Ta-da! Duh-dada-dah!

In mid-July, I haphazardly said that since I would be in Wisconsin this week, visiting my Mom and Terry, I'd set a goal of riding at least 600 miles this month and do at least five 60-mile rides. I also promised some good stories and more photos. I didn't actually calculate the feasibility and it required a lot of riding since mid-July, but I managed to pull it off! 

I typed those sentences from the deck overlooking the lake, watching a recently-pregnant black squirrel assess the bird feeder situation and a baby woodpecker learn about gravity, feeling a different sense of accomplishment than in other years. 

I typed that while Terry made me a special treat of a dinner - Wisconsin-style fish fry. (I love a good fish fry! And walleye to boot. Mhm.)

I rode 614 miles this month. About 2/3 of that was done in the last two weeks, and 1/3 of that was done these past five days in the Northwoods. 

Where I've been all week.

While it wasn't my normal 300-mile trek that I do this week every year, I had to get creative with my routes, and 45 of the 200 miles were done on a fat bike. (Contrary to my proposal from the other day, I didn't double-count my fat bike miles. I feel so virtuous! Bow before me, please.) 

Today wasn't necessarily creative, but I rode to Phelps - - a place I've never ridden to this indirectly and via 100% pavement. (You can get there by going through the part of the map without visible roads - they're sand and gravel.) And most my riding in that area has been on a fun trail at a resort just north of Phelps, in the snow.

Considering how much lake area there
was on this route, I actually didn't
see much water.

But the water I saw was very pretty!

I found a sheltered area for what they annoyingly
call at meetings a "bio break." Why isn't it just a break?

I need a stone entryway to our driveway so that I can
stick a squirrel on it. It probably wouldn't look as good
in our Mpls alley, I suppose.

After dinner, I went for a walk and found some wild blueberries (now in my belly), saw a few deer, and watched three foxes hanging out by what appears to be a den on the edge of where my parents' and two neighbors' property lines meet. Thankfully, I saw no bears, although I was keeping an eye out when I was eating those berries! I sat on the dock and finished my audiobook, and then broke into the ice cream. Today's caloric input exceeded the output, I believe, but it was a good day to celebrate. 

I still need about $379 ("about" that - ha! It is kind of a firm number, no?) to meet my goal for the year, and will keep on trying. It isn't the best year for fundraising and my goal is modest compared to years past, but I am extra grateful for donations this year, due to the circumstances. Thank you for helping me support the MS Society! 

I will drive back home tomorrow. I'm looking forward to aspects of being home, but am a little nervous about how my neck will feel for the drive. It still hurts from when I fell off my bike and hit my head two days ago. Thankfully, all I have to "show" for that slo-mo comical crash are two bruises on my knee. I also am feeling some slight anticipatory melancholy: I'm not sure when I'll be able to see my Mom and Terry again. Hopefully we can all keep on staying safely isolated in our little environments (I got a COVID test before coming here, just to be safe) and I can visit again in the fall.

Once I get back home it will be a challenge to keep on discovering new things by bike. I just will need to remember that a day of biking is always a good day. 

https://mssociety.donordrive.com/participant/GoMaggieGo

Getting my bearings - literally

Nah, I'm not talking about ball bearings. 

Today, given my neck tenderness after yesterday's slo-mo comical crash and the fact that I had 31 miles to ride before the end of the week to meet my goal, I did a short ride (14 miles; told you it was short!) on a gravel/sand road on my fat bike. I found the "bearing tree." I'm a little concerned as it appears to slowly be dying and falling apart.

I guess the USFS/USGS decided at some point
that a tree would be easier to find than a metal
disc on the ground.

I wonder what will be used for getting one bearings
after the tree falls down in a storm.

I should actually ride the circuit of trails
in this wilderness area. The deer flies
are very aggressive, however!

After my short ride, I was able to convince my Mom to go in the canoe with me and we had a nice paddle around the lake. I then read/took a nap in a hammock, ate dinner, and went for a short walk to the boat landing, during which I saw- - what - - at least 7? deer (and no bears, today).

Lil' cutie

After my walk, I continued to listen to my audiobook while eating cookies and settling in on the dock in the setting sun. The light was so pretty on the lake and the shore. I fell asleep. I'd say today was a success! And tomorrow my neck will be better and I can finish the last bit of riding I need to do to meet my July BikeMS goal before I head home on the 31st.

