Girls' Bike Tour 2010

We left the on the Girls' Bike Trip III Saturday morning after a slow start. Gear organization, family obligations and work had us leaving after 9am instead of our targeted 8am. No worries, we rolled with it heading from St. Paul to the Wilmar, MN trail head of the Glacial Lakes State Trail. We rode on the trail north through Spicer and New London where we headed west to Sibley State Park. Temperature forecasts were for 90 plus with high humidity and a 70% chance of thunderstorms including predicted severe weather.

The trip was full of unexpected good luck. Starting with the purchase of fresh, hot tortillas from a grocery store in Wilmar. Sat. was warm and humid, but clouds and a firm tail-wind kept us moving in comfort. We were able to get to camp, be set up and go for a swim before bad weather hit. We moved out of the lake because of lightning and waited out the storm by the park gift shop. We watched a wall cloud and the storm come across the lake whipping up rain, waves and 60mph winds, way more cool than scary.

After the storm past we swam again then headed to camp for Jiffypop. We had a bit more rain during our smore course, but were undaunted because of good rain gear. By the time we went to sleep we were able to point out the big and little dipper along with the North star to the girls.

Sunday morning we broke camp with only a few leftover rain drops falling from the trees. Breakfast was corned beef hash and eggs eaten in our tortillas. We used John's Aeropress for and outstanding cup of camp coffee.

Sunday we benefited from a tailwind on the cool side of the weather front. We rolled along to Spicer where we found the local fire department was having an open house along with pancake and sausage fundraiser. We climbed on firetrucks and ate more than we needed to.

We finished our ride and headed for home after a side trip for more tortillas. The girls', and dads too, did a great job on this fun outing.

Flowers and Food and Biking and Food with a Final Storm

The family and I woke up and headed to the St. Paul farmers market. We picked up some flowers and assorted locally grown veggies. The bouquet above was $6.

Next we finally found the Hmong Market. It's at the intersection of Marion and Como in St. Paul. The smells and thrown together buildings brought me back to markets in Asia. We had beef laab with tripe, cellophane noodle stuff cabbage rolls and round greasy meatball goodness.

More good food was to come. Our friends Mai and Mark invited us over for dinner. Mark is a Dane and Mai is Vietnamese. They always cook something wonderful.
I took the opportunity, as I often do, of biking the 26 miles to their home. Ling-Hui and the kids drive with the bike rack on. This way I can have a nice one way ride. The weather was hot and humid, but I enjoyed my route. (Click on it to view it.)

Mark and Mai created an incredible spread of Mexican cuisine. We had homemade tamales wrapped in banana leaves, salsas, guacamole, skirt steak, chicken, mole, beans and more. I'm glad I rode.
Here's a picture of a tamale from our care-package.

The storms hit on our way home. Frequent lightning flashes helped illuminate the highway hidden by torrential rain. A couple of plastic bags and a few wraps of duct-tape protected the Brooks saddle on the way home.

This was a Saturday well spent.

Back from Dirt Burger

Thanks to Sov and all of the Decorah people for hosting fun under their bridge. I felt a bit weird heading to a venue where I didn't know anyone and am appreciative of the hospitality. Special thanks to Chuey, not sure of the spelling, for playing trail guide. Enjoyed chatting with Scally, Captain and everyone else whose names I don't remember. Friday night we rode into T-Bocks for a tasty burger, sans dirt. Lightning bugs flashes lit up the trail on the way back to camp. Next, we chilled around a fire until the the police came and shut us down. Like an army of ants with messenger bags and a Big Dummy we moved the party wood, beer and all up the bluff into the woods. Shortly after 2am we headed down the long hill hills back to our tents. Best night sleep in a tent in a longtime.

Here's the view I woke-up to Saturday morning. I made coffee and oatmeal and read my book. Then it was time to ride. We headed out on these trails, which kicked my ass. I crashed 3 times to the amusement of a local. The rain had made the trail greasy. Logs and roots slid tires out making the ride more technical than I am good. Not complaining though; I was riding in the woods, tired, happy and dirty.

A little of Grandpa's Pine Tar soap and a swim in the river felt great after riding.

