Store Shutdown Over

The shutdown of the store ends Tuesday. That makes it nine weeks, sometimes that feels like a long time and others not nearly so much. As nice as it's been not having to work the day to day, it's been hard to fully enjoy it with the restrictions in place. Of course I realize that many people out in the world have way more pressing issues to worry about with regards to the pandemic. But I also can't help but think about the kind of adventures that could be had with nine weeks off of work. More than enough time to do the Tour Divide route, if the nine weeks fell in the right time of year. My bike packing stuff is all sorted for the most part and ready to go. I see a quick overnight up to Oneil Lake in the near future, but there are no firm plans in the works beyond that. We'll be going five days a week through June, so the possibility exists to go for a two night adventure somewhere if Covid restrictions allow. If not, I've been pretty happy recreating at home for the last nine weeks, and it should only get better as the weather improves. It'll be even better still if there are a few less people around than normal. Sarah and I enlisted the help of Hugh and Mike B. to work on putting in a bridge over a little creek for the conservancy. The two stewards of the trail (Larry and Dan) came down to help as well. It turned out they did most of the bridge installation with Hugh in the lead, and Mike and I worked on shoring up the banks on both sides of the creek with scavenged rocks from nearby. It wasn't a huge creek at all, and crossing it wasn't that problematic. But the bridge is a very nice addition all the same. It's going to be a brave new world down at the store with the curbside masked service. Over and out.

Context

Context matters. The food that tastes really good when you are out in the middle of the woods and hungry after a long day in the saddle might not taste quite as good at home. I think the same may apply to sleep systems as well. I wanted to see if my 40 degree bag might be comfortable down into the 30's if I paired it with a puffy pullover, hat and fleece long underwear. I think it is. At least it was until about 1:30. At that point I needed to get up to take a leak. I had drifted in and out of sleep and was confident that an entire night would be plenty safe, maybe not super comfortable but fine. So I went inside to my nice warm bed. It turns out that the hammock tent seems great when it's up against the hard ground, but not nearly as great when you have access to a nice bed about 20 paces away. Couple of pictures from the last week or so. I call this one Redneck Limbo

This small tree has been over the two track between home and Bigfoot Rd for a couple of weeks now. I can't believe one of the side by side yahoos hasn't taken it down yet. Oh side by sides! I finally tagged the tree that tagged me a couple of years back

Looks like we are going to attempt a reopening of the shop one week from tomorrow. Curbside only. I can't even imagine allowing random people in at this point in the pandemic. That may very well continue through the summer as far as I can tell. Riding is still going really well, we'll see if I can keep it up once work starts back. Over and out.

Trees In

The weather turned out to be just about perfect this morning for the tree planting project with the Little Traverse Conservancy. We weren't really sure what the plan was other than to "plant some trees". Which is pretty much what we did. Derek laid out the plan for the area, and off we went. It is a big open field that is no longer being used for hay production, and rather than letting it go they are reforesting it instead. It sounds like a really nice idea to me. We had three options for trees: a walnut, some Japanese variety, and some kind of pine. We were instructed to place them at random about 12-15 feet apart. So you dig the hole, plant the tree and refill, put the black biodegradable plastic sheet over the base, and then finish off with the stake and tube for the deciduous varieties. It will be fun to watch them all grow up over the years and be able to think back to having had a hand in planting them during the pandemic of 2020. It was a very nice way to spend the morning. It's a bit taxing on the body, but well worth it to be outside and be involved in a project where you can see some tangible results.

I had just enough energy left after lunch for a quick lap down to Hoogland and back. There is some damage from the last storm that rolled through unfortunately. I have two trees near the start of the HQ loop that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Of the half dozen or so blow downs in the Hoogland I am probably capable of clearing half. I'll try and go out and get that cleared up this weekend, but the main priority is going to be the bike for sure. The weather is supposed to be really nice. Over and out.

