Animal Entertainment

While camping at Forestville State Park a couple of weekends ago we were treated to some animal everyday life.  It started out Saturday night when returning to camp after having completed the Almanzo bike race.  I was unloading some stuff from the car when I hear Kerry blurt out "Hey, we got a little critter in camp."  It was a bit dark so I turned on my headlamp.  By what she said, and how she said it, I was expecting to catch a glimpse of a little mouse or a chipmunk scurrying away.  Instead, when I looked over towards the tent, I saw a decent sized raccoon casually making it's way toward the picnic table.  I quickly ran towards it and shooed it away.  It was then that I noticed that it had already been at our site earlier and tore into a bag of trail mix and mixed nuts that we hadn't properly stowed (my bad).  As we went to sleep that night we quickly found out that the raccoon must have had a den nearby.  Frequently, throughout the night, we were awoken by chattering, chirping and general carrying on of a raccoon family in the brush.

The next morning, as we were making breakfast we got to witness a family move, raccoon style.  It ends up the family was holed up in a brush pile about 50 ft north of our tent site and mom was intent on moving them to a hole in a tree that was about 50ft SW of our camp.  Five times, the mom made the trip around the perimeter of our camp, carrying her restless little ones to their new home.

I love how she's got the little guy slung over her shoulder as she climbs.

Hold on, I'm going to throw you over into that hole. 

Almanzo

No pictures today, just the Almanzo experience.  I decided to give the camera a day off from bike rides after it took a short dirt nap with me, in the middle of the road,  last week.  

Almanzo weekend started with a short work day on Friday.  Scott was coming over around 3:30 to throw camping gear and bikes in my truck for the ride down to Spring Valley.  By the time I left work at 1:30 on Friday I had already made 2 trips to the bathroom and had to go again by the time I got home.  Hydrating was going well.  Knowing the forecast for Saturday (hi in low 90's, sunshine and strong winds), staying well hydrated would be a serious concern.  Dealing with cramping, heat exhaustion and delirium at any point in a 100 mile race is no fun.  As it ended up, we would witness many a cyclists having "no fun" in the ditches along the road.

We rolled into Spring Valley a little after 6 on Friday.  Perfect timing to get registered early and take part in the spaghetti feast at the VFW.  I loaded up on pasta and the wonderful assortment of bars that contributors from town had made.  After visiting with a few folks during supper, we made our way out to go set up camp.  On the way to the vehicle we ran into Chris Skogen, the man behind the event, and thanked him for what was already turning out to be another great installment of the Almanzo race.  The amount of work and effort that Chris and the other volunteers put into this event, to make it the top notch show that it is, is staggering.  Oh, and did I mention this event is FREE.  Thank you!  After setting up camp, building a small fire and drinking a lot more water, we called it an early night and hit the hay.  

Race morning, we got up around 7 and cooked up some banana pancakes topped with PB to take us through the first couple hours of the race.  After loading each of our bikes with 3 full bottles of water and decent clutch of food we headed into Spring Valley for the race start.  We lined up somewhere in the middle of the pack of roughly 600 riders.  Scott and I would start the race cruising out with people but then purposely worked our pace down to a very sustainable level.  The next 35 miles can be summed up like this:

-We're cruising, this tail wind is nice, for now.

-Oooh, fun downhill, we're gonna pay for it though

-So this is what it feels like to bike on a pile of marbles

-Drink

-This crosswind sucks

-Drink

-Climb

-This headwind is really going to suck heading out of Preston. 

We hit Preston at mile 39 and proceeded into town where we ate some deli pasta salad and each bought a gallon of water to refill all our bottles.  Also liberaly, re-applied sunscreen.  Continuing out of Preston we were immediately hit with a battering ram, I mean, headwind.  this continued for the next 10 miles a we headed south to within 5 miles of the Iowa border.  The next 13 miles we enjoyed a bit of a tailwind, as we meandered our way north and into Forestville state park.  As we came into the old Forestville townsite, the area was filled with riders and bikes laying haphazardly in any patch of shade available.  From this point forward we came by plenty of riders, umm. . "relaxing" in this same fashion in the ditches and groves along the route.  We crossed the bridge into the campground portion of the park where we were very pleasantly greeted by our awesome wives as we made our way to our site to re-supply.  We knew there was a chance we'd see them somewhere along the way, but running into them in camp was truly a blessing as this lifted our spirits significantly.

