Fall Riding

Fall is a great time of year to get out on bikes for a few last rides.  It's difficult to pass up days when the air is getting crisper, leaves are brilliantly colored, and there are far fewer people on the trails in the metro.
This morning was such a day - 45 degrees, with the expectation that it would warm to 65 or so.  Doug and I started out at Hopkins on the Minnesota River Bluffs trail, and with the exception of a couple of missed turns (like where the map shows the trail going under the road, but the trail actually goes up and across the 4 lane on an overpass), we had a great ride.  Easy "slow-roll" pace, good conversation, nice scenery - the perfect way to spend an October Sunday morning.
Riding the hard packed limestone trails of Minneapolis doesn't really require any sort of special tires.  You could do it just fine on 23mm road tires, but I can tell you without question that the wider tires like Clement MSOs, or [my favorite] Challenge Gravel Grinders are the cat's pajamas. The Challenge GGs are great at 45-48psi(3bar) - I had them pumped too high on my last ride, and they didn't feel nearly as smooth.  At 3bar, they absolutely float over gravel and bumps.
Fall riding is a time for easy distance, conversational speed, maybe a nice cup of coffee along the way.  It's too cold to paddle, too warm to ski, and too noisy to hike.  It's a great time of the year.

Fall Playlist

I've been varying my playlists, adding artists new and old.  For this list, most of the artists have 'been around a while', but the music still speaks to me - particularly compared to the current "lake, truck, beer, butts' model of songwriting.  (Is there a program that just spits this stuff out?)
Criteria for the list was simple - I heard it/saw it on youtube or already had it on my library and it seemed to fit..

"The road goes on forever" - Robert Earl Keen - It's probably his signature song, but it's still good, rowdy fun.
Tecumseh Valley" - Townes Van Zandt - another great ballad from TVZ.
"Dead Flowers" - Caitlin Rose - Written by the Stones, covered by TVZ, but she still does a great job.
"Out among the stars" - Darrell Scott - Adam Mitchell wrote it, Merle Haggard performed it first, but I'd put this as one of the best covers.
"Jesse with the long hair" - Robert Earl Keen - OK, it's a little like Dylan's Jack of Hearts.  And it's a song with a mystery - did Jesse fire the shot, or did the sheriff? Listen closely...
"Arizona Star" - Guy Clark - When you're cool - the sun shines all the time.
"I hear them all" - Old Crow Medicine Show - one of my favorite OCMS songs.
"Shades of Grey" - Robert Earl Keen - written about the immediate aftermath of the Murrow Federal Building bombing.
"Snake Farm" - Ray Wylie Hubbard - I started following RWH on that Face thing.  He's articulate, entertaining and a helluva fun writer/musician.
"Charlie Dunn" - Jerry Jeff Walker - a whole song about boots? Why not.
"Little Bird" - Jerry Jeff Walker - I think one of Jerry's best.

Eighty Hours, 13 States, 2950 miles

In the past 3 months, I've had 3 road trips of 1500 miles or more.  The biggest by far was to Connecticut to retrieve the club's 'new to us' trailer for hauling kayaks.  After the last trip to Georgia with the wheels almost falling off, I swore I'd never do another road trip without a real trailer. So a little shopping and it was ours.  Now to get it back from Connecticut...

Rather than wait for a 'committee decision' about who could take time away, when to go, etc. I took advantage of a quiet weekend coming up at work, and planned to hit the road for CT.  To cut the expenses, I arranged a couple of boat deliveries, threw a sleeping bag and pillow in the truck, loaded up the ipod with tunes, audiobooks, and hit the road.  To paraphrase the great Jake Blues "It's 1300 miles to Connecticut, I've got a full tank of gas, half a box of Cheese-its, it's dark and I'm wearing bifocals."

Making a drive like this solo requires recognizing that you have to rely on something other than conversation to keep you awake.  For me that means coffee.  And Pandora. And frequent breaks.  

Leaving Minnesota just before rush hour means getting through Chicago without hassles.  On the other hand, that means it's dark out.  I pulled out my pillow and blanket to catch a few hours sleep at a turnpike oasis in Indiana, and hit the road a few hours later bound for Connecticut.

A few words about rest areas - Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania all get high marks for their stops.  Pretty standardized, fairly clean, and mostly OK.  Coffee - well, let's just say it's not a religion across the I 90/80 corridors. New Jersey?  Don't these people get 'clean bathroom'?  The trucker's side was cleaner.  But in general, it had the feeling of a hard used public restroom in Grand Central Station.
I made it to Connecticut and picked up my trailer, dropped one boat, picked up another, and found a hotel for the night.  A quick stop for a burger and beer, and I was down for the night.  The following morning, I dropped by WinTech to pick up the trailer and head west for St Louis.  I learned a couple of lessons about Garmin on this trip - the biggest one is always carry a copy of the Rand McNally Atlas!  The second is that unless you buy the truck edition of Garmin's devices, don't pay attention to Garmin when going through places like NY City.  I spent enough time on Google to make some alterations, but they didn't prepare me for winding up on the 'cars only' deck on the GW bridge.  Fortunately, no tickets, but darn...
The trailer towed really well.  27' at the base, 35' on top, double axle, well over 1000lb of solid steel and rotting wood.  No issues with losing parts - at least not after I pulled off a couple of rails that were hanging on by a prayer, and duct taped them into the oar holders.
A long day in the rain and mist through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky brought me to Madison, Indiana and the end to a long day.  The only real excitement was a running board on the trailer that decided to rot out and drop one end in the middle of a construction zone in Kentucky.  I pulled off as soon as the zone ended, pulled the board off, and left it with other debris on the back side of the K-rail. Must have been a favored spot - a bumper, bit of broken furniture and a pallet. It was the spot.
Another early start and a long drive to St Louis Rowing Club to drop off a 'Section 8' King rowing shell.
St Louis RC boathouse is another nice building, located in a park out in the NW burbs.  Another few hours on the road, a detour through Chatfield Minnesota (and some rather obscure country trails following Garmin's instructions) and I was home.
Finished with engines around 80 hours and 2950 miles after leaving.
Listening list for the trip:
Pandora - Guy Clark; Emmylou Harris as seeds
Robert Earl Keen
Bob Marley
Albannach
lots of others in the mix

Podcasts - the NPR mix - TED, Car Talk, Wait Wait,

Books - Carl Hiaasen - Bad Monkey

End of summer

What a year!
Lots of activity this summer, which drastically cut into my interest in posting, writing or even thinking about this blog.
The numbers -
More hours than I care to add up spent repairing boats, coaching kayak racing, traveling to races, traveling to camps, retrieving trailers, etc.  My Community Relations person at work called to verify the hours I'd logged on the volunteer site.  I told them it was probably low.
Ten athletes paddled regularly with the kayak training group this summer.
Eight went to Nationals.
Three brought home hardware!
Since Nationals, 7 more have come out for a 'trial paddle/lesson', and most will sign for next season.
Three athletes bought their own K-1s this season.
The club bought a new trailer capable of hauling K-4s (35' long)
Seven athletes went to Oklahoma for their fall regatta and made 4(5?) podiums
Two gravel rides promoted
Four gravel events ridden

It was a busy summer, but was it ever fun!.  I'll try to resume a regular posting schedule this fall/winter.

~marsh