Year: 2012

Sometimes it is  landscape scene.  Sometimes it is form.  And some times it is the color, natural color, that captures my eye.  If I could only capture my experience.

Windows Vista is crap, much like Windows Millennium. But now Windows 8 is out and I need to upgrade.  Two reasons, one being that it is only 40 bucks.  The other is that my old laptop will not upgrade to windows 7 … DVD driver issue.  I’ve tried.  Numerous times.  So this is what I am doing today.  Windows are like weeds that look pretty but attach themselves and make it hard to do laundry.

Riding smooth gravel roads, even though at times they seem extremely rough, are easy. Imagine a time when you bump along the prairie in a wagon. On misdirected line and you break a wheel. No trees in sight. No materials.  Now that is going to be a pain in the ass repair.  Us?  We just pull put a cartridge and a tube. Worst case scenario a multi tool.  Yea … we have it good.

“I think they still use it”

“yea …”

We had been on the road for hours. To be honest I had hoped for dirt sooner. A gravel road headed North and we turned off onto it.

“Which way should we go?”

“Right, towards Bonanza Creek”

Finally on dirt again we felt lucky to just be off the pavement. That is all that mattered…o/o

I just beat her up the hill and I lay down to rest. The sun is shinning through the trees, stunning. My eyelids grow heavy …

Plattsburgh is a cold place. It is also foreign to me. I am from Montana. And now my cheap Schwinn bike is so inadequate.  Why am I on a bike. I wouldn’t normally be on a bike. I mean one day back in Roundup a classmate dared to ride his bike through town.  My young community influenced prejudice, now corrected, thought maybe he was gay. I mean skin tight clothes. Who is Shakespeare anyway? Well, this is all I have to get to work because I lost my drivers license. Maybe this weekend I will re paint my Schwinn. I hate this color.

The Grand Fondo Castle Di Monte was awesome and I couldn’t wait for this year’s installment. Then my partner in crime suggest we do a mountain bike through the Castle Mountains. Or was it my idea?  Don’t know. In any case we started not so early Saturday morning … or was it afternoon.

It all started out like last year. Fall colors, prairies, and lush fields dotted with antelope. And we were warned that it was antelope season as well. We tried every route idea we had but could find no access to the Castles.

We just kept going down the road. The original route. The views were great but we really wanted to get off the road. I just needed to have faith. Faith that we could find dirt.

It was driving us crazy.  every route that we could see on the GOPS didn’t exist in the real world.  In the world of land owners shutting off access to national lands. But I will not go into that topic now. Relief was found when we rolled into Lennep Montana. We found National Forest Service Road 585.

From there we climbed and climbed. We were both in heaven.  Not saying that I condone heaven or even believe in such a place.  And living in Montana is certainly like heaven. But my faith proved to be right and we were finally on dirt.

And it got better from there.  Even a lake, Bonanza Reservoir, which was almost dried up. We went over two passes which netted us some great views.  Encountered snow.  And real cold weather. It was all good.

The route turned out pretty cool. As with most things in life. I guess that is my faith.

Well if I am not finished with the RMVQ this post will fire off with a spify photo of a cross race in San Fran.

Mo and I are riding the RMVQ. I set this blog post to fire off to show a photo of a San fran race were a group of racers are rumbling over a crest. I hope a group of my friends are rolling over University beacon with us right now.

Over the top is probably where Mo and i are right now.  Over the top of some mountain in the RMVQ. I set this post to fire off to show a photo of a cross race in San Fran … of a racer going over the top. Fitting.

In San Francisco a “cross” race is a little diffrent then in Montana. I prefer the Caifornia version.

Some people walk through lfe. Some are unsure. And some of us prefer to ride. And sometimes we wait.  For the walkers and the unsure.

Hey, everyone! Here’s another exciting update, complete with all the links you need to dive into the details.

The 2012 edition of the RMVQ is just around the corner, with the new Bikepacking edition set to start on the 12th of October. If you’re up for an adventure, join us as we head out at 10 in the morning tomorrow (Friday) to conquer the Grave Range Growler. On Saturday, we’re aiming for Snow Bowl and then the annual JulieQue (BBQ party) in the Rattlesnake. The fun doesn’t stop there – maybe Sheep Sunday and a grand finish on Monday. For detailed plans, you can check out Mo and I’s detailed plans.

If you’re feeling competitive, anyone can contest the original feat. Just GPS it and upload it to the Strava RMVQ Page, or send the file or account of it to be added to the History GC Page.

For more details, stats, and maps, head over to the 2012 RMVQ page.

And if you want to keep up with all the buzz around RMVQ, check out the latest tweets here.

So, gear up and get ready for an unforgettable adventure! See you out there.

Happy exploring!

Citations:
[1] https://twitter.com/search?q=%23RMVQ
[2] https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=218095446067961655230.0004cbba23b46d7316522
[3] https://williammartin.com/rmvq