Planting Trees

Got a volunteer session this morning planting 500 trees with the Little Traverse Conservancy. Sarah, Mike and I are going, and there should be quite a few other people there. So I'm not sure how long it will take, but an outdoor ride is on the agenda for this afternoon either way. It's been rainy and cold the last couple of days so I've opted for the relative comfort of the trainer. The rain has really greened things up out there. The trees are only just starting to bud, but the ground out at HQ is becoming a sea of green. The trillium and the leeks are coming on strong. You can't see the flowers of the trillium yet, and the leeks aroma is still faint. But spring is in full swing. A couple of more weeks and maybe we'll have some work to do at the store as well. Fingers crossed. Over and out.

Quarantine Update

And so it continues. At least it's been nice enough to get in most of my riding outdoors.

Got out for a nice spin on the old Quiring rigid 29er. Mike B and I figured since it had rained all night we'd stick to some dirt roads, and they were pretty nice. We also rode through the Good Hart Farm property and there were only two wet spots. Pretty amazing how quickly our sandy soil can soak up the rain. We are heading back up there (Good Hart) to an LTC volunteer tree planting project Thursday morning. I'm not sure where they are planting them, just know to show up at 10:00 and that there are 500 trees to plant. I'm hoping it's along the big open field near the trailhead. It get's so drifted and windy right there in the winter, a little wind break would be great. But we shall see. We also got the go ahead to start on that bridge at the Hoogland Preserve. Good to have some more projects now that most of the trails are cleaned up. Over and out.

Spring Break

One spring break has already come and gone without going anywhere. For obvious reasons we didn't make it to Arkansas like we were supposed to earlier in the month. We weren't scheduled for another trip until just after Memorial Day, but it's probably generous to give that more than a 50/50 chance at this point. I'd like to think we would be open by then and doing some sort of curbside service, but it might be hard to and/or unadvisable to pack up the camper and head to Copper Harbor as we had planned. In the short term, it's just about gotten warm enough to contemplate some close to home bike packing adventures. I'm trying to wait for the overnight lows to stay above 40. I'm thinking about O'neil Lake on Monday night as trip number one of the season. Not too much else to report from the HQ, I think we are going to head out and do a little more trail work tomorrow morning. And then I've got a ride tomorrow evening, temps are supposed to be about 50 :). Over and out.

Acoustic Bikes?

I ran across a picture on the internet today that got me to chuckling.

I have a very visceral reaction to the whole notion of e-bikes. The comment section that went along with the picture leads me to believe that my opinion may be in the minority. A couple of the people referred to the distinction between the two modes of transportation as an "e-bike" or an "acoustic bike". I don't like this. It is either a "motor cycle" or a "bicycle". It makes no difference that it is electric or quiet or green. To the commenters that claim it allowed them to keep riding after becoming injured or too old, I'd say I'm really sorry. But there will come a time for all of us when riding challenging single track will no longer be an option. Whether it's due to age, failing eyesight, disability, disease, or eventually the great beyond it will happen. If it happens before death for me, I'll switch back to the road. Hopefully I'll still be able to negotiate the lesser traveled dirt ones. But if not I've been a road biker before and I can become one again. I'd even go so far as to to say that I'd rather ride a rucumbent bike on the bike path before I'd swing my leg over an e-bike for use on the trails. Or god forbid I may have to start hiking. I just see it as way too slippery of a slope. The motors will get bigger, the batteries will last longer and get lighter, they will go faster and become less expensive. It's a recipe for motorized dirt bikes to eventually start using and damaging trails that were designed and built specifically for non-motorized use. I saw a guy on one the other day while I was out spring cleaning the trails at Boyne. He was cruising along on an e-fat bike. In insulated Cardhardt bib overalls and no helmet. With two dogs. He did not appear to be disabled. At least not physically. At any rate, a rant that now seems rather trivial in light of the pandemic is through. On a lighter note I had a very productive pandemic day. Cleaned out the wood stove, changed the sheets, did some laundry, vacuumed, did a yoga practice, had a good interval session on the trainer, and topped it off with a sauna. 170 degrees. Over and out.

