Here we go again. She … there. Me … here. Yea.
For me to get there I need to squeeze in a ride. And I do. That is that.
Here, I mean the place I stop briefly to pick up packages. And there, I mean the place I am going. Tough to say where I am at.
The Bear Fork Road leads from Timber Camp Campground.
It was the easiest way just to get out and ride.
No decisions Just go for a ride.
I can’t believe the wildflowers are still popping out there.
What were you doing today August 5th?
Just as we get out to enjoy nature we hope that our friends, heck, every on the planet gets to do so as well.
Can anyone guess the narrative? Also happening on this day in history over at https://williammartin.com/0000/08/04/…o/o
Why name it Timber Camp? Wasn’t it an old “timber camp”, whatever that is, and turned into Forest Service Campground? Seems reasonable.
“I think it must have been because they maybe logged it all for Gardiner or for the Park.” A non-verified response came from the other room.
“Seems reasonable to me. Let’s go with that.”
2003 was going to an Albanian party – https://williammartin.com/2003/07/31/goulash-anyone-updated/
2008 was facing off against a bear – https://williammartin.com/2008/07/31/saw-a-bear-on-sheep/
2012 was recovering from a race – https://williammartin.com/2012/07/31/things-will-smooth-out/
2018 was doing the dry creek loop – https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33596084
So a couple weeks ago Gardner was on fire and Rosie’s Bistro was destroyed. So today’s photos are about just going for my morning walk and checking out. The reason that I couldn’t sleep because of smoke inhalation from the fire was still raging. They’re still trying to put it out even though they said it was under control, only had one fireman on it. I could hear it crackling. I could see Flames.
So I swung wide and walked around to places in town that were smoke free and discovered an old Gardener jail historical building. Kind of fenced-off. Nobody ever gets to see it. Cool. It’s so small. I wonder if this was the first jail and Gardner.
Later on that day when the skies cleared, it was so stressful. Mr. Bear started drinking.
As Mo was packing for evacuation, I was taking a morning walk along the banks of the Yellowstone.
weird how different our lives are when we’re not together.
We all know why I live in Gardener, but sometimes in Livingston. If you don’t, I would give away too many details and in this day and age with all the haters out there. You don’t want to like, let anybody know your schedule right. I’m in Livingston right now on my morning walk. Kind of Cloudy.
I was like, walking by the… don’t know what Livingston people call it. I call it the moat, but I guess it is not exactly a swamp. I don’t know, anyway. I’d like to think about the variations between the two towns.
Obviously one town is on the border of Yellowstone National Park where Snuggles works. But Livingston is about an hour and a half away. Our little apartment is a studio and downtown, which is cool if you like city-dwelling. Let’s be honest. It’s a tiny town. So in Livingston my day usually includes going for a walk and/or doing some kind of work-out, so I don’t age so fast. Sometimes I stop by Town and Country to find out that all the meat has been bought up by somebody in town. There’s an investigation on that. Usually early in the week I have a chili making project which will sustain me throughout the week. Afternoon excitement includes knocks on the door from the UPS and USPS people delivering me nice little cool bike parts to update our rigs. And then there are the Buttons projects that are always ongoing, in which today I installed a stainless steel valve in which we named B.
This is turning out to be a total ramble, so I will stop myself right there. I could have written an entire blog on why we name all our inanimate objects. Maybe later.
Looking at the history of today, July 17th – https://williammartin.com/0000/07/27/. Looks like two years ago I was perfecting the Suce Trail. Four years ago we are making adventure decisions. Eight years past it headed me to the Butte 100. Wow. Diverse. Now we just bike. Is this healthy?
Today we will reflect on the Boone Mountain Trail – https://ridewithgps.com/trips/52418790 – that we visited Saturday July the 11th.
Hiking is always in the equation. So is just sitting around drinking beer. And last year we didn’t even put on a pair of skis. I feel I am becoming rigid and detrimental to others. Like Mo. I feel in love with her diversity. Even I was into back country skiing and snowshoeing. I skate skied and hiked in the summer. I back packed often and climbed mountains. What an awesome life.
Sure, I was as obsessed with cycling as I am now. But in years past, I kept it at bay to enjoy other flavors of life. Now, because of my obsession, we hide from others and are never available for other of life’s offerings. We just bike. I just bike. And if I can not bike, I get depressed and make life miserable around me. I feel bad.
