Flowers and Food and Biking and Food with a Final Storm

The family and I woke up and headed to the St. Paul farmers market. We picked up some flowers and assorted locally grown veggies. The bouquet above was $6.

Next we finally found the Hmong Market. It's at the intersection of Marion and Como in St. Paul. The smells and thrown together buildings brought me back to markets in Asia. We had beef laab with tripe, cellophane noodle stuff cabbage rolls and round greasy meatball goodness.

More good food was to come. Our friends Mai and Mark invited us over for dinner. Mark is a Dane and Mai is Vietnamese. They always cook something wonderful.
I took the opportunity, as I often do, of biking the 26 miles to their home. Ling-Hui and the kids drive with the bike rack on. This way I can have a nice one way ride. The weather was hot and humid, but I enjoyed my route. (Click on it to view it.)

Mark and Mai created an incredible spread of Mexican cuisine. We had homemade tamales wrapped in banana leaves, salsas, guacamole, skirt steak, chicken, mole, beans and more. I'm glad I rode.
Here's a picture of a tamale from our care-package.

The storms hit on our way home. Frequent lightning flashes helped illuminate the highway hidden by torrential rain. A couple of plastic bags and a few wraps of duct-tape protected the Brooks saddle on the way home.

This was a Saturday well spent.

Traditional Archery Shoot 2010

I keep an eye out for this event every year. It was different without Q and Steve.

Only foam animals were hurt making this blog post.
Jared and I went for head shots on the Mandrill.

Hakuna Matata.

The green arrows in the first picture and this throwing hatchet are my Father's Day presents.
It was a great day.

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Excited for the Traditional Archery Shoot

My little brother is going too. Which cloth to wear?

Dirt Burger Fun

Thanks to Sov and all of the Decorah people for hosting fun under their bridge. I felt a bit weird heading to a venue where I didn't know anyone and am appreciative of the hospitality. Special thanks to Chuey, not sure of the spelling, for playing trail guide. Enjoyed chatting with Scally, Captain and everyone else whose names I don't remember. Friday night we rode into T-Bocks for a tasty burger, sans dirt. Lightning bugs flashes lit up the trail on the way back to camp. Next, we chilled around a fire until the the police came and shut us down. Like an army of ants with messenger bags and a Big Dummy we moved the party wood, beer and all up the bluff into the woods. Shortly after 2am we headed down the long hill hills back to our tents. Best night sleep in a tent in a longtime.

Here's the view I woke-up to Saturday morning. I made coffee and oatmeal and read my book. Then it was time to ride. We headed out on these trails, which kicked my ass. I crashed 3 times to the amusement of a local. The rain had made the trail greasy. Logs and roots slid tires out making the ride more technical than I am good. Not complaining though; I was riding in the woods, tired, happy and dirty.

A little of Grandpa's Pine Tar soap and a swim in the river felt great after riding.

Below is a random photo of some campers. Surly bikes showed up in force. 1x1s, Karate Monkeys, LHTs, Pugsleys, and Big Dummys all were present. One guy had a Karate Monkey with couplers renamed a "Flying Money." Several people who worked for Surly were present as well.

I'm up for Dirt Burger 2011.

Call Me

Picked up a cell phone today. I'd be nice if some of you English would call.

LHT Fully Unloaded

Dirt Burger is is next weekend in Decorah, Iowa, and I need to get out of town and do something different. My dilemma is that I don't know what bike to ride. The full suspended Diamondback XR4 is riding well, after having Shockspital rebuild the front end. It is undoubtedly the most practical and fastest bike I own for riding real single-track, but the bike seems somehow wrong for the spirit of the event.
Thus, I stripped down the Long Haul(Dirt-Road)Trucker and put on my most off worthy tires, Ricthey Trailmix 700x35mm. A wider tire would be nice. The bike is specs say it will take a 45mm tire without fenders. I plan on taking both bikes; it'll be fun to compare them.

The Long Haul Trucker loaded for comparison.

Dirt Burger's flier:

I'm expecting a cool outing with great people.

Cattails taste like .......

While enjoying ourselves at the lake near Nevis, MN last weekend, we had a chance to sample cattails.

The kids had pulled some young stalks from the edge of the dock in order to do some weaving and to make a boat. Remembering that these stalks were edible, I pulled the Swiss Army knife out slicing a dime sized disc of the end. It tasted strangely familiar, but I didn't know what it reminded me of. I let the kids try some too. Harris said, "dad, it tastes like cucumbers."

He nailed it cucumbers with the slightest hint of leek. They were really good. I'd like to try them with onions in a creamy vinegar sauce, or as an addition to a salad.

This is not the sort of edible, but taste like crap, for survival only food; it is one I will seek out for its own culinary merit. The photo below shows what the tender shoot looks like. Next, I want to try stinging nettles.

Heartland Trail

The family's heading to Nevis to ride the Heartland Trail. We also plan to wet a fishing line -J- <^><) swim and cruise Lake Belle Taine. Bring on the heat.

Here's my latest order of green coffee beans from Sweet Maria's. I chose lots of smaller lots, as I haven't tried any of these coffees before. I hope to find some new favorites.

