Day: July 16, 2024

I finally got out. It was July 15, 2024, and the height of mountain bike season. Today wasn’t about perfection… just a quick and dirty escape after work, a climb for the sake of climbing. My legs smiled as I pedaled my mountain bike up University Mountain, the evening sun throwing long shadows over Missoula, Montana. The rhythm of the pedals, the solitude of the ascent… it was enough.

But fire was creeping through the Miller Creek drainage. The thought gnawed at the edge of my mind. Was this the end of the season? The trails, the mountains, the endless lines waiting to be ridden… all of it threatened by the silent force of smoke and flame. The air felt clear up here, but doubt settled in my chest heavier than my breathing.

I summited. The descent was a masterpiece—flowing, fast, every turn carved with precision. By the time I pulled into the driveway, all that remained was euphoria. A beer, a shower, the glow of a ride well done. The fire? Forgotten… until the scent of smoke curled through the evening air.

Some endings you don’t see coming, but they were always waiting.

Saturday, our goal was to go up Daisy Pass and come down Lulu Pass. https://ridewithgps.com/trips/52011472

And that’s what we did. It was a great loop and included some amazing wildflowers up on the passes. And a pretty snowy but rocky downhill coming back.

One thing to note was a run-in with a couple four-wheelers. This young boy on a four-wheeler tried to run down Mo and intimidated her. But as they turned around to head back she caught up with him, jumped in front of him, and gave her gave him hell.

Was quite extraordinary high tension and really stressful.

I have 8 photos https://photos.app.goo.gl/3Eum5nFYmsj7YJxg8 added to the 2020 album https://photos.app.goo.gl/NbvTXTi6a8uSdu7x6.

What did you do on this day, July 16th?

Apparently back in 2001 I was realizing Connecticut wasn’t that bad. Then in 2003 I was changing my mind.

By 2007 I was back in Montana doing the Thompson Park Race.

I have a post about a Thursday night ride going up point six in 2010.

Reflecting in 2012.

In 2013 we did a West Boulder Trip.

In 2014, I was having problems with photography but by 2015 Mo and I was back at it with a Wednesday night ride out at Bear Lake in which turned out to be a quagmire.

It was day 3 on the West Boulder River and a day after our bike ride up to the Nurses Lakes and Baker Mountain Saddle. In the morning I got out early for an epic ride so I was not worried if I lounged around all day in the hammock.

Mo would have none of it and soon we had an adventure plan for the day. We would take a break from what is called “Bill Riding”. Rides that somehow end up hiking a bike up mountain meadows and pretending like it is fun. And by mid afternoon we were off. Headed up West Boulder and into the Absaroka Wilderness. And just to get to the wilderness faster we road our bikes and stashed them.

Although it started to rain .. then pour, it was a pretty cool hike. And a great adventure even though our plans to find the Hidden Lakes was foiled by a trail that did not even exist. Up the West Boulder Valley it was very pretty however. We discovered limestone cliffs and some raging water features. Even a yippy little mutt that some dink-berries decided to take on their camping trip. I mean who takes a lap dog into the wilderness? Right!

So we made up stories about how a griz or a cougar comes out and bites the head of that little mut. The dam thing even bit at Mo. Should of stomped it. And that was that. We were out in time for some brat eating and bird watching tin the afternoon. A little side adventure in a grand bunch of days off.

When you go over the Tobacco Root Pass in Montana it looks pretty interesting. But take the old highway and you will see the best parts.  Be prepared for a dirt road.  Boy did they have it all in the good old days.

It was only a matter of time before “an entity” came into my “place of being” and started verbally accosting  me, physically protruding its probing apparatus into my arm, and hitting my computer screen. Once the “entity” does that it frees me up from giving a shit about “my moments obligations”. So I will blog, and blog it will.

Last night was another installment of the Missoula Thursday Night ride and the place of existence was the Snow Bowl Ski Area. Half the group was committed to going all the way to Point 6. This afforded me the opportunity to come along instead of going off somewhere alone to do my workout. I had 4 X 15 minute hill efforts to do.

As we started out everyone was going up the bear grass highway. I was hoping for the access road that goes around and through the wooded areas off the back side. This would allow me to “do my thing” and then when done catch back up with the group. The bear grass highway is a single-track which meant if I were to put in a little effort it would really disturb the groups so called laid back atmosphere.

As I spun along behind (I was late) it became apparent this was not the Thursday Night Ride but instead a “race to the top”.  There were dudes hammering it out to be king of the hill. Everyone was spread out along the trail. So I figured what the heck, might as well do my efforts and pass everyone like it is a race. The dudes up front were hammering … the race was on. Right? I thought so.

I began effort #1 at the bottom of the “headwall” a portion of the trail that turns and goes straight up a rocky path for about 50 yards. Its a tough grunt so I knew I would not have any trouble getting my heart rate up. I pumped up it and passed a few people. I got behind one rider and my HRM started to beep.

“What is that”, he asked.

“My heart rate monitor. Its beeping because I am going to slow.”

My humor didn’t sit well.

“Well then go by … [some other words] … going to slow [some other words].”

So I did. I caught the entire group (Dave, Jim, Ed [who was leading]) before the ski hut at the top of a chair lift and ended my first 15 minute session. I was hoping I would not run out of mountain and thought I should of started my efforts right away and went up another route. I felt kind of bad interrupting the group’s laid back atmosphere. All the more to hammer and now the trail is clear.