We visited for a while and refilled all our food and water supplies for the last 35 miles.  We also downed a Starbucks VIA packet with some cold water.  A medicine of sorts at this point.  Jitzed up from seeing our wives and the coffee shot, we set out to tackle the hills immediately out of the park.  It didn't take long before the hills worked off the high and the only thing keeping us going was the thought that miles 75 through 90 were, for the most part, northbound, with the wind.  On one of the hills around mile 70 we came upon a girl who asked us to help her with a shifting problem.  Turns out the tension on her bar-end shifter had backed off and she was reduced to only her small ring in the front.  It was a quick fix, and soon after we were on our way. 

 Before turning northbound we also went through the small town of Cherry Grove.  Here we ran into some friendly, young kids hanging out on the lawn with a little water stand.  Two of the girls ran out into the road with a jug of water as we approached.  

"We've got cold water, do you want some?"  10 hours of pedaling in 90 degree heat.  Damn straight, I want some cold water.   

"That sounds wonderful.  Here, can you fill this bottle?" I said.  

They filled our empty bottles as I slammed the remaining contents of one of my others.  Just as we said thanks and were about to leave, the younger girl blurts out "You can pay if you want".  I nearly laughed out loud at the innocence yet boldness of the statement.  Knowing I had 93 cents jingling around in my jersey pocket since Preston I happily said "For sure." and emptied my pocket into her appreciative hands.  

Working our way northward, we stopped to stretch, eat and drink alongside the road.  I saw a DNR SNA sign and headed over to read it.  Turns out we were in the area of the natural opening of another large cave in the area.  Goliath's cave.  An interesting story and a little controversy surrounding the cave can be found on the innernetz.

Continuing toward the finish, I left our wives a message estimating our arrival time, which was now looking to be sometime after 8 PM.  It has been a long day but both Scott and I knew we'd finish this thing.  We saw lots of other bikes being picked up by vehicles along the way.  We knew we had that option as well but we came to ride this thing and that's what we were gonna do.  Just before one of the last crushing climbs (Oriole) we met up with fellow rider Larry.  Seeing Larry brought a smile to my face and it was nice knowing that we could all suffer through the last few miles and cross the line together.  Shortly after the last climb we caught up with a couple of other riders.  At this point I knew the finish was near and I was feeling pretty good so I told everyone to tuck-in and I'd pull us through the wind the last few miles.  With lights on, and as our wives and other onlookers cheered, we crossed the line to shake Chris's hand somewhere around 8:40 or so.   Almanzo 2012 was in the books.  I hope that A&W is still open!

Ride pix

Saturday a few of us hit the gravel for a 50 mile loop.  It was absolutely beautiful out, and a perfect morning for a ride.  Roads were firm and damp, unlike now where they are sandy, loose and full of dust.  A little rain before Almanzo would be nice.  

Don's Game Face

Dad joined us for a portion of the ride and rode down into Marine.   This picture was taken right after I completely dumped it on a gravel road while fiddling with my camera.  Nearly took him out in the process.  

Enjoying some snacks at the Bikery Du Nord

UP Backroads

This past weekend, Kerry and I made a trip up to her parents place in Ontonagon.  We hadn't been up there since Christmas, so it was nice to get up there for a bit.  Weather turned out to be fairly decent on Saturday afternoon so I headed out with the mountain bike for some back road exploring, north and east of their house.  The loop turned out to be 40 miles and up until mile 27, where I ran into a dozen people on ATV's,  I probably saw 5 people total.  Those 5 people were a guy chopping wood in his front yard, a guy with a backpack headed out to 14 mile point on foot, one truck with a 4-wheeler in the back and a guy and his son exploring the beach at 4 mile rock.  

The beach at 4 mile rock.   Fat bike territory.

Bear Creek Rd.

This guy was out enjoying the lonely roads also.

Not much traffic on this one.

If my sister can hop streams on her 4-wheeler like she can pop over logs, I'd like to see her cross this.  

