I've gotten fat.

Yesterday was a strange day. It was the first day in weeks I had not thought about my fat bike I had on order. I was too busy getting ready to move again and I was also studying for my first physics test. My girlfriend and I were just packing away when I got a phone call from work, they had my bike and it was ready. This call came in 1 hour before my physics test. D'oh! My seat post clamp on the Cross Check was broken so I couldn't ride my bike to school, it was only the second time this semester that I had not ridden to school. So I drove to school, knocked out my physics test, went home and picked up Ann and then headed out on some errands. The last errand was picking up the Mukluk 2. It was beautiful! 

Getting ready to load the beast.

I really need to get a roof rack and mod it to fit this guy.

So I got it home and it was dark and I was exhausted from a long day so we relaxed and watched the Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie; hilarious.

I woke up early and sped over to Elm Creek Park to run some single track. I was making decent time and clearing all the obstacles and then in the part where it is kind of flat but mostly rolling hills I skidded into a corner and the alternator drop out on the side with the brake shifted. The tire was rubbing against the frame. Needless to say I was not pleased.

You can see how the drop out is maxed out to the rear.

So I had no tool to fix the thing because I was too anxious to ride and didn't bother packing a tool kit. So I ended up bashing the drop out against a tree to shift it back into place, I then proceeded to ride back to the parking lot very slowly. After almost taking out a family a deer I made it back to my car where I had a tool to fix the problem with the drop out. I wanted to do another loop but I had somewhere to be so I had to take off. Only about 6 miles for the first ride, not terrible but not what I wanted at all.

I ran some errands after the ride and then ended up stopping at work to return some shoes and put together a tool kit for the Mukluk. So I ended up picking up a spare tube, a seat pack, and a quick stick. I work at a bike shop so I have a ton of extra Allen wrench tools and I also already had a "big air". Kit complete. I also remembered seeing that Gas Tanks from Revelate Designs were back in stock at QBP so I ordered one of those up. I am excited for that. I picked up a Thomson seat post for the Cross Check and life is good again.

I have a wedding to attend this weekend in which I am the best man so that will be consuming a lot of my time, however I will get a ride in tomorrow morning before all the chaos starts. I know right now I will not be interested in swapping pedals out between the Cross Check and the Mukluk so I will need another pair of those at some point, other than that my only complaint on the Mukluk is the shifters, they are probably the weakest link. I would rather have primo shifters than great derailleurs  However, I love the bike so I don't know why I am even attempting to portray otherwise.

I am excited for tomorrow and the future for this fat bike. Already got another ride planned for next week with a guy from work, I might also try to do the river bottom ride with work mates next Friday.

The excitement is building...

I only put my money down on Friday but I am getting awfully excited about receiving my Mukluk.

I have been without a mountain bike now since April and I really miss riding on single track and just places I can't really get with the CrossCheck. Don't get me wrong, I have taken the CrossCheck to some places that most road bikes would have folded up and cried like the light weight pieces of plastic they are, but I would also like to do these routes with a little more control and a little more confidence on a bike that is more made for those sort of conditions. Hence: fat bike.

I had a lot of fun doing the one race I actually participated in last year, the freewheel bike frozen frolic ice race on Lake Minnetonka. It was a blast and I completely plan on doing that again as well as a few others. There was also a 3 part single track series that I missed out on due to lack of a fat bike that I will take part in again if they decide to have it. I also have my eye on the Fat-bike Frozen Forty, which last year was held at Elm Creek park in Maple Grove, a single track spot I am familiar with. I just want to put some miles in on the new fat bike.

Also, definatly not this year, but I am shooting for next year... I want to try the Arrowhead 135. Just to do it. It sounds insane and I was just looking at a topographic map of the route and it looks like it will certainly be a challenge, but I think with the proper training I can do it. We will see when the time comes next year. Of course next year for the Arrowhead 135 is in 2014. We will see what happens however.

I have all sorts of fun rides planned for when I get the Mukluk, I just need the damn thing to show up!

Worth the wait.

Things are finally coming up Millhouse.

I got my hands on a pretty nice compact digital camera so I can snap some cool pictures on my many adventures. I ended up picking up a Canon SX260HS. It has a lot of fun little features and the zoom is just killer. 12 something megapixels which is more than enough. I am really excited to get out there and test it out.

School has been kind of kicking my butt. Physics while interesting is quite hard for me, especially since our professor just kind of yells a lot and uses Harry Potter as an example of how to calculate acceleration, not very legit for those of us who don't give a crap about HP. Oh well, one semester is all I have to take, no biggie.

Oh, I also purchased a 2013 Salsa Mukluk 2 today! They did not have any at work but the first small Mukluk that comes in is mine! I decided to go with the small for the extra stand over clearance, the medium was more comfortable but the top tube and I were pretty close together, and if I ever had to get off the saddle and sank into a snow bank my boys would not be happy with me. So I will just get a little longer stem and a Thomson set back seat post. I am really excited to pick this bad boy up. When it comes in I will certainly snap some pics of it for the homecoming.

Here is what they look like this year...

 I borrowed this photo from www.fat-bike.com

Laboring the right way on labor day.

Wow! What a ride!

I drove from home and met Brian at his home in South Minneapolis and we departed around 5:30 PM on Sunday evening. We headed up to the Greenway and headed East to the river road. From there we headed over to the Mendota bridge and crossed that and basically followed the river to St. Paul Park. We did get lost but found our way. We knew we were getting closer because the hills were killer. Finally around midnight we arrived at the park which was littered with descents and climbs of all sorts. We got to the trail head, the camp sight was the kind where you had to hike in, we read the map and rode off on our way. We went about half a mile when we came to a climb that was too loose and steep to bike. Little did we know we were about to go straight up for about a half mile. Pushing a couple of fully loaded steel bikes up a grade that was steep enough that while I was pushing my bike I was only about a foot off the ground was intense, but we finally made it and set up camp. The reward was a couple lukewarm Surly Furious. I think I drank like 6 water bottles after we set up. I was dry.

The next day we ate a Cliff Bar each and headed out. Our destination was Perkins. We took off on the bike trail and ended up doing some weird super gnarly single track with our bikes. I was surprised at how well the  CrossCheck handled. This is until I rolled over some super mossy rock and nearly slid into a ravine. Oops. Then there was a hill on a hiking path that we had to push our bikes up, not a good way to start the morning. About half way up the hill the caffeine withdrawals started to kick in and so did the head ache. I became pretty irritable pretty quickly. There was one last hill leading out of the park that was so steep that when I came out of the seat to pedal my rear wheel spun like crazy. We made it out of Afton State park. There was still another 10 miles of really sucky hills ahead of us. We made it to Perkins. We sat down and ordered some coffee and water. The water was sat down and before she finished pouring the coffee the water was drunk. Then we downed the first cup of coffee. The wave of caffeine rushed over me and the world was right again. After slamming a bowl of fruit, a ham and cheese omelette, hash browns, and toast, we got back on our steeds and headed out. On the ride back we found the route we initially meant to take and it was a beauty. My everything was hurting at this point and it became pretty hot. I slowed us down considerably but I never quit or complained too much, even though at the time I felt like I did. 

Finally we made it back and I was a sweaty mess. We said our goodbyes and parted ways. On the way home all I could think about was dinner. I went out to the Olive Garden with my girlfriend, went home got drunk and passed out. All in all it was a great experience, something I want to do again soon before it gets too cold out. I learned a lot and there are definitely things I will do differently next time, but it was a great learning experience. I am looking to go south the next time, less hills.