Last snow run of 2013-2014 winter?

Dawn breaker

Frosty Dogs

Half-Fat Bike Experiment: Dog Trial Run #1

 

Went out for my first dog powered run on my newly modified half-fat bike. Pretty mixed results. My existing back tire, isn't made for any type of sandy or snowy surface, so this resulted in a nearly unrideable first run. I don't think I traveled in a straight line for more than a few hundered yards over the 6 miles. And I was litrealy standing still, spinning the back tire when trying go up hill. So I need a more aggressive tire for the back. I knew that, but wasn't sure if I should go with a studded tire or not. Still not sure, but am leaning towards studded .

Next step, upgrade the back tire. This will hopefully give me enough traction to stay safely upright. I took one big spill, but was able to adhere to the first rule of mushing - never let go of the sled, or in this case bike.

Bikejor: Fort Custer

Training on a Fat Bike

Don't run dogs on paved trails

Douglas Valley Vineyards Dryland Sled Dog Race

3-dog Bikejor at the VASA Trail

7-dog & 3-dog Loops at Fort Custer

Looking for another opportunity to run more than ten miles we headed to Fort Custer Saturday afternoon.  My goal was to run the 7-dog trail (~6.5 miles) twice and then try for either the 3-dog or 5-dog loop.  Never having once seen a snowmobile at Fort Custer I figured we'd have the place pretty much to ourselves  Wrong...I could hear the whine of snowmobiles flying through the woods the minute I stepped out of my car at the campground trailhead.

We still had some light so I hit the trail.   I was testing out a new bridle I'd put on my sled a well as the short pulka ManMat harnesses I'd just gotten from Howling Dog.  We ended up just doing the 7-dog loop once and then the 3-dog loop once (total GPS mileage of 10.6 miles).  We could hear snowmobiles the whole time, but we only crossed paths with one group of riders, taking a break at the intersection of where the 5 and 7 dog loops dump into the 3-dog loop.  We weaved through them and their sleds easily and continued on our way.

We had a great run. The new bridle system worked awesome and I absolutely love the pulka harnesses.  The heavy snow on the trees along the 7-dog trail made for a beautiful run.

6 mile bikejoring run

I took Jasper and Cello for their first "big" run today - 6 miles.
Cello's pretty amazing, she really out ran Jasper - but he did his best to hang with her.

Bikejoring

Brigid and I bought two used Mountain Bikes from a bike co-op in Grand Rapids.
This is what we're gonna do with them:

From Bikejoring

From Bikejoring