Top quality lunch

A Camp Trip To Mammoth Gravel

The Mammoth Gravel ride is a 35 or 70 mile mixed terrain route put together by the fine folks at CyclovaXC in  St. Croix Falls.  Since we're preparing for the 100 mile Almanzo gravel race coming up in May, brother-in-law, Scott and I decided to take on the 70 mile route.   

The weather on Friday was looking good so I decided, if I could get out of work a bit early, I'd pack the camping gear and ride up to St. Croix Falls and camp the night before the ride.  I got the go ahead from work so it was a go.  

Me and the gear.  It was supposed to be cold and possibly rainy in the morning, so I way over packed.

Mom and Dad are, conveniently, right on the way so Dad joined me on the ride for a few miles.

I'm diggin' the sign.

Right before the descent into T.Falls is the lovely Franconia Sculpture garden.

Dang, I could have just squatted in this, and I wouldn't have needed to schlep all this gear. 

Pulling into camp

I earned a treat.

 Scott, getting prepped for the ride.  

Saturday morning the crowd  began to gather at the Overlook park in town.  At 9:30 we began our quick roll out of town.  The front of the pack went out rather quickly but we were content just to hang back and take the start nice and easy.  About 18 miles in, we hit the notorious Sand Barrens.  Since about 100 people had tore through them before us they were in worse shape than I encountered a few weeks ago.  We ended up dismounting and walking a fair amount.  At the end of the barrens the race organizers had a truck parked to celebrate the end of the sand with trailside treats.  I enjoyed a PBR with Mr. MacNaughty, Scott downed a Coke and we were back on the road.  After tackling a long southbound section into the wind, we had a fantastic "roller dog" lunch at the Cushing gas station and then it was time to tackle the next section.  

Miles 40 through 50 are eastbound and bring a section of non-stop 50-75 ft. rolling hills that really wear on you despite their relatively small size.  About halfway through this section the rain started to come down.  We made a push to Cafe Wren, in Luck, where we decided to don our rain gear and make the final push on the Gandy Dancer back into St. Croix Falls.  We covered the final 17, wet miles and rolled into downtown SC Falls around 3:45.  We were pleasantly surprised to be greeted, near the finish, by our cheering wives and my parents.  We wrapped up by hitting the bike shop for the swag drawing and refueling with some great burgers at the Indian Creek Winery

Ragnarok 2012

Ragnarok # 5 is in the books.  This is a 100 mile plus gravel road race that I have been doing every year since the boys in Red Wing first conceived the evil idea in 2008.  It was my first ever century ride on a bicycle and will forever hold a special place in my heart.  That first year was filled with horrendous weather and the only thing that saw me through to the finish, after nearly 12 hrs, was the comaraderie and co-misery of two great friends Scott and Porter.    

This year, the forecast during the week prior to the race, looked a bit grim but on race day we were greeted with mostly cloudy skies for the morning with a temp starting out around 50 degrees.  Absolutely perfect as far as I'm concerned.  My day started with a 4:45 AM alarm.  Started coffee and jumped in for a quick, wake up shower.  Truck was loaded the night before so now it was time to whip up some banana pancakes before heading out the door.  I ate 3 of the 4 pancakes and decided to shove the extra one in the feed bag on the bike.    

I rolled into Red Wing around 6:40 with plenty of time to make a bathroom stop and get signed in at the race table.  Pre-race time was filled with the usual milling around and greeting friends and training buddies at the start.  I handed off a jug of water and a small cooler to Bob's Shepherds wife, Carol, for transport to the first check point.  Having this option is a huge time saver.  Thanks Carol! 

The first few miles of the race, for me, are usually very predictable.  I'm a slow starter, so I purposely take it very easy on most of the climbs and try not to get sucked into a pace that I cannot handle early on.  After about 45 minutes or so, I started feeling like all systems were firing strong and I started passing a few people until I settled into my spot in the long string of spaced out riders.   About 1 hour and 15 mins into the race, as I was chatting with another rider, suddenly there was the sound of a large pack approaching us from behind.  6 or 7 riders blazed by us like we were standing still.  I chuckled and said "That's funny."

"Why's that?" the other rider said.

"Those are your leaders."  I responded.  "They must have taken an awfully wrong turn."  

Ahh, the joys of an unsupported, pay attention or pay for it, type race!

