Sometimes the best rides come up as spur-of-the-moment ideas and so it was for this past Sunday’s ride dubbed the Sunrise Service Beach Ride and Mimosa Tasting by The Fatbike Cult of MKE. The genisis of the ride idea came during the previous week’s Urban Assault MKE Ride as the man with the plan, Chris Zito, suggested we do a sunrise ride the following weekend. Puck took up the gauntlet and planned the place and time and the gathering of the brethren commenced with a Facebook post.
Port Washington, WI was chosen as the place and, obviously, the time was set for sunrise. In this case 6:35AM.
We made it out onto the beach just before the sun peaked up over the cloud line that was out over Lake Michigan and heading over to the Michigan side where Gomez was playing with friends on the opposite shore! Hope the weather was good over there, Homie!
Sunrise is always a magical time and today was no different. The sun began peeking above the clouds and the light was fantastic.
With the term Mimosa Tasting in the title of the ride you’d expect Mimosas and Puck, the ride organizer, arranged the Sparkly and OJ. We stopped a ways down the beach at a local spot we’ve dubbed the Sand Bar where we took a flute or two of the Nectar.
Zito has been on a “Beermosa” kick recently and this day was no different. PBR and OJ, not as bad as it sounds!
Champagne at Sunrise!
Our ride continued north along the Lake Michigan shore on a beautiful fall morning with the temps hovering around the 40 degree mark. A bit of a headwind prompted us to take our time and enjoy the early part of the day. In this shot you can see the Zebra Mussel Pathway. If a guy could figure out how to economically collect the shells and use them as a composite for trails there might be a good use for them!
The northern turnaround at the border of Harrington Beach State Park allowed for some commiseration and conversation while the increasing wind out of the north promised a speedier ride back to port.
Fat-bike Beach Bike Pile!
Two dead items. We left the Salmon for the birds and packed out the can.
One nice thing about starting a ride at sunrise is that it is over before many people start their day! We rolled back into Port about 9:15AM and headed to a restaurant we hand’t been to before for some well earned breakfast at a place called Harry’s Restaurant. No frills, great food and a snarky waitress. Perfection! Bring cash though, no cards allowed!
After grazing at Harry’s for a while, Greg, Puck and I headed over to the Duluth Trading Company factory store that is in the old Smith Brother’s location to peruse the wears and all ended up picking up something for the wardrobe. Their Firehose Pants are among the best I own and another pair is always welcome!
Do you have a ride report from somewhere you love? Get some words down and snap a few pix. We’d love to read about it and I am sure our other site reader’s would as well. Shoot me a note to greg@fat-bike.com.
Why didn’t I know about this earlier?!!!
BTW, Harry’s seems like the ideal breakfast stop after a ride like this.
If you follow fat bike Wisconsin and Germany on Facebook most of our rides are posted there, sometimes only days in advance, but that’s how we roll sometimes!
See you at the next one, this Black (Jack) Friday at klode beach in whitefish bay at 11!