Trail Evolution

Some trails stay the same, but more often than not around here they evolve. Maybe that will change now that we have some dedicated trail systems going in down in BC with the School Forest and Avalanche. And we'll have the Christmas Mountain system going in this year south of Petoskey. But up closer to home my personal trail network and the single track at Boyne Highlands exist within a patchwork of different land ownership. Pieces of property get sold or developed. Some get logged. In that case the trail often gets moved, or if it does get reopened it often feels like a new trail with different light and lots of choppy trail surface. On the home front our trail has seen a lot of changes in the last 20 years. The creek section has been gone for a long time. The 95 acres got sold last year, and the new people seem nice enough. They said we were more than welcome to keep riding through, but they have sheep herding dogs and one of their 10 acre fenced fields is directly on the trail that cuts through the big field at the top of the hill. So now we have two options: The Pond Hill loop is the easier of the two. About 8 miles and not super hilly, but no pavement.

The H3 (HQ/Hughs/Hoogland) loop is hillier. It consists of my trail, Hugh's trail, and the Hoogland Preserve. Also about 8 miles, but with some more climbing and more single track. But you need to ride a bit of pavement to connect them. Down Troup Rd, through Surfwood, and a little bit of M119. It's nice to have an option at home I guess, you can do an easy day or climbing ride depending on the mood and/or group. The single track at Boyne is evolving as well. It's growing too, well over 20 miles of trail now. The whole system is kind of shifting west and north. This was my ride from yesterday:

It's all still a hand built patchwork of trails. Benson has them all mapped out on Trail Forks now, and it's definitely getting them used more which is good. They need to get ridden in order to become established and packed down. With the social distancing and no work going on due to the pandemic, they are getting cleaned up really well this spring too. The trials heading out towards Stutsmanville have always been a little hard to see/follow. I'm going to tackle those next. Planning for a lazy Sunday after the long ride yesterday. Probably just an easy spin and maybe some yoga. Over and out.

Income Inequality

Word on the streets is that this place just sold for a little over four million dollars. It's hard for "regular" people like myself to really understand this type of money. I refer to myself as a regular person only in comparison to the type of person that can buy a second second cottage Up North for somewhere just north of four million dollars. And I didn't type second twice there by mistake either. This particular dude already has a cottage in the same exclusive community. It's not on the water, and the lot isn't nearly as nice or large. But they are going to keep it anyway, you know for kids or guests and such. Why not? Two cottages are better than one, am I right?

$4,000,000. is $100,000 a year for 40 years. Or you could do this with it.

I'm told an 8,000 square foot cottage has been drawn up. Supposedly they were going to try and get the foundation in this spring and then do the majority of the build over next winter. No doubt they have experienced some scheduling difficulties with the pandemic and all so maybe it won't be done by spring of 2021. But there is also little doubt that this current situation we find ourselves in will derail the project altogether. After all, he earned that money. Or to be more precise his father in law inherited that money from his father. Who may or may not have inherited it from someone who owned slaves. Kind of making that slave part up. Maybe. Wish the rest of it wasn't true, but it is. Asshole.

