Awesome Riding Weather & a Camera Test

This is the first decent weekend we have had for bike riding. The morning started with fog, but that burned off a little after noon. Loaded the hybrid on the bike rack and headed to Wabash Trace Trailhead.

This time, I had all of the various pieces for the GoPro handlebar mount. Attached the camera to the bike and headed out for Lake Manawa. A couple times, I had to stop and tighten the various connections of the mount.

Temperature was in the mid 60s (I just wore my jersey & bibs - no long sleeve or jacket). Just comfortable. The winds was from the South at 5-10 mph. A bit rough at times riding South on Mosquito Creek. Stopped at Indian Creek Bridge. Decided to head on around the Lake Manawa loop. Before heading into the wind on Veteran's Memorial Trail, I stopped for a slug of my Gatorade and popped a shot blok in my mouth. As expected, there were many folks out on the trail today.

Stopped at the bike shop (Xtreme Wheels). Had not visited with Zach in some time. Also, wanted to pick up a new membership application for Black Squirrel Cycling Club.

Downloaded the video from the camera when I got back to the house. Doing something wrong because I recorded 8 segments of under 2GB each. Also there were regular "jumps" in the video. Oh, the photo here, shows the GoPro mounted on my hybrid, post ride.

DUST CLOUDS & STUBBLE

The weather forecast for the rest of this week is dire, torrential rain, heavy showers, intermittent rain, and more showers. However, today has been warm and dry and by lunch time the ground began to shake a little as the combine harvester turned into the field and made its first cut around the perimeter of the field.





I abandoned my lawn mower and snatched the washing off the line as George chivvied the dogs back inside the house and closed all of the windows - past experience has shown that harvesting means noise, dust clouds, and lots of rodents running for their lives as their field is shaved and shelter lost. This is when the two new girls, Bennie and Sparky should come into their own and earn their keep by keeping our gardens free from invaders.





Bennie came triumphantly into the garden clutching a wriggling mouse in her jaws and then started to toy with it. After a few moments the mouse ran up a tree, hiding himself in the tangle of ivy and I have to confess that I was wishing him every success; he deserved to escape for his fighting spirit. I had to leave them to it and I don't know how it all ended. I couldn't watch.









This was Bennie earlier in the day as she tried out camouflage methods! Sparky is the real hunter as Bennie loses interest and concentration, so the mouse did stand a chance.









Naturally the wind was blowing towards the house today!









I love the field after the harvest because for a few brief weeks it has a holiday feel. I use the small gate which leads directly into it, and the dogs and I make the most of the freedom as we take the short cut through the field for our walks along the old railway line. When Toby and Pip were younger it used to bring out the puppy in them which was a delight.





We are fortunate because this field is used for the Enduro motorbike race in September, so the stubble gets left and the ploughing is delayed. In these days of such intensive farming when it seems that no sooner is a field harvested than it is ploughed and sown with the next crop, it is lovely to know that 'our' field is able to have a brief rest. I know that it will have the Enduro to - forgive the pun - endure, but that seems a small price to pay for a few weeks rest.





We also get to enjoy ringside seats and brilliant views of the motorbikes. I'll take photos of the event when it happens.

Nokian Extreme 294

A week ago, on bitter cold day, I decided to install my new studded tires on my hardtail. A good day to work in the house and I was anxious to see how well they work.
You are supposed to ride them on pavement for 30 miles as a break-in. Before doing that, I rode 4 miles in the snow, singletrack at Lake Manawa.
On the snow-packed trail, they performed abut the same as normal mountain bike tire (riding with less than 25# air pressure). As the temperature climbed, I watched for snow packing on the tread. The fork of my Trek4300 hardtail was starting to pack with snow, but the tire tread kept pretty clear. At icy spots, I noticed that I did not slip on the hills (a very good sign).
The next day, I headed out on the local paved bike trail (11 miles). I upped the air pressure for this ride - about 35#. As expected, the trail is mostly clear, with spots of ice from snow melting. This is where the studded tires excelled. Previously, I would lift my feet off of the pedals and spread my legs for better balance as I rode across the ice. With the studded tires, I could continue pedaling right across the ice. As a test, I found I could even accelerate on the ice!
The other test was section was riding on a packed snow/ice trail which was plowed, but not "cleared" (see photo). Where previously I might walking the section, I was now able to ride right through.
Finally I finished the break-in with a 20 mile ride on pavement. Air pressure upped to 40-45# (probably should have been higher). On a 20 mile ride, I noticed the higher rolling resistance of the studded tires. My riding pace was slower and my legs sure felt it the next day!
Bottom line - The Nokian Extreme 294 Studded Tires are AWESOME. Now I am not an aggresive rider, but I did not feel slippage on either bare pavement or ice. They do the trick riding on ice or packed snow. However, for the higher rolling resistance of the tires, I will ride non-studded tires for normal riding - use the studded tires when you know you will encounter icy conditions.

