27 Mile Bike Ride

It's been a long time since I've written anything here. There is so much to write about - lots of caches, vacation caching, etc, etc - and the more I think about it the more it seems like an argues task. So to compensate, I've just put off writing anything. Well, that has to stop - now. So I'm going to have to just skip the fun, exciting stuff I haven't written about and move on.....

This weekend EagleEyeMN (my oldest son) and I went for a bike ride around Forest Lake (both the town and the lake). Our goal was to make it a 25 mile ride - it ended up being a little over 27 miles in the end. Of course I planned a series of caches to do along the way, too. Finally tally was 19 finds, 0 DNF's, 1 we decided we couldn't get to, and 2 that we skipped because they haven't been found for so long (and we had to keep moving).

We parked the car at Tolzmann Park at the north end of the lake, got the bikes and the packs ready and headed out counter-clockwise around the lake. Our first cache was about 400 feet away - whew, that's was a tough ride :-)

Our second stop was disappointing - and gave us thoughts of not being able to complete both tasks - 25 miles AND all the caches we have on our list. The cache just didn't seem to be accessible from where we were and if we wanted to go around to get it we'd spend too much time. So we decided to skip it and keep going.

The next part of the ride was filled with caches. Of course some of them were very quick - either EagleEyeMN or I would spot them and be picking up the cache before the other one even got off their bike. Those type of caches helped us stay on time (although the only time commitment was that we had to be done in 8 hours - not too difficult).

At about the 7 mile mark we started looking for The Treasure Hunt (GC1FV3J). This was a fun multi stage cache. The cache hider, Plumcitykitties, did an outstanding job with both stages of this cache. They spent time in ensuring that both containers were unique and fun. Thanks for all the work, guys! You'll have to go find the cache yourself to see what I'm talking about.

Next we headed back toward the lake and decided to stop for lunch at Beltz Park and X-Ray (GC1CXG0). Another excellent cache hide by Plumbcitykitties! The park was hopping with kids and a couple of adults so the fact that we were stopping for lunch made it a little easier to grab the cache. Luckily, EagleEyeMN put is eagle eyes to work and found the cache right away. However, it took some time before we could actually retrieve it. When the time was right we made the grab and got it back quickly. Thanks for another great hide, guys!!

After eating and grabbing the cache it was time to move on. We skipped one on the way to Hardwood Creek WMA (GC59A2) because it hadn't been found in a long time - and the fact there there were two cars and a handful of muggles at ground zero when we passed by. We did, however, stop and take a quick 2 minute break there anyway.

Hardwood Creek WMA was interesting. You can read the log to get some more information. Needless to say we were lucky to get out of there without getting poison ivy.

By this time in the ride we were both tired but still feeling pretty good. We made it about 16 miles and were at the south end of the lake. Only 5 caches left to go on our list.

We headed up the east side of the lake and took another break at the next cache - North Shore Trail (GC1709T). Fun hide - mostly because of the muggle traffic. We were lucky today, though. The muggles were already out on the lake and not coming back in yet.

Status check.... EagleEyeMN is doing just fine and I'm starting to get tired. I'm not hurting yet but that last couple of miles were a lot more difficult for me than for him. Finding the cache - and grabbing a candy bar - gave me a few minutes to recover before heading on.

As we continued to head up the east side of the lake, we decided to skip the next cache because it hadn't been found in a while and we needed to keep pressing on. Thinking back on it now I should have stopped and taken another break - but we didn't.

Last stop for the day was Kulenkamp Memorial Park with 4 caches in the park. Although mostly uneventful in this park there was one multi cache - Sudsy (GC16ZPJ) - that needed some help. Checkout the log for more details. The other interesting cache in this park was Kavanaugh Red (GC1CMJH). Seems some soon-to-be hunters wanted a deer stand in the park. I don't know if hunting is legal in that park but there's a deer stand at ground zero now (see my log).

We now have all of our caches done and it's about a 3 1/2 mile bike ride back to Tolzmann Park and the car. We're both tired but getting the caches in this park gave us time to recuperate. So off we went.

We finally arrived back at the car. EagleEyeMN was tired but still feeling "ok." I, on the other had, was about to DIE!! The last two miles of the ride really did me in. We didn't stop since leaving Kulenkamp park. It was only 3 1/2 miles but it really did me in. My quads were about to explode! I did all I could do to get off my bike and walk over to a bench to sit down for a rest. EagleEyeMN graciously took the time to pack up the bikes while I just watched from a distance (thanks, dude!).

Overall it was a fun day. EagleEyeMN and I were able to spend some good time together and he was able to prove his young legs were much better than my old legs. That's ok, though, I can still do more push ups than he can :-)