motoscotch

Bikes out standing in their field

2023-04-18T16:29:00.000-05:00

Up at the Shack

2022-10-06T08:05:00.001-05:00

Just a few pics I wanted to preserve.

Grandson Jason was up helping me remove musclewood and ironwood.

We were finished for the day and were heading east down the driveway with the sun setting behind us. The rays of the setting sun lined up perfectly with the big white pine that towers over the shack. Jason snapped a few pics with my phone.

The other shot is the maple in front of the white pine taking its turn to be noticed.

Cousin Tony who grew up on this river land fishing it as a kid showing he still has the touch.

Bighorn Sheep Encounters

2021-02-20T20:18:00.004-06:00

Lynn and I are out for the winter. We pulled in to Palo Duro Canyon just southeast of Amarillo, TX.

While cruising around the singletrack I jumped 3-4 Barbary Bighorn Sheep. They were introduced here back in 1957 and the numbers have grown to the point of conducting a hunting season on them.

A few days later we were in Death Valley and we drove up on a Desert Bighorn.

Not to be outdone I guess, while riding just south of Las Vegas near Boulder, I came across a 3rd Bighorn.

2020-11-16T12:08:00.002-06:00

It's been awhile!!! Sorry. Lynn and I got very busy after retirement, but with FaceBook it seemed like that was the tool to use to stay in touch with folks. So, why am I updating now? Well, funny you should ask. I started a new blog, called THE ORGAN TRAIL.

The new blog/webpage is a result from meeting a person last winter in Louisiana and I ending up donating a kidney to him.....kinda. He does get a kidney which will take him off of dialysis, but my kidney actually went to person in New York, another complete stranger.

Hugh, from Louisiana.

The whole story is in the blog/webpage and on Facebook as well.

To the point, I have a few huge bike rides in the works revolved around kidney donations. Stay Tuned.

This was the start, from my house in Plover, WI to Madison, WI a week before my donation surgery.

My Surgeon took a pic of my kidney before sending it on it's way to NY.

One of the number of times I gave blood.

The ride to Madison. 150 miles in 2 days.

Ireland, 2018

2020-01-21T14:24:00.002-06:00

Nice month traveling the Island. Music, views, food, drink and the company of Lynn for a month straight, just us.

DIL Helen's Aunt Kitty. She's a Nun that lives north of Dublin. Helped us out with some logistics.

Our rental car. Lynn scored big....smallest car available (thank goodness, small came in real handy at times) and stick shift. $10 a day. Great MPG.

Devil's Causeway

Turf fire and basket.

Turf cutting

Normal width roads

Place where I got sized and waistcoat came from. Only thing I didn't get to see/do is the sheep the wool came from but was suggested that could be arranged as well.

Helen's nieces.

Lake in the shape of a pour of Guinness.

Glendalough

One of my random bike trips into the country

Kilkenny. Fire broke out the morning we left.

Cliffs of Moher.

Random bay sunset

Cliffs of Moher from water level

the Burren

just a random cow pasture, with an ancient ruins in it.....

Kilmainham Jail, Dublin

where the Brits lined up and killed the Irish freedom fighters for the 1916 Easter uprising

Florida 2018

2020-01-21T13:32:00.000-06:00

Right after the Arrowhed 135 Ultra Lynn and I headed south. We grabbed the trailer we had left a few weeks earlier in Mississippi and continued on down south, heading to Red Sox Spring Training in Fort Myers.

Scotland, 2018

2020-01-21T13:24:00.000-06:00

Scotland: Edinburgh and Isle of Skye including the route between the two.

Ireland biking, 2018

2020-01-21T10:09:00.002-06:00

Rode a number of times while in Ireland and Scotland.
Rode through Edinburgh to the neighboring Highlands. Can't seem to locate the pics, though, except for this one. On the way out took city streets. Out on the ride I met a guy that directed me to a bike path that took me all the way through the city using streets, tunnels and bridges to only have to cross maybe 2 roads. Nice!

Dublin City Tour with Lynn.

I rented bikes in number of towns for 2-5 hr country rides. Ruins everywhere one turns around....or bikes around.
Example:

Rail to trail from Westport to Achill Island and back was especially nice.

Ballast to keep the ocean winds from blowing it over.

Crossed the bridge to the island. Nice peat (turf) fire. Hand a nice lunch here with a Guinness of course.

Croughpatrick fogged in. I climbed it later on. Kind of must do while in Ireland.

Rostrevor in Northern Ireland. Got talked into trying out an E-bike. It was interesting.

Ballyhoura, south of Limerick, Ireland.

never hurts to say a prayer before one heads out

Arrowhead 2018

2018-10-19T22:37:00.002-05:00

Biked this year again, but with a twist. Unsupported. That means no entering any of the check-points. Still have to stop and report in, but no food or drink supplied.

I normally don't stop at the first check-point at mile 37 or so anyway when biking. Things pretty much went as expected to the mid-way point. Then it started to get cold....I wasn't too worried as I had been eating and drinking well. My body heat was keeping the bladder in my camelback from freezing. I had a 2nd bladder being carried on the inside large flap pocket of my jacket which I had went to first as it was more prone to freezing.

