...o/o

Tomorrow is my 4th attempt at the OSCR 50K.  This year OSCR is in it’s 30th year which means a snazzy hat.

The OSCR  originally stood for "Ovando to Seeley Citizens Race", because those two towns were the starting and ending points. That would be awesome but now it is just a loop.  The OSCR 50k has evolved into an annual race starting at the Seeley Creek Trails and going up and over Rice Ridge. I think someone has told me, could be Alden, that the acronym now stands for "Over Seeley's Creeks and Ridges”. After the race, my favorite part, is a chili feed and awards ceremony.

The last time I did it was 2009 in which it took me 4 hours and 29 minutes. I remember being disappointed that I was a hour off my best time but I had not skied at all that year. A blog entitled “2009 OSCR 50K Race Report” will tell the tail. I remember someone asking me if I was worried that I had not been skiing and my reply was, “but I have been doing lots of CORE”.

I figure it will snow again eventually. And the warm winds should turn to frosty gusts of skin biting cold. When I am out on my Mukluk I figure I should be in a blizzard … where “Larry” is at home. This week would have none of that winter stuff.

Instead it presented me with beautiful views and what is worse some of the best road riding I have done in Montana.  Living in Missoula I was road starved but Bozeman seems to have a plethora of it.  And with the current conditions all roads were bone dry except for the very tip tops of the passes.

In order to propel a “snow bike” over 27 miles in 2 hours you need a couple things to happen.

1. You can not be in missoula because they probably have too much snow as seen in the photo above. And if they didnt it would be slush or rain.
2. You must live in Bozeman where it gets sunny every day and the wind blows at hurricane forces to dry out the roads. 
3. The usual high winds in Bozeman must give you a two hor lul.
4. You must have 10 pounds of pressure in your large tires. More pressure and you will overshoot your projected mileage.
5. You must be in a "tempo" training brick. Otherwise there is no way to convince yourself to go hard for two hours.