Below is a random photo of some campers. Surly bikes showed up in force. 1x1s, Karate Monkeys, LHTs, Pugsleys, and Big Dummys all were present. One guy had a Karate Monkey with couplers renamed a "Flying Money." Several people who worked for Surly were present as well.

I'm up for Dirt Burger 2011.

Long Haul Trucker Fully Unloaded

Dirt Burger is is next weekend in Decorah, Iowa, and I need to get out of town and do something different. My dilemma is that I don't know what bike to ride. The full suspended Diamondback XR4 is riding well, after having Shockspital rebuild the front end. It is undoubtedly the most practical and fastest bike I own for riding real single-track, but the bike seems somehow wrong for the spirit of the event.
Thus, I stripped down the Long Haul(Dirt-Road)Trucker and put on my most off worthy tires, Ricthey Trailmix 700x35mm. A wider tire would be nice. The bike is specs say it will take a 45mm tire without fenders. I plan on taking both bikes; it'll be fun to compare them.

The Long Haul Trucker loaded for comparison.

Dirt Burger's flier:

I'm expecting a cool outing with great people.

Heartland Trail

The family's heading to Nevis to ride the Heartland Trail. We also plan to wet a fishing line -J- <^><) swim and cruise Lake Belle Taine. Bring on the heat.

Fine Finish to a Great Weekend.

I took the Long Haul Trucker out for a workout ride from Fort Snelling out around Lake Calhoun and back for 28 miles. I felt good that my average speed was 14.2. This felt fast considering the number of times I had to slow down for cars, pedestrians and other cyclists. This bike keeps proving itself to be a great do=everything ride.

Iron Family

Way to go family! We completed the 30 mile Iron Man ride earlier today, despite some pouring rain, challenging hills, strong winds and a crash.

While some may think this is not such an accomplishment, I am very proud of my family. Harris rode his 24" wheeled Caliente with a limited gear range. He refused to walk up any of the steep hills; instead he stood-up and hammered. To do something this hard for over three hours is an impressive feat for an 8-yr-old.

Claire took a fairly big crash on her 13" Trek 930. Hitting the asphalt knocked her front wheel and handlebars out of alignment and ripped up part of her pants. She literally bounced up saying, "I'm ok." She struggled for a few mile portion of the ride, but finished the last 12 miles strong after the final rest break.

Ling-Hui trooped through adverse conditions on her 13" Trek 930 without complaint. She has not been on her bike for some time causing distress to both her knee and butt. Further, She rode much of the last portion with a low front tire adding to her work. Most importantly Ling-Hui did a great job of not being too motherly, and made sure we had plenty of good snacks.

While the ride itself was relatively simple for me on the Long Haul Trucker, I take pride in being able to have quality bikes prepared, proper gear arranged and my family in the ride spirit to do such an undertaking.

The pictures are of Claire, Harris and a neighbor girl showing off their hard-earned t-shirts.

40th Earthday

I was planning to drive to school tomorrow since I have a track meet that will run late. But, I think I'll ride,

Artcrank 2010/Minneapolis

Bike/Train Touring

Some of my favorite rides while living in Taipei, Taiwan involved hoping on the subway with my bike and riding to the farthest out stations. I could go from the heart of the city to a peaceful mountain road amidst tea fields 30mins.

I've recently realized that a similar trip is possible from the heart of the Twin Cities.

Any of the Metro Transit light rail trains will take bikes and connect to the North Star Line which will also take bikes. The links explain the procedure for loading bikes on both trains. I remember being intimidated the first time I did this in Taiwan, of course my English reading skills surpass my Chinese.

I plan to start a tour from Big Lake sometime in the near future. It will be a blast to load-up, cyle from my house to Fort Snelling and ride the rails out of the city. A day trip would be fun too.

March 31 Family Bike Camping

Claire, Harris and I drove to Faribult and loaded up to ride the the Sakatah Singing Hills Trail and to spend the night bike camping in Sakatah Lake State Park. We had an exceptional day of March weather. The high was in the mid 70's and the low was around 50. The registration card shows camp site 51, the kids favorite. They had a great time with this big rock. We could have stayed anywhere, as we were the only people in the park.

But to keep us from getting lonely, we had a barred owl and its mate calling back and fourth several times during the night. The sounds weren't spooky, but they were startling.