The only thing that concerned me were my toes. I had to dropout of the ARU a few years ago at the 2nd check-point in -30 temps due to mild frostbite. This year I had purchased a set of vapor barriers replacing my home-made setup of plastic bags. I also had a new pair of boots. The Salomon Toundra's were a little better rated boots than my Keens. I purchased the largest ones they had, but they still felt just a bit tight even though they have a larger toe box than most.

At the 2nd check-point buddy Christopher was there....I think he offered me some food, which would have disqualified me! We ended up riding together at some point, but he was stronger than me so he took off. Chris has really upped his game and has become a strong rider. Great to see.

I kept mental track of my feet, always making sure I could feel my toes and move them, Walking up some of the large hills reinforced my feeling that things were fine.

I got to the last check point it real good shape, catching a few guys that had been ahead of me most of the race but whom I had rode with at a high rate of speed earlier in the day. They were cold and wet while I wasn't so I forced down a few guu's and water and figuring I had taken in enough calories to finish, took off to tackle the last 25 miles.

With 15 or so miles to go I realized I didn't have enough energy to finish. I was having a tough time keeping a straight line and even toppled over a couple of times so I stopped and got some solid energy in me and finished off the water.

In a few minutes I could feel some strength returning and was riding much better but not with much speed. The three guys from the last check-point caught and passed me.

I started to run on fumes again but I was within 5-7 miles so I just pushed on. Soon I knew I was close and turned the corner to ride the last incline to the finish....I was so smoked I actually quit pedaling a couple of feet before the finish and had to actually pick the bike back up and walk over the line.

They asked if I wanted a picture and I declined, just asking to get me in the building as I was getting very cold as my furnace hadn't burned any fuel for quite a while and with the finish I was losing my mental capability to keep it together.

Sometime about this time Lynn had come out to meet me and we walked in together. We got to the staging area and they wanted to do an equipment check and I had to ask to do it later as I has having a hard time standing. Was getting very dizzy. They agreed and I went up to recover.

I took my boots off and was a bit surprised that both my little toes were black and a 4th on the right foot as well.

I was very concerned until I had a nurse friend looked them over for me. She said it looked like compression frostbite, toes too tight in the boots, and that they should be fine. She was right, even though they got a bit ugly for a couple of weeks.

I had a good race...5th Unsupported category, 12th over-all.

Chris and Helen also did bike unsupported and both got the coveted a' Trois award as well.

A little family time.

December 2018 Winter Breakout #1

2018-06-23T22:42:00.000-05:00

With Tuscobia in the books and Arrowhead 4 weeks away, Lynn and I decided to hookup the trailer and head for warmer digs for a couple of weeks before Arrowhead.
I decided the fastest way to warmer temps was to head straight south so Mississippi was decided. Only thing is.....no real mtn biking looked available but a quick search using a few of the APPs I use (MTB Project by REI, Singletracks, where I've been keeping a record of all new rides, and Trailforks) showed some good potential in Huntsville, AL.
With Huntsville the main goal we started off. We wanted to travel as many miles as we could but still take in some of the local flavor. We stayed over night in Wal-Mart parking lots, waysides, truck stops, etc.

Vandalia, IL

Paducah, KY was a pleasant surprise. We rolled into town late afternoon and after heading into the heart of town, discovered a large parking lot. We parked, walked around some and had some dinner. When I asked the manager of the restaurant we ate at about parking downtown, she didn't seem to thing it would be an issue. With it being Janurary there we were about the only one parked there anyway. No issues and we were setup nicely for the morning. After breakfast in the trailer, we walked around looking at the history of the area and the city depicted on the murals that also served as the flood wall of the Ohio River. Got in some biking along the river.
We really enjoyed our short stay here.

An example of the murals.

Lynn allowed me an hour or so ride on the Land Between the Lakes singletrack. My first ride on the new (to me) Trek FUEL EX8 that I bought from Pine Mountain Sports bike shop on Bend. No regrets!!!!
A little moist but a nice ride. A place I'd like to come back to with more time.

Then on to Nashville. We were able to park free at Nissan Stadium, Lot A, during the day and just walk over the pedestrian bridge into downtown. At night we pulled out and found a Wal-Mart or similar.

Replica of the Parthenon. Interesting building, art gallery.

Reflection of the bridge on Shelby Ave. over the Cumberland River walking back across the pedestrian bridge.

And of course lots of music....every bar, free but tipping is allowed. ;-)

And of course cowboy boots....Lynn was in her glory.

Then on to the target...Huntsville and the Monte Sano State Park trails. It was cold and wet....temps in the teens and snow.

Rocky trails, good stuff. The trailer worked out great parked at the top of the mt.

Hoarfrost.

Yes, that is the trail.

A number of brew pubs in town, as well.

Forecast was for snow and cold so we headed south. Got to Montgomery and hung out. Lots to see and do.

Nice warm cookies for a cool day.

Hummmm......coulda stayed in WI for this.

We hung out for a couple of days in Montgomery then drove north to Grenada, MS where we camped for a couple of days on a reservoir and I looked up an old friend at the papermill I used to call on. Got in some urban biking while Lynn poked around the shops.
We found a place to store/park the trailer for a month as we headed home for the Arrowhead.