From top left: A heron, two docks down; Me, sporting my
💙Wilco shirt from our trip to Mexico in January
before COVID made everything insane; The only IPAs I like
are hazy IPAs and, while Bell's is decent, my husb's home brew
is better; The shoreline behind me.

Thanks for all of your support with my riding this week, this month, this year! I'm in the home stretch and think I'll wrap this puppy up tomorrow! Woo!

https://mssociety.donordrive.com/participant/GoMaggieGo

You came up from the ground - and apparently will end up back there

Because I'm visiting my Mom and Terry, I had decided not to do the full 300-mile ride this week. I thought I should actually see my parents while visiting them. So, this morning, I left for a "pretty short ride, exploring the roads around Carpenter Lake" but took two bottles of water just in case. I also packed two bars since I hadn't had any breakfast, and also grabbed that dang felted gnome lady that Anne made and gave to me years ago as a good luck charm. I figured I'd ride around 25 miles or so, taking photos of the gnome, and do a longer ride tomorrow. 

I had ridden down West Carpenter Lake Road yesterday. Apparently a tree blew down in last night's very brief, but windy, storm. I am no stranger to hiking with my bike, and maneuvered over/around it to the other side. I'm glad I noticed that I somehow put a big log part in between my spokes before riding. As I climbed over the log and then took a photo of the mischievous gnome that possibly was responsible for the mess, a deer just sat there, watching me.

Tree across the road? No problem.

I found a tennis court/basketball court that must have once been part of a resort property. I assume the tree growing out of the middle of the court means that it has been abandoned. I thought the gnome lady fit in with the scenery there, as well as the forest notification sign. It isn't entirely a welcome sign.

Always check your spokes after climbing
over a mess of broken branches, is the lesson, I guess.

So, I was still in the pretty low mileage territory and decided to cross over Highway 70. On West Bass Lake Road, I saw signs for the "Northern Wrights" and the "Wrights in the Middle," but not the lesser, or lower Wrights. I thought since I was over in the area, I should check the dirt/gravel road conditions on Nine Mile Lake Road, in case I wanted to ride there tomorrow.

The road was so pretty, I figured I should just keep riding on it, and go further east.

If a gravel road is this pretty, I will deal with it on a road bike.

I was hesitating stopping at the boat landing on Nine Mile Lake because I distinctly remember riding there in June 2019 and thinking of my Dad, who was still alive, and taking a picture just for him. Now, there's just a bittersweet memory. I decided to go, though, for him. As I was taking in the scenery, before taking the video below, Cloud Cult's "Everyone Here is a Cloud" was on my playlist. 

"If there ever was a time
Now would be the time to see your time here is limited. . . 

You came up from the ground
From a million little pieces. . ."

And, so, there I was filming the lake with tears streaming down my face, wishing that I could show my Dad this video.

That dang always-crooked helmet.

So, in for a penny, in for a pound. Since I'd gone that far and would have to ride on sand or gravel either way, why not just ride to my favorite lake? Confession: I can never remember if my favorite lake is Luna Lake or White Deer Lake. They are connected and share a trail system. I like the SE-oriented one, which I'm fairly confident is Luna. But I will never swear to that.

This required another short gravel stretch with one kind of fishtail-ish moment, but then I was on the scenic, smooth, beautiful, rolling blacktop roads of Divide Road. I stopped at the very-full-of-water, but not-a-soul-to-be-seen lake, and ate a bar, drank some water, and stretched out my starting-to-get-sore back. I also, remarkably, had a cell signal and texted my mom to let her know that although I had anticipated to be back by then, I still had many miles to go before I got home.

Luna (or White Deer) Lake: my favorite. Huge mushroom,
loon alert, gnome on a ring, and the pristine lake.

I rode along Highway 70 back to the house, and it was windy and I was hungry and thirsty. I ate my second bar, and drank my second bottle of water at an ATV trail parking spot. By the time I got back to Carpenter Lake Road, the tree had been removed. I decided that since I was close to my 60-mile goal, I'd stop at the house to get some food and water and just finish 'er up! 

My Mom, the BikeMS volunteer who fed me at Rest Stop #3!

I rode around "the neighborhood" to get to my 60 miles. I was at 59.5 at a curve where a sand road comes off a curve in the paved road. The sand always feels fairly packed there and there was grass growing through part of it, so I figured I could make it through upright and do a wide u-turn. Uhm, nope! It would have been very hilarious to watch me trying to stay upright, almost falling, staying up, and then finally, slowly falling. My shifter thing on the left handlebar got rearranged (although I was mostly able to bang it back into place after repeated hits with my fist). I have a bruise on my leg. I was covered in sand. Oh, and I did actually hit my head, despite it being a slow fall. Things feel better after I came back to the house, swam around in the lake (in shallow water, just in case!), took a shower, and ate some real food.

