Freewheel Bike has been hosting a bike race on the ice of Lake Minnetonka for a few years. They’re a local shop in town. Every year in mid February, they plow a maze-like course in Lake Minnetonka, then invite cyclists to race for the title of fastest ice racer. They usually line up a beer sponsor for onsite suds. Lucid was the brew in 2013 … Continue reading Ice Bikes
It has been nearly three months since the good folks at Mountain Hardwear sent me a package of goods and a booklet welcoming me to their #FindingWinter athlete ambassador team. Winter was looking like a certainty when I opened that package. Ski trips were being booked. I had every intention of spending more time outdoors than indoors this winter. Then everything went wrong. Pneumonia sidelined … Continue reading Still #FindingWinter
If this trip were a menu, I would order everything. But not that I need a menu to eat. Angry Catfish is now our traditional starting point. They serve up stellar hot caffeinated beverages and sell pastries from Baker’s Wife, a bakery two stores down. Between the two is Buster’s on 28th, a bar that has an extensive tap list. We set off at 7:30 … Continue reading Fly Fishing. Now With More Brats.
You either have a cabin or know someone who has a cabin. That’s one way to tell if someone is Minnesotan. My parents bought a place on a lake when I was two and have been going up there ever since. The first six years we had the place, it was one of those Memorial-Day-to-Labor-Day deals–pretty frequent for most Minnesotan cabins. Weather up here is … Continue reading Bass Are Biting?
Minnesota is known for a few things. We invented waterskis. Conversely, we also invented the snowmobile. It’s duck, duck, gray duck. The Mississippi River begins in Lake Itasca, in the NW part of the state. The Norway pine is our state tree and the walleye is our state fish. Some call us the North Star State. We go fishing all year–even on ice. And ride … Continue reading Fat Bike Demo and Race
The journey began with pizza, as all storied journeys do. I just wanted to write that. Anyways. We loaded up Subi (my Subaru) and headed west on I-94. Lake Maria State Park is about 45 minutes from Minneapolis. From downtown, take I-94 west until the second Monticello exit. The park is eight miles west of the freeway. Farm fields speckled by oak groves, rolling hills … Continue reading Lake Maria State Park. Year Two.
“All you need is a credit card and you can be an outdoorsman on Instagram.” If you look at a cache of photos on any given hashtag–#campvibes, #camptrend, #liveauthentic, whatever–you’ll find a few photos of people doing cool shit. You can see people hiking the PCT, traversing glaciers or camping in Trolltunga. But most of all, you’ll see people standing in a field with their … Continue reading Slow Fishing
Pine forest meets shipping container meets hygge. A new Dakota County regional park opened just south of St. Paul on the border of Rosemount and Farmington. It’s called Whitetail Woods. The park has a few miles of ski and hiking trails, but the main attraction has been the camper cabins, which welcomed their first guests around Christmastime. Reservations for these cabins opened to the public … Continue reading Breaking In A New Cabin
The Subaru was loaded up and ready to go at 10 a.m. on Saturday. I picked up Phil from Angry Catfish shortly after. He was waiting for me with two sprinkled cake donuts as requested. It was a wonderful way to start the morning. We were off and rolling to Whitewater State Park, one of the few areas in the state to fish trout this time … Continue reading One Fish
It wasn’t more than a week ago in Minneapolis that I could walk outside in an unbuttoned without a chill. I could bike home from work without gloves, crack a window and night and hear the crunch of leaves underfoot. Things are different now. Winter coats are required, sidewalks need to be shoveled and that crunch underfoot is ice and snow. Winter is here. I’m … Continue reading #FindingWinter with Mountain Hardwear
Birch & Flannel 