H8T

H8T

and repeat

Been doing more of the same the past few days; getting out in the afternoon and snowshoeing with the last couple of days being especially rewarding. Monday there was a heavy snow fall while I was out which made for some stunning visuals. Yesterday there was a heavy fog and mist which clung to the landscape and at times obliterated the distinction between the snow and the horizon. Add wood smoke from nearby homes to the fog up in the hills and the scene was pretty magical. Home made chili is also pretty damn magical. Winter may not be my favorite season but when it's like this I can live with it, no problems.

same motor, different method

No denying that winter is here for a while and while that may make the H8TRville Parkway a snowmobile super highway, it doesn't mean there aren't other ways to get from here to there or here to nowhere with different methods. Today I took the snowshoes out for some deep woods exploring around the H8TR Ranch hill country and it was not a disappointing experience. Bright sunshine filtered through rows and rows of conifers and oaks with deer, raccoon, squirrels, rabbit and coyote tracks everywhere. Every once in a while I'd hear or catch sight of a motorized sled buggy tearing through the cornfields but from where I was it was a solitary existence. A good workout too! Have been taking the shoes out for some lunch time hikes in the woods around the mothership and have heard peeps saying the snow wasn't deep enough or was too crusty for snowshoeing. Fine, you wait for the perfect wave to come, I'm happy out here in the chop.

The new year approaches and that means I'm starting to hear the still soft rumblings of hate under the snow.....

Winter Time H8T

Can it really be hate when you love what you do? Think not. After a good dusting of snow last night and this morning it seemed this afternoon would be ripe for a ride on the H8TR a.k.a. County Road H8T or Hwy H8T since its renovation over last summer.

Has it really been June since the last post here? I guess it has but that certainly doesn't mean that there hasn't been all sorts of bicycle chicanery going on out here in Haterville. The changes to the H8TR Trail have been major, not all bad, not all good but the end result has been a lot of traffic on the trail- bikes (all types of cycles and riders), runner, walkers and ummm...in-line skaters (not judging....well not trying to anyway). Crazy when I think of when for the last few years it's just been me out in the weeds and dirt and then I pass a couple recumbents out enjoying the day in that very same spot. Lots of peeps loaded down with camping gear too! Stealth bike camping yo, sounds like a good way to go.

I've been scouting some camping spots and more importantly scouting possible H8TR locations. There's a plan, but it's a long way a for sure and there's a lot of work to be done.

But let's get back to today. It looked as though someone had already had the same idea as I had as I followed two sets of cx width tire tracks into town. For the most part with the H8TR covered with 3 to 4 inches of fine powder, the riding was good from Haterville to Purcell. After that it was follow the snowmobile tracks which is a little less than good. Noticed there was a snowmobiles prohibited sign up at the entrance to the paved section of the H8TR, but hey at this point, for the moment I figure "fair enough" considering how all summer I ignored the "Bike Path Closed" signs during the renovation. Long as I don't have to dodge a 60 mph chunk o' metal, plastic and bear food hurtling at me on the trail then we're good.

The trail was pretty sweet and on the way back I was treated to a fantastic golden sun set filtering through blowing snow. A couple good sized owls flew with me for a few yards as well. At some point this being Wisconsin and it being winter, the trail will get a little deep for riding and I'll need to dig out the snowshoes, but for now I'll ride.

Speaking of which, I picked up a new (to me) steed this last week. My cross bike for the last few years, Old Black has begun to get a little long in the tooth so he's been retired from active race duty and replaced by a newer version of the same model. We're in the bonding process at the moment but I think we're a good match. A little lighter and stiffer, a little different geometry, same rider, let's go! And while we're on the subject of better equipment for a still marginal rider, if anyone has a line on a "cheap" set of aluminum tubulars let me know.

Holy damn this has been a long post but it's been some time too. Finally, anyone who really knows me, knows that music is a major part of my life so as something to while away the winter hours I'll say that if you have access, BBC6 radio via the interweb is a good wealth of sound and in particular The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show, Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service and Guy Garvey's Finest Hour. Plus a ton of other good shows and radio like they don't have over here. Hells yes!

