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.

2009: Ore To Shore 48 Mile Mountain Bike Race / Marquette, Michigan

We took the scenic route, many miles of forest highway through northern Wisconsin and Michigan. From Minneapolis to Hayward, Wisconsin, then north through the Chequamegon National Forest.

Stopped in Cable, Wisconsin on Friday morning so Jeff could get a bike ride in. We found the new headquarters of the Chequamegon Fat Tire Race and were given the tour of the new faculties by The Man, Gary Crandall. You have got to check it out if you are in Cable, WI.

The jersey that Greg LeMond wore when he won the Chequamegon 40 back in the early 90s, the same year he had won The Tour de France. It caused quite a bit of excitement when we found out that he was racing. I remember drafting out the 3 miles on the pavement on his rear wheel. As soon as we hit the trail he was gone. My ole buddy Scott Hebel finished 2nd to Greg both years that Greg won the Chequamegon, the second time with a broken hand he suffered during the race.

At the same time Jeff was winning the Short and Fat 16 Mile Race on the same day (Jeff won the Short and Fat twice, when he was 16 and 17 years old, then won the Chequamegon 40 in 1995 when he was 19).

Some of the trophies of the Chequamegon.

Hollywood / Silver Cycling were the colors Jeff was flying in Marquette, Michigan.

Front line of the 1000 or so racers for the 48 mile race.

Jeff Hall and Doug Swanson up front.

They were in a large group for the first few miles because of gusty crosswinds.

Jeff Hall, 9th on this day. 48 miles with a time of 2 hours and 34 minutes

Northern Wisconsin of course.

The short cut through Montreal... Wisconsin. All in all a great week-end, about 1000 miles traveled in 50 hours. Drove through several small mining and lumber towns on our trip, we were off the main highways and traveled on back road highways. Thanks for the great accommodations for the 2 nights. Good Times!!

Motor Pacing Jeff Through Wisconsin

My support motorcycle packed and loaded for a total of 300 miles. Of which 103 miles would be providing food, water and motorpacing Jeff when we hit some nasty headwinds. I carry everything we might need including extra clothes and energy drinks for both of us. This day July 17 was windy with temps in the 50s and a couple of rain showers. I wore my rainsuit all day.

"Motorpacing" is me, riding my motorcycle in front of Jeff on his bicycle. I act as a pack of bicycles enabling him to ride at a tempo in my draft. It can be very tricky with wind gusts on my motorcycle and he is about 6 inches from my back tire. He must be very attentive not to touch my tire and I dictate the pace so he has to respond to my throttle inputs. It takes very steady throttle control. I also comunicate the traffic coming up from behind, we are on public roads so we deal with traffic and on a busy hiway such as #77, I protect Jeff by flashing my brake light and riding behind him on the white line.

With storm clouds in the sky all day and a stiff wind out of the north, Jeff and I embarked on a 103 mile ride. Him on his cross-bicycle and me on my 1200 Suzuki, I had a few more horsepower under me.

The goal was Jeff's in-laws cabin in northern Wisconsin. His wife and kids would be there to meet him. 103 miles in 5.25 hours, it was a good pace on the cross-bike with knobby tires.

I would eat a POWER BAR, drink a caffeine drink get back on the motorcycle and ride 140 miles to arrive back home by 9:00PM, started the day on the motorcycle at 9:30AM to ride and meet Jeff in Wisconsin. 11.5 hours on the motorcycle this day for me. Good Times!!

Summer Mountain Biking in Minnesota

Riding my non suspension bike, shooting a short vid, a little bumpy. It's great to get out in the woods.

We caught up to 2 guys ahead of us later in the ride. One of them hit a skunk on a twisty section and got sprayed, the smell was unbearable. We stayed ahead of them the last 2 or 3 miles back to the trailhead. I'll bet that was a nasty ride home for those 2 in their car. The spray got on him and his clothes and all over his bike. Never had that happen to me.