Great pics, Eric! I remember going to that park as a young-un. Always liked that part of the state. The St. Croix is a good river. I've had my Hilsen for just about the same amount of time - only have about 500 miles on it, however. I feel like I'm still building it (probably always will) - just got fenders put on it. The rack is next...
Brian (now in Seattle) On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 2:07 PM, EricP <ericpl...@aol.com> wrote: > > Finally was able to schedule a day off work and have the weather > cooperate. So Sunday afternoon loaded up the Sam Hillborne and headed > out from my house to William O'Brien State Park. About 30 miles from > my house. Didn't make advance reservations, hoping the campground > wasn't too full on a Sunday night. No issues outside of traffic on > the way out. For the last 7 to 10 miles, the road follows a major > highway and the shoulders are not great. Wide enough, but poorly > maintained. Had to concentrate quite a bit. (And was also thankful > for the rear view mirror a few times. Probably kept me from swerving > into traffic that wasn't moving over.) Took my "traditional" stop at > Marine on St. Croix where I had an ice cream cone and picked up a > couple of items at the general store. > > Campground was fairly empty. And this year decided to get a campsite > down by the river. That has good and bad aspects. The bad - a steep > climb out of the river bottoms back to the road or bike path. Good - > well sheltered and great views of the St. Croix river. After getting > camp set up, rode back to the headquarters to buy some wood. Found > out the strap I had was just a bit too short. So, balanced the load > on the rack and rode back very carefully. > > A good experience. Campground was about half full. Made friends with > my neighbors who were also staying just one night with the kids. > Slept better than last time. Still not great, but better. Might have > to break down and carry the air mattress next time. > > The ride home was a lot of climbing. Although this year seemed easier > than last. I'll give credit to the bike, because there's no way I'm > in better shape. > > As to the Hillborne, it worked beautifully. Considering I probably > significantly overloaded the rear, it had no complaints. This could > easily be a bike that could handle a long tour. > > Pictures of the ride are here - http://tinyurl.com/mr3q6a > > Lastly - yesterday was the two month anniversary for my owning the > Hillborne. Although today is the first ride anniversary. To date, > have a bit over 1,100 miles on the bike. Not that it matters, but > that's the most I've put on any bike in such a short period of time. > > Eric Platt > St. Paul, MN > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