The Seasons are changing, and so are the routes...

This past week has brought intense thunderstorms, new snowfall, and crisp fall air to Mt. Rainier. With these changes in the weather, we are also seeing changes on some of the routes. See the Disappointment Cleaver page for information on the latest developements there. The upcoming week looks like it holds beautiful weather, so come on up to Mount Rainier National Park and enjoy the stunning scenery, the wildflowers, and the melted out hiking trails before fall truly takes hold!

Solar Shock Wave

There were AWESOME northern lights last night! It was an unexpected (for me, anyway) occurrence as Earth passed through a region of south-pointing magnetism in the solar wind. I didn't know there was even a chance of northern lights until I looked at the Aurora Soft Serve News website late in the afternoon and saw that the aurora was "Active". I kept checking the site throughout the evening and the kp index kept creeping up until eventually it was at "Storm" level! We had quite a few clouds at sunset which had me discouraged but not long after the sun went down the sky cleared and stayed that way the entire night. I left the house at 11:00 PM and returned about 4:00 AM. This photo is my favorite out of the 300+ images that I shot last night. I was even lucky enough to capture a shooting star in the top left of the photo! The feeling that you get as these waves of aurora wash through the sky is indescribable. Let's just say you feel very humbled and fortunate to be able to witness such an awe-inspiring phenomenon!

The lost weekend

About the only nice thing I can find to say about the weekend passed is that it's over, and that whatever happens next weekend will almost certainly constitute an improvement. Having already been forced to cancel a long-weekend tour, I now had little time or motivation for riding due to a death in my family. With my mind on other things, I basically just didn't feel like it.
I did force myself into a ride of around 110km yesterday on The Black Magic, at least I think it was around that figure. I can't actually be sure because my cycle computer was only working intermittently. If all the external factors were removed, it was just about the perfect day for a ride. The temperatures were cool, the air was crisp and clear, and most of the yobbos either surfaced late or were heading in the opposite direction.

It was when passing through Urliup that I had a profound realisation brought on by a combination of the rainforest and events of the previous 24 hours. When someone close to you departs, it makes you consider your own life in a different context. This person passed away at a time when they were making plans to travel, to explore different places, to move on to another phase of their life, and yet they fell agonisingly short of those goals.
In Urliup's rainforest yesterday, it dawned on me that I take many of these things for granted. For all the complaining I do about "bogans", "yobbos" and "tosspots of the week", I have an extremely fortunate existence. I have my health, I live in a beautiful part of the world, and at different times in my life, I've had good people to guide me when I could have made wrong decisions. I was also reminded that we should always focus on the things we think are important, because life is a gift that we all enjoy only for a limited time. It's such a waste to expend that time on things we don't consider important just to try to impress others.

Further along the ride I followed Glengarrie "road" across the Tomewin ridge, and had my fifth minor crash for the year in as many months. I really need to get a handle on this -- one of these days I might actually lose some skin if I keep this up. Further on, a centipede tried to hitch a ride on one of my gloves -- and that was about as exciting as the day ever was.

Omaha Cyclocross Weekend

Saturday was the start of the Omaha Cyclocross weekend at Swanson Park. Was a beautiful day - sunny, cool, light breeze. Bike riding weather.
Decided to bring the cameras to shoot the race. And shoot I did - just short of 900 photos! Some need some help, most of pretty good, a couple are just awesome.
The photos are available for sale on my photo web site - http://win-photo.photoreflect.com. When you purchase the photo, I will send you the file vie e-mail. The file is yours to do as you wish - except no commercial use without permission. (That means you can use it on your Facebook page, give prints to friends, hang a big poster of you in the house, but you cannot sell the photo.)
Will not be taking photos at the race today (Sunday). Today's riding day for me!

Early Winter Wonderland on the Arrowhead Trail

More than a foot of snow already blankets the landscape along the Arrowhead Trail in Northeast Minnesota on November 23, .