Author Archives: crossn81

08182019 – Run & Swim

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Finishing up the Cuyuna solo weekend. I had planned to run and swim today, but was feeling nervous about the swim. I woke up and ran the Yawkey trails. They were a little wet and I thought they might be busy since the other big unit was closed for the races. I liked being able to run from the campsite and straight onto the trails. I ran the Man Cage, Manuel Drive, Tugger, and Trout, plus the access trail. This totaled 3.5 miles in 42 minutes. My legs were definitely tired from yesterday’s riding. It took a little bit for my legs to loosen up and then the hills. It was a cool morning so that felt great.

I got back to the campsite and packed up. I kept going back and forth about swimming. The water is cool and super deep (that’s a mental thing) and pretty much no one was around that would even noticed if I was struggling. I knew that I would be fin, but it’s a mental thing. I could swim across to the “beach” and decide to either swim back or walk the short little bit back barefoot. Or I could walk to the “beach” and swim back to the campground. So many options and things to think about.

I finally decided to just do it. When I got to the dock, someone was there and I jumped in. I started swimming and got about 1/2 way across and just felt weird. I know half way I could have just finished, but again mentally it felt better to just turn around and swim back. So I did. My watch said 270 yards in 5:16. Not really what I was hoping for but I’ll take it. The water is so clear and it was fun to see so far down in the water. A different time maybe I’ll plan to snorkel or something.

I almost decided to go for a ride, but decided not to do the Yawkey unit. I hung out for a little bit longer so I could refill the growler at Cuyuna Brewing and then headed home.

08172019 – Bike

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The weekend in Cuyuna continues!  The plan for today was to ride the entire system that was Easy or Intermediate. I did complete this task, though I maybe should have spent a little more time making a plan. What I did was basically ride out far and then come back, it would have made more sense to do a loop at the Mahnomen Unit first and then out to Sagamore.  Starting at Red Rider I headed West, riding the trails when I could.  The westward heading section in Portsmouth is currently closed due to construction, so I took the paved trail until I connected to the two-way trails that lead towards the campground and the rest of the units. Then I took Galloping Goose and the Demo trail west.  At the western edge I then had to take a combination of paved trails and road to get to the Sagamore Unit. 

I’ve never ridden here before and wouldn’t recommend it. All of the trails were grass and only the Discombobulator would be worth riding again. The trails had been mowed somewhat recently, but trees were down on a couple of the trails.  The main section here was an out and back trail with lots of side trails off it.  It looks like they could make a loop, but run into private land on the western edge of the lake. There are some cool views of Sagamore lake and even the surrounding hills.  I kept flushing out the same deer as I rode the discombobulator which really gets you lost in a directional sense. Having followed the road into this unit, I found a double track ATV trail that cut off some of the road riding on my way back.  I did ride all the trails in the unit, hoping to find something awesome.  I’ve heard that these trails are better in the winter and that they are always groomed quicker than the other units. I might keep that in mind for a return visit.

Sagamore Lake

Another view of Sagamore

Some old mining infrastructure?

After traversing the roads and pavement to get back to red dirt I took a break and ate some food before hitting the hardest section of trails. I decided to hit all the side trails and worry about the rest of Galloping Goose later. I basically hit them as I came to them and decided that I’d stop at the top of each set of hills and relax for a minute. This meant lots of climbing and some cool descending. It is easy to see why Mahnonmen is the favorite section with something for everyone!  The crew was out setting up for tomorrow’s race and some of the markings were already down.  I was doing pretty well until I hit the Crusher which is at the end of this section. Basically the Crusher, crushed me. It is fairly steep climbing and because I missed a turn, I had to do it twice!  I also did Roly Poly twice which is a little nerve racking as it is a rolling descent on the edge of the mountain!  Despite eating more food, I was feeling it.  I had also finished my two water bottles and I think it was deceptively warm since I was in the woods I didn’t feel it. I finished this section by climbing to the top of Miner’s Mountain before refilling on water at the Rally Center.  When I headed out in the morning and all the way around Sagamore it had been pretty empty and quiet.  By the time I got to the Rally Center it was crazy busy with lots of families, teams, and just people! 

View from Hopper Hill

From Miner’s Mountain

After refreshing myself a little I went back and rode the entire Galloping Goose loop. Sidewinder has been closed and this is the easy loop that connects a lot of the other harder trails. There are a few trails that I didn’t ride because they are Expert.  I should probably try them sometime when I’m fresh to see what they are like. I was feeling the sugar swings off the food that I was eating as I would feel low, eat something and then be okay again pretty quickly. I think for this long of a ride, I needed more real food and less gels and bars. Having ridden all these trails I kept heading east and rode Switchback back to Dragline.  Since the North Drag Line and Man High trails were closed I didn’t ride the short connector to the campground.  Drag Line is pretty easy and connects back to Yawkey. 

