Back to Blogging

Blogging has been on the back of my mind, but hasn't made it to the top of my list until last night.  I had Gus pull over just past the Knik River Bridge because the sunset colors were amazing.  And I thought to myself this would make a great picture to start off blogging with again.  While the I-phone camera didn't capture every detail, it did a nice job of catching the reflection on the river and the starting of green on the trees.  This past weekend the temperatures and timing must have been just right, because all the leaves are back on the trees.  Our world turned green once again. Here are two pictures taken 48 hours apart: 

 We've also been taking advantage of those blue skies these last few weeks. 

Bryant and I are on a road biking mission and trying to put as many miles as possible on the weekends in the early summer season. My Spanish final was on Wednesday, so I no longer study every morning or have to head to class after work, so my new goal is to bike back and forth to work.  Finishing the class is also the reason why I can think about Blogging again.  I was going to write, "Who ever thought learning another language could be so time consuming?"  But I knew it was going to be because my brain needed a lot of studying when I took the Spanish 1 so I had a pretty good idea what I was in for when I signed up for Spanish 2. 

Over Spring Break, I had the opportunity to practice a little of my Spanish on our trip to Mexico's Baja Peninsula. Bryant and I spent some time mountain biking in La Paz, El Sargento, and Todos Santos.  Even though the boat is sold, we still have a storage shed with some camping gear and bikes. As usual, the days were sunny and the time went by much too fast. I realized when I got home, how few pictures I had taken.

Our pleasant winter weather continued through March and April.  In late March, we took the winter bikes on a hard packed snowmachine trail from the cabin west to the Big Sustina River.  Getting to the Big Su on the bikes was a nice way to close of the winter biking season.   

I think if every Southcentral Alaska winter was this mild, I wouldn't mind living up here a little longer.  This had to have been the nicest winter I've experienced in the 21 years that I've lived up here. 

 

On Sunday, Hatcher's Pass was our destination.  The first 21 miles are rolling terrain from the house then there is 2,200 feet of climbing for over 10 miles.  The grade varies between 4% - to really steep.  The bike gurus at Strava rate it as a Category 1 climb, which is suppose to mean something in hill climbing bike language.  Then we turn around and repeat that trip in the other direction.  Coming home is always easier than heading out as one can imagine. The first time we rode up here was the first weekend of May in 2011.  We both used our mountain bikes and I was totally exhausted.  I remember getting to the top and laying my tired body down on the pavement wondering if I could even lift it up to eat a little bit of lunch. 

In May of 2012, only Bryant's road bike made it to the top. He purchased a new bike and was eager to try it out.  I must have still been traumatized, so I opted not to go.

 

But a month and a half later using my road bike from college, I let myself get pulled along on a ride to the top, and while I may have been last place among the group, I wasn't so far behind that they turned back to look for me.  Gears meant for the flatlands don't work well in the mountains.  I was obviously struggling.  In the summer of 2013, I made my way again to the top. Because it was later in the summer and I had a little more time to kick my body back into shape, I mostly remember it as easier than the other times I rode it, but still an hour's worth of my heart-pounding and a major leg beating experience. 

Now this most recent ride up Hatcher's Pass was a whole new experience.  On prior weekends, we had been climbing some smaller local hills and the thought crossed my mind that I may need to invest in a new bike. Could I get up the steep grades?  Yes, but was it much fun?  Debatable.  If ever I planned to do a lot of biking again or hill climbing, this old bike wasn't going to cut it anymore  That is what rolled through my mind the entire ride.  When we got home that evening, Bryant said to me, "I'm buying you a bike."  I decided he could buy me a half of a bike and I would buy the other half.  We ordered it on Sunday and by Friday, UPS was delivering the new bike to our doorstep. Saturday morning, Bryant built the bike and by Saturday afternoon we were riding a loop close to the house.  On Sunday we stepped it up a notch and made our way up to Hatcher's Pass.  Impressive . . . I was absolutely spell bound that I could make my way up the steep grades and still find that I had one more gear to click into when the going got too tough.    



Difficult . . . yes.  Easier than before . . . . most definitely and best of all, it was an enjoyable challenge that I will likely try again soon instead of waiting another year!



Liking the Biking

 Sometimes it is necessary to just keep going around the next bend  . . . . . and this past weekend that is exactly what we ended up doing and as a result we ended up on two cool bike rides.

View from the Knik Glacier from the Secret Trail 

On Saturday we biked the Knik River bottom from our house toward the glacier.  There is a regular loop ride close to home, but when we saw the snowmachine track heading beyond our regular turnaround point, we followed it.  Our weather has been cold enough to keep the river frozen, but not icy and the little snow that is on the river is mostly a windblown hard pack.  It is rare to have all the side channels passable with an ice bridge.  Ideal conditions on the Knik!  The urge to take advantage of that and a beautiful blue sky was stronger than the urge to return home to study for my Spanish mid-term. I was happy we did because our little afternoon ride turned into what I coined "The Best Ride Ever!"  Bryant made up a YouTube video if you're interested is seeing some great scenery and of course what this area can sometimes offer in winter biking:  http://youtu.be/KGb8g-e-Q2k

The next day, we took the Secret Trail up the side of the mountain.  Our first landmark is the Big Tree, and I was willing to stop there.  Bryant suggested the First Overlook and not wanting to wimp out, I agreed.  Once I hit the overlook, I realized we couldn't see the glacier and I really wanted to get a view of the river bottom and our ride from yesterday. I convinced him to continue on up to the Glacier View Knoll, which didn't take much convincing at all.  Granted there was some bike pushing on the 2nd 1000 feet of climbing, but we were able to ride most of it down and that was a lot of fun even with numb fingers. 