After 10 minutes I started effort #2. Instantly I was cruising up the slopes of Point 6 dreaming that I was winning the Leadville 100 and putting AssStrong in difficulties. Soon I was passing the “other group” and was so close to the top when 15 minutes ran out I decided to extend it to 20. I topped out and meet the rest of the “other group” waiting for their comrades.

I rode down the ridgeline and dropped back down to the start of the final climb near the saddle between the lift tower hill and Point Six. I started effort #3.  This effort finish at around 13 minutes and since my previous was so long I decided to call it a day. I was feeling it in my legs.

So now that we all had it out on the slopes of Point Six we were in a more communal mood and it became a group again, at least for me. We talked, gandered, and took photos on top before bombing back down to the lodge.

The worst part of the entire adventure is all the blow downs on the trail. I was going from one blow down to the next waiting up to converse with friends and enjoy the cool evening air.

Some of the jaunts over the fallen trees were pretty exhausting so I took a couple “rest sessions” and contemplated the upcoming weekend. A hard ass training weekend. Argh! I wanted to hang out with friend this weekend.

The post ride party was one of the largest I have been involved with. food everywhere with brats sizzling on the grills. Beer was flowing and I broke out my highl
y secret stash of smoked fish that Ross made me. We talked and mulled around until it was dark which in the summer means LATE.

Butte 100 training tomorrow. Two options, one being stay in town and do 2 6 hour all out efforts or two going to Butte and pre riding the course while putting in my 6 hour efforts. Then it is all rest for a while. I cant wait to hang and do things with friends more. Got to look good riding with Tinker … right?

Hello from somewhere under the haze in Missoula Montana. I returned home last night from this weekends race the Thompson Park Mountain Bike Race in Butte Montana.  This race was number 5 in the Montana Off Road Series (MORS).

I left town on Saturday and spent a couple hours at the course pre riding.  the weather was cooler than Missoula.  I left and it was 106 here and when I got back from my ride in Butte it was 62 and overcast.  It was very pleasant.

The course starts out on a old rail road bed and turns to a small single track section with a grueling steep climb that goes over the tunnel (race an not go through a tunnel for some legal reasons I guess).  After a small downhill it returns to the rail road bed for another kilometer or so before turning onto double track that begins the long climb to the top of the course. The decent is also on double-track and is extremely fast with water bars that can be hit at full speed. The course gets interesting with some short climbs and very technical and steep descent over rocks and roots.  IT all spills out onto the rail road bed again which takes you to another short loop of singletrack in some gentle rolling hills and finally a short hard climb to the double track before the finish.

I camped out on the divide and met up with my friends the day of the race. Everyone had a good race as usual and mine went with a little dissapointment in the form of a flat tire. 

At the start I took the lead to control the pace.  As we approached the small steep climb over the tracks John Curry passed and picked up the pace.  I followed and after a small mishap and run up the hill I was back on his heels again as we left the rail road tracks again to start the climb.

By now the heat was approaching 100 degrees and the climb became very hard.  I kept up for a bit but had to back off the pace due to excessive physical pain. I let another rider take up the chase and followed as closely as I could.

I was afraid I was falling off pace and the two riders were far enough ahead that I would not see them again but as I reached the tracks at the bottom of the decent I realized that I was catching again.  I hammered through the second loop to be back on the heels on lap two. 

As I approached the start finish line my front tire went flat. I found a huge chunk of glass in the tire. I attempted a quick fix but I screwed up the c02 cartridge and had to inflate the new tube with a pocket pump (by hand).  I pumped until I became anaerobic and quickly re-joined the race.  I had fallen back in the pack due to my lengthy stop.

I just decided to relax and do the best I could as the damage to my position and possibly to the standing had been done.  At the end of the second lap I was abale to re-distance myself to the main group and catch back up to 4th place.  After a lengthy conversation about mini pumps I passed a fellow racer and took over third place.  I put distance on him through out but only came to within 5 minutes of second.

Overall I can not complain about re-gaining third place after flatting so i will venture to say i had a good race.  As for the standings, that we will have to wait and see.  I plan to post some pictures that a friend took so come on back and check for those.  In the meantime I have ordered a tubbless system so that I am not at a disadvantage to the “smarter” racers (john).  John has tipped me off to a system called Stans and you can see what it is all about at www.notubes.com.

Next week I am grounded at home as I recover from the financial hit of buying new parts but I hope to be back at the races in Idaho for the Gallena Grinder Marathon MTB in two weeks.

Well, yesterday was a good one and today was not. I planned a bike ride with the bike club but that was canceled due to rain. I went to ride myself in the rain but fell asleep. when I awoke the skies were dark and the forcast was for severe weather. I bagged the ride and proceeded to bum out. I did not get my books or other plans done either. All i did do was watch the tour. Well, screw it…time for bed. Will try tommorrow I guess.

This weekend was absolutely awesome. Friday was a bit bad because Suzy didn’t get here until 2 AM Saturday morning. Once we got a little sleep we set out driving in my new car. We drove down the Merret parkway and went to an awesome Mexican restaurant. After that we went to a digital theater to watch Fast and Furious. That was great. We finished the day off by spending the evening in New Haven on the green listening to the Little Feet Band. It was great. They play Grateful Dead type music. Sunday we went out to breakfast and drove around in the countryside. Before Sue left for home we went out to dinner. What a good time. My new focuses for this week is to get a bed, drivers license, and take Marcy to the vet for her shots.