Author: Bill

My first backpacking ride … or race … or effort. Whatever. Anyway, it is next weekend. My mind still has not come up with a label. But things without labels shouldn’t stop me from preparing. This weekend I am waking up early. Not to quantify next week’s effort. No. But to prepare the body. So I load up my bike and head to the hills. I will spend the day trying to GPS some more trail that I have not done before. But the sun will set and I will have forgotten about next week. I will have forgotten about the Bozeman Vision Quest I am dreaming up. All I will know is that this trail … in new to me.

The sun’s rise over the Bridger Range was, once again, a sight to behold. The wildfire smoke added a dramatic flair, just like yesterday as I drove to work. While I’m not fond of the smoke, it’s been particularly distracting lately.

Upon arriving at work, I learned I need to move my desk by the end of the week. As if losing my position wasn’t challenging enough, now I’m faced with the added task of relocating within the office. It seems like just another obstacle on this journey. But like all things, this too shall pass in time.

The wildfires make it possible for a simple sunrise, although exciting in of itself, more dramatic. Driving home this morning was sort of surreal. So I tempted to grab my camera and while on the fly take some shots.  The result … is blury. But you get the jest. So it is another week of more then exciting work. I havent planned this weekend but would like to watch Sammy in the Olympics.

Spending time with Mo in Missoula I have come to the realization that no matter where we are there is going to be some dirt bike frolicking.  Followed by some sort of adult beverage and a pizza or burger. Life cant get any better … right?

Another drive to Missoula last night…o/o Varoom! Thinking back to a bike ride that I did in the Pipestone area. We went off the trail and along a beach.  I was wishing I had my fatty.  At the end of Lake Delmo, we adventured even further but eventually decided to go back to the beaten path.  It was fun though. Sometimes it is what you gotta do.  All this traveling to Missoula, on a beaten path, is starting to wear on me. But I would do it all over again.

Wednesday nights at the Round House Sports Center people gather to be portaged to a local destination for mountain bike goodness.

Even though I should be resting after the Butte 100 I decided to ride down and partake in the Wednesday night ride. Even though I re-rode some of the Butte 100 course the day after the race. Even though when I rode over my legs felt weak.

We did the Olsen Creek to Grassy Mountain Loop. I quickly discovered a similarity to the Missoula Thursday Night Rides in that we stopped often to chat and there was opportunity to go slow and enjoy the ride. Then on the most wicked decent in Bozeman we opened up for some Disney like roller coaster downhill. On the way back to the parked vehicle I discovered my mistake. My legs … lead.  Oh well, I will rest the next day. Right?

Wrong! Even though I know Ray’s Three Sandwich Rides to be total adventure, all night, death rides I went back to the Round House Shop to board the Mule Bus destination South Cottonwood.

The description of our ride, er adventure, from Erik went something like, “We go up to the second creek crossing and then hike our bikes up about 700 feet to a traverse that leads to the trail up the ridge then we follow the ridge. Oh yea, there might be no trail I don’t know. But …”.

I knew there was going to be trouble and the fact that I didn’t bring my headlamp prompted me to suggest I would leave the group and ride back home at 8 … ish. The climb was more like 2,000 vertical feet and I finally hit my limit of what energy I had left after last weekend. Two times I had vertigo episodes, one time almost veering off a cliff. Suddenly on the ridge I heard a familiar sound. The sound of derailleur being snapped off. It was Dave’s new bike.  Total bummer. But for me a chance. A out.

I rode down the Hyalite creek side and back home with him.  Bad for him, good for me. A way to graciously bail on the ride. I wonder if I can stay off the bike today?

As a special treat this blog post will include ACTUAL photos of the Butte 100. And to pull this off I decided, not a good decision really, to ride the course again the next day. I stopped a few times and asked a ninja rider if I could get a photo of her riding the course. So these images should “look” authentic.

The plan was to go real easy and combined with my new thermogenesis training I expected to light it up in the waning moments of the race to pick off stragglers. What happened? Well the opposite really … well mostly. I did go easy as planned. In fact I stopped half way for a pint of vanilla ice cream, although slightly “soft”. And I did light it up near mile 60.  Then I died.

The course was fantastic. The first 50 included some great trails in the Pipestone area. It was the best first half course ever … kudos to the organizers.  At the 50 mile mark my plan was working. I felt superb. I had ice cream and was ready to rock and roll, or to light it up as I said earlier. 

The second half was the usual steep climbing death fest. When I tried to rock and roll I got fried, probably due to a extra long leg without water and the lack of nutrition. My new thermogenesis training has left me with 0 hunger urges.  This is bad.  You can not do the Butte 100 without eating. I tried to do the entire thing on a single ice cream feed and three bites of sweet potato.  And it was me, the endurance racer, being picked of at the end of the race. I finally did break out the Carbo Rocket, which I should of done starting at mile 50. The result was a grreat little surge that helped me enjoy the last 20 miles. Mile 70 to 80 … a meltdown I want to forget. But overall I did feel great which was my goal. To go slow and enjoy … for once.  The result 9th place.

After a race, I feel bad for a couple weeks. But really, I don’t feel bad in that way. I think I have a sinus infection. In fact, if I didn’t have that, I would be back in the flow and feeling rad.

Well, I tried to get back into it. I had left the stream to pool in an eddy for a while and just do my thing. But we must all get back in the flow and take part. But not yet. I feel sick, so I am just going to hang out and watch the action from my lofty pool.

Why all the creek images? Because I am adventuring today number one. And number two I have this backlog of images I want to share.

I would say that today I am just relaxing and not getting involved in the race. I am just floating on. To see what it is like.

On this day

Going to the Butte 100 today. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

What does the title visitors have to do with a waterfall? Well … nothing. Visitors mean I am busy, too busy to blog. So enjoy a photo of a place that my visitors love to enjoy as “the swimming hole”.