Adventurelaus

Skunk River Greenbelt Trail ( interactive map ) I found a cool off-road biking/hiking route that's really close by.  At first I was thinking of doing it as part of a bigger loop starting and ending from my home but then I got the opportunity of taking the kids along for a one way trip along the Skink River Greenbelt Trail.  It's a mix of single track and gravel road path that I haven't explored before. The one thing we found out quite soon is that the path was still on the too muddy side.  While it added a lot of experiences to our trip, I do agree with the sign about not biking along the trail in muddy conditions.  The mud clogged up our bikes pretty badly in the first part.  Front wheel blockage of my daughter's bicycle caused her to fall. After that we had to push (and drag a little) our bikes through the rest of the muddy parts.  Unfortunately my hands were full so I didn't get much chance to capture that with the camera. Later on the path got ...

We are lucky to have a great skiing hill near by.  It's nothing in comparison to the Alps or Rockies but it's still great because it allows us to go skiing every weekend.  The owners of Seven Oaks Recreation are also very passionate about slope preparation, snow making and providing the best skiing opportunities possible.  Personally I think their skiing is so great because they use PistenBullys to do their snow grooming. LOL The cool part this year is the newly created ski race club that our kids are enjoying a lot. Seven Oaks Ski Race Club I've been tracking my skiing just for fun on Trace Snow , formerly known as Alpine Replay.  Other alternatives for Android phones are Ski Tracks and Snocru .  However, it pretty quickly becomes obvious that Trace is by far superior to the other two.  Running all three apps simultaneously today only Trace recognized my 32 runs. The app as no issue identifying the lift segments and analyzing the data.  Onl...

Having gotten a barely used set of studded winter tires my argument of never riding when there's snow or ice on the ground changed. These tires do such a great job in packed snow that its a lot of fun riding them. On dry asphalt/concrete ther work but you'll wish the packed snow back. The ride will sound like riding on a crushed limestone path. I also have the feeling that turns need to be taken with care when on dry road. Bicycle commute on a warmer day Today was the first commute with these tires, and the first bike ride of the year because of the snow. I loved it. It was really fun. Strangely on the ride home I got the chills and for the first time my fingers got cold with the Outdoor Research Alti Mitts. It wasn't any colder that evening compared to the morning. -3 (-9 wind chill) versus -1 (-11 wind chill) fahenheit. Recalling it now I remember the cold being a chill, totally different than the freezing your limbs off. Yes, tonight I got miserably sick. Pr...