Tag Archives: bike

08192018 – Mountain Bike

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I would have been okay with not doing anything today.  But when Todd mentioned maybe going riding at Wirth, I decided that could be a fun option! So we went out and hit almost all of the trails at Wirth including two new to me sections!  It was mid-80’s, humid, and still smoky from Canadian fires.  The trails were super dry with lots of dust to coat both us and the bikes!

We started with the Karate Monkey trails, the harder section of new event trails made by the Loppet.  They have some tight flow sections and hairpin turns without banks so it isn’t an easy trail.  Plus a tough uphill climb to start.  The last section is relatively easy and is right next to the creek for a nice ride.

We decided to go to the Bog trails and work our way back up towards the Back 40 and Area 36.  We rode the Southbound sections and then turned around and headed back hitting all the areas but the Expert Brownie Loop.  It was fun to have somebody to help push me along more than my usual casual pace. Some of the harder elements of the Bog trails require me to get off my bike and I could probably do some of them if I practiced more and got out of my head and fear.

In the Back 40 we took a new trail that had some interesting asphalt and debris sections. It also had some tight squeezes and was a little technical.  Things were going well until I crossed the bridge section a little too fast and my back tire slipped on the edge.  Somehow my bike actually stayed on, but my balance shifted too fast and I fell off.  So I had one leg still on the bike and one standing on the ground.  Fortunately the bridge is only a few inches off the ground!! Shortly after that I saw a doe and fawn on the trail so in my mind that made up for falling.  The ground had finally dried up enough for the short duck pond section to be re-opened.  It seemed shorter than I remembered, but it had been closed for about a year, so who knows.

After finishing the Back 40 we refilled water at the Trailhead and hit the Area 36 trails.  There is some tough climbing and some fun pump sections and we had a good time here.  Todd did The Tube and I opted to skip it this time around. We finished up and headed home.  After hosing down our bikes we relaxed and realized we both got a ton of Strava segment PR’s.

It was a great ride and I’m glad it worked out to do it.

12.3 miles!

08162018 – CrossFit & Bike

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I woke up feeling a lot better this morning and did some “lite” CrossFit. I did one round of 30 kettlebell swings (35#), 30 lunges, and 30 situps with my 8# medicine ball.  No timer or anything.  Just a quick get the blood moving workout.

Then I rode to a training at the central office so I got in 3 miles of biking!

08152018 – Bike

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Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, Back to work I go.

Bike commuted to work today even though I felt a little tired and groggy still. I don’t get to bike commute very often so I’m glad I took advantage of it while I could.

About 11 miles total.

06302018 – Mountain Bike

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On Saturday after some quality time with the families playing around and doing some paddling Joe and I were able get a ride in.  We opted for the Yawkey Unit so we rode the Drag Line to get there and the Haul Road to get into the trails.  We did Man Cage, Manuel, Skip, and Grizzly before heading back on Haul Road and taking the Man High option before ending up at the campground.

I think Yawkey is some of the best trails in the group.  We did Skip twice before coming back down and doing the whole loop a second time.  I can’t really describe it, but you end up at the top of a mountain in a pine forest  (see top picture) with some pump track on some narrow turns and cliff edges!  Manuel is a hard climb but totally worth it!

Total ride was 9.5 miles.

06292018 – Mountain Bike

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We are camping with friends in Cuyuna Country State Recreation area, which means that we’ll be getting some great mountain biking in! Since we needed two cars, I was able to leave before the family and get some riding in.

We were there two years ago and that was my introduction to mountain biking.  I didn’t ride a lot of trails that weekend, but this weekend I hope to get quite a bit in.  Today was a good start for that. They have recently opened a bunch of new trails and basically you ride out on some “easy” trails before having options on they way back to the trailhead of staying on the easy or progressing to the harder stuff.  For the most part the harder stuff has a lot of climbing or some steep switchbacks – there are a few more technical side trails or sections that you can bypass as needed.

For the first ride I rode out on Easy Street and then took Mucker Mountain,  Sand Hog Mountain, Hopper Hill, Low Grade, Trammer, Roly Poly, Miners Mountain, Crusher, some Sidewinder, back to the Rally Center and then Switchback (plus the new return trail) to the road and back.   That ended up being almost 13.5 miles.

After lunch at Red Raven (which had an excellent Reuben), I went and setup our campsite.  I was the first one of our group so I had my choice.  Once everything was setup, I realized I had time to do another ride.  So I hopped back on the bike and left from the campground and rode the Drag Line and Haul Road.  It was in the 90’s so it was hard to stay up on hydration.  There are some cool Yurts off Haul Road that had nice cool water! Haul Road and Drag Line make a nice easy loop so that’s what I did.  I decided not to hit Man High or Man Cage yet! When I got back to the campground some friends were there and taking a cool-off dip in the lake so I joined them!  My second ride was about 7 miles.