Claire's 13' framed 930 rides wonderfully, but we did have some trouble with the seat-post rack which kept sliding down and rubbing on her rear wheel. Zip ties to the rescue. I connected the top of the rack to the seat rails.

A little red licorice keeps spirits high along the trail. The kids did get a bit grumpy the first day, because dad misjudged the distance to the town where we were going to stop for lunch. It didn't help that the only cafe was closed, so we needed to ride on to the next town to eat. Well fed kids make for happy bikers.

Below, Harris is on his 24" wheel Schwinn Caliente. It really does a nice job on such railroad grade tours. He runs out of gears on bigger hills. This is where Claire's triple chain-ring front shines.


We make it a point on our bike camping trips to spend some time harvesting what nature has to offer. Usually it had been the berry variety or wild plum of the season. This time the best we could do was to harvest baby dandelion greens, which were quite good.

My Long Haul Trucker carried a load and a lot of gear too. In addition to me, I carried two tents, two sleeping pads, two sleeping bags, a blanket, all of our food, all of our cooking gear and all of my personal gear. I can't imagine ever carrying so much stuff on a tour without the kids.

We took time to watch animals, to look at cool mushrooms and to play Pooh sticks. Another good trip!

First bike camping of 10.

Since it's suppose to be in the 70's with lows in the 50's, the kids and I are doing our first bike camping trip of the year Wed. We'll drive to Faribult and ride to Sakatah State Park, 13 miles each way. After camping for the night we'll ride back.

These pictures are from an 08 and an 09 trip to the same park. It's fun to look at them again. I notice that none of our rides will be the same. The bmx touring bike, Fuji and blue Aerostar will be replace with Harris' 24"wheel Caliente, Claire's 13" frame Trek 930 and my Long Haul Trucker. I'm planning to drive the Camry pulling the homemade bike utility trailer.

Harris and I have good pannier racks. I'm thinking of having Claire throw the seat post rack on and pull the "Nob" trailer. I thought we could load it with light bulky things. If it gets too hard, I can hook it to my bike. She thinks it will be fun to pull. More later.

Some Bike Shop People

My local bike shops wants my business, and I don't mind supporting them if they provide a valuable service.

However, way too often the bike shop guy is both arrogant and uninformed. About a month ago I watched Freewheel's Phil Wood hub expert clamp a vice grip on the hub and start prying on it with the thing that sits next to the jaws of life in a firefighters tool kit. This was after my friend told him it is not a serviceable hub. Some expert.

Today, I went to my local shop to pick up a tire for a 1975 Fuji I'm fixing up for a friend. I told him that I wanted a tire with a 597 iso. The owner of the shop adamantly told me that only Schwinn bikes came with this size. A Fuji could not have it. I explained that I was familiar with the S-6 of that same iso, but told him that the Fuji also had it. I shared that I found the catalog specs confirming the wheels and rim were original to the bike.

He insisted no bike other than Schwinn ever used this size. A quick check of Sheldon Brown proofed otherwise.

I don't care if bike shop workers know what they're talking about, I do, however, get annoyed when the fake knowledge with stupid gusto.

First Family Ride of the Year

The crew loaded-up the bike trailer and headed to Lilydale Park. We were able to park in the usual lot just before the road turned into the Mississippi River at the St. Paul Yacht Club. From here we followed the river bluff to the Sibley House, The Mendota Bridge, Fort Snelling and the Minnehaha Falls.


I wore shorts for the first time, but was pushing it a bit. Temps were in the upper 40's to 50 degrees. We soaked in the river view from various vantage points and enjoyed the volume of water dropping at the falls.

6,7,8,7,8,9,10,9,8,7

As a boy growing up, I remember looking with envy at the speedometer on Les Stenerson's Schwinn Orange Krate. In my mind, the five-speed, stick-shifter and slick rear tire were cool, but the speedometer was the accessory that made the bike fast.

Today I put a Sette speedometer on Harris' bike. He gleefully shouted out ascending and descending numbers as we rode around the neighborhood.

Adding this to Harris' Caliente lets him have fun quantifying his rides. It should also help him pedal at a steady pace. He is a great rider, but bounces between about 5 and 14 mph when we ride together. I'm hoping that his speedometer will help him maintain a consistent rate.

Here's a picture of Claire holding his bike. Also, please note, Les Stenerson didn't have panniers.