Indoor vs Outdoor Observations

I spent a good amount of time on the trainer this winter. It had been years since I had ridden one before the fall I broke my collar bone a couple of years ago. By the time I got cleared for indoor riding I was so anxious to get some exercise that the trainer I borrowed from Secret Steve felt amazing. So good in fact that I bought one from Ed at Touring Gear pretty quickly. I got it set up out in the shop, and since then it's been a pretty helpful tool in my training. As with most things, there are pros and cons. Pros: It's quick. Especially in the winter when you need to bundle up and drive to a trail to fat bike. I leave a wool jersey and towel out there so all you need to do is throw on a pair of bibs and walk out. This also makes it easy for early morning quick workouts before work. I get to watch some Netflix on the laptop and listen to some tunes with nice headphones. I like to mix it up between tunes and tv during the ride depending on my ride mood. More music=More up tempo riding for me. I like to have a cold brew coffee on the bike if it's early morning or earlier in the afternoon. Can't do that outdoors. I can incorporate indoor riding into my light therapy in the dark months. Two birds one stone. Overall it's just a good way to keep up a good consistent base of fitness. Cons: Being outdoors is better. There's really no comparison at the end of the day if I had to pick one or the other it would be outdoors. Fresh air, trees, movement. It's a thing in the winter but especially now, seasonal allergies are much more of a pain to deal with indoors. You can't just spit and clear out the nasal passages all willy nilly. Well you could but it would be gross. Instead you need to blow your nose proper like and/or dispose of lung stuff in a sanitary manner. You can only go so long on the trainer. Today I managed 1.25 hours only because I had fired up my old laptop (because Sarah needs the new computer for work during the day) and was rocking out to some tunes I hadn't heard in a long time. I only got to the Black Crowes after going through a song each of Adam Ezra, Ani DiFranco, Assembly of Dust, Beastie Boys, Ben Harper, and Billy Vera. That was after a 20 minute warm up with episode 1 season 1 of Jericho. Interesting show in the time of a pandemic. So like I said. The trainer is like most things in life. Good parts/bad parts. Best to be used in Moderation. Desired results tend to depend on consistent and steady effort. With the weather we had today, 34 and windy AF with occasional snow showers, riding indoors was an easy choice. That said it's supposed to get up close to 40 with some sun by the end of the week and that will be more than enough to get me back outdoors. Over and out.

Trail Work

Going to get a chance to sample the benefits of all the trail cleaning I've been up to the last few days tomorrow. There's been somebody else out there as well, but I don't know who yet. They've been doing what looks like a pretty quick pass with the leaf blower, and blowing some trails that we don't normally ride. I'm pretty sure they are either redundant and/or not as good other existing trails, but we'll give em a shot and see where they go. Been riding the 29+ so far this spring, and I'm liking it a lot. I got a chance to weigh it today as well. I had misplaced my bike scale quite a while ago, and it finally turned up in plain sight hanging amongst some skis. So the beast tips the scales right at 30 lbs. with the frame bag, tube, pump, and pedals. Not too shabby. It's also weird to see how the saddle and handlebar height match up almost perfectly with the road bike jacked up a few inches on the trainer.

I'm not sure if that's what I'm liking about it so much or if it's the big tires. Don't get me wrong. The new Salsa got some good love this afternoon. Wiped her down, lubed the chain, cleaned out the valve stems and mounted up my new Maxxis tires for the season. Went for a 2.6 up front and a 2.35 in the rear. That's a little more tire than I ran last year, but I'm still resisting the dropper post.

I whipped a good batch of pizza dough yesterday, and Sarah tried her hand at bagels. They look pretty complicated to me, but I have a feeling the next batch is going to be pretty tasty.

I ran into an e-bike on the trail today, and I'm not sure how to process my feelings about that quite yet. I think I know the dude, kind of a jackass/trust fund guy. Quilted Cardhardt bibs, two dogs, no helmet.. He had a coozy insulated cover type thing for the battery area, I'm assuming to help the battery last longer in the cold. I told him to go ahead after a few seconds of awkward socially distant chit chat with me stepping well off the trail. He took off uphill, just as quiet as can be. I'm pretty sure he wasn't even pedaling. It was one of those e-bikes I'm afraid. Telling him he wasn't supposed to be riding a motorized vehicle where he was didn't feel like it would have any effect. And there certainly doesn't seem like there would be a way to turn someone in if you were so inclined to do that. It just sucks. This guy is not a disabled person. This is not someone's spouse who is "at a different fitness level but still wants to ride with their partner". This a just a lazy rich dude that thought they looked like fun, and a whole lot easier to use than a proper non motorized bike. I'm sure it's only going to get worse. Really not looking forward to the day somebody shows up the the WNR with one. Over and out.