October SEAL fundraiser, 2017

2018-04-27T21:05:00.002-05:00

The end of September Lynn and I headed out to D.C./Alexandria, VA to meetup with son Nick and his family and attend a fundraiser for a Navy SEAL that had died while kayaking in Chesapeake Bay.
Nick knew the wife of the SEAL and her sister from Marquette.

Got in some bike riding while out there.

Rail Trail back to the house.

Brought the bike trailer out for the grandson....but he's suppose to ride in it. He likes to pull stuff.

At the fund raiser we partook in the bike auction.

Tuscobia 2018

2018-04-15T17:55:00.002-05:00

This year's race was pushed back to the more original date occurring between Christmas and New Year.
H.O. Wolding, the trucking company I now drive for when I'm home and available, was gracious enough to allow us to use one of their truck and trailer rigs to shuttle bikes and sleds from Rice Lake to Park Falls WI for the start of the 80 mile race.

I got started by making some bike racks in early December to add to and replace if needed, some of the older racks. I made these a bit wider for the newer 5" tires and added a little more space between bikes to allow the gear to be left on the bikes if desired.

Trial work getting the spacing correct and seeing what things would look like in the truck. Ramp setup.

Training ride, first flat with a fatty. Rode through an area where they did some wood chipping on the local urban trail. Walked out....

Timm's Hill, WI. Seems they always have first snow.

My sister made a cool quilt out many of the finisher T shirts I've collected over the years. We displayed it in case anyone wanted to do the same. Wife Lynn modeling next to it.

Most if not all of the bikes were fully loaded. We transported around 45 bikes I believe. Many of the racers still chose to bring their own bikes to the start which made sense if they had a support person drive them up there.
A buddy of mine and fellow racer rode with me in the truck, about a 2 hour ride.

Race weekend.
Racks installed.

Bikes and sleds loaded.

Unloading at the start. Saw -20 in the truck coming over, -15 or so at the start.

As for the race, I hung with the fast guys for a couple of hours but had to back off. At the first and only check-point for the 80 mile race I was in 5th or 6th place. The leader and 2nd place guys were still in the check-point building but left soon after I arrived. My goal was to spend as little time off the bike as possible for training for the up-coming Arrowhead135.
My water froze, as usual, so I drank down as much as possible while there and buddy volunteer John handed me some chicken soup so downed that as well as he took my picture.
I was about 2-3 minutes behind the leaders as they left, only staying in the building 7 minutes.

I was feeling good as the temps kept dropping. I never did see the leaders and around mile 50-55 I started to get the feeing that I wasn't getting enough carbs. Had plenty of sugar and water, though. At mile 60 I got passed and I had nothing in the tank to hold his tire.

My plan was to get to the town of Birchwood and get some food....breads especially. By this time I realized that it was going to be a cold finish. The air was at 70% humidity with the temps at -20 and lower in the late afternoon and dropping. I found out later that it was one of the highest dropout rates in the history of the race. People just couldn't stay warm. For me personally, I depend on the moisture wicking through the loose mesh back of my jacket as the typically drier air that's associated with the cold temps sucks it out. But that wasn't happening. The ambient air was just to saturated already to draw out any moisture.

In Birchwood I drank some hot chocolate and put on all the clothes I had which really only consisted of what I already was racing in and a mid-puffy jacket and wind pants. These 2 items made a world of difference. I was there about an hour.

One 80 mile rider came into the gas station I was getting ready to leave and he told me he had to drop as he got a flat and couldn't fix it. He told me he had been riding with another rider that continued on.

I took off and finished the last 15-20 or so miles ending up in 5th place.

For the 80 mile bike race 23 finished, 24 did not.

For the 160 mile bike race 14 finished, 20 did not.

In the land of OZ

2018-04-14T16:49:00.000-05:00

Dirt Rag Reunion ride over Veterans Day long weekend near Bentonville, Arkansas. Nov. 2017. Yeah, I know, waaay behind on my blogging. I didn't think retirement would be so time consuming!

I wasn't aware of the one 10 years ago, but did attend a different on in Pennsylvania a few years ago.

Bentonville, Arkansas....the OZ trails (Ozarks). Maybe better known from one of the trail systems, Slaughterpen. When Lynn and I came down in May I rode this section but it was pretty wet. Rides a lot better dry!

Coler Mtn. Park. Not XC stuff....

Jason, from the New Hampshire.

Mt Kessler....real fun stuff, XC style.

Randy from Illinois.

Kevin Nierman from MO and a fellow artist friend we ran into while out on the trail. Both Kevin and Clay Crymes contributed art to the Dirt Rag mag.

Jason with his 2nd or 3rd flat....lucky Kyle from Texas brought a gross of tubes with him.

Shea (aka as DK) from Texas and me...I'm on top.

The CREW R-L
Me, Shea/DK-TX, Kevin-MO, Kyle-TX, Randy-IL, Jason-NH, Brandon-MO

As I came in a day late, I covered some of the Back Forty that the guys rode before I got there. Nice XC variations.

First Travel Trailer trip(py)

2018-02-01T23:11:00.001-06:00

September, 2017 brought us our first travel trailer trip. We decided to head out to north central Idaho to meetup with Chris and Helen for an Ultra Race they were doing.
Lynn and I planned on taking off a week in advance and take our time crossing the northern plains. At the last minute Lynn decided to stay in WI for a few days to help in the move of her parents to an assisted living facility.
Lynn would fly out to Missoula and meet me there in 3 days.
That meant I got a few days to travel as I wished, stopping where, when and how long I wanted.

