March Wind

Happy Easter!

Saturday was the first day of the season wearing shorts to breakfast.  Maybe Spring has finally sprung.  Planning a bike ride early afternoon.

Loaded up the road bike and headed to the Wabash Trace Trailhead.  Almost there, I head to turn around back home - I had left my ID  and money at home.  While I was not expecting amy problems, I do not like to ride without at least ID.

By the time I got back to the trailhead, the wind was starting to pick up, but I was already kitted up and all, so HAD to ride!  (First ride of the season in short bibs and no jacket.)

Rode over to the Indian Creek bridge.  At that point, I was pondering - "ride around Lake Manawa" or turn around back.  With the gusting wind from the NNW, I decided to head back toward the car.  On the way back, I detoured to the spur trail up to the campground.  Today's "creative" photo is the road bike and one of the docks @ Lake Manawa.

Not looking forward to the ride up Mosquito Creek into the wind,  I turned up the trail.  It took some effort riding along the railroad tracks.  Climbing after the tunnel, I could see that its going to be a struggle riding up levee.  The wind had be down to 5.5 to 6 mph.  Heart was pounding (monitor was going showing 150-175 bpm).  It was either keep riding at this pace or walk if.  I kept pedaling.

Think I may have over-done it.  Could not sleep well last night and still have a nagging headache.  Oh well - forecast is for snow tonight!

Ride to Trails Center

Since the last day I rode, we had lots of clouds and 2 storms that left us a dusting of snow.  Anyway, the weather finally started turning into Spring temperatures.

At noon, it was mostly sunny and in the low to mid 50s.  Light breeze from the East.  HAD to get out for a bike ride.  Kitted up, loaded the hybrid on the car and headed to the Wabash Trace Trailhead.  No plans for just how far I would ride.

Stopped at Indian Creek Bridge for a rest and some water.  Visited with another rider.  Turned North on Indian Creek Trail.  As I neared Veteran's Memorial Trail, I decide I was feeling good enough to continue on to the Western Historic Trails Center.  After all, I had not been there yet this year - needed to show my face.

As I parked the bike, I realized its Thursday - Jam & Bread day.  Stopped in long enough to sign the register.  Sat on the retaining wall for eat a granola bar and drank a bottle of G2.  Time to head back to the car.

Knew I would have to take it easy on the way back as I was basically riding into the wind.  Rode at a steady 9-10 mph.   Stopped for a drink of water once I was along E Manawa Drive.  When I was ready to turn over to Lake Manawa Trail, I stopped for a little more water and starteded sucking on a shot blok.  Knew one would help me make it back to the car.

Climbing up after tunnel and RR trestle,  I knew that I had made the right decision as for length of the ride.  Exhausted and legs almost shot when I got back to the car.  Loaded the bike and headed home.

Great ride!  Re-hydrated with more water and PowerAde Zero.  Topped the afternoon with my large salad.  It will feel good to get horizontal in bed this evening.

Today's photo is my hybrid at the Trails Center.  With very little color in the photo, processed it in monochrome and added some sepia tint.  OH, I ended up with 16 miles, the longest ride of the season (so far).

Snow Almost Gone

After coffee yesterday, I spend most of the day working on updates to my web site.  I ventured out to get the mail. The day had turned out warm, sunny, and almost no wind. Too late for me to get out for a bike ride.  Forecast was for good weather today, so was not going to miss the opportunity.

Sticking my head out the door about noon, it looked (and felt) good for riding.  Kitted up, loaded the hybrid on the car rack and headed to the Wabash Trace Trailhead.

Rode the Lake Manawa Trail to Indian Creek bridge.  Was looking for birder/photographer "Tom".  Did not see him. Turned up Indian Creek Trail.  Riding against the breeze here.  On to the Veteran's Memorial Trail.

Some debris from snow plowing piled up on the trail surface in front of TSC. Today's photo was taken on the way back along the railroad tracks heading to the tunnel.  This was the most snow/slush remaining on the trails.  Everything else I rode today was clear and mostly dry.

Had just the right layers on for the ride.  Lots of folks out today for a bike ride or walk. 

Mountain Bike Festivals

Its time to start planning my Spring trips to the mountain bike festivals.  I you have never attended one of these dirt riding parties, you should include one (or more) in your bucket list.  I have attended several different festivals - each has its own merits.

The first one I ever attended was the inaugural Black Hills Fat Tire Festival.  The festival is held in Rapid City, SD over Memorial Day weekend.  The weekend is filled with socializing, group rides, and races.  I attended this festival for 4 years, but it became too much of a race venue.  Headquarters for the 2013 edition of the Black Hills Fat Tire Festival will be the Gas Light, Rockerville, SD.