TRUNT #3! or Goodbye H8TR

So I suppose I should give a short account of the proceedings- Zack, Colin, Lylez and myself took off from Cognition World Headquarters on Saturday at noon and following a crudely drawn map made our way to the Southwest Bike Corridor where our first stop was in that swampy mosquito haven behind the cemetery and golf course on Something Something Speedway or whatever it's called. There, Trunter of honour Lylez found treasure of a mysterious nature! Then it was on to Pirate's Peak where were set upon by more mosquitoes and had the our first siting of the undercover narc posing as a a not quite convincing undercover narc. I think he may have been trying to bust a meth ring at the Dry Bean but we probably looked like easier pickings. All Saturday morning while planting treasure I kept running into old people who probably thought I was doing a drug drop. After finding a Benny Hill VHS tape, bottle rockets and porn buttons we received a message that there were miners trapped in a cave and that we were the only ones who could rescue them so we were off. But first we had to find treasure at the stagnant holding pond down the road from Pirate's Peak. We found berries!!!! Zack was pleased! Jah had provided! The next clue sent us across the highway to the quarry where Lylez found an ammo box full of Red Lantern Lightning Firecracker (300ct). At the quarry we were flayed by thorns, forded small streams and went all aggro on the gnarl. Yeah! We doubled back on the "Gimme Yer Goddamn Money Nature Lover" Bike Path and made a quick stop at the PDQ where Zack got a Mexican pop sickle (made in the USA), Colin dropped his banana, Lylez probably got blisters and I got two cookies (thanks Lylez).

Then we went to the H8TR trail and hate was all any of us could feel once we saw what the Nom Nom Nom machines had done to our beloved playground. Fuck, all I could think of was a napalm strike in Nam. Nary a tall grass, flower, sapling, branch or brush left standing. The standing water we rode through was actually verging on hot which made this once paradise feel even more hellish. I'm all for progress and forwarding cycling but this was evil, thoughtless and soul crushing. I did find it something of a tribute to all of us that they actually put up barricades that said "Bike Path Closed" because I doubt any of the "normal" folk who ride Seminole in the Saturday/Sunday Pelloton ever thought about riding the H8TR. Every once in a while small swatches of the sweet well worn in cinder and dirt single track would emerge from the downed foliage and tractor tire tracks and for that 10 or 20 feet it felt like you were flying and it was all okay but then soon enough you'd hit a washboard of Bobcat tracks and brush and you'd be back to slogging you way through. Once we got past Cty M we found mining equipment hidden under the bridge. We took a short break while contemplating dehydration and while Colin's back unknotted. On that small bridge there was a small remaining bit of overgrowth that sheltered us fro m the direct sun and reminded us of times past on the untouched H8TR. But word came soon that the miners were really in trouble and needed our help desperately. We got to Juggelo Parkway Bridge and Lyle using keen sense of deduction found the miners but alas they were cold so all we could do was drink their remains and then seal the cave with explosives procured at the quarry.

Then we heard that there were older seasoned miners that had somehow gotten themselves trapped under a train trestle by the In-Seyne Clown Highway so we were off again back down the H8TR. Just as we got to the Cty M bridge that had given us refuge jsut a while before, Lylez got a flat and again we hid under the overhanging branches of Haterly love. Thank you H8TR Trail. Tire fixed we headed into a suburban hellish nightmarescape with buildings and houses built in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason other than it was probably nice farm land or wetlands at one point or another. Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public are fuckwits and dupes and deserve their mortgages and hateful children. We found a nice abandoned railroad with a gravel road running beside it, that were it 10 miles longer might serve as a pale pale replacement for the H8TR but as it was it was stuck at the fringe of the surburban hellmare and was maybe a mile long so sorry no soap on this one. But we did find the miners and more berries! These miners were cold as well so down the hatch miners!.

Then we took the Cap City trail home, beaten, scarred, dehydrated and more than a little sad that the H8TR is now just a memory, a few pictures, some video and a lot of good stories and myths.
Good Night sweet H8TR Trail.
The trunt will go on though.

R.I.P. H8TR Trail

we'll miss you.

Trunt the 2nd!!!

The second Trunt of the season took place last Saturday with Colin as the chief treasure hunter for this round. This time there were a couple of deviations off the H8TR trail including a stop off to the H8TR Ranch where Cinder Loo the Treasure kitten did her best to charm the plunder seekers. Along the way a black wizard shot spark sticks from the top of his head, several Miners were rescued from a mining accident, "Roadhouse!" was yelled at unsuspecting passersby, a Juggalo trap was tripped but the game got away and Yakety Sax was listened to at various speeds with each stretching the boundaries of infinity. Yeah you heard me.
TRUNT!!!

The H8TR SAVES!!!

I was out on a road ride last Saturday that turned into a 40 mile slugfest against a stiff south wind (stiff? hell it almost pile drove me into the pavement a couple of times!). Fortunately my old pal the H8TR Trail bailed me out for the ride back to Haterville. Despite the 700 x 23s combined with the rocks, cinders and sinkholes that go with the H8TR, the ride was smooth and one hell of a lot less windy. The picture is a road treasure I found in the gutter while cutting east through the outskirts of Madison. Look! It's even autographed by a h8tr!