Just Plugging Along

Like it says, just plugging along out there in the woods. I think I've perfected a method of spring trail cleaning that works well for me. I start off on the first pass with Billy and a small but sturdy rake. I get most of the sticks and downfall out of the way and make a note of anything that will require a chainsaw. If possible I like to get the chainsaw stuff taken care of next. Then I make the last pass and finish things up with the leaf blower. I tackled Sarge's loop in it's entirety yesterday and today in that fashion, and it's all set and in fantastic shape. I'll head back over in the morning to start on the next section up the hill. We're planning a ride there for Saturday afternoon. Looks like the weather is supposed to be pretty nice. Sunny and in the high 40's. Rode my freshly manicured trail at home this afternoon, as well as Hoglund Preserve and Hugh's. Nice to have the local local trails back up and in good shape. Those three trails add up to just under a 10 mile ride with only a few miles of low traffic pavement on 119 in between. Funny how the "loop" has changed so much over the last 20 years or so. Evolution or some such shit I guess you'd say. Not too much else to report from our little corner of the lock down. I haven't been indoors with a human other than Sarah in a couple of weeks now. And my outdoor social contact has been minimal and distance appropriate. I do have a new homemade mask courtesy of Denise, and I may have to venture out to the Grain Train next week. Trail work/yoga/ride/rest/sauna repeat. Over and out.

Spring Cleaning

I'm not sure what I'll do if I actually finish all the chores that need to be done, but I'm cruising along at a good pace on them. I'd say the shop is about 2/3 organized, and today I finished opening up my private little bit of single track. Went through the first time with the small rake and got most of the big sticks out of the way and tried to rough up the trail a bit. Went back through with the chain saw for four spots of not too much cutting but definitely bigger stuff than I ever could have moved even with help. Then I went out for a third lap with the leaf blower. Hugh's trail is all open now too (we rode that yesterday as part of our route) so I can get in a good ten mile mountain bike ride now from home with just a little pavement to connect stuff here and there. I'm going to head over to Boyne tomorrow or Wednesday and start on the trails over there. I hear there is still a little snow up near the top, but I drove down Warwick today and it looks like most of the Sasquatch up to the Stuffed Lamb ought to be accessible and ready for some TLC. I attempted some ice bath therapy in the lake yesterday after the ride. Water temp is about 34 I'm told, Bodt and I lasted two minutes. When will the sailing start this year? I suppose in the grand scheme of things that should be the least of my worries. The social distancing/stay at home rules remain in effect. Over and out.

Dirt Road Ramble

Had a good small socially distance appropriate ride with Benson and Hugh yesterday. Benson has better knowledge of the dirt roads north and west of Alanson, but after a few years of riding over there with him I'm starting to get it figured out. At any rate, there are a bunch of good, hilly, and low traffic dirt roads over there and yesterday was just about the perfect weather in which to ride them. A slight breeze from the east and blue skies with temps in the low 50's. It was my first ride of the season with regular shoes and without full thermal tights. So it was really nice. We rode for a little over two hours and did about 25 miles. Legs felt pretty good most of the time, although they are feeling the overall increase in training volume this morning. Rainy and 45 out now, so it will work out well for an easy day. Probably just an easy spin indoors and maybe some yoga. And a sauna! Over and out.

April No Fools Day

Not much to report out here at the HQ. Been riding a lot, doing some yoga. Lots of little chores getting done, I got an iron on patch adhered to one of my work aprons yesterday that's been sitting on the pew by the dining room table for at least a month. Got almost all tires filled up with Stan's for the spring season. The snow pictured above is just about gone, so the trail will start to be a real focus moving forward. We are supposed to see temps up in the 50s later this week, so with any luck the trails could dry out and be ready to ride or at least get cleaned up. Other than that, just keeping out of the way and hoping everyone else does the same so we get through this quarantine/social isolation as quickly and as safely as we can. Over and out.