Before I left I had to do a little bike shopping for our grandson, Jason. He grew out of his 20' single speed "Magic Bike" and upgraded to a 26' 21 speed.
We had a nice time together checking out a few bikes. Jason got to test ride them and then we talked about their condition and how he felt riding them.

First stop, Battle Creek Park in St. Paul, MN.
I've ridden here before years ago with son Chris. It was just off the highway I was using to head out to North Dakota, Montana and then Idaho.
It was very hot, humid day. 90 degrees or better with maybe the same humidity.
It sure felt nice to pop into the shower and get cleaned up before continuing on my way.

I was able to make Fargo the first day, stopping and visiting with my niece, Christy.
Parked in Sam's Club parking lot.

The next day I stopped in Jamestown, ND and spent a couple of hours riding the Pipestem Trails. The trail runs across some prairie but also dips into a groove of trees winding in and out and up and down utilizing pretty much all they can.

Trailer in the distance.

Bee hives.
The trail crosses the road then heads out along the reservoir bank.

Again, it was really nice to be able to shower and grab some eats and a drink out of the frig in the trailer.

Was able to make it to Montana via I94. At Glendive I left the 4 lane and headed west on Montana 200.

I drove past dark and found a local weigh scale that had plenty of parking around it. After talking to some locals to get their thoughts about parking there, I pulled in for the night. The house on wheels is working out great so far!

The next day I stopped at a Wayside after driving a bit to make some bacon and eggs with the grill.
SWEET!!!

Local info.....

I called my cousin that's a big game guide and stopped into his camp. He's from WI and moved out a number of years ago. We hunted together before he moved out west. He had a couple of clients in from Wisconsin, hunting elk and mule deer.

I drove on towards Great Falls, stopping at a Wayside 20 miles from town.
The next day I hit up the trails along the Missouri. They've been expanded and improves since I was here back in 2008.

Heading down to Missoula to fetch up Lynn I went past town and parked the trailer at a real cool bar just past Lolo, The Jack Saloon, then went back to the airport for Lynn. We got back in time to grab a beer. Parked here overnight....Lynn's first night in the trailer.

We rode over the Bitterroot mtns, very near the route Lewis and Clark took,
making our way to McCall, ID and the campsite 30 miles into the woods where the event was going to be held.
Many sites on the way to stop and take in, the first being the Lolo Pass Visitor Center. Very nice interpretative center.

Another was a nice walking area of Western Red Cedar. Trailer peeking through.

We got into McCall, ID around dark, picked up a few supplies in town and started on the 30-40 minute drive to Burgdorf Hot Springs, HQ for the IMTUF Trail Race that Chris and Helen entered. Lynn and I pulled into a 5-6 place campsite where I was warned our 30' trailer might not fit....but it did!

Once I got the trailer backed in we rolled out the canopy in the dark and rain....temps were in the 40's. At the end of the roll-out the LED lights came on. I setup the grill and cooked up the steaks we brought.
Our first dinner in the trailer.

For the next couple of days (and night) we followed the progress of Chris and Helen in the race while taking in a few other sights.
A "local" watering hole....watched part of a Packer game here.

Got some mtn. biking in.

Didn't get any pics of Chris....gotta follow the Leader!

Night creek crossing.

Saying hi to the kids.

Helen finished and I went in to look for Chris and check this out.

Turns out, Chris miscalculated his cut-off times and wasn't allowed to finish. He still got in 85 or so miles of the 100.

Loon Lake in the background, where the bomber was located.

After the race and spending a little time with Chris and Helen we headed home via Boise and Denver.

At the Capital in Boise.

About 6-8 miles out of Montpelier, ID. Campground on the towns reservoir. Lynn out for her walk. Great having the trailer!

Montpelier was on the Oregon Trail Route.

Green River, WY. Camped at the mtn. bike trailhead. Met a local there about my age and I followed him around for a couple of hours. He had moved out west from MN years ago. Had a brew inside the trailer after our ride.

Driving through Flaming Gorge, WY and UT.

Vernal, UT. Yep, they do have beer in UT.

Dinosaur National Monument, UT and CO.

Display of bones in situ.

Example of Petroglyphs in the Park.

Meeker, CO where we parked at the mtn. bike trailhead again. Lynn explored town and I biked. TH basically right in town.

That is the trailer down there....bit of a climb to get up there.

Town of Meeker, CO.

The top is where I took the earlier pics.

We made or way to Denver and stayed in the driveway of my nephew, then we took the back roads home to WI.

Along the way I upgraded my bike rack.

Our first trip with the trailer and it went great!!

EXceptional riding in Oregon, August 2017

2017-12-14T17:04:00.002-06:00

We rolled into Oregon late August after the San Juan’s and the Olympic Pennisula and took a trip down Memory Lane a little from back in the 70's when we lived here.

Where it all started, Oregon City, first incorporated US City west of the Rocky Mountains.

The Church we were married in, Canby, OR

Silverton, OR montain biking.....very nice trails.!

Met Lynn at a pub.....Mac's Place.

