Thursday's weather wasn't too bad at all: low to mid 30's for a high, light winds, and partly cloudy breaking to mostly sunny. Earlier in the week the wind for Thursday was looking NE but that changed to N/NW. Nonetheless I wanted to ride East a bit before heading North...change of scenery. So around 8:30 I headed out on the Cutthroat, heading East and North.
The gravel was still really good early on as it was below freezing and the sun was hiding behind the clouds. Plus Wednesday did a bunch of melting of the snow and such. However, the further North I got the more snow they had and softer the gravel got. Then I ran into countless roads that had been freshly graded. The legs (and knees) got a workout for sure!
My plan wasn't to cross hwy 169 but that's what happened. In Mille Lacs County they have so many dead end roads. I was basically forced further East than I wanted. Once on the East side of 169 there is a gravel road that runs up to Onamia and further on to the south edge of Lake Mille Lacs. I debated a few times jumping off earlier and heading back West but in the end I pushed on to Onamia and crossed 169 on the pedestrian/ATV bridge, which was glare ice so I walked.
Once in Onamia I basically have 3 choices: Soo Line ATV trail with no exist till Hillman, Hwy 27, or North to Kathio State Park and Mille Lacs Lake. My favorite is the Kathio route but I already was pushing the time and distance for this ride. The Soo Line basically sucks so I took 27. About 5 miles later I headed North a bit and found some gravel roads that took me by my in laws cabin and sections of the Freedhem 76 route.
The wind was predicted to die throughout the day, which it did. Truthfully it felt like I had a headwind most of the day. Toss in the now soft gravel and my knees were barking. Honestly I was never so happy to be off gravel as I was yesterday! I guess it was good resistance training for winter riding/racing, if I was doing any races. Oh well, it was still a great time and I do it again.
No comments:
Post a Comment