Shot Time

The first real road ride of the year and I definitely can feel it in the legs. Managed to get three full hours in and see a bit of the Sauk County country side. I have been offered a shot during rides before but this was a first for a non pub crawl ride. We were about 5-6 miles from finishing up at the Krayers when some nice fella stuck his head out of the door of a bar and yelled " do you want a shot of peppermint?" I think he was kind of shocked when we all turned around and said "heck yeah". He proceeded to get a bottle of peppermint schnapps and glasses. He was just as equally surprised to find out that the lycra clad bike riders Ryan and Lisa were his neighbors. What a great ride, I hope offers of food and beverage keep coming as we pass through the little towns and villages of the state this year.

Snow biking

For the second Sunday in a row I have ventured out on the snowmobile trails of Sauk County. We start at the Krayer's and ride from their home in Denzer to the trail that is just down the road. The first week it was through Leland and west of there. This rout had a fair amount of elevation change and we ended up on a high ridge overlooking the Leland area. This week it was towards Sauk City and the recent snow made for a lot of work, this ride was a bit harder than week one. We would hit areas that were drifted over and not as packed in as the rest and the bikes and riders had a hard time negotiating the trail. We only cover about 7-8 miles of trail each way so we do not get a lot of mileage but it is made up in effort. We have started sprinting for the stop ahead signs just like our summer road rides but you can't get much of a sprint on with 10lbs of air in the tires and three inches of fresh snow. It has been a blast and reminds me of the days in Houghton/Hancock of riding on the trails with Matt and Jeff. Oh to be a college student with not much in the way of responsibilities again. The local people on there snow machines have given mixed but slightly positive reactions. No one has yelled but the waves or thumbs up are outranked by no response 10-1. Hopefully we will be back out again on Sunday, it beats the heck out of the basement trainer.

Ringing in the new year

The annual New Years Day ride was a pleasant 15 mile ride on the snow covered roads today. It was a small turnout this year compared to last, but the weather always plays a roll in the amount of people that show up. If the temp is below 20 it cuts the number in half just by itself. The eight of us ventured out at 2:00 p.m. sharp and road for about an hour. It seems that every year we have grand plans to ride every weekend in the winter, we will see what happens on Sunday when we are supposed to hit the Sauk County snowmobile trails.