Darn sand! I'll be glad to get a new helmet, though.

I ended the night eating ice cream on the dock. What an unexpected day!

The ice cream in this mug did not last long.

Tomorrow, I think I will go for a short ride. Famous last words, I know, but I am hoping to get in the canoe on this trip!

https://mssociety.donordrive.com/participant/GoMaggieGo

Oy-vaay

For years, I've wanted to participate in the "SepTimber" cycling event sponsored by Tribute Brewery in Eagle River and the Three Lakes Winery in, well, Three Lakes. They have a few different route lengths. If you do the full metric century, you do a big loop, starting at the brewery with the winery at the halfway point. The ride is a fundraiser to help pay for bike trails in between these little resort towns.

I usually have conflicts with the event. This year, they're still doing it in September, but without real rest stops and the gathering afterwards. Since I wanted to ride at least 60 miles, I downloaded the metric century route and rode that today.

I started from my Mom & Terry's house, which is about one mile east of the NE corner,
rode clockwise, and skipped that little interior line to/from the brewery.

I've ridden the first half of this before, and then took a straight bike trail back. So, I knew what to expect before hitting Three Lakes - - like this pretty river on Dam Road.

It flows from this, Lower Ninemile Lake.

The first half consists of a lot of rolling hills in the woods until you get closer to Three Lakes, where there are more fields and more houses. After weaving through the town (and laughing at East School Road and West School Road - two roads that flanked the school on the, uh, east and west), I ended up on County Highway A - the stretch between Three Lakes and Sugar Camp. The speed limit is 55 mph. The shoulder, at its best, was 9 inches, with four feet of gravel to the side. At its worst, the shoulder was 4 inches, with an 8-inch drop to the four feet of gravel to the side. 

It would have been totally fine if I was riding it as part of an event. Solo? Not so fun. Plus there was a headwind (although that's better than the one brief glimpse I got of a side wind, given the lack of a shoulder). I ended up riding 40 miles before I took a break, which was not great considering that my sore back really appreciates a break at about mile 20.

But then I was on pretty decent roads from Sugar Camp up to Highway 70, including the very nice State Forest Road H. I knew I was getting close to to Highway 70 when I saw a "gentlemen's club" - gross. 

Photo taken from the bike. I think it was
County Road D.

With 15 miles to go, I took my second break to stretch my back, to put some more sunscreen on my face, and to use nature's facilities. (I need to update my illustrated guide; ferns make a great cover from the waist down!)

It is hard, with normal-length arms,
to get a selfie that shows your jersey.

I had a really nice tailwind for about 10 miles. I wasn't even working one bit while going about 20 mph. After I got back, Terry took this finish line photo of me. Like yesterday, I then jumped in the lake and swam around a little bit before taking a shower and putting on real clothes. The wind made it a little chilly, but I sure love swimming in a lake when it isn't freezing. I ate a snack and packed up a Bloody Mary to take to the neighbors' for a socially distanced happy hour, where I got to pet a cute little dog and threaten to take her home with me.

A good day.

Look at that face! I want to kiss her.
Her name is Lacy or Lacey (Laysee? Laci? Lacie?)

https://mssociety.donordrive.com/participant/GoMaggieGo

Infinite sand, for just a couple of hours

To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour. 
  -  William Blake

Right. So my recently-clarified, adjusted Ride Across Minnesota plan is to do more than 5, at least 60-mile rides and to ride at least 600 miles in July, and to do a chunk of those rides while in NE Wisconsin for the week that I normally would be riding 300 miles in Minnesota. I also committed to making the rides challenging with some good stories. I set that goal in mid-July without closely examining how that might work out, timeframe-wise, but I'm actually making decent progress. (See my Facebook post about getting my second chain of 2020 on my road bike late last week.)

I am wondering, though, if today's ride of just shy of 30 miles on my fat tire bike in the rain, sand, gravel, and some very deep (pedals under the water) lengthy puddles can count as a 60-miler. Hear me out. There are two bases for this justification, which I will explore in more detail:

1. It was at least twice as fun as any ride I've been on lately.

All spring and summer, I've been biking on pretty much the same routes by myself - adding a little new twist here or there. Today's route in a wilderness area in NE WI only had a couple of miles in common with what I've ridden before. Thankfully, even though I have no phone/text service, my map functionality worked so I could see that I'd gotten off the planned course a couple of times. I was also able to find a detour when it turned out that one of the "roads" on Google and Map My Ride was actually a private road with very explicit "no trespassing" signs. The road I took as a detour was one of my favorite parts. It was narrow and isolated.

