Sunday, December 26, 2010

SsssNo !!!

This is the third year in a row of awesome snow. The testimony is Murphy Hanranan Park. This park is only open for cross country skiing if there is good snow. There is good snow. I love this park and today did not disappoint. I also love the new hours...open to 10PM !!! For all of the years I've lived in the frozen north and tried to get our for exercise near the Winter Solstice, daylight is not always an option. Being chase by rangers, when all I want to do is get out side and burn some calories, is no fun.

With the new hours I got in one glorious daylight ski on outer loop and two inner loops after sundown. Quite a rush in the dark. I think maybe next time I'll bring a light. If you want an adrenal rush and can handle some hills (up and down) I would highly recommend this 3R Park.

EnJoy!
QOD: Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow. Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Friday, November 19, 2010

Tonight I Rode Behind a Fixie

Tonight, I rode behind a fixie, a full-on fixed gear bike. He had to stand on the back side stoke of the peddles to slow down before going into the tunnel & lagoon between Calhoun and Isles. He made a left and i took the scenic route up the North arm of Isles. I met up with him again at Thoe and 55. Although most fixies leave me in the dust I slowly built some distance on the guy...but I also had some distance to go so I better back off.
What’s with all of the fixies. Pulled up on a guy three weeks ago on a single speed. At least he had a free wheel and brakes. When the riding broke into conversation it didn’t take long to determine he was NOT from south Mpls… England! Really, I was just there last week. I was scouting for bicycling opportunities and saw a number of single speeders and quite a number of riders on the road. Not bad for a chilled fall day.
Enough of this, how about some pictures. …Yes, in going backwards chronologically from here... I was riding a bike but she was a British Bike and her name was Bonnie. Triumph Bonneville T100, a 865 cc machine that didn’t seem British [Sorry but I owned one]. To start with we went exploring. An easy compass was following the Thames. although driving on the left side of the road and round abouts at the same time was FUN. I forgot to GPS mark my hotel so finding my way back to the hotel on a Saturday night through the labyrinth of London was a challenge. Again, I had the Thames to dissect the city but where from there? The only map I had was 1.5” Tall x 1.5” Wide.
On Sunday I got up at 6:30 AM to head to the cost, the south coast of England. I made it to a race track/hobby airport and then to the Brighton Peer. After that it was up the coast towards the white cliffs of Dover. So where was it that “The White Cliff’s of Dover” written down that we have heard of this before?

QOD: If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Ruddering Around II










Bro-In-Law, Jim was in town so of course there was more boat building to be had. With the help of Matt and Express Composites, I got to do some real vacuum bagging. I did a small vac bag project for one of my paddles previously but borrowing Matt's vac pump and supplies from EC I was making a project that really sucked. The rudder bag held it's vac without the pump cycling which was great to see. The vac on Jim's back rest had a small leak and the pump would cycle once every 15-20 min but it still worked quite well.

We also got out on the water on Sunday 15-Mar. The Miss R. was moving quite fast so our upstream paddle took 10 times longer than our down stream paddle. Great warm day to be on the water. I had to squeeze into Jan's boat and Jim used mine.
QOD: Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength. Eric Hoffer (1902-1983)