Shootout Park is a place I used to call Secret Trail. Secret Trail because it was a secret. If you could find the trail to the top, then make your way down the meadow, find the secret creek crossing. Then one could enjoy the moose downhill (I called it) past the Wildhorse Pass Trail.
Yea, it’s been smoky. But the hardest part is to get settled so one could catch up with friends. Anyone want to ride … um … when the smoke clears? Tomorrow is TNR … Anyone want to go?
My toe hurts this morning. It feels like a fat sausage and it wants to point up. I can’t wear my slippers because they have too much “cush” and the rest of my foot sinks while the little piggy struggles upward, not wanting to be with the rest. It feels good going nomad and bare-footed. So maybe I need to train it to be like the rest of the toes and hold their own in a shoe. I feel a lot like my toe.
Continuing on our journey the sunset starts to get sandwiched between earth and the storm, bearing down on us as we expect to get rain any moment.
I woke up to prepare the surprise. As a consolation on sneaking out of the tent early I was greeted by a great sunrise. I got the card out of my pack and the cup decoy.
Whoa … backup. The day before I ran to REI to get a titanium mug for snuggles. Her old plastic REI mug was ready for retirement and this one would fit in her down tube bag. But they were completely out of stock. So I ordered it online and printed out a decoy to attach to her old mug.
Alright, why? Well 5 years ago on this day, September 11th, snuggles and I entered into a life *adventure. So I prepared the morning surprise. When I would call out “coffee is ready” she would come and find her mug with the decoy attached to it. I forgot tape so I used pine sap. Also a perfect placement of the card with some morning thoughts (proprietary) inside was necessary. I was ready.
“Coffee is ready”, I shouted towards a rustling sound in the tent.
Happy 5 year anniversary to the best *adventure partner on the planet.
*And by the way “adventure” might be the new cool word … but we made it cool.
It froze hard during night 2. I broke the ice off the fly and emerged into brilliant sunlight. The rain storms were over. The morning was relaxing and we spent our time drying everything out and hanging in the hammock. The second half of the day included two huge climbs, great ridge views, epic single-track, and even a forging of a stream. Brilliant days come with a cost. A late surge to find a spot on top of Wheeler and fumbling around to set up camp combating the feeling of exhaustion. Sleep came fast as the calls of Elk on the ridge sang us to sleep.
Living in Bozeman at work I only dream of the weekends. Romantically all I need is two things. My bike and a remote trail leading into a place I have not been. It is my place on the weekends.
I am at the airport waiting for our flight. My girlfriend has gone off to find water. You know there are no liquids allowed at the super secret gate entrance. Then once inside you scramble to get a container filled. All a part of walking the plank here at MSO. Tonights itinerary is to travel a pretty long way and spend the night in a motel.
It seemed as though I was doing something against the grain. I was headed to Caras Park alone for the Missoula Brew Fest. Why against the grain? Because it seemed like all my friends were out of town and I was going alone. For some reason alone out in public is too scary for me.
I wondered through the crowd with my empty mug in hopes of running into someone I know. I know that I SHOULD be going through the crowd looking for NEW friends all the time. But I like the friends I have … thank you very much. I am an introvert I think.
As I strolled through the crowd a woman took my hat and ran off. I chased her down and introduced myself. She got my mug filled. I got my hat back. Her boyfriend looked pissed. As I looked at her I realized that I am an introvert and this was just to scary. I ran off.
Then I ran into Jim York and hung with him a little bit telling of my hat snatching story. Then Pat Scharfe Came strolling by and gave me a sweet I Bike MSLA tee shirt. Thanks Pat!
The rest of the evening the beer kicked in and I became a socialite. I had a nifty tee shirt and even got Pat some referrals.
“I just have to have one of those shirts.”
“They are $15 and you can get them from that guy over there.”
Saturday I procrastinated (not really, dealing with a dead car battery all day) my way into a bad situation that luckily worked itself out. I should have learned my lesson from last year when I walked out in the middle of the night sometimes on my hands and knees. Saturday I decided at around 5 PM that I would see how fast I could ride Sheep Mountain. So I set out to do it backwards at 5:37 PM.
After about an hour I had completed the prolog (ride to trailhead) and got up the Rattlesnake Corridor to the start of the climb.
As I approached the summit the sun was just hitting the horizon and I knew that I could bomb the decent to make it out before it got dark. Then my Kenda rear tire busted its liquid latex out all over the trail. I had cut a sidewall. So there I was at 8 PM on top of Sheep with a torn sidewall. I used a Velcro strap and a Otwalla Bar wrapper to boot the tire and pumped like a madman to get the tire up so I could try and descend as much as I could while I had final daylight now disappearing fast. Deja vu!
I had to ride gingerly and the going was slow. I found myself dreading the few climbs that remained on the ridge. Soon it was so dark I was trying to use my cell phone as a light. One wonders at this time why after all the times I have been out there I didn’t bring a headlamp. Somewhere on Wisherd Ridge I ran into some horsepersons camping. One of them loaned me his light so I could descend and get home. This made all the difference.
So around 9:25 I was descending Wood Gulch and left the light in their truck. I finished the official loop in 4 hours and 16 minutes a long way from the fast time I had in mind (sub 3 hrs). At 9:53 I was on Rattlesnake Drive heading home. I arrived in the comfort of modern living around 10:20 PM and fell fast asleep after a beer and the final moments of the Griz game.
