Sites, sounds and smells of a grease junkie

Domane is slang for "rides over everything." Got a new road bike last fall, a Domane 2.3 . The short version of this post is I love this bike and it has made me rethink the way I approach aluminum road bikes. I'm sure I'm breaking some sort of industry code. A long-time industry guy on a 105-equipped road bike? Not just a 105-equipped bike but an ALUMINUM frame?! Don't worry, I had my concerns. Aluminum road bikes do not have a great track record for me. I've tried a few. I've hated them. Every. Single. One. They've always been sooooo damn stiff and rattle the teeth from my skull. A 20-mile ride feels like 40. However, they have the advantage of being less expensive than carbon, so there's that and frankly I wanted to keep the cost down. 2014 Trek Domane 2.3 I've kept it mostly stock. I've swapped out the saddle and bar tape because the stock saddle/tape were white and I don't care for white saddle/tape. This spring I ...

This past winter was long and cold. It was one for the record books. I am glad to see it has finally left. Just the same, I had some fun during this past winter. I've often found bad weather to be more tolerable when you get out and enjoy it. I had plans on writing something a bit more about this trip. It happened the weekend of March 8-9. Mostly because I had a rare weekend to myself. I figured it would be busy. But I didn't make any plans other than "Go to ice caves." Little did I know how busy it actually would be. I've been to Washburn/Bayfield in the winter before. It is normally very quiet. It was not quiet. It was busier than I'd ever seen it during the winter, without a doubt. Anyway, here are a few of my trip notes. Hope you enjoy. I know I did. On the way up I stopped at 50-foot snowman in Gilman, MN. It was...tall. It was actually quite impressive. I then stopped along the way, to get out of the car for a few hours and hiked in the St. Croi...