Fatbacking

I have had the pleasure of having the opportunity to spend some time aboard a couple different Fatbacks recently.
Cousin Rye N was out of state for a while for work, so Biermag, Little and I made the most of his absence.
The icing on the fat cake is that March is one of the finest months to be in Alaska:  snow, bluebird days, warmer temperatures, no bugs, no bears, no brush.  Take it from me, this is the good life.

I had to bribe that little face in the trailer with some tortilla chips to get him in there.  After that he was good to go for a two hour ride.

The Pistenbully rolled through heading the other direction during our ride, smoothing out the 5+ inches of heavy wet snow that fell the night before.

Experimented with my sunglasses as a filter in the bright sunshine, no instagram action here.

GSC took off for a little spring break and was kind enough to invite me to take his new steed out for a ride.

That steel fork looks (and rides) awesome if you ask me.

 I dashed up to a permit only winter trail and spent about an hour climbing in a t-shirt.

Trail was in great shape, I had a huge grin on my face the whole ride down.

Both bikes were a treat to ride.  I most definitely concur with Gypsy Nicholas and Sheldon Brown that the fatbike revolution we are seeing is the biggest thing to hit the cycling world since the early days of mountain bikes.

Where Have I Been?

Where have I been?

I'm not entirely sure, but it has been fun.

Biermag offered to watch Little wRider this evening, so LoL and I connected and caught up with a Thursday night shop right.  Good to see LoL, it had been a while and I've had a blog warming gift sitting on my workbench for him for the past couple of weeks.
He started up a fine little blog a while back, and this seemed like an appropriate gift:

He's got some good stuff over there do yourself a favor and check it out.

More than once in recent weeks Little wRider has protested when I begin to prepare for a cross country ski outing, requesting instead that we "go ride bikes in the woods."  Who am I to argue with a request like that from a two year old?  

So of course we go ride bikes in the woods.

It should also be obvious that I use the term 'ride' loosely.  Regardless, it's tough to beat an afternoon of bike related goofiness in the woods.

The Little One is learning at a young age that there is plenty of hike-a-bike involved in winter riding.  So far he seems to be okay with it.

Cousin Rye N disappeared to Jamaica for a few weeks on what he claims is a work related trip, so Biermag and I wasted no time commandeering his Fatback and riding it plenty.  When the riding as good as it's been a bike like this should not sit idle.

Little has also developed an affection for rides on the back of the Big Donkey, or the "Backwards Bike" as he calls it.  His logic, as he explained it to me was that having handlebars behind the seat is backwards, therefor it is "The Backwards Bike."  I added a bit of titanium to the Donkey to give Little a more stable platform.  Rides have mostly been super slow and mellow, back and forth to the playground, but he and I both couldn't be happier.

Of all the people I know I can't think of anyone who might enjoy a fatbike more than GSC, but up until recently he did not own one, and had only ridden them very briefly.  Well it warms my heart to know that he took the plunge, and I had the pleasure of riding with both him and SHeck on a recent weekend. 

GSC said something mid-ride along the lines of "I had no idea . . ." which I took to mean that he was very much enjoying his new, fat set of wheels.

Crickett the dogg approves of GSC's new dog walking machine.

 Sheck borrowed LoL's Moonlander for the day, and rented herself a Fatback the following weekend.  Call me crazy, but I don't think it will be long before she's rolling a fatty of her own.

The Iditarod rolled through town last weekend, and it just so happens that the finish of the first day, ceremonial run ends just a few short miles from our house. 
A few years back GSC stuck an bbq grill on an old pair of skis and dubbed it Paco.  I inquired into Paco's availability for the Iditarod and a small crew was quickly assembled for some sausage grilling and mushing watching.

Biermag was kind enough to tow Paco to the trails, much to the delight of numerous spectators, leaving me free to tow Little wRider in his Chariot.

Grilling sausage on a bluebird day in Alaska just about one of the finest ways I can think of to spend an afternoon.