The checkpoint in Zumbro Falls came around mile 39.  I came in feeling good, got my new cue sheet to get me to Lake City and headed over to see Carol and refill my bottles.  Neil Cary also came in about this time but beat me back onto the road by a minute or so.  Neil was riding strong and he and I would leap-frog a few times until nature called him for an extended break.  I made a quick phone call to my sister Kyleen and my wife while on one of the flat stretches along the Zumbro river, just to give them a quick race report.  It was nice to chat with them for a while.  Shortly after that, there were a few more killer hills (624th!!) that quickly caused me to shed the extra layers I had debated about removing earlier. 

I rolled into Lake City (81 miles) excited that there was only another 26 miles left in the race.  I was now in a state mentally where I just wanted to close in on that finish line.  I wasn't in a dark place but rather just looking forward to being done.  I filled waters and was back on the road after a 5 minute stop.  There were 4 more major climbs left.  The first is Heath's Hill (335th min maint rd.).  This is one of the steepest and roughest climbs on the course but thankfully there's a reward at the top.  I managed to climb the whole thing without walking so I celebrated by accepting a hit of Crown Royal and some summer sausage provided by the fine Almanzo crew at the top.  Next up were the three stooges of 335th, Huneke and Lehrbach.  All of these are long slow grades that finish off with steep kickers at the heads of their respective valleys.  Having climbed Heath's, I knew I could tackle these last three also.  Somewhere along Huneke, I felt the twinge of a cramp in my left leg.  It wasn't severe, but just enough to let me know to tone it back just a bit, pedal smooth circles and drink the rest of my fluids.  As we turned on to Lehrbach I caught up with Steve S.  We chatted for a while but I was focusing most of my energy on trying to get to the finish before the 8.5 hour mark so I wasn't to talkative (sorry Steve).   I increased the pace a bit and despite Steve saying he was completely blown, he managed to stay right on my wheel.  I was hoping to put a bit of a gap in prior to the kicker because I knew, with legs that were on the verge of cramping, I wouldn't be able to turn the screws on that final push.  At this point another rider with whom I'd been leap-frogging, passed us one final time on his push to the finish.  Steve was strong on the climb and crested about 20 seconds ahead of me.  Knowing we were close, but not exactly how close, I still had the goal of getting in under 8.5 so I started ramping it back up on the flat run across the top before the final, flying fast downhill, to the finish.  I caught Steve on the downhill and holllered "Let's go, we'll make 8 and a half hours."

Happy to be done, we both rolled in at 8 hours 26 minutes.  A personal record for me.  

Food Consumed

Leg 1 - 42 oz Nathan Catalyst electrolyte drink, 1 banana pancake, 1 gu pack, 5 hr energy

Leg 2 - 90 oz. Catalyst/endurolyte drink mix, 1 pack sport beans, 1 pb/banana burrito, 1 gu, 1 caffeinated gu, 2 perpetuem tabs

Leg 3 - 42 oz Heed/catalyst drink, 1 perpetuem tab, 1 small clif granola bar, 5 hr energy, 3 slices sausage, 1 hit Crown Royal, 1 blackberry double caffeine gu

Five Ragnarok Finishes 

Sewing - Frame Bag #2

Finally got around to sewing up the slimbag for the Doublecross.  It was about time, since Ragnarok is coming up in a few days and I wanted to have it done by then.  The last bag I made was a team effort with coach Mom at my parents house using mom's fancy machine.  I figured it'd be nice to have a sewing machine at my house, so over the winter we dug my grandmothers mid-century Singer out from the dust and I proceeded to give it a little TLC and refubishing.  It's not a showpiece by any standard but it lays down a solid straight stitch and it does it well.  

Despite checking and double checking my velcro layout, I still managed to screw up two of them and didn't notice until all the sewing was finished.  Thankfully, I came up with a feasible work-around and didn't have to rip the bag apart.

Oooh, note the fancy reflective piping on the trash pocket.  Too bad I forgot to sew it into the zipper on the other side.

Look closely and you can also see the stem/handlebar "feed trough" bag I slapped together a couple of months ago.  

Carrying capacity of the finished Slimbag is; 1 liter of water, a wind vest, a tube, 1 PB banana burrito and a snack bag stash of endurance athlete drugs (ibuprofen, rolaids, chamois butter, etc.)