WNR # 2

Attendance: Myself, Sarah, Cheryl, Karen (sp?), Lisa, Benson, Racin' Rob, Kevin, Chris, and Action Chuck.

Weather: Sunny but chilly. 33ish.

Trail Conditions: I wouldn't know.

As soon as we set out down the path I realized my drive side crank bolt was loose. After a brief pause to attempt a fix, I sent the rest of the group on up the road and said that if I could get it fixed I'd start riding our proposed loop in the opposite direction. It was not to be. I went to McLean and Eakin to see if Matt had a full sized set of hex wrenches, but they did not. The hardware and the bike shop were both already closed. I briefly considered calling Secret Steve to see if he could help me out, but I thought better of it since they had their baby boy yesterday morning. Congratulations on little Secret Turner! I eventually figured out that my multi-tool did have an 8mm attachment, but try as I might I couldn't get the bolt to turn in either direction. Ugh. I thought singlespeeds were supposed to make life easier. Anyway, everyone else finished up just fine and we regrouped at the Mitchell St. Pub for post ride grub. It was good. Next weeks WNR at the HQ. Sarah will be in touch on dinner assignments. I'm planning a long ride on Sunday if anyone is interested give me a shout. Otherwise, have a good weekend and we'll see you next week. I promise at least a small portion of singletrack. Over and out.;

Sunday Services # 1

Got out on the bike for close to the planned two hours on Sunday. It was so fu**ing cold I didn't even bother to see if anybody else wanted to tag along. I cruised some dirt to check out the woods, and we're not quite "there" yet for off road adventuring. I ran into quite a few patches of ice an snow; and where the snow had melted, it was pretty soft. But all in all it was a good day on the bike. My route from HQ took me north and down Lamkin Drive below Good Hart. Then it was up the singletrack at Readmond TWP and south to Middle Village. Up Middle Village to Townline, and then back to Terpening via the old Deli Sauce Factory hill (Boynton). Then it was down 5 Mile Creek Road and up to the 95 acres courtesy of the PMS Farm and the home. Check out the details below. WNR # 2 is set for tomorrow, and it looks like we should have some decent weather. Meet at the Petoskey waterfront for a 6:30 start. Be there or be square.

Bikepacking

What is bikepacking you ask? Given my total inexperience with this particular niche in the sport of cycling, you can find a ton of info. and ideas from this site.

I also stole these pictures there to give you an idea of what a "bikepacking" set up looks like.








Sarge touched on this topic over on his blog yesterday, and it's something I've been thinking about trying for the last couple of years. Think about how cool it would be to do overnight trips on the NCT. Just pedal until you can't pedal anymore, find a nice out of the way spot to set up camp, eat a simple dinner (or gourmet if you're willing to carry the extra weight), sleep, wake up and repeat. The High Country Pathway also seems like an ideal area for bikepacking exploration. From what I've read about so far on the internet and in some magazines, the set-ups seem to run the gamut from super cheap ghetto style to full on lightweight, high tech., and expensive. One of the first things you need to decide on is some form of shelter. Some people seem quite content with a tarp and some anchoring lines and stakes. Apparently you can use your bike and front wheel to finagle some sort of semidry shelter. Others use one of those small and light weight bivy sacks. This seems like a slightly claustrophobic way to spend the night, but at the same time I do seem to be able to sleep just about anywhere so maybe it would work for me. Once you start thinking about everything you might need and figuring out how much weight you're willing to carry, the possibilities truly become almost overwhelming. Trial and error seems to be the only way to figure out what works best for you, and this season I just may find out what bikepacking set-up works for me. Have a good weekend.

Forcefield

There seems to have been a forcefield surrounding us all winter repelling almost all snow accumulation. It appears as though it is still operational. The forecast last night called for 3 to 5 inches, and we got a very slight dusting. So it looks like the only thing standing in the way of WNR # 2 is the arctic temperatures and a fierce wind out of the NE. We'll see how the weather looks this afternoon, but with our crazy bunch I'm willing to bet a couple of us will brave the elements. I stole the below video from bikerumor.com. Enjoy.

2011 so far from ryan n on Vimeo.

WNR # 1

Attendance: Myself, Sarah, Benson, Racin' Rob, Action Chuck, Cheryl, Kevin, Karen, and Lisa.



Weather: Cold, but not too windy. About 40 degrees.



Trail (road) Conditions: M-119 is really pretty clear, a couple of puddles here and there but not too much sand or salt leftover from the winter. The driveway proved to be the most treacherous part.



For WNR #2 next week the plan is to meet at the waterfront in Petoskey and ride the bike path towards Charlevoix for a bit and back. Dinner at the Pub afterwards for those that are hungry and don't want to go home. On the slim chance that some trails open up by then we may change venues, but that seems highly unlikely given the foot or so of snow still in the woods.

It's Just Like Riding A Bike

Seriously. It's so nice to get back out on the bike. I only rode for an hour on the shore yesterday, but it was awesome. The views of the ice breaking up on the lake was enough to almost cause an accident. Fortunately there was virtually no traffic, so riding around the two or three huge puddles along the way wasn't an issue. Tonight's WNR # 1 should be even better. I think we've got something like ten people coming out for the kick off of the riding season, and I just tapped a fresh keg of Short's :) Also, I just signed up for the Mud, Sweat, and Beers cross country race. They only have 150 spots out of 700 left; so if you're interested, I suggest making the move. I think last year was the first running and I didn't make it, but I heard really good things. And it's close enough to sleep in my own bed the night before which is always nice.

A Day Early

Here's a cool video I stole from the DC website this morning. These guys are fast. They start speaking English about halfway through, and then you get to see a super pro bike swap from Paris-Nice. Also, I had the best day of the year skiing Sunday morning with JT, Sarah, Marcus, and Matt. Three hours of fresh powder and blue skies, a great way to close out the season. I'm on the bike this afternoon :)

Still Skiing

We can't seem to shake winter. We've had about six inches of new snow over the last couple of days, and I've been trying to make the best of it (despite the fact that I'm kind of ready to start biking). I got out behind the HQ last night and snapped these snowy shots. JT and I got together this morning for an early morning ski at Hurd Road before work, and we're going to meet up again tomorrow morning at the Tower. So far, the forecast looks like we'll be skiing all weekend as well. After that it appears to be up in the air. With a little warmer temperatures and/or some rain, what little snow we have should melt pretty quickly. Hopefully we'll see a good team turnout at Bowling this weekend. Let's get our roll on!

Detroit

I found a link to this earlier this morning. It almost makes me believe that Detroit will survive. It's a long one, but well worth the time. I'm going back to watch parts 2 and 3 while I dine on my breakfast of granola and almond milk. Have a good day.

Weekend Pictures

We had a nice hike out on the lake and then up the dunes out at the SBYC Sunday afternoon. Sarah and I were joined by Matt, Scott, Kathryn, and little Finn. A bit cold with the wind, but a beautiful day up on Sturgeon Bay.



JT and I met up in the a.m. to ski at the end of Hurd Road. I had never skied there, and JT had only first been the day before. We were out for a little over two hours, and we found some really great terrain. Unfortunately, it looks as though the state is getting ready to log it this spring. Damn orange spray paint!






We got another inch of snow last night, and there's a bit more in the forecast for tomorrow. For such a crappy winter it sure is hanging on for all it's worth. I'm probably going to start assessing the bike fleets readiness today or tomorrow. At the very least, I hope to be getting out on the road next week to start logging some base miles.