Fattin' Up.

This week of riding I wanted to be easier (and shorter) the the previous 4-5 which were 20-25 hour weeks.  I took Monday and Tuesday off completely.  I got 2 hours in on Wednesday and out on the fat bike yesterday.

I headed up the River Road to Rice and continued on to North Prairie.  I've been on my fat bike only a few times this year and all those were when we had snow so on single track or just messing around.  Out on the road, in search of gravel, I was quickly reminded how 5" tires are much slower than the 34mm tires on the Evergreen!  Instead of cruising at 18-19 mph I was at 14-15 with much more effort!
I finally jumped on some gravel.  I was stoked to find it wasn't a sloppy mess.  For the most part the new fat bike stayed relatively clean.  I took turns going North then West and on and on .  I found some great little roads I've not been on before.  Always a good score!  I came upon a town, which turned out to be Swanville.  Oops a bit far out...once again.

Straight South out of Swanville there is a great road I take most times.  It turns to gravel, back to pavement, and gravel again.  Hilly, tiny, and twisty.  All good.  With the NW wind now at my back I was able to make up some time.
In the city limits of St. Cloud I flipped the Garmin to the data page and saw I was at 96 miles.  Yesterday I was that guy the circled a bit to get 100.  It's just a number and who cares but I did it...guilty!  St. Cloud did just finish this fall a 6-8 million dollar pedestrian trail along the Mississippi River.  I have only been on it once so decided to jump on that, going the other direction.  It's a super cool trail, I mean really cool, but it's less than a mile long!  Nonetheless I'm glad they put the money towards it.  We have a great river splitting the town and we have very little focus on it.
With that little jump across the river and back I ended with 6.5 hours and 100.2 miles.

Probably more than I should have gone but I kept the pace easier and I really want to get some saddle time on the fat bike.  The Fat Pursuit is only a month off.  It takes sometime for the body (KNEES) to get used to the fat bike geometry.  Happily I'm good this morning.

Today Jen is heading to the cities for a party for her mom.  The girls and I are heading to the movies tonight!  Taking the day off from riding.  Saturday and Sunday will be under 3 hours.  Shooting for 12 on the week.