Closure sign

Manual Lake from Haul Road – if you look you can see Red Rider.

I had thought about not doing Yawkey since I had just rode it yesterday, but decided I really couldn’t say I rode the whole system if I didn’t ride it all in the same ride.  So I did.  I was running out of water again and was feeling pretty beat, but I did ride Yawkey again. I actually rode Bob Sled even though it is marked as an Advanced trail.  Riding Yawkey wasn’t as easy this time, but I did manage to finish it! 

My total ride was 45.45 miles in 6:11 moving time. 

I was toast! It felt so good to jump in the lake and cool off after returning to Red Rider.  I spoke for a while with a family from Roseville that was up for the race and their daughter is racing really well.

After drinking and eating I decided to drive into town.  I needed to charge my phone and did that at Red Raven bike shop while enjoying a cool beer.  I had hope to do a bike demo they were having, but missed it.  I then stopped at Victuals that had recently opened and enjoyed some lactose free ice cream.  All of their ice creams are full dairy but lactose free! Victual is a cute little high-end gift shop with ice cream, cheese, and other food items. I headed back to camp for dinner and more relaxing by the fire. 

08162019 – Bike

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I’m back at work and the family left for a long weekend to visit family.  So for the regular weekend time I decided to get away to Cuyuna! I stayed at Red Rider Resort which just opened this season.  It is fun to check out the new places as they open around town and it was a race weekend so there wasn’t much open anyways.  Red Rider is Ride In/Out of the back side of the Yawkey Unit so pretty much on the far eastern edge of the bike trails.  It is a pretty short ride about 1/2 mile to get onto the Man Cage Trail.

I had planned on riding as soon as I got into town, but it rained a couple of times on my way in and I wasn’t sure.  I ended up waiting a little bit before heading out, giving it a few hours to dry as they recommend.  The trails were mostly good when I rode. I wanted to do the whole Yawkey Unit and I accomplished that tonight with the exception of the one Extremely Difficult section.

Yawkey is relatively far away from the Rally Center, so I think it is easy to forget about, but has some cool sections.  Bob Sled is definitely a favorite – its got a good climb but some fun flow sections on the way back down.  Taking the cut off is pretty efficient, the longer version is cool and pretty rocky and is worth riding too. Man Cage, Tugger, and Trout are good trails to warm up on and get the legs moving. Manual Road is a tough climb up, but is some good riding on top.  Some of the Advanced trails aren’t actually too bad here either.  Skip is fun, especially the loop at the top of the hill which you can re-do without having to climb too much.  I need to keep working on skill improvements, like right hand uphill turns! And relaxing on some of the descents!  Grizzly felt harder but had some tight uphill sections.  Yawkey is a fun place to ride, no doubt! After the ride, I relaxed had some dinner and enjoyed being in the woods.

Manual Mine Lake, looking at Red Rider Resort

Sunset on Manual Mine Lake, from Red Rider Resort

08132019 – CrossFit

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Attempted 100 burpees but was still feeling under the weather.  I only managed 25 in 2:42. I was feeling really congested so I stopped.  The congested was hanging over still from the Colorado trip.

08012019 – Run & Swim

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I had hoped to go to the gym this morning, but wasn’t able to confirm that it would work until late last night and then the class was already full. I did wake up to check to see if it was full or not and I was still waitlisted. Then I laid in bed… and almost didn’t get up. But eventually I did with time to go for a run still. Nothing special, just the Wirth perimeter route that I do. It felt like it had been awhile since I was on the those trails. So it was nice to be “back home”. I didn’t see any wildlife and not really that many people either. It was relatively cool, but you could feel the humidity climbing. We’d had several cool days to spoil us too!

4.51 miles in 47:54.

When I got home I did some deadlifting. One set of 10 at 65#’s and then 2 sets of 10 at 135#. The first set of the heavier weights felt heavy, but the second set felt okay.

Then later in the afternoon we went to Webber pool. I was able to get some lap swimming in. Shortly after we arrived the lifeguards rescued someone and I guess at Webber they clear the pool for a few minutes when that happens. Well evidently, this person also vomited so the pool was closed for an hour which was unfortunate. The person was okay and even last year vomit in the pool would have closed it for the day.

So once the pool reopened there was about 15 minutes before the safety break started. Because they were using the smaller upper pool they were still going to have the break. I did 100 yards with bilateral breathing, 50 yards, and then I got into a rhythm of breathing every stroke and managed 550 yards in one go before the whistles blew for the safety break. I’m glad I was able to get into a longer swim without any problems, frustrated that I’m still struggling with breathing on the right side and alternating. Breathing every other stroke isn’t super fast! But I’ll take it.