Surly Pugsley Riding at Theodore Wirth

Berrywise shot a short video of me on a Pugsley this afternoon. We followed it up with beers and burgers at the Blue Door in St. Paul.

Sam on a Surly Pugsley at Theodore Wirth, December, 2009.

Berrywise enjoying a post-ride beer.

HELL

It's better than bad, it's good. Give it a try.

Summit Cheeseburger!

My Goal: The Summit of Pilot Knob

Inspiration: Sam's Summit of Electric Peak

As I was browsing my Google Reader I stumbled upon a shared post by one of our MORBID members that now lives in Montana. I thought the concept was awesome, eating a cheeseburger on top of a mountain. But, I lived in MN and we really don't have much elevation above 2000 feet. I dug around the Summit Cheeseburger site and saw a list of summits, then I saw the link to MN. I thought of Eagle Mountain and started thinking about how I could get up there and get a picture. Then I saw that there were lots of different Counties listed. Hennepin and Dakota both listed 2 summits. I clicked on Hennepin, both were obtainable, though one is kinda a ghetto location. I then clicked Dakota, Buck Hill, the popular ski hill in Burnsville and then I saw it. Pilot Knob.

All I had known about Pilot Knob was that was a road that ran through Eagan. But I learned a lot while researching my summit attempt. Read more about Pilot Knob here. Apparently I have been nearly summiting Pilot Knob for years and had no idea how close I was to this monumental accomplishment. Earlier in the week I ran attempted a summit up the Eastern face on my ride home with out the extra weight of the cheeseburger and to scout the location. As it was right on my ride home, like the summit is about 300 meters off my route, it made for an easy side trip.


After scouting the location I found that the Eastern face would be my best bet to summit. I decided I had to do it this week, but when. Tuesday I had the weather against me, downpours and wind, killed that attempt. Wednesday I worked from home since my puppy was getting fixed. Thursday would have to be the day. As I packed up the night before I made sure to have my camera and also to figure out the best location to get a cheeseburger.

Thursday AM I had plans to get breakfast at Seward Cafe with some friends and then head into work. I must say, the French toast is awesome there. The perfect breakfast to attempt a summit of this magnitude. After breakfast I worked my way toward the river, escorted by Scott, and then down the Mississippi River towards Eagan, and Pilot Knob. As I passed near Pilot Knob I knew today was going to be my day. I was at work and showering before I knew it and the day was ticking by. I couldn't wait to start my ascent of Pilot Knob.

The work day was nearly over and I needed to figure out the best way to transport my cheeseburger. The cafeteria burger would have been good but I really had no way to get it there. So I settled on going to Starks and picking up a burger. By the time I reached Starks on this Thursday night I realized that I was in trouble. I was in my Gore jacket and tights. There had to have been 40 bikes out front and I am talking about the motor kind. Not good for a kitted up commuter to go in and get harassed about. I blew by Starks defeated.


I hung my head low and slowly paced down Hwy 55 into the wind. I was nearly a mile away from my turn off of Hwy 55 when inspiration struck. Super America. The gas station. They usually have a cheeseburger, and they usually aren't half bad. I decided to check it out. I went in and saw it. There were 3 left. I grabbed one and paid the $1.89. Back on the bike!


The cheeseburger gave me a 2nd wind and I was off. Feeling good about summiting the Knob. And that is what I did. I wound through the rolling foothills of Eagan and Mendota Heights towards my turn. I turned my bike left on Acadia and headed up the slope towards the top. I saw the Cemetery in the distance and knew I was close. I approached my final summit and gunned it. My Surly gave it all it had and we did it! Reaching the top of Pilot Knob with cheeseburger in tow. Only one part left. Eat the cheeseburger.


Om nom nom nom... Okay the cheeseburger wasn't the tastiest thing I have had but I can't complain too bad. I was sitting on top of Pilot Knob, a sacred place for the Native Americans in the area, in the middle of Acadia Cemetery, eating a cheeseburger on a beautiful fall day in Minnesota watching the airplanes land at MSP airport across the Minnesota River Valley.

Here are a few more pictures of my summit and ride home. Enjoy.

Summit Cheeseburger Set.

Ding Ding!

At the New Belgium Brewing Urban Assault packet pickup we got a bell. I already had a bell on my commuter but I found a good place to put this new one. What do you think?

See ya bright and early at 9am tomorrow and I am not talking about at church!

-pete

Fall

Yep, it is fall, that means it is time to clean the shop area of the basement and drink some Oktoberfest beers.

