Bike Camping Weekend

Saturday the bike was loaded up and pointed north, north-east toward Minnesota. Our destination was Split Rock Creek State Park near Ihlen, MN.

The winds were strong out of the south. About fifteen (15) miles into the ride we met up with Mark (from Brandon) at Dinosaur corner. We made good time and arrived at the park with ease.

Once at the park Mark became possessed. He was on a mission to find suitable firewood from gathered branches in piles nearby. After much effort a roaring fire was managed.

The next morning we packed up camp. In the process I noticed I had a flat. Repairing the flat I noticed a sizeable wire embedded. It appeared to be a wire from a steel belted vehicle tire. Once the tire was fixed we were off and into the head wind.

The ride was a slow grinder. The mostly southerly winds only picked up as the day went by. We departed the park at nine (9) AM and arrived home at three (3) PM. There were stops along the way but our roll time for the forty-three (43) mile jaunt was just over four hours.

The Weather Channel revealed the winds were thirty miles per hour (30 MPH) with gust to thirty eight miles per hour (38 MPH). The good part of grinding many hours in windy conditions is I slept very well.

Split Rock Creek is a nice little state park. I’d visit there again. There are not many campsites so it’s quite quiet. Once we get past Labor Day is when bike camping will really kick in for me. The weather is cooler and the crowds are gone. I hope to bike camp deep into fall this year.

Ride On.

Can You Handle The Truth???

Photo found on the internets by someone who found it on the internets who didn't know who to credit.

Ride On.

Bike Camping

With cooler late summer / early fall temperatures and dwindling crowds, a rollers thoughts turn to bike camping. There’s likely to be an installment this coming weekend.

This time we’ll venture across state lines and into Minnesota. The target park is Split Rock Creek State Park - sort over by Jasper and then Ihlen.

If you’re from here, or around here, and want to join in, shoot me an email and we’ll work out the logistics.

Ride On.

Kevin Rogers, 1961 - 2010

Photo by someone other than me.

Ride On.

Biker Down

Last night (August 18th), a biker was struck and killed. From the KELO website:

SIOUX FALLS, SD - A Sioux Falls man is dead and another is facing charges.

Police say a 49-year-old man was riding his bike on 57th Street near Galway to the Tea-Ellis road in western Sioux Falls when he was struck and killed by a man driving a Silverado pick up shortly after 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

When emergency crews arrived on the scene, they found the pickup submerged in a lagoon and the mangled remains of a bicycle.

Police say the driver of the pickup, 42-year-old David Bendt of Sioux Falls, crossed into the path of the bicyclists hitting him head on. He's been arrested and charged with driving under the influence.

There is a Ghost Bike placement happening tonight (August 19th) at 7:30 PM at the corner of 57th and Galway, Sioux Falls, SD. Please be there if you can and on your bike if at all possible.

Ride On.

Maah Daah Hey?

Summer’s on the downhill slide. Fall is just around the corner. I’d like another bike trip thing before snow.

I’m thinking an unsupported four (4) day excursion on the Maah Daah Hey Trail would be the ticket. A one (1) day drive to there, a two (2) day bike trip going the entire length of the trail, a two (2) day bike trip reversing the entire length, and ending things with a one (1) day drive back to here.

Since I’m thinking unsupported, I’d take the Long Haul Trucker with its racks. I’d haul my crap in my panniers. I’d take a tent and lots o’ water bottles. I’d carry my food. I’d camp at the campsites along the trail.

I’ve got Schwalbe road tires on my rig now. I’ll change the tires to something more singletrack appropriate. Other than that, it’s pretty much check the weather, pack appropriate clothing, and do the ride.

As of press time, one (1) other dude has indicated interest in rolling this with me. If you’d be interested, please shoot me an email and we’ll talk. You don’t have to be from here to join me. I can meet you at the trailhead. If you do happen to be from here, perhaps there are carpool possibilities.

Ride On.

FAST On The Tube

Holy crap, I'm INFAMOUS.

I'm hoping this will continue to build interest and prompt others to contact FAST and offer their support. We'd take sweat or cabbage ($$$).

