Ride On / Traveling / Listening to Bob Seger / Traveling Man

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Checking out the local singletrack along the Mississippi River. Good backwater from a rainy Fall season and cool to see the St. Paul Fire Department river boat doing some practice hosing. 

 

 When in the big city, clean up the country moto and take it uptown on a grocery run...

 Good day to head south towards Mantorville on the country roads for a visit to my Sons home. A bit of lunch off the box in a picked cornfield. Flushed up a big ole roster pheasant along the fence row.

 Of course fit in an awesome Fall day on the mountain bikes over in Wisconsin.

 Always a thrill to cross the Mackinac Bridge... The wind was up and the waves were really rolling. Traveled to Michigan for a 3 day job near Bay City.

Back to Country Roads, Minnesota Style

 You guessed it, lunch off the box...Haha! Why not. The neat thing about this week is that the moon is putting on a show in the cool Fall nights. Spent about 2 hours in this area and caught the moon rise in the Eastern sky. Packed up and roared the 60 miles back to St. Paul on a mix of gravel and paved backroads.

 This is where I like to see the critters, in the bush, not on the pavement.

Moon rise over the country road in the East as the sun set in the West...

Ride On!!

Good Week-end on Two Wheels / BMW 1200 GS Adventure / Fat Tire Bike

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Day 1

 170 miles of gravel roads...

Day 2
 Following the banks of the Mississippi River on the fat tires.

 Day 3
A long week-end with a good night ride along the Mississippi River.

Ridin' on 2 Wheels!

Last Week of January in Review / Snow & Ski Patrol

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Weez doing the snow dance before a hike along the river, seems to be working very well. An afternoon of hiking in the falling snow and some hill climbing will prepare us for our trip to Montana at the end of the week. This trip will be snowboarding, snowmobiling and snowshoeing. Snow is the common word for the upcoming trip.

 Views along the river framed with the trees.

 Climbing across the icy stone wall, just messing around.

 Looking up the River Birch Trees in the falling snow.

 Earlier in the Week / Ski Patrol Chairlift Evac Refresher

 The idea is to lower people down from the ski chairlift in case of a power failure using rope and harness. It was a good cold winter night to pratice.

 Everybody works together as a team to safely lower the skiers down. It all worked as it was designed.

Looking forward to snowboarding tomorrow on the fresh snow.

Riding the Salsa Down by the River

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I really like riding my old school rigid mountain bike. The big difference from old time mountain biking is the 29 inch wheels that I'm rolling on. With no shocks I tend to pick the best line to roll through the rough stuff...picking a good line on the trail as we used to say.

Down by the river...

A week ago the river was up to these trees.

A little dirt on the tires...

A Bit of Mountain Biking, River Riding & Buggering this Week

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It was great to get out in the woods and wind through the singletrack.

 Nine inches of rain in the past 2 weeks pushed the Mississippi River over it's banks.

 Took the little man on a bugger ride down by the river. We got caught in a rainstorm on the way back to the truck. Zippered the clear plastic cover over the Burley and put on my rainsuit and had a little adventure that day.

 A bit of lunch down by the river.

The little man caught a nap in the Burley during the rainstorm on the hike back...

GOOD TIMES!!

Spring Tune-up / Jeff Hall Racing / River Ride

 Starting the spring season by replacing worn out parts from the previous year. New chains, sprockets and cables. A bit of grease here and there, checking the brakes and cleaning the grime off, so as to start with a clean bike.
  

 My 29er got all new running gear and cables along with a brand new rear derailer. Jeff Hall donated it to me from his stash of gear that he won at the Chequamegon over the years. It's great to have spare parts from all the years of racing.

 Jeff Hall
Jeff's even wrenching on his bikes now adays. With his kids riding and his commuting, he had to start doing a bit of maintenance as I did for him all those years on the Pro Mountain Bike circuit.

Jeff raced on the National and World Cup Circuits from his age of 14 till 32 years old (1990 - 2008). He raced on the USA National MTB Team at 2 World Championships. With an 18th place in the 1994 World Junior MTB Race. A 17th place and top American at the 1996 World MTB Championships in Cains, Australia. First U23 Pro National MTB Champion in the USA, 1996. With 2 top 10 seasons, a 14th and several top 20 seasons on the USA MTB circuit. In 2007 he finished 3rd and 7th in 2 Austria National MTB races. Jeff gained much respect in the MTB world over the years. The announcer at the Nationals referred to him as the Prairie Schooner.

Along the way he had much success in the upper Midwest of the USA. A Chequamegon 40 MTB winner, 2 time Short Chequamegon winner. Won The Ore to Shore MTB Race, a 48 mile point to point race in Marquette Michigan. Many State MTB Championships in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa over the years.        

 The little Man keeping his eye on the bike stand and me as I wrenched on the bikes on a sunny Spring day.

PART 2: The River MTB Ride

 Looking across the Mighty Mississippi River on a brisk damp Spring day.

 Lets go there!! I'm ready for anything. The big 29er is ready to roll with all new running gear.

 My friend the Tree within a Tree. Huge old Cotton Wood Tree.

 A spy photo in the murky river bottoms.

Mans best friend with wheels in the river bottom woods. In the old days, (1970s and early 80s), my cycle had a motor on it. 350 Big Horn Kawasaki, DT 400 Yamaha, KDX Kawasaki Enduros and TT500 Yamaha. Now it's the stealth ride, Still doing the knobby tire bogey after 40 years.

It's all "GOOD TIMES"!!