Monday, February 19, 2018

Some February 2018 Bike rides...

 Here are some pictures from some of my bike rides that I did on my own and as a ride leader with the Twin Cities Bicycling Club out of the Twin Cities.

On February 4, 2018 I broke out the googles for the first time this season...

02-04-18

February 5th was a warmer ride than yesterday, but still in the lower single digits..

02-05-18
No pictures taken on Tuesday, 02-06-18 bike ride.


Wednesday, 02-07-18...I found myself back at the Coon Rapids Dam.
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On Friday, 02-09-18 I rode up to the confluence of the Crow River and the Mississippi River in Dayton, MN. I wanted to check on some road conditions for my TCBC ride on Sunday.

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On Sunday, 02-11-18, I led my 54 mile TCBC Balaclava Sunday bike ride out of Champlin, MN. Catherine and Paul showed up with their balaclava's since the temperature was 1 degree F when we started the ride.  For the day we averaged 12 degrees. We rode into the wind for the most part for the first 30 miles, then it was the wind to our backs on the way back. Our break was at the Dunn Brothers in St. Micheal that was at about mile 33.
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02-11-18... must be time to pack up. We'll have the wind to our backs...









I didn't take any pictures on my bike rides on 02-12-18. 02-13-18.


Wednesday, 02-14-18, I led my 57 mile "Another Mild Weather Wednesday" ride from Champlin, MN. Catherine and Paul showed up again to ride.This was the second warmest day of the winter season. We started the ride at 14 degree F, but by the time we finished it was around 40 degrees. This ride took us on new dirt roads in the sand plains area of Anoka Co. We stopped for break at Dunn Brothers in Elk River.

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I didn't ride on 02-15-16.

On Friday, 02-16-18, I rode, but I didn't take any pictures. Nine miles into my ride I had a slow leak. I looked at the tread of my studded tire and couldn't see anything obvious, so I pumped the tire up to about 50 pounds. I rode another 5 miles before the tire became too soft to ride anymore. I had to change the tube on my rear tire, and put in a tire boot so I could get home. What I found out when I took off the rear tire was that one of my studs had punctured my tube.

Saturday, 02-17-18... I led my 72 mile TCBC  Westward Saturday ride. Guess who showed...yes, Catherine and Paul. Rick even showed up. Rick said he wouldn't do the entire route. Rick peeled off at mile 20 and finished the day with 38 miles. Catherine, Paul and I did the entire route. This was another new route with some new dirt roads. It was a balmy 29 degrees average for the ride. Although there was a strong NW wind we didn't feel it much except for in a few places. What was really nice was having the strong wind to our backs for the last 20 miles. Those studs on the tires were just humming.

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Some Winter Bike Rides... from January 2018



 I've posted many of these images on my Facebook page, but I also decided to put some them on my blog. Some of these rides I did on my own, some as a ride leader with the Twin Cities Bicycle Club and as a rider on another club ride.

This was on Saturday, 01-06-16, on my second day on the bike after I had some additional surgery on my knee on 12-22-18. Those dots in the snow are turkeys. I was actually closer than what my iPhone appears to show them. There was another rafter of turkeys way back on the treeline in the middle of the picture. There were over 40 turkeys.

Saturday, 01-06-18, Turkeys over my shoulder.

Tuesday, 01-06-16

Below are some images of my TCBC ride, Back on the Bike Again , on Sunday, 01-07-18

Tony on my ride on 01-07-18.

The stone structure that Taddeus Giggings built in the early 1900's. Rum River in Anoka, MN.

Tony

Coffee shop on Main St. in Anoka, MN
01-07-18.
 On 01-10-18 I led another ride, but no other riders showed up. Below are some images I took when I rode the route by myself. I saw one other rider during my ride. The ride was 41.5 miles long.


Wednesday, 01-10-18 at the Coon Rapids Dam on the Mississippi River

Wednesday, 01-10-18, Rum River, Anoka, MN
Wednesday, 01-10-16, trail along the Rum River
Wednesday, 01-10-16, trail along the Rum River
Wednesday, 01-10-18, another rider on a trail along the Mississippi River near Anoka, MN. We stopped and talked for about 10 minutes.
01-10-18, at the end of my ride. 





On Thursday, 01-11-18 I got out for a 14 mile ride while it was snowing out. When it's snowing out and the snow plows haven't been out yet I ride a relatively traffic free route near my home. Although I had to get off my bike a couple times to let the snow plows safely pass me.


Thursday, 01-11-18, a mile or so from home

Me on 01-11-18

01-11-18, most of the time I ride the shoulder of Co Rd 81, but today the trail looked in pretty good shape.

01-11-18, my Seven Evergreen SL

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01-11-18, still snowing
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 On Saturday, 01-13-18, I got out and rode about 5 miles of some trails in Elm Creek Park with my Mt. Bike. Afterwards I took the Evergreen out for 17 miles on the roads.