Ride On.

Numbers

Value, in dollars, of tools ordered to dig trails - $1,350

Number of days until they get here (from August 13th) – 3

Number of feet of trail dug to date – 0

Number of beers I had last night – 2

Ride On.

Artsy Fartsy Bike Racks Coming?

This just in from Sioux Falls Planner Sam:

To Sioux Falls Bicycle Committee members:

Below is information on the Visual Arts Commissions project for artistic bike racks called Bikesmart. We are looking for people and businesses interested in sponsoring the artistic bike racks around the community. Please let me know what you think and consider passing this information on to other people and businesses you might think would be interested. Thanks.

http://www.siouxfalls.org/Mayor/boards_commissions/visual_arts_commission/2010/bikesmart

Consider yourself informed. If you are an interested party, or know of someone who is, maybe shoot me an email and I’ll get the proper persons in touch with each other.

Ride On.

M.S. Ride Recap

Saturday it was up early to get to the M.S. bike ride start. The roll out was to be at 7 AM. Per usual form, this was a “ride to the ride” scenario.

Arriving early, I snacked on fruit and had a bit of coffee. As rollers started showing up I passed out the clothes pins and playing cards. Baseball cards are somewhat hard to come by these days so our “brapulators” used playing cards. I could stand mine for about ten (10) miles and then it had to come off.

But, I digress…..

In an act of complete dumb-assery I neglected to bring my camera.

Nearly five-hundred (500) rollers signed up for the ride. We began somewhat all at the same time bound for glory and / or Madison, SD. The route was mostly to the north and the wind was fairly brisk from the south.

This ride is set up to be one-hundred-fifty (150) miles total. Some roll an equal split, some roll the one-hundred (100) mile option the first (1st) day followed by either seventy-five (75) or fifty (50) the next day. It was my choice to do one hundred (100) miles on Saturday.

The route to get to seventy five (75) and one-hundred (100) miles was a twenty five (25) mile rectangle after reaching Madison proper. Remember that nifty tailwind I alluded to earlier? Well, it served to be a pretty respectable headwind for a least part of the rectangle.

For this ride I opted to go single speed. At seventy-two (72) gear-inches it was about right to cruise along nicely but not have to work overly hard on the hills. However, the second (2nd) lap on the rectangle to get to one-hundred (100) miles for the day seemed like work. Nothing like a twenty mile per hour (20 MPH) headwind to really make a dude sweat.

Sunday the heat and humidity kicked it up an extra notch. Given the weather conditions and my Saturday mileage, I opted to roll a nice easy fifty (50) miles back to Sioux Falls. After the ride and home ready to shower, the Weather Channel told me the heat index was one-hundred (100). This was at 11:00 AM.

All in all, and despite the weather, I had a great M.S. ride. A big thank you to all that supported my efforts through your donations. The final tally was not in for the banquet on Saturday night. But, almost five-hundred (500) riders and over two-hundred-thousand dollars ($200,000 +) in donations was noted. Not bad for a regional fund raiser ride.

Next up, we’ll, I don’t know what’s next up. Maybe a little bike camping? Maybe an organized ride? We’ll see. I do know there’s a little wheel building instruction with Atom on Tuesday. I’ll see if I can coach the erstwhile fellow into building a wheel correctly.

Ride On.

This Just In

Email conversations with that crazy MinusCar fellow enlightened me a dude could put his bike on a train, ride it to one side of Glacier National Park, ride through the park, and pick up the train again on the other side.

Brilliant!

I wonder what the weather is like in Glacier toward mid October.

Until the singletrack project has produced ridable trails, I tend to gravitate toward bike touring and bike camping.

Ride On.

Which Bike

I was thinking I’d build up a Pugsley for this winter. That is, until I saw this bike.

Ride On.

Such A Tool

With the approval of our singletrack project, it’s time to buy some tools.

I’ll be buying a bunch of these



And these



Along with some other stuff.

Paperwork needs to be done. This means more meetings with the City. I am hopeful we can begin digging yet this season and get at least one (1) of the loops complete and open. This would go far to keep interest up and generate interest in others.

Ride On.