Then back to Bend. Chris had some free rentals from the Pine Mountain Bike Shop so I rented a 2018 Trek FUEL EX 8 29er. Hit up about 4-6 hrs. worth of trials on it out at Phils. It was a really nice bike. I'd ridden many of the trails before on an older Trail Rocky Mountain Instinct but with the EX 8 it was like a different trail. Most EXcellent!

When I took it back they told me they were going to sell of the rentals in Oct. Well, I ended up buying the bike I rented.

Olympic Penninsula, hanging on to August

2017-12-08T22:08:00.001-06:00

We made our way from Lopez Island in the San Juan chain to the main land then took another ferry west towards Port Angeles. We ended up having lunch in Sequim.....then headed into the wilds of the Olympic Peninsula.
Our target for the night was a motel in Forks, which brought about a number of comments from friends and relatives....Vampires and all. Lynn and I aren't into this so it was all news to us.
It was a short stay as the next morning Lynn took her walk around town (and around and around as it was kinda small) checking out a few restaurants while I found an interesting mountain bike trail.

I wouldn't recommend it as a destination, but if in the area, why not?
I rode all the way out, but had to walk a fair amount to make the loop back to the trailhead.
One interesting part of the trip was that I couldn't drive to the trailhead due to the dirt road having slid out sometime earlier. On the in I carried my bike over the slide area and biked a couple of miles to the TH. On the way out I took a detour road that had me making a pretty decent climb then a screaming downhill....your choice!

Tree bridge, more later from the opposite end.

Tree bridge again.

I drove back to town, gathered up Lynn and we continued down the road to Oregon. We had to make a few stops along the way.

An ancient Western Red Cedar....only God knows how many years old it is.

Spruce Tree......

Then we stopped at the Quinalt Lodge....where we made some HUGE discoveries.

San Juan Islands, WA

2017-12-03T20:03:00.000-06:00

Oregon in August was the jumping off point for our trip to the San Juan Islands. This was a destination that Lynn has wanted to pull off for years. She did all the planning and execution, I just got to sit back and enjoy. And she did a great job with the planning. A Mariners baseball game before we jumped on a ferry (ok, drove on, borrowed a jeep from Chris and Helen) the next morning in Anacortes, WA for 7 nights. We split time on the 3 major islands, Orcas, San Juan, and Lopez.

Harvest season in eastern WA. Fruit stand where we picked up a few varieties of peaches, apples and a few pears. On our way from Bend to Seattle.

We left Bend, OR and drove up the east side of the Cascades crossing to the west via Snoqualmie Pass. The WA Cascades are rugged.

Mariners baseball, NW sushi vs. MW brats.....Sushi, even if it is prepared at a baseball stadium.
Surprised to find a WI beer here.

Lynn doing her thing on the Ferry while I scoped out Orcas Island in the distance.

The first Island we went to was Orcas. It's the largest of the San Juan Islands and the most rugged and remote with the more natural beauty. Moran State Park and Turtleback Mountain Preserve provides for some nice hiking, mtn. biking and views.

Excellent section of trail....reminded me of Jedi, an upper section at Oak Ridge, OR. Hobbitland!

Yikes! ;-)

We did our whale watch from Orcas. Got lucky with a pod of transient (visiting) whales vs. locals. The locals eat fish while the transients eat seals....interesting. We followed them for a couple of hours.

The view from our deck on Orcas. We stayed at the Kinfish Inn, attached to it is the West Sound Café. Very good food!!

After a couple of days exploring the Orcas Island, me on the back roads and trails with the bike, and Lynn in the many shops and boutiques, we got in line to ferry over to San Juan Island.

Waiting.....
Tillamook Cheese, smoked salmon, a peach from eastern WA, bacon ships. The Miller Lite was replaced with a Rainier Beer when a local came over and offered me one. When we lived in OR in the 70's they had the best commercials.

Look familiar? Who's the Dude sleeping?

Lynn nabbed a really nice room for us in Friday Harbor. Great view, close to everything.
Sea planes, power boats, sail boats and ferries all busy going in and out of the harbor. View from our deck, always something going on.

Hiding below our deck.

Highly recommend visiting the Whale Museum.
While Orcas is more artsy San Juan is pretty much mainstream modern touristy. Good seafood restaurants as well, down at Roche Harbor, which has an interesting history, as well.

I rode out from Friday Harbor on the bike to English Camp to ride some singletrack. It was more like horse trails, but all good. Lynn and I then met for lunch.

We visited a winery, that has a camel. Interesting.

San Juan does have some art, though, if a bit off the wall.

Lime Kiln Park has some nice views as well.

Friday Harbor has a City Park, live music.

Back in the 1850's there was a dispute over the boundary with England in these parts. Due to the wording of the border mentioning a Strait being the border, it was found that there are two Straits. Interesting story that resulted in both the English and the Americans having a show of force on San Juan Island. Eventually, it resulted in what's known as the Pig War.

This was taken from the shore near American Camp. That's Vancouver Island in the background.

There were some interesting folks that were stationed on San Juan before the Civil War.

San Juan has it's own brewery as well.

After 3 nights on San Juan we took off to the final stop, Lopez Island.
Lopez Island seems to be the most laid back of all 3 of the Islands we visited. The pace seemed slower here, there isn't the natural beauty as compared to Orcas and not the "happening scene" for tourists that San Juan is. The harbor was just a boardwalk where the ferry landed and the town we stayed in (really, the only town) was a 20 minute drive or so, to Lopez Village.
There are more rabbits here than people by far!! Towards dusk they were everywhere.

