Tag Archives: John Rinn

The River Bend Winter Ride. A poem by Bill N.

Bill N, winter fat biking, River Bend Nature Center. Photo by John R Bill N, winter fat biking, River Bend Nature Center. Photo by John R Bill N and John R

CROCT member Bill N penned this poem after a recent fat bike ride at the River Bend Nature Center in Faribault. With an assist from John R.

The River Bend Winter Ride

Considerate pause
Today’s bitter cold
For Fat Bikers
Young and Old

Bundled uncomfortably
We ventured outside
With tingly numb thumbs
Hope to warm as we ride

Frost builds on a beard
Or else pink on the cheek
With eyes on the trail
We occasionally peek

In the woods nothing moves
Only crystals and white
The only warm thing
Is today’s sun so bright

No critters are out
And the river is hard
This wind is for sure
Making drifts in my yard

There isn’t much talking
Above the steady crunch
Of 2 Buds and 2 Lous
Packed snow is their lunch.

For over an hour
The pedals we turned
Not to measure this ride
By just miles we learned

One last turn one more hill
Oh goodness we’re done
It’s warm in the shelter
This ride’s memory… fun.

CROCT organizes a group ride at the Minnesota River Bottoms trail in Bloomington

I polled our ridership last month, asking them to indicate which weekend days in Feb. would work for them to participate in a group ride along MORC’s Minnesota River Bottoms trail in Bloomington. Yesterday, ten of us showed up at 1pm at the Lyndale Ave/I35W trailhead. This group photo in the parking lot was taken by Pat Sorenson,  president of Penn Cycle who happened to be heading out on a ride with some buddies at the same time:

L to R: Griff Wigley, Curtis Ness, Michael Lehmkuhl, Joe Thorman, JC Ingebrand, Dave Wolf, Bill Nelson, Gary Duden, John Rinn, Scott Parker

L to R: Griff Wigley, Curtis Ness, Michael Lehmkuhl, Joe Thorman, JC Ingebrand, Dave Wolf, Bill Nelson, Gary Duden, John Rinn, Scott Parker.

We opted to ride 8 miles west to the Bloomington Ferry Bridge (Hwy 169) trail head since several of the group had never ridden that route.

Bike repair by Curtis Ness; photo by Michael LehmkuhlWe took our time, stopping several times for socializing and a little exploring on the railroad swing bridge.

There was one mechanical, a broken chain. But one group member had a chain tool and Curtis Ness, CROCT board secretary and manager of Milltown Cycles in Faribault, did the trail-side repairs. Whew!

There wasn’t much snow, and with temps in the low-to-mid 30s, the trail was a bit sloppy in places. The camaraderie, however, was first-rate.

We do it again on Saturday, Feb. 28. Deets here.