Since it was a rainy day, the woods were dark and green and pretty. I found some good views over valleys I didn't know existed, an old firetower spot, a snowshoe trailhead; saw tons of wildflowers, a few lakes, streams, and rivers; and got bit in the behind by deer flies (and almost wiped out in a wet mud puddle while riding one handed because I was trying to get one off my posterior). I saw a couple of deer and a fox. There were rolling hills - nothing major - but some of the puddles and wet sand leading up to and away from them were challenging, and I had to go through some squishy ruts and slide-y bits. I was laughing a lot, by myself, in the middle of nowhere. I saw two cars on the dirt roads. On one little stretch of isolated pavement by Kentuck Lake, I saw a few cars entering and exiting a resort, but I don't count them because... well, because pavement was such a fleeting aspect of the ride.

This is the ride I thought I'd do. I got a little off
track in the SE part and had to find new roads in the
NE part. I got to add some miles. I could have
ridden more, if I had packed more water and a snack.

  

Clockwise from top left: About 1/3 of the way in;
realizing I'd need to take a detour; a post-ride #BikeMS
brewski in my customary #BikeMS coozy; if
one were to zoom in she'd see legs and a bike
caked with wet, clingy sand.

I hope the video comes through - my Internet connection in the Northwoods is not perfect. As one would hope. 

2. I was on a fat tire bike, in wet sand.

Did I mention these facts? It rained pretty steadily for half the ride, drizzled for another quarter, and was dryish for the remainder. It was a little... hmmm... sticky.. in my rain coat since it was 71 when I headed out, but it actually was pretty comfortable. I forgot to bring my easily detachable/attachable fender so my butt was wet in roughly 45 seconds, but it would have been wet from the rain anyhow. My hair was soaked and had about 1/4 cup of sand lodged in it. My helmet was covered in sand. 

Clockwise, from top left: Self-explanatory; these wet
ruts were at the beginning of the ride, before the
puddles got very impressive; a nice stretch of gravel;
a pit stop to check the map (again).

I averaged 9.38 mph on the ride. Granted, I was not trying to break any land records and was looking at all of the scenery. Besides some of the usual discomforts (I have been suffering from a sore bruised butt bone, and was very soggy and abrasive - exfoliating, I suppose - from the waist down), riding a fat tire bike is more work than riding a road bike.

The tires are wide and friction-y.

My 45N Dillinger tires are over 4 inches wide. My
road bike tires are 1 inch wide. 

The bike is heavier.

I'm not sure how heavy my bikes are and I was too
lazy to get a bathroom scale, take it to the garage, and
step on and off it with and without my bikes. The
magical Internet tells me that my road bike (when not
loaded down with all my crap) is probably
around 15-18 pounds and the fat bike is about 31.

I think it is safe to say that it is twice as hard to ride a bike that is twice as heavy and has knobby tires that are over four times the width of slick roadbike tires. Right? I mean, math isn't my strong suit, and I'm sure there's some physics related to gears and wheel circumference. Or is it calculus? Or both? I think physics - - because it is an object in motion and there's some gravity. All I remember from calculus is that it is handy for making a bridge or figuring out the area of a donut (Who cares about the area of a donut? Just eat it.).


ANYWAY, when I got back, it was still raining a little bit so I jumped in the lake and swam around for the first time in 2020. It helped me rinse off all the sand. After a shower and some lunch, things cleared up and my parents took me out for a pontoon boat ride.

I had a prettier photo of the lake, but thought
I should offer proof of being on a boat.

So, I'll let you be the judges, I guess, but I know one thing: it was a great bike ride.

https://mssociety.donordrive.com/participant/GoMaggieGo
(p.s. The MS Society switched websites last week; a couple of your donations are still making it over to this website, but I've been assured that they're in the fundraising totals they have in their spreadsheets. Thanks for your support!)

Rivers, rivers galore

I promised to try to make the rest of my rides this month something to write home about. Although it makes no sense to write home, since I am at home, but whatever.

Anyhow, yesterday was all about the Minnesota River. Today was all about the Mississippi.