It was kind of a nice way to end our visit, just sit back and enjoy the quiet. Sunset our first evening.

I biked out to Lopez Hill on the day of the eclipse.

At the local library there was a gathering so I stopped in coming back to town on the bike. They had some glasses we shared to watch the event. Except for the yellowish light and the drop in temp, it wasn't noticeable, even though we were in the 80-85% range.

One of the best experiences we had on the trip was watching the tide come in, called a flood tide, due to it's intensity on Lopez. They claim that the eclipse had something to do with it as well as the normal cycle. It was like watching a river flow, rapids and all!

It was pretty cool watching the seals as well.

A few videos....I called them Sea Lions in the video once or twice, but they are Seals.
Lopez 1
Lopez 2
Lopez 3

Looking east towards Seattle, Mt. Baker.

Looking Southwest towards the Olympic Peninsula, where we're headed next.

Bend, OR 2017

2017-09-26T22:41:00.000-05:00

Flew out to Bend with Lynn to catch up with son and DIL, Chris and Helen. Caught a few rides before and after our week in the San Juan Islands.
Went out for a ride with Chris on the trails near Mt. Bachelor then headed back to town.
Started on the Swampy Lakes Loop then connected with South Fork to Tumalo Falls, up North Fork to Mrazek. Around 40 miles.

A xc ski cabin Chris helped out with near Swampy.

A stove that could heat a building 4 times the size of the cabin.

At Tumalo Falls, then up the North Fork along Tumalo Creek.

See the person stand at the bottom of the falls?

A number of falls as we ascend the trail.

Piece of logging equipment that was torched....it was made in Prentice, WI, where my Father worked when I was a kid and where I went to school for 10 years. I still own some hunting land there.

A good day riding, now off for some beer!

Colorado, 2017. Gallup NM, Durango, Telluride, Gunnison, Crested Butte, Eagle, Breckenridge CO

2017-08-13T20:03:00.000-05:00

We shifted gears from the Tour to finding singletrack. After a short discussion Tyler and I agreed to go to Telluride and Crested Butte as main targets. Along the way we'd find rides.
Moab, Sedona and points west were ruled out due to the high temps.....we were heading to the mountains.

The first night after the Tour pick-up we spent the night in Hachita, NM and Jeff's house. Jeff is a Tour "helper" as he could be hired to shuttle riders from Antelope Wells to airports, helping boxing up bikes and such. There were 6-8 riders there the first evening with many more expected.
Tyler slept in a bed for the first time in 3 weeks, I stuck with the back of the jeep. After this night, Tyler would be back to sleeping in the dirt (as he referred to it) and I again, stuck with the back of the jeep.
After a leisurely breakfast Tyler and I loaded up and headed north. Tyler's first order of business was to replace his phone that had gotten stolen in northern NM during the Tour. After some investigating we found out our best chance to accomplish that was Farmington, NM so off we headed. We decided to go the scenic route, west of Silver City up through the Gila National Forest.
That got us heading towards Gallup NM and the Mtn. Bike trails I had ridden east of Gallup around 8 years previous.

Looking at the map, I noticed a "shortcut" south of Fort Wingate. It turned into a 4-wheel drive jeep trail.....glad we had a jeep.....over a high point then down into the McGaffey Lake recreational area and I got on the bike.
I cruised around on some of the park trails, one taking me to the fire lookout, before talking to a group of bikers that Tyler had noticed camping that then gave me directions to the Quaking Aspen system. It's a nice flowy xc route with not much vertical out and just enough down slope on the way back to cruise through the woods nicely. I did hit up an out and back that had a bit more climbing for about a mile or so then turned around and screamed back down.
Got back to the jeep minutes before dark, Tyler was already bivied and sleeping, still recovering from his Tour effort.

Leaving the next morning.

After the stop to get a phone we headed to Durango so Tyler could get his bike back in shape. I took the opportunity to ride some trails close to town, rode right from the bike shop.
Good climbing with worthy downhills.

Rode Telegraph, up Meadow, Stacy's, Mike's, down Cuchillo....then rode up then down the Meadow section I missed as an out and back.
Plenty more to ride here, but we were moving on heading to Telluride.

Driving up to Durango from Farmington we passed through the town of Aztec. The Animas River runs through downtown and we followed it upstream to Durango. Seems like it would be a cool kayak trip and Aztec seems to be an interesting town to spend a little more time in.

We left Durango via the western route heading to Dolores then Rico. Before we got to Rico I noticed a few great spots that called out to me to park the trailer when Lynn and I come back out again.

A few miles beyond Rico and maybe 20-30 miles from Telluride.
Tesla sighting!

This pano doesn't do the area justice....of course.

Tyler had noticed on the 'net that Telluride offers free gondola rides so as we get close to town we noticed the sign and turned in. It lead us to a free parking area where we got on the bikes and after talking to a few guys, one volunteered to "guide" us down to the town of Telluride. It turns out that due to the 4th of July we wouldn't have found a parking spot anyway.

