Myrna CG Mibus - Idyllwild

My to-do list is long. Lots of the things, like going to band and orchestra concerts to watch my kids, are fun things to do. But other things on my multiple to-do lists are not so fun - like plugging away at a work project that's already running behind then there's laundry, making dinner and so on. And with Christmas around the corner the to-do list is even longer than normal and it's not possible to get everything done - but I try to get everything, and then some, done anyway. As a result of all of my "to-dos" I'm carrying stress around with me like an overloaded backpack. I haven't been feeling well. I've been running myself into the ground. And my family has noticed. Tonight my husband, Owen, took the kids out to do some Christmas shopping. I was looking forward to a night at home so I could get some work done. Baking. Christmas cards. Work. Dishes. More work. Work, work and more work. Seriously? I was looking forward to a night of work? ...

As of this moment we have about a foot of fresh snow on the ground. It's been falling since daybreak and still coming down. With great excitement I got on my biking clothes after lunch and headed out on Bear to ride in some deep snow on the still unplowed streets of my neighborhood. Owen joined me on his Mukluk. We rode for about 30 minutes and probably went 2 miles. We laughed a lot, got a good workout and had a blast! Here's what I learned on my ride today: Deep snow is hard to ride in, even on a fat bike But boy is it fun! Snow is slippery and you can skid a lot This results in a lot of laughing And some happy screaming And a few near falls I'm better at controlling a bike through skids than I thought I was But look forward to getting even better It's easier to ride in the ruts where a car has already driven Pedals quickly get packed with snow making your boots slip even though the pedals have those little pins (12 per side on the VP Vice Trail Pedals I...

It snowed! Not much but enough to get out on my Salsa Beargrease this morning and go for a ride with my hubby, Owen, and his Mukluk 2. First ride in the snow on my Bear!! It was fun!! Fatbike + Snow = Fun I've ridden in the snow before on my hybrid, an old Specialized Crossroads. Riding that in the snow is fun but riding a fat bike in the snow is funner! (yeah, I know, funner isn't a "real" word but riding a fat bike in the snow will make even an English major will do crazy things like use "funner" in a sentence) My ride was fairly short, about a half hour. It was partly sunny and pretty warm at 27 degrees. I rode through grassy snow and on the snow-covered gravel and on two-track in a little hideaway near my home. And I rode through some slushy stuff and over some ice. I didn't have to worry about losing traction or being all that careful on my morning ride. I just rode. Bear just plows through everything. I even rode with some speed when I hur...

Owen and I had so much fun riding River Bend Nature Center on Saturday (Global Fat-Bike Day ) that we decided to hit the River Bend trails again on Sunday. It was about 50 degrees Sunday afternoon and we rode for just over an hour with no set route planned - we just set out and started riding the trails. There's something like miles of trails in the nature center,  some with great big hills! So big that we had to push our bikes up a couple of them. Pushing a bike is another kind of exercise, I guess, and since exercising is part of the point of getting out on our bikes in the first place pushing the bikes was all part of the fun. Well, maybe pushing my bike wasn't fun but it was all part of the outdoor, nature ride experience and that was fun! I was a little sore after the ride and my knee and right ankle are a bit sore still today. For the most part, though, my wrist is doing well (I changed out my handlebar - see below) and I'm feeling pretty strong. Plus it wa...

Today is Global Fat-Bike Day! There are fat bike rides all over, including a group ride in Minneapolis that is likely still taking place - they planned to ride about 50 miles in the Minnesota River Bottoms starting at noon today. I nearly drove to the cities for that one but our family schedule today is awfully busy so Owen and I opted to ride some great trails in River Bend Nature Center in Faribault, MN, instead. We started the morning at Milltown, the shop where we purchased our fat bikes. There we got some info from Ben, the shop's owner, about where to ride and Ben adjusted my shift levers a bit (still tweaking to get them in the just-right position) A couple of guys came in to pick up a Surly fatbike that was in the shop and one of the guys told me he'd read my Beargrease Report - No Roads? No Problem! blog. Wow! He said he liked it, too. That sure made me feel good. It's fun to note that my Beargrease Report blog post has had over 1,250 hits so far! That's...