My friends Charlie and Ed (from the lands of the North Country in Plattsburgh New York) participated in the NY Capital Region Road Race in Ravena, NY [results] last week. Charlie came in 13 out of 36 in the masters class and Ed came in 19 out of 83 racers in the cat 4 field. Although it is sad for me to see a road result instead of a mountain bike result I want to give a shout out to them.

My weekend went ok even thought the smoke in the air was as thick as soup. At one point while sitting in my apartment the window glowed orange while the lighting in the front room was whiter and brighter than the outdoors. It is a very sad place to be in right now. Residents near Seeley Lake were evacuated once again yesterday. In all the doom, gloom, and drugs I managed to get in two fantastic rides.

The first one was with friends and we biked the single track to the base of Lolo Peak. We rode all the way to the lakes at the top of Carleton Ridge. The decent was the finest I have experienced to date. Lots of rocks and roots. Lots of switchbacks and tons of fast deep woods trail.

Yesterday I was able to drive away from the smoke to Lolo Pass where I put in a 26 mile time-trial (Mountain Pass) in a little over an hour. I felt strong and consistent but my heart rate would not go over 167 which scares me. Today is the last day I will be on medication so we will see if life will be better now.