Peru Organic Cusco Canelon Small Producers - 2 lbs
Brazil Cup of Excellence - Fazenda Sertaozinho - 1 lbs
Ethiopia Organic Shakiso Sidamo 'Maduro' - 2 lbs
Sumatra Grade 1 Mandheling - 2 lbs
Tanzania Nyamtimbo Peaberry - 2 lbs
Ethiopia FTO DP Sidamo Shoye Union - 2 lbs
Sulawesi Wet-Process Toarco Flatbean - 2 lbs
Kenya Kiambu Peaberry - Riuki - 2 lbs
Costa Rica Finca La Ponderosa 100% Bourbon - 2 lbs
Ethiopia Organic Yirga Cheffe, Koke Coop - 1 lbs

Outstanding Weekend

Starting us off Friday, we went to Ling-Hui's graduation ceremony. The red ribbon and hidden medal indicate that she earned highest honors for students with G.PA.s of 3.75 and higher.
Saturday we went to Afton State Park for some hiking, geocaching and playing in the St. Croix River. The water was still cool, but I'd have swam if I had a suit.
Sunday morning Ling-Hui woke up early and made buttermilk pancakes from scratch +. The cool part of it was that the kids and I made the butter in the foreground by shaking up heavy cream. The buttermilk for the pancakes was the by product of our butter making.
To finish off the weekend I took the Long Haul Trucker out for a workout ride from Fort Snelling out around Lake Calhoun and back for 28 miles. I felt good that my average speed was 14.2 MPH. This felt fast considering the number of times I had to slow down for cars, pedestrians and other cyclists. This bike keeps proving itself to be a great do-everything ride.

Well, Life Isn't Like Disney Kids

Some creature came in and ate the baby rabbits in the back yard yesterday. (See a couple of post below for the earlier part of the story) The suspects include A cat, but the nest seems like a lot of food for one, and they don't travel in packs. Crows seem the most likely diner. Vultures are another possibility; we see them flying high over head quite often.

I intended to use the nest to teach the kids about how creatures grow. Instead the kids learned that, with the exception of a few bacteria, all living things kill other living things to live.

I'm proud of their ability to understand that bunnies don't just hop around and sing with orphaned deer.

Dirt Burger

This looks fun. Anyone interested?

Dirt Burger

* Sov is once again putting on the event on June 11th-13th
* Surly will once again be sponsoring the Porta-Johns
* No Ride scheduled to Bluffton as was last year
* Campground will be located under the Quarry Hill Bridge across from the Old Bruenning Truck Garage
* Schedule- Not set in stone!!!!
o Night Ride Friday Evening- Meet at Campground at 8:00 p.m.
o Bucketball World Championships- Saturday at 3:00 p.m. Location TBD
o Trail Ride throughout Saturday
* VERY CASUAL!

Back Yard Rabbits 4 Days Old/Here's the Hassenpfeffer

We've continued to keep an eye on the rabbit's nest in our back yard. The mother rabbit comes at about 7pm to feed the babies and again sometime in the morning. Claire is holding one of the kittens in the top picture; Harris has one in the lower picture.

In case anyone is worried, rabbits do not reject her babies if they've been touched by people. In fact she came shortly after we handled the kittens today. No bunnies were hurt in the production of this post. But, I do like rabbit meat.

These rabbits in the yard have me reflecting on a most famous rabbit. Using my best Yosemite Sam voice (which is not very good), I asked the kids "Where's my hassenpfeffer?" If you don't get the hassenpfeffer comment, watch the video.

Newest Neighbors

About 6:30 tonight I noticed an eastern cottontail hanging out in the backyard. It seemed sluggish and reluctant to move. After it waddled away, I walked over to where it had been and noticed a shallow hole.

I've seen rabbit nests before and knew that this was a Doe looking to deliver her kittens. About an hour later the rabbit was back. I checked the nest and saw it was full of hairless babies nestled in a mixture of mom's fur and dry grass.

I didn't want to disturb the nest to take a picture, so the image above is pulled from the web. Our nest and kittens look almost identical to photo. The bunnies in our nest are even smaller though.

If you click on the picture it gets sparkly and pretty.

Then and Now

Minneapolis May Day Parade and Picnic @ Q's

Met Jared and Ella for Lunch at United Noodle then headed to the parade. We were on the corner of about 28th and Bloomington

This parade is a wonderful departure from the typical Queen of something sitting in the back of a convertible parade I'm more accustom to seeing.
My favorite group was the one below. The people on the lead vehicle are all pedaling to propel the band which is hooked to the shed full of other people pedaling to pull the sofa followed by a dragging oil drum.
I'm happy to see the cousins hanging out.
After the parade we headed to Q's for some good BBQ chicken while the kids played noisily together. A fine way to spend a Sunday.

Vertigo

I put a set of 700c wheels and resingle-speeded my tall bike today. Saw this in the new Urban Velo.


I also saw this picture of Brad from Capricorn Cycles.

Nothing New.

Here's a short video clip I found off a link from All Hail the Black Market blog.

Iron Family

Way to go family! We completed the 30 mile Iron Man ride earlier today, despite some pouring rain, challenging hills, strong winds and a crash.

While some may think this is not such an accomplishment, I am very proud of my family. Harris rode his 24" wheeled Caliente with a limited gear range. He refused to walk up any of the steep hills; instead he stood-up and hammered. To do something this hard for over three hours is an impressive feat for an 8-yr-old.

Claire took a fairly big crash on her 13" Trek 930. Hitting the asphalt knocked her front wheel and handlebars out of alignment and ripped up part of her pants. She literally bounced up saying, "I'm ok." She struggled for a few mile portion of the ride, but finished the last 12 miles strong after the final rest break.

Ling-Hui trooped through adverse conditions on her 13" Trek 930 without complaint. She has not been on her bike for some time causing distress to both her knee and butt. Further, She rode much of the last portion with a low front tire adding to her work. Most importantly Ling-Hui did a great job of not being too motherly, and made sure we had plenty of good snacks.

While the ride itself was relatively simple for me on the Long Haul Trucker, I take pride in being able to have quality bikes prepared, proper gear arranged and my family in the ride spirit to do such an undertaking.

The pictures are of Claire, Harris and a neighbor girl showing off their hard-earned t-shirts.