Oktoberfest #1: Spaten Oktoberfest

I knocked back two of these while cleaning up the basement shop and started fine cleaning on the road bike(which is for sale btw, more on that soon, also the Stumpjumper FSR will also be for sale soon, shout if you want one). I found it to be a good beer that definitely has that German beer taste. It was enjoyable but seemed to make me really thirsty, so I had another. Both were good and I recommend it if you are looking for a good German Oktoberfest.

Next up: SurlyFest.

-pete

New Shiny and Things

New shiny!

Scott helped me pick out a new all purpose commuter/grocery/beer getter/bar hopper bike. It is a Surly Cross Check Complete, the only stuff I had to add were the Crank Bros Egg Beater pedals, rear rack, and the Ortlieb Back Roller Classic panniers.

Rode it to work today and I have to say it has probably the most comfortable ride I have ever experienced. I am really digging this bike.

Pictures:

On to other business. Wednesday Night saw a few of us hit up Murphy. It was in awesome shape, and lots of people out there. Mikey, Matt, Kris, and myself did nice lap and then drank a beer in the parking lot. It was a very nice night out.

Thursday I missed out on what sounded like an awesome Thursday Night Ride at Leb and then after party at Old Chicago. Next time!

Looks like there is some trail work at Murphy Sunday and also a group ride. Details on this post.

Have an awesome weekend! Looks like it is going to be a good one!

Surly

Dirty Monkey

Almost 50 degrees out and puddles everywhere. It hasn't been this nice out since November. I needed to get out. My first thought was which bike is easiest to clean. The Karate Monkey was the bike for the job. One speed, which is slow, and not much to wipe down.

I headed over to Nokomis and rode up to the parkway. Took that over to the other two lakes and then up to the Greenway. Hoped off the Greenway and headed downtown to see how the work on the 35W bride was going. I proceeded to take the river road down to Minnehaha Falls and then took 50th back to Nokomis.

Not the longest trip but a nice way to spend a few hours on the bike. The puddles were fun but my chain hates me now. My ass was soaked and the HAWG I got for Christmas held my goods and kept them dry. Nice day for a ride.

Karate Monkey Build

Picked up a Surly Karate Monkey frame the other day and will be building it up. Wheels, tires, and tubes are on their way. Also some Avid BB7 brakes, and tensioner. I plan on keeping this post updated with the build as it progresses. Stay tuned!

Pictures:




:::UPDATE #1:::11.02.2007:::

I got my Chris King headset from Hiawatha Cyclery this afternoon and they popped it into the frame for me while I waited. The pictures don't do the green headset justice. It looks rad. Thanks Jim and company!





Also the Santa in the brown truck brought me my wheelset, tubes, and a tire. Why just one tire? The second one was back ordered. No big deal, can't ride it yet anyway.







So I put the tire and tube on the rear wheel and put a little air in it. I had to toss it on the frame to see what it looks like. I also threw a stem on there just to keep the fork in place, that one isn't a keeper on this frame.




:::UPDATE #2:::11.05.2007:::


Received in the mail a nice Chris King Cog Set. So nice and shiny! Loaded it up on the XT hub to see what it will look like but didn't tighten the lock ring down yet since I don't know what the chain line is going to be. Took some pictures anyway, enjoy!





I can't wait to ride this thing!


:::UPDATE #3:::11.06.2007:::


Getting closer! Got the Salsa Pro Moto XC Riser Bars, Moto Ace S.U.L. Stem, and the Lip-Lock seat collar. The stem had a different stack height than the temporary Bontrager I had on there so I needed to get some different spaces. Scott came to my rescue. He had a 1cm spaces all ready to go for me, I stopped over and he was kind enough to give me that and some other nice items that will help with the build. Gotta love Phil Wood.

Here are a few pics:










:::UPDATE #4:::11.08.2007:::


So because I am a moron and don't know my new zip code my cranks and seat post didn't arrive when I thought they were going to. So a day later they found me. Then I put them on the bike. Boy you really have to tighten that crank bolt down, they aren't kidding.

Pictures:










:::UPDATE #5:::11.12.2007:::


The bike is ridable but not 100% complete. I was able to put on the front tire, the levers and grips pretty quick. Then I mounted the disc rotors, threw on the flat pedals. Added the chain and the Surly Tuggnut tensioner, it was starting to look more like a bike and less like a project. Mounted the BB7 brake calipers and ran the cables to them. Used the rubber band trick to get them adjusted and then gave it a test ride up and down 25th Ave. She is a fine bike. Still waiting on a few little touches like skewers and grips since I stole the ODI Yetis off my Stumpjumper FSR.

