Heck Of The North 2025 Wow, what a wild ride! I've had a dream of riding a tandem in the Heck of the North for a few years. I finally found someone with the right amount of "yes and" and the right amount of party to go for it! A few weeks ago I mentioned the desire and my partner said "yes and", so we emailed Jeremy and got in as the only tandem in the 105mile gravel race. I knew it would be tough, and it was tougher than expected, but also so much fun and joy! So we woke up yesterday, donned our leopard pants and Hawaiian shirts and made our way to Two Harbors for a full day of fun. We had a lot of smiles and curiosity from our fellow riders! This notorious course was as muddy and techy as ever, but I was surprised and impressed at what we could ride on this rig, with some hard pedalling and good communication. I'm so proud of my partner's balance and power to be able to ride through axle deep mud and chunk without being able to see the terrain!! And I'm proud of handling a flexy, loooong bike with an extra human passenger! I'm even more proud of us staying in great spirits, communicating well, and bringing joy to a tough race. Despite some great last minute changes (riser bars, new brakes, suspension seatpost, and tire lines) it was a rough fit. Not being in control of your cadence or able to stand up wears on you after 8+ hours! It was so much harder than expected, or than previous Heck rides. Uff dah! Thanks to Jeremy and his team, to our friends, and to the best partner (in tandem and in life!) a guy could hope for!

At the end of August I got to go ride bikes with great people. My friends were riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. A route near to my heart from my experience in 2021. I was so stoked to join them for a small part of their grand journey! We rode together from Lima, MT to Grand Teton National Park in Jackson, WY. It wasn't always easy, and it was rainy and gritty and had some inevitable mechanical trouble, but that's just it, adventure happens in the unknown. Get out there, if you never F around, you'll never find out! I will say, my hands HURT! The GDMBR can be done on a gravel bike, and it was a conscious choice, but bigger tires would've been nice! I am so grateful to be surrounded by adventurous people, to have built my life to take these opportunities. I'm grateful for "max fun" and "yes and" mentalities, and hope I can embody that for others. I'm grateful for good bicycles and gear, and for the route builders, stewards, and trail angels that support these places.

There is so much mining history in Northern Minnesota. I had the pleasure of riding sections of the Mesabi Trail during this year's Tomassoni Tour. It was a beautiful trail through rolling hills and natural scenery, and also through mining towns. It is wild to see such huge mine pits, the state's tallest river bridge over a mining gorge, and old and new equipment. It is really a huge (literally) industry. Our recreation spaces often take us through spaces from extractive industries. Forest service access roads for logging, etc. if you have ever ridden gravel, you've likely ridden on a surface built for extraction. It's a challenging thing to reconcile for me. Appreciating the natural space, advocating for its protection, while also navigating by the remnants of the industries that exploit it. Up here, the Iron Range had it's heyday, and now also has a tourism economy centered in reclaimed mining spaces, like Redhead, Tioga, and even this Mesabi Trail. I don't aim to be controversial, just to acknowledge the complex nature of our recreation spaces. I do encourage you to look into the history of the spaces you ride. Acknowledge what has occurred there in recent and longer history, what capitalists impacted the space, what peoples resided there before the industrial revolution, how each has made its own impact, and your place in that scope. Consider your current and future impact to those spaces, and how you want to interact with them. #readtheplaque

Well, North Star Bicycle Race happened. I lined up for 630 miles. I completed 407 before I pulled the plug. I decided to end my race early due to severe knee pain. I don't have any internalized labels for how this race went. I did not complete it, but I don't think it is right to call it a "failure", nor do I think "failure" is bad in these contexts. I knew going in that it might be out of reach. That was the point I guess. "I’ve always sort of lived by the phrase, 'Try something you could fail at.' We all do things that we can comfortably achieve, but rarely do we set the high bar one notch above what we think we can clear, and that’s what’s driving me on here.” Henry Worsley If you're curious to hear some complex thoughts on Henry and that quote, give me a call or a message. I learned a lot in this race, a lot of specific stuff to apply to future endeavours, and also a lot of internal talk about how I navigate hard efforts, the value of them, of pushing my limits. 40+ hours is a lot of time in your own head to think (I also listen to podcasts and music and such, but even so there's a LOT of thinking time!) I'm so grateful for the support I had in this race. For the friends and family cheering (@conticrewdlh) , for the organizer and fellow racers, for all of the gas station attendants and drivers passing safely. And for myself. I keep living by a mantra of "Do hard things with good people" and intend to keep that up. I'm grateful I had the fortitude to not push through more pain and cause more damage. My legs are still sore today, but I hiked yesterday! and walking and squatting doesn't hurt as I expected. I'll be back on the bike, enjoying the change to fall, rather than recovering from deeper damage. I don't know if I'll sign up for NSBR again, but it is far from off the table. And I know for sure I'll keep exploring physical and mental limits. Until then, in the words of Henry Worsley, Onwards. Full post on my blog. #northstarbicyclerace #NSBR #randonneuring #ultracycling