The day before I decided to put on a new chain on my Mt. Bike in anticipation of riding it on the 13th. I hadn't been on my Mt. Bike in a couple years.


Saturday, 01-13-18, my 1994 Marin Zig Zag Trail Mt. Bike. This was my winter bike before I got my Seven Evergreen SL.
Still Saturday, 01-13-18, on the roads with the Evergreen.
Saturday, 01-13-18, another view


 On Sunday, 01-14-18, I rode a little over 23 miles. It snowed the entire time. There weren't any snow plows out when I was riding and very little traffic. Up to this point in the season this was the most enjoyable time riding this year...the snow dampened the noise.  It was only later why I realized there wasn't any traffic or very little traffic.... I'm no longer a football fan, so I didn't realize the Minnesota Vikings were playing today. I think it was a play-off game, also.

 
Sunday, 01-14-18

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01-14-18...notice the circular ice in the middle right of the picture

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01-14-18, crazy ice fishing people

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01-14-18, checking to see if anyone is following me

01-14-18, coming back into Champlin. Normally there would be many more vehicles. The rest of my route I maybe saw less than half that many vehicles.

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01-14-18
 I was riding on Wednesday, 01-17-17, when I kept seeing my shadow in front of me. I took this picture of my shadow, so I figured there was at least another 6 weeks of winter.

01-17-18 At least another 6 weeks of winter... 
I didn't take any pictures on my rides on 01-18-18, 01-19-18 or 01-20-18.

Here are a couple pictures from Sunday, 01-21-18. which was about a 20 mile ride.
01-21-18

01-21-18


On 01-23-18 I rode my Mt. Bike because it was after a bigger snow. Riding with the wider tires and more studs was a smart choice. I run 26 x 2.1 inch Nokian Extremes with 292 studs on my Mt. Bike. My Seven Evergreen SL I run 45NRTH Gravdals that are 38mm wide and have 252 studs. Right after a big snow it can be a real challenge riding the narrower tire.


01-23-18. The trail was plowed first thing in the morning after the heavy snow. That's black ice right in the area of the trail that appears to be clear. I could have gone over to the road, but with 292 studs I felt pretty confident.

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01-23-18, the road behind me
 On Wednesday, 01-24-18, I was biking SB on West River Road when I saw these two turkeys just standing in the road. I took several pictures with my iPhone and included just a few since the birds didn't turn out too good. There would be other cars coming NB and one of them would charge at the car making the car go around. 

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  On Thursday, 01-25-18, I led my, "I have no idea" Adventure with the Twin Cities Bicycling Club. This was a 48 mile ride and Catherine showed up to ride it. Catherine didn't have time to ride the entire route because she actually still has to work and needed to get back to the Twin Cities. Catherine finished with 31 miles, then we took a break at Starbuck Coffee, then I finished the day with 48 miles.

The first 20 miles of the route was very sloppy and challenging because we both run 38 mm wide tires on our bikes.

01-25-18, Catherine riding over the Rum River

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Friday, 01-26-18, I drove down to St. Paul and rode the 60 mile ride that Catherine was leading. She called her ride "Saint Paul River Round". Just a few days earlier the Twin Cities got about 12 inches of snow. Just a few miles north where I lived we only got about 6 inches from the same storm.

Many of the side roads where not rideable early, so she planned on doing some trails early in the day. I don't remember what the high was forecasted to be, but I know it hit at least 46 F during the day. The trails had some snow on them and we needed to be careful at the interestions with the roads, but as the day went on the snow melt began in earnest. There were times when we were riding on the roads in 2 to 3 inches of water that was running like a river...we either were riding upstream or downstream.

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 On 01-27-18 I led my TCBC Crow-Creek All-Roads Adventure bike ride. Paul and Rick joined me on this ride. I already did a blog post with some pictures that you can view HERE.

On Monday, 01-29-18, I did a 17 mile ride near my home.

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01-29-18
 On Wednesday, 01-31-18, I led my TCBC "Mild Weather Wednesday" ride from Champlin, MN. It had snowed a few inches overnight making the roads very slippery, but Catherine showed up to ride. The route was going to be about 50 to 55 miles in length, but after about 5 miles Catherine had a mechanical issue with her bike. By the time we located a new part and put it on her bike she only had time to ride 32 miles. We abandon the original route planned due to the time constant.


01-31-18 This was the only picture I took of Catherine today. This was within a couple miles of the start of the ride and before she had the mechanical issue with her bike. She's walking her bike due to the sloppy snow conditions on the narrow sidwalk in Anoka . 

 
 I rode a total of 21 rides in January. I was given the ok by the doctor to begin riding again on January 4th after my latest surgery on my knee 2 weeks earlier.

My first ride of the new year was on the January 5th and pictures can be seen HERE


I don't always take pictures on all my rides, but on many of my rides I'll take at least one and post it to FB when I'm riding.

Chuck Ryan