Since We Were Together Last . . .

Since I last bothered to update this blog I've done a few things. 
Here's a few of the highlights in no particular or chronological order:

 

 Little and I spent some quality time together.

 

He loved going out an rallying dirt trails  on his push bike.

 

A three year old working on his no handers over the table top in the 

backyard is enough to make a parent worry about what the

 adolescent years have in store.  He also showed off his 

Superman seat grab more than once.

I got the realest job I've ever had.  I'm talking Mon-Fri, 

8am-5pm, shirts tucked in real.  

Did that for a couple months and tried to quit.  

Reached an understanding with my employer, 

now I work part time.

 

Got LoL to join me for a fatbike beach 

ride I've had on my radar since 2005.

 

Ever since I talked to Pat after he and Kathy did their pioneering beach ride I've wanted to find this cabin.  

The riding, nor the cabin, did not disappoint.

 

 

This little dude mastered the combination of pedals and balance.  

Never had training wheels.  He loved it and so did dad.

Still need to work on mastering the concept of 

speed control through braking.

 

My parents came to visit and my dad left 

with his first new bike in 25 years.

(A Surly Ogre.)  We went and rode it in 

the mountains, which made him smile. 

He's been taking it out for lots of 

fun adventures since he got home.

 

We welcomed a sweet little girl into our family in July 

(part of the motivation for my parents' visit.)

She is happy, healthy and awesome. 6 months old this week.

 

I continue to perform much of my own bike maintenance.

Occasionally with interesting results. 

 

Did some fishing, but not nearly as much as we'd like.

He wanted to keep every fish we caught that day. 

I let him keep this one.

That kid devoured every last crumb of that little trout

 

Did I mention fatbiking on the beach near Nikiski?

That was awesome.

 

My brother came to visit.

We rode 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.

The Past Few Days

Bikes, friends, kids, fishing, family, some science and a wheel build.

We had a public use cabin reserved for a couple nights out on a lovely lake.  Allman, Poundcake and Fi rode out hang out the first night.

Trucking in a few odds and ends.

Little reeled this one in all on his own.

Friends and fires.

Bikes, boats and science.

I've had some disc specific Velocity rims laying around since last spring's bike swap. I had visions of building up a coaster brake wheel for the 1x1 or doing a fancier build with some of the new Surly Ultra Hubs, but financial realities weren't going to allow any of that to happen anytime soon.

New hubs came in the mail from my brother's LBS.

I had some birthday slowly burning a hole in my pocket the past 5 months.  I managed to swing a price match deal on some Shimano hubs that would allow me to build some wheels sooner rather than later. 

Now to do some spoke calculating.

I'm In

All I had to do was say I was in.

We stopped for lunch at the lake.

Mrs. got home from work late Tuesday evening and mentioned that she and the Guv'nor were talking about riding up Powerline Pass the next day.  If I wanted I could join them and ride up and over the top with the Guv'nor and she would ride back down with the Little wRider.

Little and his lei rocking in the tundra

I was unable to line up some of the equipment I needed for field work so it seemed like a good excuse to blow off doing anything responsible and just go ride bikes.
 

Mrs. eyeballing the pass

Turns out cRaven was on board for the ride too, and he had a shuttle driver all lined up to pick us up on the other end.  A shuttled ride, with 3000ft of descending and all I had to do was load my bike onto the car, all the other details were taken care of.

Where we came from. Nowhere to go but down.

The only snow we had to deal with after a record snowfall this winter.

To say the trail was grown in in spots would be an understatement.

cRaven smoking rotors on the backside.

The ride tops out a little over 3,000 feet and ends just a stone's throw away from Cook Inlet (aka sea level).

Hard to find a better spot to meet your shuttle driver.  A huge pan of nachos hit the spot.

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