -5 seconds. It is amazing how it is that peoples lives can change in a matter of seconds by the reaction to outside forces and the way ones reactions take action, if you have to think about what to do next, it's all over, no do over, it ain't a video game.

I saw the deer bolt out of the trees, and at full speed proceeded to run up on the shoulder, it was at that point it decided its fate. Go right and get to frolic in the woods and have a good day or go left. The deer made a wrong decision, went left running at full speed, ran into my front tire, almost jerked the handlebars out of my hands. At that point I never let off the throttle, there was a fraction a second that I didn't know where the deer was after impact, then I ran over it's legs and I was still up on 2 wheels thinking, What the Hell!! I then hit my brakes and made a U-turn back. The deer was stone dead, laying in the middle of the lane, some fur wafting in the air.

This is where I go back to the reaction to an action. I surely didn't plan this, but I have gone over in my head a hundred times what to do if I am put in this situation. DO NOT SWERVE INTO DITCH OR WOODS, YOU WILL GO DOWN! Keep a grip on the bars, stay on the road, deal with the impact and ride it out if at all possible. Some bonehead local stopped and told me "ya gotta hit the brakes and swerve to try and miss the deer". I felt like punching him in the face. I'm standing there uninjured talking to him and deer is dead. I win. If you hit the brakes or swerve when you are about to collide, it will cause the front wheel to lose control and you are at that point screwed. You will be on the ground or off the road and into the trees. Now at the same time if you see up ahead a possibility of trouble, hey slow it down. Not when you are 15 yards away.

The impact blew apart my fairing, tore off my left turn signal, busted my fender, pushed my oil cooler back a bit and broke a few pieces. I checked the motorcycle out thoroughly and it was OK to ride, I cut the front of the fender off so as not to rub on the tire.

The deer impacted my front tire so hard that it had hair wedged in between the tire and the wheel, it was still there when I arrived home. This was the initial impact that almost wrenched the bars out of my hands. If that had happened it would not have turned out very good for me.

Deer crap splattered on the right side of the bike. There were hoof marks on the left side of the bike on the paint.

PLAN B / FORGET THE NORTH SHORE AND CHECK OUT A MOTORCYCLE RACE THAT WAS TAKING PLACE JUST DOWN THE ROAD OFF HIGHWAY #23 NEAR THE TOWN OF BRUNO, MN

This racing is what is called a Hair Scramble. They leave in waves with fastest groups of riders leaving first. They start out in the field and enter the woods and complete a 12 mile loop through the woods, much like a mountain bike race. Some riders do 1 lap and some do 3 laps. They are out there 1.5 hours to 3 hours. It is a very physical event needing strength and endurance.

Good air off the first double jump.

This is the son of a fellow I used to work with, Jake. I believe he got 3rd on this day. 3 laps in about 2.75 hours.

Met this guy and his son at the race. Great people, Dad supporting his 15 year old son having a great time. I have noticed that the motorized crowd, the mountain snowmobilers and the dirt bikers are usually good people having a good time.

It ended up a good day with about 290 miles on the motorcycle on Sunday. The beer tasted good when I got home.

Snowmobiles <> http://engineeringtv.com/blogs/etv/archive/2008/04/17/direct-fuel-injection-solution.aspx

2008 Polaris 700 RMK Dragon

2008 Polaris 700 RMK

http://engineeringtv.com/blogs/etv/archive/2008/04/17/direct-fuel-injection-solution.aspx

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This a clip that I found pertaining to the 2-stroke vs 4-stroke snowmobile emissions and mileage issue. Not thrilling but interesting.

Both of my snowmobiles are fuel-injected 2-strokes. I have a 2008 Polaris 700 RMK Dragon and a 2008 Polaris 700 RMK. They are both mountain snowmobiles that produce 140 horse power with the new fuel-injection technology. My 2-stroke snowmobiles are about 70 - 80 pounds lighter than comparable 4-stroke snowmobiles and they make more horsepower. What would you ride?

Both sleds have 155 inch long tracks with 2.4 inch paddles to float in the mountain powder snow.

Just strap on the snowboard and go.