Iron Range Mountain Biking

Spurred on by the success of the Cuyuna mountain biking trails in the central part of the great state of Minnesota...... Along with the great strides COGGS of Duluth is having....... And one CAN NOT forget the great strides our neighbors GRIMBA to our west have had!!!

Keep an eye out here for our newly formed club, the Iron Range Off-Road Cyclists or I.R.O.C. 

A group of off-road biking enthusiasts  who've banded together to make a start at "Cuyuna" type trails in the heart of the Iron Range of northern Minnesota!! 

Website info, Facebook page info, and Twitter feed info to come! 

Meanwhile, if you're in the area, we meet at Maple Hill Park on Wednesday nights at 6:30 to ride the technical single-track of Maple Hill. 

Well, with winter quickly upon us, it's becoming my favorite time of year, as anyone who stops by here knows......... FATBIKE time!! Yeah!! 

Anyway, as always Pedal On!!!

Peace

Out With the Old, and In With the New

Dec. '09 my Pugsley was built up....... Everything was picked to be very functional not so much the most expensive parts build, but middle of the road priced. Well, except for the drivetrain, that was built up to be beefy and to last. Which it has rather nicely!
As things have broken I've always replaced "one" up or more; but always to the up.
When we got done with the build, I said "oh crap, I forgot about grips!!"
Calvin laughs and walked to his "blueberry bucket" (the bucket of useless and mismatched parts), in the back corner of his work area, grabbed a set of bmx grips....... and said "now get the hell out of here, and go ride!!!" Lol
Anyway, those bmx grips have stayed on since then, and were in need of replacement. So I searched around and searched around......... and around.
Then I find a post by Chris at Mn. Bike Trail Navigator about Interbike 2013 Cool Things part 3.
The Made in the U.S.A. ESI grips. 

I choose the "chunky" grips, and this morning slapped them on. 

Yeah, a bit slow here at work!! Lol
Here's a picture of the old and new side by side. As you can plainly see, it was beyond time for a new set!! Lol

Fat Bikes, Fat Bikes and more Fat Bikes

Old guys, young guys, big guys, little guys. 

Road riders, recumbent riders, MTB riders. 

Everybodies getting into FatBikes!

Bad thing? 

Good thing? 

Ha, at least it's a bike!! Lol

Dec. 09 I got my regular old (now boring;) Surly Pugsley; 1st one (that I knew of) on Minnesota's Iron Range.

I had done the XC racing, the 24 hour racing, the 100 mile gravel rides; but what I really loved was the exploration, and my regular MTB bike just wasn't cutting it. I was a fan of the Pugsley at 1st sight. 

That's the bike I needed to do the type of riding I loved to do!!! 

So a trip to the LBS and we hammered out my fat tire build...... Yeah back then you couldn't buy a complete FatBike.

Well, today you can get pretty much whatever you'd like in a complete FatBike!

Way too many FatBike manufactures to keep track of, yeah that's not a small feat!! 

Anyway, WAAAA WAAAA I know!! LOL

Ok, ok, back on topic.... 1 guy from Wisconsin, and 3 guys from Mn. that I've talked to over the last year about what my FatBike was all about, and what it meant to me.

Over that time I've answered more emails than I can remember. 

What about this FatBike?

What about that FatBike? 

Are they hard to pedal? 

Those damn tires!!!!???

What do you think about this? 

What do you think about that? 

Surly? Fatback? 9:zero:7? Salsa? Specialized? The Bikes Direct FatBikes? 

New? Used? 

Those damn tires!!!! 

This, that and that other thing. 

Carbon? Steel? Aluminum? 

SS? IGH? 1x, 2x or 3x??

LoL

It was interesting and fun to hear the excitement in each and everyone of their emails!!! 

I always said "this is what works for me." You do whatever you'd like!! 

This is your FatBike, do it up how YOU want to! 

You could have someone tell you, get this do that, no no, you don't wanna do that.

You want new, get new. You want used, boom, there ya go! 

Brad, Frank, Marty and Brian....... Welcome to the club!!!!

2 Moonlanders, a Surly Ops Pugsley, and a Motobecane respectfully!! 

Your pedaling life's will never be the same! 

Some of you have found this out already!!! 

3 of you have your FatBikes and I just can't get over how much I want to say 

"NA NA BOO BOO...... I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO.... NA NA BOO BOO!!"

;) ;)

I'm happy for each and every one of you!!

NOW JUST WAIT TILL WE GET SNOW!! 

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha 

AND DONT FORGET.............. ABOUT

LET'S GET IT ON!!!! 

Ok........ In no particular order here's the new rides.......

Oh yeah..... There'll be a new carbon Beargrease roaming Da Range here soon..... Way to go Rick!! I threw in a picture just for you too!!! Lol

Brad

Frank

Brian

Marty

Rick

And we can add "Westside" Larry and his  Big "S" FatBoy Expert FatBike!! 

Which he picked up today..... 1/8/2014.

Peace....... AND 

PEDAL ON..... WHATEVER YOU'D LIKE!!

The 2nd Best Time of Year Continues.....

Now all we need is some snow!!! 

Monday or Tuesday of next week we'll see some accumulation!! 

Then it'll be the best time of year!! ;)

It's My Time of Year!!!

I had to pull a couple geocaches out of service........ 

It was a very pleasant couple of hours. 

Salsa Bike Demo

Coming to Duluth!! 

Ever wondered what FatBikes are all about? 

Ever wonder how a carbon FatBike would ride?? 

Well check it out!!