Yesterday I rode to Blackdog for the first time by myself. I forgot how nice and wide the shoulders are on Highway 13. As I posted on Facebook, I was listening to Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights song on the radio when I passed a street sign for Wuthering Heights. I'm confused about how an area that looks like a trailer park got such a literary name. Once I got to Blackdog, my brain was consumed with the beauty of my surroundings. It was a super muggy (e.g., heat index of over 100 degrees) ride home, but I swung by Jane's and Mary's to say hi and they gave me lunch out on their patio! Win-win! 

I didn't see a moor.

If you live in the area
and haven't been on the
Cedar Ave pedestrian
bridge over the MN
River, you're missing out.

The Minnesota River 

Check out the thick layer of mud on the boat landing. 

The Minnesota, from the boat landing.

Today, I wanted to go a longer distance and without mapping it out figured Anoka would be a good distance. I figured my ride would be anywhere from 60-80 miles. Turns out, it isn't really that far from the Coon Rapids Dam. On the bright side, it was lovely riding to and from Anoka - - who knew! Also, if I want to go there again, it turns out it is not that far. So, it didn't totally fit with the plan for today, so I tacked on some extra miles in Minneapolis to make up for it, but that's okay.

Also, my friends insist that we went to the Mad Hatter tea shop in Anoka once. I don't believe them. Today I rode by it, and I still don't believe them. It looks cool, though, and I will go there should it survive COVID-19.

I saw a lot of cool, not-too-fancy
houses along both sides of the river.

The Mississippi from the Hwy 169 pedestrian bridge.

The Halloween Capital?!?! What?

I found these in a field and thought for sure
they were remnants from some historic event.
They were clean and had TP and hand sanitizer.
I'm going back to Anoka!

After my last blog post, my sister Molly was
reminiscing about the old Soo Line trains of our
youth. Each one of those letters is on an angled
piece of metal. This is from the Grand Rounds
route through NE Mpls, which I haven't ridden for years.

Noteworthy items from today: Just like in the olden days, I picked up my bike to walk across some tracks to take a short cut. Also the new bridge that goes over the train tracks in NE Mpls on this route is fantastically huge and smooth - it previously had a big bump and was narrow and unsafe. I also learned that the Diagonal Trail through NE just ends by Roseville Mall. That seems like a situation that ought to be remedied.

Thankfully, I planned the route well and had a minor headwind for the first half of the ride and a decent tailwind for most of the second half! 

I still have a lot of riding to get to my July riding goals, it seems. I guess I should have looked at the calendar when I set those goals! 

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/GoMaggieGo

An illustrated guide to peeing while biking around the Twin Cities

Well, hi.

My blog productivity has been minimal, but that's good because so has my creativity. And really, how many different photos can I show you of different views of data from my Garmin?

I mean, I know that you like to ponder (in respective order) why I started and ended in two spots 1.5 miles apart (flat tire just as I got to the coffee shop), why would anyone want a graph overlaying the ambient temperature with the lack of elevation in Minnesota (why not?), and why I keep on going to Cottage Grove (that's actually Grey Cloud Island and it is pretty and there's little traffic)...

Or, perhaps, you like to know (respectively) that when I went on a physically distanced bike ride "with" my friend Steve - staying far apart at all stops and staying far, far apart while riding - he got this nail in his tire but didn't get a flat for another 45 miles; that I occasionally get a weird heat rash when I wear bike short; and that my BikeMS Team Captain can coozy is one of my favorites for a post-bike ride beer.

But (drumroll please!) you all know I like a good story about finding an au naturale spot for going to the bathroom in these COVID times ~ and ~ I *may* have mentioned that my sister suggested that perhaps I... get off the pot, so to speak... and create an illustrated guide to peeing while biking around the Twin Cities. This morning while eating breakfast (yes, it was *that* thought out), I put pencil to paper and offer you the following:

Early spring 2020; Bloomington - - very little
foliage for cover in the Twin Cities

Late spring; St. Paul - don't get burrs in your shorts indeed!

June, NE Mpls - keep the relevant body parts hidden

Last weekend; Newport (a tiny old city
just south of St. Paul)

My 5-day, 300-mile ride was scheduled for the last week of July. I'm going to be switching it up slightly because I'll be in Wisconsin visiting my mom and probably can't ride 60 miles per day while visiting her, but I'll still get in the miles - - my donors can rest assured - - I'm not slacking off! I'm close to my adjusted goal for this year. 

Want to help? http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/GoMaggieGo