I guess this guy was in the parade we had barely missed....or not?... ;-)

We started down Jurassic and connected with Meadow and River Trails that lead us right into town, a bit short of an hr. ride cruising at moderate speed stopping some to chat with lots of users.

Once in town we looked around a bit and decided to head up to the water falls.....

...which then became two water falls. The first, the one seem from town is Ingram Falls, and the other around the corner a bit is Bridal Veil, the highest drop in CO.
We rode about 2 miles with 1,600 feet of climbing to get there.

At the top looking down towards Telluride.

That's the rode we came up on. The Falls is behind/below the building.

Outskirts of Telluride in the distance.

These guys/gals wanted to say they boarded on the 4th of July. Coming down from a small snow pack.

That's the snow they boarded on.

Looking down from where Ingram passes under the road. I took a video as well.

After our ride down we cruised around town some more looking around and had a few brews.

Then took the gondola back up to Mountain Village, loading the bikes on the racks.

Off in the distance is the Telluride Airport....where we'd be getting on to a trail in a couple of days called Deep Creek.

Tyler coming up behind me.

After riding we went out of town to do some dispersal camping on.....

And to look down into Telluride to watch the 4th of July fireworks.

Tyler's Telluride bedroom among the Aspens.

The next day we went back into town near the City park and setup for breakfast and secured a spot for the night.
Coming down from our "bedroom in the Aspens" Telluride in the distance, about 5 miles away. Another jeep kinda road, nothing like the one we were in NM, though. Should have taken some pics of that one.

Breakfast in town near the City Park.

Had breakfast right by this tree, smelled like lilacs.

Then we took the gondola back up and rode the Prospect Trail, which had a great downhill section along with some nice views.
It kicked us out at the top where we started and we then rode the Village Trail which connected us back to Jurassic/Meadows/River Trail and back to town.

Airport in the distance again.

And this smile was during the climb, before we got to the nice downhill section!

The trail we came up on.

The next day we rode Deep Creek, which is the opposite side of the valley from the Ski area and the trails we rode the day before. It was a bit more "rustic" than the trails at the ski area with a pretty steady and steep uphill.

The flowers weren't as spectacular as we had hoped.....hoping to get into them better at Crested Butte. But these were still kind of cool.

After a late lunch at the RBG (we ate there twice, try to RBG elk nachos!) we were off for Gunnison.
Decided to go west out of Telluride towards Placerville then to Ridgeway where we stopped for ice and ice cream. The town had a band playing so we hung out for awhile.

Reminded me of our granddaughter...

We talked to some locals and they suggested we cut the corner and drive through the Uncompahgre National Forest to Owl Creek. Fullish moon night.

Had breakfast along the Cimarron River with some good spots to bring in the travel trailer.

When we got into Gunnison had some lunch then went to one of the bike shops and got a map for Hartman Rocks and a suggested route. Trails we hit were Jacks, Tailpipe, Top of the World, Behind the Rocks, Becks, Broken Shovel, Rattlesnake, Ring Dike, Josie's, Josho's and probably more.

Local cash crop, beer money!

The riding was excellent! We rode under threatening skies so it was a bit cooler than it would have been with a nice breeze. Met a couple from WI that now lives in Grand Junction. Her brother did the Tour Divide Race this year as well and Tyler had in fact stopped to help him at one point....it was a crazy connection.

We also camped next to each other, right in the middle of the bike trails, designated spots all over the place.

From there we headed off to Crested Butte.....still looking for those flowers.

In town.

We pedaled up the road from town and rode Snodgrass, Lupine, Gunsight, upper/lower Loop back to town.

A 1 minute youtube video.

We camped out near town. Some flowers here.

The next day we rode the Reno Ridge, Flag Bear and Deadman Loop. Around 18 miles with 3 stout climbs, 3,000 feet of climbing.

Got some elevation on this ride. Snow.

From there we took off towards Eagle to visit some friends from WI that had moved out a couple of years ago.

Sites along the way through the back country.

Getting close to civilization?

Setup for breakfast in Carbondale Park, I believe. Fed a few young kids some bacon and pancakes.

Eagle, CO with friends Alfredo and Alisa. Rode up Boneyard and down Pool and Ice Rink. Nice riding.

We spent the night with them after a nice dinner and beers.

The next day we headed to Breckenridge. We pedaled up Boreas Pass Rd. then down Bakers Tank, Aspen Alley and Illinois Creek. Really nice singletrack.

Tyler had friends we stayed with, Mike and Amy. The next day Amy took us up on a guided trip.

We parked off of French Gulch Road, at the Reiling Dredge site.

Again, some great singletrack and sviews. XL and Sidedoor among the trails.

Tyler with Amy, who didn't even sweat leading us around.

End of the trip....now I need to get some new rubber and my fork rebuilt.

Colorado, 2017. Antelope Wells, NM

2017-07-23T21:29:00.001-05:00

I caught up to Tyler about an hour from the finish of the Tour Divide Race. Quite an effort by these folks.....14-30 days of riding, some even more, to get from Banff, BC to Antelope Wells, NM.

Videos too large for blogspot.....each about 60-70 seconds. If you want to hear what Tyler has to say, click here.

Heath Wade, from Australia. Tyler and Heath ended up prttey much riding together the last few days.

As for Heath, click here.

Tyler (green) Mark from UT (red) and Heath at the finish.

