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How do you make a Bike Stand?
Ride until the snow is deep enough!

In an effort to keep the WNR reports fresh this late in the season, I've decided to see how many different ways I can title the report count. This week is probably the least recognizable as I've gone binary - If you don't like it, don't let a geek write the blog. The 1's & 0's above represent 39 - Yes, we are still riding in the snow and we are one ride away from hitting a very high mark for number of weeks that we have held a weekly ride in one calendar year. Not only are the report titles fresh, WNR #39 headed to a fresh venue in Charlevoix for Snow Ride #3 at Fisherman's Island State Park. If that weren't enough to be excited about, Secret Steve showed up with his new snowmo-bike - a new Pugsley and a new WNRider, Cooper Dendel - eager to show us her riding chops and take on her first WN/Snow Ride.

We landed in CVX at Kevin's suggestion, hoping that we would be able to ride some groomed, if not well packed, trails. We launched from the entrance of the park as that is as far as the road was plowed & Kevin didn't really feel like towing anyone out. There were actually some solid tracks along the access road and the ride started out pretty easy...then we turned off-road onto the hiking/skiing/snowshoeing trail. Thanks to a two-day stiff north wind and the lake effect machine, conditions were not as ideal as when Kevin first scouted the park. There were a few fresh inches of snow along with a mix of hiking & snowshoe tracks. As we've learned riding in the snow this year, it's actually easier breaking trail than following in other's footsteps (I'm sure there's a metaphor in there somewhere.) Unfortunately, the trail was fairly narrow and riding on the sides was not an option. This combined with a few downed trees, some narrow, rooty turns and a few mild inclines made for an extremely challenging first couple of miles. Then we turned back out to the access road at the south end of the park which followed the shoreline back to the start. Some sections of the road were blown clear while others were drifted shut and had it not been for an adventurous drift-busting 4-wheel driver, our ride would definitely have been extended.

What the ride lacked in mileage, it made up for in heart-rate...at least the first half of the ride. The grand total was only around 4 1/2 miles, not very impressive by most of our WNRides but we kept the streak going and had a pretty good time to boot. Not to mention adding another name to our roster of die hard riders. Way to go Cooper!

Here's picture proof that we at least dressed up & took the Pugsley out in the snow! Man those are some FAT tires!

You know that we're going for 40! If you want to be a part of the historic ride of 2010, get your bike, cold weather gear, headlight(s) and rear blinker & meet us at the top of Emmet Heights Rd. in Harbor (just above the Meadow) for a ride on the snowmobile trails & two-track to round out our awesome year!