Snowshoes and Fat Bike / Morning after Storm

Fat Bike Break Time in da Winter Swamp

Leave it to the Dang Beaver / Snowshoe

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The local beaver showing off his wood carving skills.

Today was a good day to change up the river travels... switching from pedal power to snowshoes. Gotta keep it well rounded in our travels, this is good for the fat tire bike trails that don't get many bikes in the winter. Snowshoes can pack in the singletrack trail. Plus it slows ya down so ya can check out the surroundings at a slower pace.

 I'm hiking the Atlas mountain climbing snowshoes and Weez is sporting her brand new MSR Revo Ascent snowshoes. Ours are both 25" long, hers are a bit narrower, women specific. We are both using Black Diamond / Triple collapse poles. this is the snowshoe/pole setup that we use on our backcountry mountain trips. Good to use and test our equipment in a more controlled environment like this, plus we are packing in the bike trail. The bonus is that we are improving our fitness for the mountain trips in March and April.

The beavers sure left a mess on the river bank...

Here's lookin' at ya till next time. Snowshoe on!

Mid January / Mid Winters Fat Bike Ride

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With it snowing the evening before, gotta ride in the morning...

 Snowing the night before, chance to get some fresh trail snow on the fat bike.

 Outta bed at 4:15am to get on my Fat bike by 6:00am. Gives me an hour and a half of dark to start the day on the bike. Right away I was riding on the fresh coyote tracks, looked like a pair of them traveling the trail.

 It was a crisp 14 degrees with the fresh snow. The moon was still up in the western sky.

This ride , I was experimenting with a lighter weight head lamp setup mounted on the bike. The light I was using this morning was a "NightRider Lumina 900". There was plenty of light, I used the third highest setting @ 700 Luminas. I used it for 1.25 hours and still had a strong light. On night rides that will be longer, over 2 hours. I use a "NightRider Pro 1200. The 1200 has a separate battery pack that fits in my water bottle cage. The separate battery gives a longer and more powerful burn time. These lights are rechargeable. I like the idea of the lighter 900 light for this type of ride where I am riding into daylight.   

 Sunrise and the coldest part of this day. Stopped for a break in the woods to hydrate and snack on a Cliff Bar. Another stop on the River bank to capture the sunrise.

 Wasn't ready to wrap it up after 3 hours, so headed out on another loop along a swamp. The trees, both standing and laying on the ground never cease to amaze me by their size and, almost artistic shapes... Almost 4 hours in the woods along the Minnesota River. From the dark transitioning into the daylight. A very good day on the fat bike.

Ride on!

Riding the Banks of the Minnesota River

Jeff Hall / LAMERE Cycles

Winter Boondocking Day / Fat Bike

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 Good winter day to dink around the swamp. Saw a prehistoric tree that has seen more water then a whale. The fat bike decided to hop up and throw out a couple poses, dang poser... Haha! 

The past summer this was all under water with the flood waters engulfing the river bottoms. This tree has all it's bark scoured off. Natures art forms are created over years of just hanging around. Could be 2 years, could be 100 years. Been wandering the Minnesota River bottoms for 47 years, give or take. Amazing that I can be within 20-40 miles from a huge metropolitan city and be standing by a tree listening to nature, oh and maybe a train or a few planes overhead. Bottom line is that ya make an adventure outta what ya got in front of ya.  

 The River Royalty keepin' an eye on me as I ride past on the swamp ice. They be thinking that if I slip and fall, lay there. Then they've got a fresh carcass... well I disappointed them because I'm running a good set of studded tires.  

 Ducking down into a creek bed, catching the sundown.

Ride on!

Minnesota River / Winter Fat Bike Riding