Festival of the Trails is held in the Hayward/Cable, Wisconsin area and sponsored by the  Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association.  This year, the festival is back on the first weekend on June.  The tentative schedule is on the CAMBA web site.  This is a festival celebrating the trails - no races.  (Though the same weekend is the Mt Borah racee in the area).  Each year, it seams that the festival highlights different trail clusters.  I may attend this festival again this year.  Fuctions at the 2013 festival are scheduled to be around Wilson Lake and OO Trailheads.

The next weekend (2nd weekend in June) is the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Festival in Crosby, MN.  The festival uses the trails of the Cuyuna Ride Center (Cuyuna Country State Recreational Area).  I attended the first 2 of the festivals here.  Planning to attend again this year.  This is a growing festival.  The festival will likely center around the pack and campground in Crosby, MN.

The last 2 years, the MidWest Mountain Bike Festival was held the 4th weekend in June in the Quad Cities (IA/IL).  I really enjoyed this festival.  The Midwest Mountain Bike Festival moves every 2 years.  Word is that this year it moved to Brown County Park, Indiana.

RPi Up & Running

Since I basically got my taxes done (just clipping together, into an envelop, and deliver to the tax guy), had some time to initialize my Raspberry Pi.  The monitor here on the office desk has both VGA and HDMI inputs.  Normally, I use the VGA, which leaves the HDMI for my RPi.

With all of the computer "stuff" around the house, no problem finding USB keyboard and mouse.  Had purchased the 1 amp power supply when I bought the RPi. 

In the top photo, I will identify the connections:

On the upper/left edge of the board you can see the SD card (sticking out on the underside of the board).  To the left is the micro-USB power connection (same one used my my cell phone).  The larger cable on the lower/left of the board is HDMI monitor connection.  The blue cable on the lower/right corner is my ethernet connection.  Finally, on the same side are the USB connections for the mouse and keyboard.

I had initialized the SD card and "wheezy" Raspian operating system.  So, when I powered things up, Raspberry Pi booted.  Following directions on the RaspberryPi.org web site, I was able to set up the system running.  Success!

My experiences with Linux distributions me be giving me problems.  Raspian is a stripped down version.  Here's a couple things that have been giving me problems:

The initial User ID and Password are "user" IDs, not root.  It appears that the root password is "enter", just enter at the password prompt.

The only way I have been able to get to "root" has been the menu item "root terminal".  Linux command "su" or "sudo" has not been getting to root.

Attempts to adding a second user id end up with an error.

Updating and upgrading the software is done from the terminal (text input).  There is a menu item for  Aptitude (the Debian package management system), but entering my user id and password causes an error.

The weather is supposed to be shitty this weekend (cold and rainy).  Looks like will be good time to spend some more time with the RPi.

Late Winter Snow

Last Thursday was the "big" snow storm of the season.  Early forecast was for a for or more.  That was scaled down to 8-12".  Eventually, we got about 8" - the bottom end of the forecast.

True - it was a nasty storm - but the bulls-eye was south of us.  Oklahoma and Kansas got walloped.  Better there, than here.

I stayed home Friday during the storm.  From a walk out after the snow, I could see that the road was passable, though not plowed (see photo).  Did not plan to shovel the drive - just drive on through the snow. Sometime in the afternoon, one of my neighbors came through and scraped the drive - leaving me a clear path to the road.

Was supposed to get more snow first of the week.  That kept being delayed.  So far, the storm has again stayed south.  Nothing here, except for warmer temperatures and melting (no complaints there!)

Overcast and highs in the mid/upper first half of the week (still melting in the afternoons).  End of the week is forecast into the 40s and sunny - that should get us rid of the rest of the snow. 

Eagles at Manawa

John (ham radio, cycling, photography friend) had been over at Lake Manawa State Park to shoot photos of the eagles.   My visits to Bosque del Apache and talking with birder friend Tom, I planned to bring the camera bag with me Sunday morning.

Sunday John brought a print we took at coffee. After coffee, I headed to Manawa to find the eagle.  John had seen them in the area of Boy Scout Island and E. Manawa Drive.

I started on the West side where I visited with Tom.  No eagles.  Next stop was Boy Scout Island.  A few geese, and some large birds further into the lake.  Took a couple photos but was getting discouraged.

Looked there were a group of folks stopping along the East side of the lake.  Drove there and parked along the road as there were several large birds flying in the area.

I forgot how difficult it is to fallow birds in flight and keep the lens in focus.  Auto focus was having a fit.  Switched to manual focus (which I am not accustomed to - like how to move rings to focus vs zoom).  Was able to a get a couple "in flight" photos.

One immature bald eagle decided to perch on a branch right over my car.  Gave me some time to fine tune the focus.  Here's the best of the photos I took.