SDS on Saturday

So we did the Sunday Dirt Services this morning due to the even colder and more rainy forecast for tomorrow. I may still try to head out if there is a break in the weather, but the Rev made the call to move the SDS, and since I had nothing else going on I said sure. Nobody else wanted to join in, not too surprising considering it was 38 and raining lightly when I drove in to Woodloft. The rain let up and it warmed up into the low 40's. We kept a safe distance between us, had a good ramble adeventure, and there weren't too many other people out and about. So my brief foray into the world is over for now, very little exposure. But I will probably have to venture out to the grocery store next week at some point. The social isolation continues. Over and out.

Still Rolling

It was a bit chilly yesterday, but I bundled up and headed out on the Graham 29+. What a fun bike! I was only able to hit a small amount of dirt via the single track in the Readmond Township Park and Lamkin Drive. Traffic was light, and I ended up with a 15 mile trip around the block. I popped in and said a quick outdoor hello from a safe distance to a couple of friends along the route as well.

Today the weather wasn't quite as nice. It rained all night, and the temps didn't quite get up over the 40 degree mark. So it was a good yoga practice this morning and a light tempo ride on the trainer in the shop this afternoon. Both felt surprisingly good. Tomorrow is supposed to be really nice, so I'm planning a good long ramble out on the bike. The quarantine chores continue unabated. Yesterday I went through all the old half used cans of paint up on a high shelf out in the shop. 2/3 of them now rest out under the covered camper parking area awaiting a trip to the transfer station once things normalize. Thus some valuable storage space opened up in the shop to continue the purge and general reorganization I've got going on out there. The rain last night knocked down a fair amount of snow but we still have a little bit before we'll be able to start working on the trails so the shop overhaul may get done yet. Not at all surprising, but the Arcadia Grit and Gravel got cancelled today. So my first race of the season is out, I'm not holding out too much hope for Lumberjack in June. Over and out.

Baking Bread at Home

Since I can't be small scale mass producing bread at work these days, I decided to try my hand at some homemade bread baking to fill some time. I've got a good friend down the hill that is going to help me get my own yeast strain going too. I have a feeling pizza and bread will be making a pretty steady appearance in our quarantine cuisine. Took the day off the bike today. Did a couple of short sessions in the yoga room, took Billy for a brisk hike at the neighborhood nature preserve, and capped the afternoon off with a sauna. Over and Out.

Three Weeks Out

The governor of Michigan made the call today, three weeks of very strongly recommended self isolation for all residents. We aren't the first state to take such drastic measures, and I'm sure we won't be the last. All businesses to close up shop. No work that is deemed non essential, Sarah and I both fall squarely into that category. So we're one week in, and at least three to go. So far so good. Been doing a little more on all the good for you physical well being stuff every day. The fat biking has been pretty good, albeit alone for the most part. I've been able to incorporate a little more yoga and into my routine as well. I've even been trying to get the sauna fired up every other day or so. If I can keep it up, I should be moving along pretty good once the single track is snow free and cleaned up. Had a good route on the fat bike this morning.

Looks like it's going to just get cold enough to make it good again tomorrow early as well. Good luck out there in the world.

Social Distancing in a Social Media World

Does it work anymore? If words get typed on a page, a virtual page that is and posted somewhere on the internet but nobody every reads them do they really exist? What about pictures? Weird times these be for sure. The pandemic is upon us. Social distancing is the new normal, my store will be closed for the longest time ever since 1972 before wave one is all said and done.. We're giving it three weeks to start with, but without any clear idea from the powers that be as to what to expect moving forward it's hard to imagine that somehow things are going to be looking up to the point that we'll all be encouraged to go out and mingle about in three weeks time. In the meantime I will continue to use my days as productively as I can.

So this was just a test. If nothing else it may serve as a good way for me to chronicle the northern Michigan pandemic experience from the woods.