Estudie de español estar muy mal el fin de semana pasado, pero pasear de bicicleta estuvo buenisima!  
(Studying my Spanish was very bad this past weekend, but riding the bike was the best!  At least that is what I wanted to say.)

Biking West of the Little Susitna

We finally made our way to the cabin.  Our house project and other obligations have kept us away from there the past few weeks.  It always feels like such a hassle to pack up at the departure point, but once we arrive, we wonder why we debated even coming because it all ends up coming together pretty easy once the decision is made to go ahead and go for the weekend.  But so is true with most things in life: making the decision is often more difficult than executing it. 

When we arrived, we found that the Southcentral January warming trend did melt some snow, but it didn't do away with most of it like it did at our house. About a 4" hard pan layer of icy snow was on top of about 8" of normal snow with about 3" of fresh fluffy snow on top.  I proceeded to remove that from the cabin roof almost immediately upon our arrival.  Our door jam wasn't liking the heavy load and it was a reminder that we need to not let things go so long in the future.  I was happy to have only 256 sq. feet of snow to remove.  The fun part was being able to bike for two days in a row on new trails.  On Saturday evening we rode on a 10 mile loop on some trails near our cabin.  I had no idea Bryant had planned otherwise I'd have held off on the snow shoveling, but half-way through the ride when the sun was setting and I realized where we were going, I knew we weren't going to be a short sunset cruise to loosen the legs up.  I went into conservation mode by walking the hard hills and pushing on the icy difficult sections.  One thing we reminded ourselves at the end of this short ride was that 10 miles on a fat bike differs based on the various conditions of the trail.  Assuming one is fortunate enough to have a packed trail to ride upon.

On Sunday, we rode bikes to Flat Horn Lake.  Usually this particular trail is one of the best from our cabin at least from the snowmachine perspective, so we were curious to find out how we'd view it from the bike.  I knew I wanted to get to "the sign."  Anyone who has explored west of Little Susitna River in the winter knows what sign I'm talking about.  All these trails in this area are swamps in the summer, unless one has an airplane to be dropped off at a particular destination.  Traveling and exploring by snowmachine, dogsled, bike, ski, or foot are the only options.  While there are numerous trails to get to the Big Susitna River, the famous 1000 mile Iditarod Sled Dog trail is the only trail that leads beyond that point to arrive in Nome.  The Iditarod Trail Invitational happened to start on Sunday from Knik Lake so we expected to cross paths on the trail with some bikers, skiers, and runners making their way to McGrath or Nome for this multi-day/week/month long winter race for people who are much more hard core and focused than I will ever be.  I later found out that the race didn't start until later in the afternoon and for once, we were on an earlier schedule so we didn't see them.  It turned out to be a mostly good trail out to Flat Horn Lake, and twenty degree temperatures.  There was one section that was a little icy, but I would say that the only thing missing was a thermos for a cup of coffee or cocoa while we were having a lunch break on the lake. Bryant took a short video from "the sign."
http://youtu.be/G0-AyyYmOcg

       

And he's also has the STRAVA app that gives great information about our rides. 

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Jim Creek

Bryant and I took our bikes out for a ride today.  And while it would have been really cool to be biking in the summertime in France where this pictures and his video from this summer were taken (http://youtu.be/kLFvarC6KOo ), that is not to be, so we went where we can go

and what is now: the other side of the Knik River from where our house sits.  The local name for this 20 mile stretch of river is known as Jim Creek and the Glacier.  About three miles from the access trail is Jim Creek, a popular silver salmon stream that flows into the Knik and at the head of the Knik River is the Knik Glacier.  All kinds of recreation enthusiasts visit the area on various modes of transportation, 4-wheeler, Little 4 x 4 trucks, Big 4 x 4 trucks, dirt bikers, and an occasional hiker or biker.  There are all types of trails, gravel bars, and sand/silt dunes to play around on. 

Access Road heading toward Jim Creek

It can be a very windy dirty dusty place; luckily today wasn't one of those kind of days. The temperatures were in the teens, the ski was blue, and the sunshine felt wonderful. What a person has to like or hate, depending on perspective, more than anything else about Jim Creek is that it is anything but boring.  

 

Days spent at Jim Creek are always good for some type of story that quickly moves into "And you wouldn't believe what they were doing!  They were . . . . "  That particular statement could end in: snagging fish, flipping dirt bikes, using appliance for target practice, leaving truckloads of trash, stealing vehicles and burning them, etc..  Jim Creek has a long dark history of people acting in ways that aren't really acceptable anywhere else.  In recent years, the State of Alaska has taken over management of the area and there were funds allocated to patrol it regularly.  This cut down on the reckless shooting, underage drinking, and car theft, but there is plenty of stupid left to be done at Jim Creek.  This video documents, "How Big is Your Stupid."  http://youtu.be/-ty6gICVwJg

 



It's Cold . . . .

. . . even if there isn't any snow on the ground.  I'm going to have to sort through my old pictures to determine if this is the longest stretch we've had without snow on the ground for the months of December, January, February and March.  On Saturday we rode the bikes down by the river.  While there were a few patches of ice, it wasn't unmanageable to weave our way around them.  It felt good to be outside doing something. A combination of the weather, house projects, and lack of motivation have kept me more inactive than I want to become, so getting out a little this weekend is a start in the right direction.  It helps to have a little more daylight and it will only get lighter!

A quick YouTube video down by the river:  http://youtu.be/O80RmqRxhKM

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