I had some beer, coke and some grub ready for the guys. The only shade around.

The next day, Tyler with his 2 favorite foods, getting some calories back.

Colorado, 2017 continued.

2017-07-22T00:15:00.000-05:00

Heading to Antelope Wells, NM

First dinner on the road, MN. Steak and asparagus.

Hail in Kansas.

San Juan Range. Nearing Santa Fe. Sangre de Cristo Mountains......Blood of Christ.

A stop along the Tour, Pie Town, NM. I also stopped in Silver City, NM, another stop on the Tour, and did a little ride on the Little Walnut trail close to town, to test my thigh. It felt fine.

Colorado, 2017. HPT, La Crosse, WI

2017-07-21T23:54:00.000-05:00

Was planning this trip for a few months. I had decided to go in mid/late July on a solo trip hitting areas I haven't been to yet, especially Crested Butte.
Then in April on the BALLS ride when I spent the day riding with Tyler, he mentioned that he didn't have a plan for when he finished the Tour Divide. I volunteered to step up my trip a couple of weeks and pick him up at Antelope Wells, NM.
The plan started out me taking him to an airport, El Paso, Albuquerque or maybe Sante Fe and I would then take my 2 weeks. That got modified to me trailering the Honda ST1100 to NM and Tyler driving the Jeep and trailer back to Madison and me picking them up after my 2 weeks in CO on the STeed.
Then Tyler thought about joining me and after he got permission to take time off of work, the plan then was to just bring the Jeep and we'd take off together for CO after he finished the Tour.

Watching his blue dot on TrackLeaders, he was a couple of days ahead of schedule, so I left WI figuring he'd finish late Friday or early Saturday.

On the way Thursday stopped in at the Human Powered Trails (HPT) in La Crosse, WI.
It was a bit wet and slippery on the rocks and roots so I was taking it easy....then I came around a corner down in a draw about as far as the Jeep as possible and I slid out. Came down hard on my left thigh trying to protect my head. It was a bit serious, so once I knew nothing was broke I mounted up and took off before it started to stiffen up.....by the time I pedaled out and stopped and got ice the pain was quite serious and I was having a hard time driving and was actually getting a bit nauseous. I drove the next few hours with a bag of ice on my thigh. Was concerned I might have messed up my 2 week CO trip.

Covered about 80-85% of the trails. Had my fall out on French Connection, top left of the map.

Came up on this rock out on OBI or Twister.....somewhere out there. Dan is rider I've met during the Arrowhead and Tuscobia.

Some humor......

Passau, Germany

2017-07-21T21:12:00.001-05:00

Passau, Germany (Bavaria). City of "Three Rivers". The blue Danube, green Inn and black Llz all meet here. All rivers come from a different watershed, so the colors are distinct where they meet.

Cool old castle (is there any other kind?).
Got in some nice walking in the hours we were there.

Way back in the 1100's they figured out to bevel the opening so 2 archers could fire at the same time....by not standing directly in front of the opening. There was other cool castle facts on the tours....just can't remember them all!

Not sure if this was our boat, but similar.

The town Cathedral.

Toss this guy on your back for awhile!

Duluth, MN Lester Park and Hawks Ridge

2017-07-21T19:32:00.004-05:00

Coming home from Cuyuna back in May spent some time in Duluth. These trails are only getting better and better.
Up Lester Park (west trail), out and back across Hawks Ridge, down Lester Park (east trail).

Ozark Biking

2017-07-16T10:58:00.000-05:00

Hit up some trails while Lynn and I spent time in the Ozarks. It was a wet spring here as well as many parts of the Midwest.
In general, very good trails that drain nicely and due to the shale type soil, don't retain much water. Wet, but no mud or standing water.
Trails:
- Rode parts of the KATY near St; Louis with buddy Beans that lives there.
St. Charles, Daniel Boone. "WELCOME"

- White River Valley, Branson. This trial was closest to our condo so I rode it a few times. Nice trail.
"JAKE IS IN LOVE WITH SARAH" hummm....wonder how that's going?

Not a good pic, but an old cabin and cellar along the trail.

A few hikers out on the trail. Tried to roll around one by going up some exposed shelf rock. Slid out. Rock was jagged and sharp. No Emergency Room visit, though.

- Lake Leatherwood trails near Eureka Springs....including Bench Loop, Twin Knobs, Minors Rock and Dam Overlook. Again, good trails. Some climbing but nothing too over the top....pun intended.

Miners Rock outcropping.

Random formations along Dam Overlook.

Eureka Springs is an interesting town, worth it to stop in. Bike Shop owner was informative as well. The town it's self isn't bike friendly, but the owner shared info on trails, how to get to Lake Leatherwood via the backdoor, and housing info.

We drove down to Bentonville to look around and I rode a couple of hours on the Slaughter Pen trail system. I did some loops on the Pen trails, then worked my way to downtown via other trail systems and connectors. There is a lot here....and it can get very challenging if that's what one wants.

I met Lynn and the Bike Rack Brewing Company and they have the original of a print I have from an artist in MT....cool connection.

We stopped in Springfield, MO and we came across a Bike Museum. Well worth the time to stop in and check things out. James Allen is the owner, tons of stuff and great stories to back it all up. He had 3 Columbia 1900 era shaft drive bikes....but no Crawford.