Back Home.

 After a handful of day in the Northwoods of MN we are back home.  I'm excited to get back to work but it sure was hard to leave.  I think I could get accustomed to the hermit lifestyle!  Not so sure about my family though.

On Saturday I headed out on the fat bike.  Matt, the friend's cabin we took over, made more of an off road route me.  There was some snow but not a ton to require a fat bike.  However the ruts left by hunters in their ATVs sure made having a fat bike handy.  About a 1/4 into the ride I kicked up a stick into my rear derailleur.  I stopped immediately but the damage was done.  It's hard to tell if the derailleur is wrecked but the hanger was all mangled.  The rest of the ride I was on a single speed.  Bike still worked and I was having fun!

Part of the route went over a lake.  The lakes were frozen solid when we were up there before Thanksgiving.

The ride was 28 miles and took 2.5 hours.  That afternoon we headed to Itasca State park and did some hiking.  This time there were more people there but they were all ice fishing on the lake.  Not a sole was out on the trails.

It's hard to resist the ice!

We decided to come home Sunday instead of Saturday.  Again I contemplated biking home.  In the end I opted not to.  170 miles is a long way anytime but more so in December.  Plus I'd be leaving the packing up and cleaning to the family.  Instead I got up and out the door on the Cutthroat before sunrise.  One last ride.

This was about a 70 mile route that meandered through the Paul Bunyan State Forest.  Probably my favorite area up there.

Roads like this for days!

It's weird how sections of road can look like the one above and around the corner can be miles of snow/ice covered roads.  Having studs on the Cutthroat was super helpful.

It started snowing on my way back to the cabin.  Hard to tell from the picture. It was a super fine snow that stung the face.  Snow makes me smile.

Back at the cabin we loaded up and shoved off for home.  Back to reality or some resemblance of it...it is still 2020.

I opted to sleep in this morning, although that never goes as planned.  It's one of the coldest, if not the coldest, mornings of the year.  Currently it's 12 with a feels like of -2.  We may not even hit 20 today.  Good ice making weather.  If we aren't getting snow at least the lakes can freeze to open up some more routes.

Happy Monday.