End of the Year

I did not get a posting written with my total year miles. In case you are interested, I ended up with 2203 miles in my log.

The breakdown is 261 miles on my hybrid (Trek 7200FX), 781 miles on my hardtail (Trek 4300), and 1160 miles on my trail bike (Trek FuelEX7). (OH, if you added it, there would be a mile missing - that was on my friend's comfort bike).

The photo with this posting was a ice covered Lake Manawa, taken during my last ride of the year.

Sun, Wind, Rain, and Ice (Hail/sleet)

Friday night was the BHFTF Welcome Social. Saw some of the folks from last year. Sat wth the guys from MSP. Lots of SWAG given out. Pretty good social. I was tired, left once the raffle was over.

Yesterday was the second day on the Mickelson Trail Ride. The guys from MSP (most of our ride group) wanted to delay the start, so it was almost 11 by the time we got to Hill City and the bikes off-loaded. I stayed with the vans over the first section.

At The Mountain Trailhead (near Crazy Horse) I joined the ride, the goal to ride to Pringle (17+ mile). Most of that section is downhill. We stopped in Custer for lunch.

For some reason, my bike computer changed from MPH to KPH. Called Zach from our lunch, got most of it changed. At least it was reading at MPH. The prolem that my odometer was way off. Last night, using my log, I got the bike miles reset. (Have 184 miles on it so far)

Back to the ride --- The hill and wind out of Custer amost did me in. For basically the first 3 miles I was at max heart rate. Stopped once at a driverway to bring the heart rate down. Once the trail was downhill again, I was good to go. The wind was still rough at times. It would cause my speed to drop from about 15mph to 7mph, and everything between.

After a brief stop at the White Elephant Trailhead, it was on to Pringle. Just out of the traihead it started raining. that wasn't too bad. But then some kind of ICE came out of the sky. With the wind, rain, and ice, it was not pleasant. The support vans stopped along the road as the storm passed. Asking if I wanted off the trail, I said - I'm heading to Pringle". Only 2 miles to my goal for the day -- I made it.

I and several others called it quits at Pringle. Four kept on. A very strong squal came through. We picked up 3 riders off the trail. the last one made it to the Minnekahata trailhead (as he saw us leaving to pick up the other riders. Everyone made it back safe.

Last night was the viewing of "Seasons", the new film by The Collective". Lots of fast riding, jumps, awesome riding, and crashes. Over the the Firehouse for a beer and needed purchases for the Beer-Muda Triangle.

A great and tiring day. I felt good about making it through some of the worst weather I have ridden in.

This and That

For those of you that are looking for my race photos, your wait is over. Last night I got them posted on the NaugaBike web site. Here's the link to the Maskenthine Race.

Sunday, it was trail day at Tranquility Park. Some 17 or so THOR members turned out. Order of the day was erosion control. In addition, the new trail markers were installed.

Thanks to everyone helped put. Great to see you up and about, Doug.

Monday I got my first true dirt ride. Rode the green & blues at Lake Manawa. Sure was great to be back playing in the woods! By the time I finished my loop, I was really feeling good. Everything seemed to click again.

I came across one dead fall in Woodchopper. Also, one spot in Woodchopper had some brush hanging over the trail - cleared that. Another THOR member says there's another one over the trail. Later today I will be calling our TrailLeader. Make sure he knows about the problem and discuss plans for the Lake Manawa Clean-up Day.

Wednesday, would have liked to ride in the dirt, but the trails looked just to soft from the rain Tuesday. I headed out from Xtreme Wheels, over to Manawa, checkedout the singletrack, then rode around the lake. Turned out to be a pretty good ride. My log topped over 400 miles for the year so far.

Spend some time reviewing specs on trail bikes. I had been planning to buy a full suspension 69er. But, I am not sure Trek has the bike dialed in quite right. And it does not yet have the EVO and ABP. That leaves me the Fuel EX. Several times (couple models of) I have ridden the Fuel EX7. It is a sweet ride. Would like to ride it now with the new EVO and ABP refinements. I could also ride (check out) the specialized Stumpjumper. That was a good ride last year at Black Hills FTF. Lastly, I could just tide my Trek 4300 for another year (but what is the fun in that).

Tuesday Ride - First of the Season

This afternoon was the first of the Xtreme Wheels Tuesday Ride. Now, I had ridden a couple times on Tuesday this year - but the weather was not warm enough for most riders. The temperature at ride departure was in the 60s.

Dennis and I rode over to and around Lake Manawa. Rode the FX - have to ride it once in a while. We rode at the fastest pace so far this year - just over 12 mph.

I rode yesterday afternoon, too. Just a short (12 mile) ride. Was a little cool - about 40. I was checking my log yesterday. On March 10, 07, I had 90 miles. Yesterday showed over 190 miles this year. Today I topped the 200 miles mark.

No photos for today's entry :(