Hello from the Green Hanger in Missoula Montana as I prepare for the trip to Red Lodge tomorrow. I have purchased supplies and gassed up the car. My bank account is at 4 dollars so I just dug around in my pile of financial papers (no time to worry about this stuff so it piles up) and found my Capital One card. What’s in your wallet?
… finished laundry and drove home …
11:07 pm: Ok finally ready for bed. So I was at the laundry mat and my friend showed up in eChat so I chatted and finished my laundry. I leave tomorrow morning around 8AM for Red Lodge and I plan to stop in Bozeman for a “Hot and Ready”. Grandma and other family should be there Sunday to watch me try for the championship title.
Take care everyone and have a great weekend.
A couple of days ago, I arrived home for lunch aboard my single-speed Trek-erizer! As I prepared my pasta, the mailman stopped by with a package. “More bike parts,” I thought to myself. But it was not. Actually, it was a package from the Way To Go Club. Every week, I log my commute miles to and from work, and they tally them up. Apparently, I had reached a milestone and was receiving a nifty travel mug, a sticker, and a free caffeine ride at Break Espresso. Now that I am without a car and it is raining today (I must ride), it is nice to know that I will be rewarded.
Yes, as I sit here getting ready for work, it has started to rain. You would think it would be a good thing with all the wildfires filling the valley with smoke. Instead of the cool, refreshing smell of sweet rain, it is a choking smell of burnt wood. My throat is sore, and if the air does not clear up, it may get worse.
On tap for this weekend is a trip to Idaho for a mountain bike race, and tonight is the Thursday Night Ride. I think my normal mountain bike will be staying home in favor of my Trek-erizer since it is supposed to rain all day. Cheerio!
Ah, the twists and turns of life at M.A.R.S. Stout Inc! It’s like a jolt of caffeine that woke up an old project I’d shelved, one that’s all about collaborative wizardry in software development. And voilà, here comes DevTrack! Picture this: a shiny, new web-based tech tool, a kind of Swiss Army knife for tracking projects, reporting issues, and brainstorming new ones. It’s like a digital butler, always ready to assist.
What’s the secret sauce? Well, DevTrack is a brainchild of my Bortal technology. It’s a cool blend of PHP serving up XML data, while XSLT transformations do a little dance and put everything up on the web. It’s like making a smoothie with tech ingredients!
Now, this isn’t just a pet project. M.A.R.S. Stout Inc is actually using it to streamline their service development and deployment. Talk about a test drive! I’ve jazzed it up with MySQL (goodbye, SQLite!), full XSLT integration, and some nifty user tools. It’s growing up so fast, I’m getting sentimental.
I’ve got a laundry list of upgrades I’m itching to roll out. If this winter traps me indoors, well, that’s just more time for tinkering. I read somewhere – a government paper, I think – that collaboration tools are the next big thing in software. They’re like the hot new band everyone wants tickets for. My baby, DevTrack, is web-based and flaunts the latest in XSLT and XML tech. But hey, what do you, dear readers, think about it? Drop a comment, don’t be shy!
And Mom, if you’re reading this – no, this post isn’t for you. I can hear you already: “My child, the greatest programmer in the galaxy!” Yes, yes, but let’s keep that between us, shall we?
Well the big news is that snow is on its way. Well according to the weather on the TV. I have been lagging behind on getting stuff I need done. I think I am bummed about being out of money. Last night and this morning I was on my site coding and adding to it. I must get out and get things done. Really I am excited about getting a job its all the footwork that sucks.
My car is ready for its service interval and that bums me out. I hope it wont be over $100. On top of that I still need to replace the lens that covers my turn signal. To be more behind, I have decided (not really) to not clean it for a while. Damn I must get on the ball.
Last night we had our Friends and Family Online meeting. It was fun with Kathi and Mom in attendance. Paul almost made it but couldn't get MSN messenger working. We decided to play a game online. I have to go to best buy to see what their is for multi roll online games. Mom and I played Monopoly once online and it was fun but it took so long. You know how long Monopoly takes … Right?
Today I want to go hiking and exploring a new ravine up Sentinal mountain. It is on the verge of snowing but it is raining for now so the bike is out since I only have so much brake pad to Last me the rest of the month.
Today I have Wilma Movie night. Its a nice day for a movie. During the day though, I must get stuff done like laundry, groceries, and post the remainder of my resumes and other documentation that might help others realize my potential. LOL. I must also, if this all wasn't enough, get ready for this weekend as I want to go camping and climbing. (McCloud Mountain) That reminds me, I have also to get this pics of Mosquito Peak online.
Well its off to the bank.
I just got an email from Charlie Mitchell. Oh how things have changed. Two children … wow. Charlie is still riding but he broke his hand 8 weeks ago. His newest edition Miles is now 8 weeks old and doing well according to Charles. He is doing a 12 hour race in Williston next week then it is off to the Vermont 50. I wish him luch. This weekend was so unproductive that this makes me feel old and out of shape. Anyway Charlie says that Chris Rose is now into hiking and whants to join the 46er club. Thats it … its off to the mountains for me next weekend. Take care all.
I just checked Mom and Dad’s website. Mom’s dealing with ear issues and vertigo, but hopefully, she’ll improve soon. I plan to call her today. Mom also posted a tribute to Johnny Cash and John Ritter from “Three’s Company,” mentioning their recent passings. She reflects on how they’ll be missed in acting and music, noting Cash’s last song about his late wife June Carter. Their love story is touching, as they passed away just months apart.
For more, visit their site: www.williammartin.com/blogs/thebuckeys.
Boneshakerbike 