One driver drove right off the road and into the soft shoulder trying to capture a photo much like this one on our way home from the Iditarod start.  A grill on skis works out much better than one might initially think.

On one of my rides home recently I was pondering how few moose I have seen in the past month or two.  Well below average for up here.  Well it wasn't too much later that I heard a klunk outside and looked out to see that this guy had knocked one of my shovels over.  There was a deck railing between us, but had I been inclined it would have been very easy to give him a pat on the nose.

I think that covers most of the good times from around here in the recent past, I'll try to stay a bit more on top of this blogging thing as turn the corner from winter to spring.

Sometimes Everything Just Comes Together Perfectly

Perfect weather, old friends, great trails, kids, good food and bikes.

You couldn't script an evening much better than the tonight.

After a 7 year hiatus cMc is back in town (only briefly)

SHeck and aLi on some of the fun new trails

Posse rides like this don't happen as often as they used to.

Perfect weather and plenty of supervision for the kids.

Lots of protein on the grill

The kiddos' push bikes. . .

 . . . commandeered by the adults

Hill bombing . . .

. . .  quickly devolved into pushbike racing.

Throw in a little bit of frisbee and call it a good night

Don't worry the kids got their bikes back in the end

I even scored a slice of wedding cake to top off the evening

Back in My Town. Riding My Bikes

The fam and I took off and headed out of state for a little while.
Spent some quality time with family and friends and managed to get a little bit of riding.

The rides were a change of pace from our day to day around here and I'll probably have some pictures and words about them in the near future.

I don't know what his job is, but it put a smile on my face to see this guy out on the tarmac after we landed back at home.

Met Mrs. and Little at a big box sportsman's store.  As GSC pointed out to me a few years ago this is the only thing that resembles a bike rack outside the store.

 For now it is just nice to be home and rolling around town on my own bikes, enjoying some excellent summer weather.

11:30 pm.  Rode the 1x1 to the store for some of the necessities.

Happy summertime

How Much Excitement Can You Pack Into One Evening?

So Little wRider and I were rolling like this

So we could drop the Donkey off here for a while

Along the way we saw this

plus about a dozen more officers with guns drawn,  just across the street from GSC and SHeck.  (I was about 5 feet away from the first officer in the photo as he got out of his squad car and chambered a shell in that shotgun he's holding.)



Then we were on our way to deliver some pizza to Mrs. and we had to wait on this guy

Then  just before we tried to lock up here, the sprinklers turned on. I'm so glad we didn't get there 5 minutes earlier.

But then we heard this, so we dashed around back

and got blasted by some rotor wash.

Then on our way home this guy crept up on us  . . .

 He should really get a bell or learn to say "Bike on your left."


Anyway, at 10pm the view looked like this.

 
Then Mrs. got off work early so I rode to meet here and saw this sunset @11:25pm

Then we cruised home together, her riding the bike my Grandfather received as a retirement gift in 1984.

I've got to say it was an excellent summer evening.

Flavor

Same trail, slightly different flavor.

 

Went to visit GSC and SHeck for some banana bread today.

Road Bikes and Lunch Buffets

I got the Bridgestone out for a test run yesterday after finishing some off-season upgrades.
New (second hand (actually third hand I think)) wheelset/9spd cassette and some bar end shifters has brought the RB-1 well into the mid-1990's.  Still tweaking saddle and handlebars, but really enjoyed the illusion of speed the bike gave me.

I don't see why not.

I ran into a couple different patches of snow on the trail over to GSC's, but the bike handled itself rather impressively and plowed right on through.

Local street toughs.  Don't let their smiles and kind words fool you.

This morning Little wRider and I rolled out to do a Chariot hand off with Mrs.
We encountered this pair of brightly dressed street toughs blocking our path.  Fortunately some quick thinking and smooth talking on my part enabled us to get by with out being roughed up too badly. 

Thai food?      Don't mind if I do.

We found Mrs. had happened to pause her commute directly in front of a delicious smelling Thai restaurant to chat with Kousin Kristen.  Obviously this led to an impromptu lunch buffet.