Enjoy some pictures:











:::UPDATE #6:::11.27.2007:::

I finished 'er up a while ago with some nice Salsa Flip-Off Skewers and took it off road at the River Bottoms to test it out with MikeyB. It is awesome. I will update this at least once more with info about where I got everything and how the service was. See you out there!



-pete

Hey, Hey, Hey!

With a break in the rain MikeyB and I decided to do a little urban session near my house. We suited up at about 8pm and went on our way. I had been scoping stuff out in my area for a while and found a few pretty nice spots that had some potential. We were to investigate. First up was a school about a mile from my house. It had a set of 4 nice humps that I saw from the road and some nice looking stairs.

When we got there we found the humps not to be very fun but hit them to their full potential. After that we did find some other fun. A nice little drop off a set of benches provided tens of minutes of fun! Mikey eyed up a nice little 6" skinny we messed around on for about 20 minutes. He was clearing it pretty well at the end, I was still having a little trouble. It was about 20 feet long and a foot high at the tallest point. I am going back to practice next week. :) We hit a few more sets of stairs, cleared the drop again and then decided to checkout another location nearby that I didn't have a chance to scout.



We rolled across the street to a church we rolled by the front and went around to the other side. MikeyB gets paged so we stopped. As he is calling in I spot some stairs and ride them. Then I see a nice little drop on the grass. I get cruising and hit it while MikeyB is talking on the phone. I jump a little early and get shit for air. Again. Second time was better, on the third I nailed it. Felt good. :) Mikey hung up and proceeded to try it. He got some nice air too. We head back around to the other side of the church, I decide to ride the double set of stairs, it was a little narrow and pretty steep but was a lot of fun. We mess around out front for a bit and then I can't find Mikey. I bike down a nice little grassy hill and air it out on another.

Then I hear a distant, "Hey!". I think it is Mikey so I look around for him...nothing. I hear it again and see a larger lady moving toward me. I decided to get outta there. She shouts again, "HEY, HEY, HEY! You! Come here!, HEY! HEY!" in a voice I could only describe as raspy, smoky, and crazy. I ride up to the opposite corner and wait to see if I can find MikeyB. I wait for a minute and see him round the corner. He says, "Let's get outta here before they call the Popo on us." I agree and we head North to Minnehaha.

It is starting to sprinkle and we head back to my place. Got back, grabbed my last two SurlyFests out of the fridge and drink them down while bullshitting about bikes and stuff. Fun night, next time I think we will head to the skatepark and rock that.

Work Time

Rainy day once again and my bikes were in need of some attention. So I grabbed a beer and went to work. I finished up my single speed conversion on my old Rockhopper. It is now setup perfect for the trails around here at 34x18. I had to add the Surly Singleator back on to the bike since 34x18 isn't the magic gear and I don't have either horizontal dropouts or a eccentric bottom bracket on that bike. It is setup in the push down position since I destroyed the spring that is used for the push up position. I may have to order a new one if the chain starts skipping.

Cleaned up my work bench area a bit too and sorted chain chunks into areas with their similar brethren. This week looks equally crappy in the weather department with rain from Monday through Friday with Wednesday being a maybe for a nice day but trails would be closed. Road Ride. Looks like MORBID is going to turn into Minnesota On Road Bikers Into Drinking. Eh, at least I would be riding.

See ya out there.

River Trail Ride

We inducted a new member into MORBID tonight. Kris wanted to test ride an '03 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR that someone at his work is thinking about selling. We did a little bike path riding along Lake Nokomis and Minnehaha Creek over to the Mississippi River to test out the bike with a little off-road. I have been on a few of the trails near the dog park but haven't explored the full extent of the trails on either the Minneapolis or the St. Paul side.

They were fun, not manicured like most of the trails around the metro and you could tell they weren't ridden too often. Most likely they are hiked on more than anything else. The trails are pretty rooty and have quite a few chunks of limestone and some big rock outcroppings. I think Kris got a good idea of how the bike handles so we headed back towards Minnehaha Falls. There were quite a few people out around the falls, it was really nice out.

When we got to the falls we decided to stop at Sea Salt for some tacos and a beer. We hung out on the patio and had our dinner. After we finished I turned the light on and we headed back home.

Once home we packed up the test bike back into his Jeep and had another beer on the deck while the dog took a dump in the yard. Good dog.