So guess what we did on that Saturday a couple weeks ago? Right!
We planned the day to be full of adventure and possibly epic. And it was.
Even I at one point wanted to just give up. Which is exceptional? I love these moments when I find I just persevere. The toughest part was when we started the hike-a-bike climb up to a saddle on a ridge.
And it was hot, real hot. Oh, and I must not forget about the bugs and meat eating fly. Just before I turned around I left Mo in the shade of a tree and instructed her to save herself if I don’t come back. I headed up the trail.
Which went upwards even more than before. At one point I became delirious and kept telling myself to turn around and catch up with Mo.
Finally, I found a suitable turn around point. It was a prime point at an intersection. Good enough. I rode enduro style back down the ridge.
I found the genuine challenge of enduro which in races we don’t really touch upon. Being so fatigued that the extreme downhill becomes so hard. One mess up and you launch off a cliff. So you keep focused. As much as you can.
I did a drop section and put some feet on the ground. Which means I didn’t crash or jump off the bike. I just cheated a little. “Common Bill, stay focused”, I scolded myself.
I rode back to the spot I left Mo. Surely she had turned back.
“Sunggles”
Nope, she must’ve turned back.
10 feet down the trail, I saw her. I had the wrong clump of trees. I started skidding past her.
“I thought you left, so glad to see you. I, I …”
“Just come over her and get out of the sun”
“Sty here until you feel better, I’ll ride down and you catch up when you can”
“OK”
Gosh, mountain biking is so fun.
What were you up to on this day, July 24th?
The day started out normally. Get up, make coffee and sign in at work. After a bit of programming, I went for a walk to plan the day ahead. Day ahead in that the time that occurs after I clock out at work.
As I walk down the Yellowstone, my alarm goes off. My break is over and I picked up the pace to get back to work. Today we would go to Dry Fork Creek Road.
When we arrived the sun was still up, and we went for our first ride. Just a jaunt. It beat hanging out and getting eaten by horse flies.
As usual, the term, “just up the road” does not mean just up the road. It means one of two things.
(1) If we have been on that road before, then it usually means up the road. (2) But if it is our first time on the road, it could mean all night or until we have had our fill of adventure. And as per usual, that could take a while.
What were you doing today in years past?
Mo is in town, which is prodigious. She is never here. We did the usual and pedaled our bikes to “the bench” as we call it, or some of the locals would know it as the BLM parcel. I stopped to interrogate her on a flower since she is a smarty pants plants wiz.
“Milkweed”
“What? No way”, I uttered.
“Showy I think”
Turns out she was right.
As our ride went on, I thought back to when we first moved to Livingston and the subsequent walking around I did to get the “lay of the land”. And how I found this place to ride and to expeditiously to get out of town. And that is what we were doing. Just going out for a quick and dirty.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, I mean Livingston Montana, I am working remotely and hanging out in our downtown apartment. I look out the window and dream of my bike right after work where I will be immersed in wildflowers.
And yes, Mo is also working. But in a different way. I mean, she’s immersed in flowers all day long and hangs out in her apartment after work. And I am immersed in my apartment all day long, but get out in wildflowers after work. Funny how that works.
Speaking of funny things. I don’t mean a funny subject but funny how things work out. Congratulations to Jill and Beat 🙂
At the beginning of every week in the summer I head out to Suce Creek and hit up Suce. Its steep and loose in parts although near the end of summer tends to get overgrown. It is a fun little “quick and dirty”.
More at https://photos.app.goo.gl/NbvTXTi6a8uSdu7x6. Or see these photos in all their glory over at https://imgur.com/gallery/XBsBfKC. Not really anything to comment as the images themselves explain.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NbvTXTi6a8uSdu7x6
Today, I’m thinking about combining shit.
We are out on an evening walk. And recently I have gotten into the habit of putting so much stuff on my calendar I combine things even during my walks. For instance, I just thought to myself okay. I’m on a walk. I might as well combine my daily exercises into this, right?
Like, stop! Find a big rock and do Turkish get-ups. Stuff like that. Heck, why not answer emails? And do some work-related items. I think this has to stop and I need to enjoy one thing at a time. Otherwise, I’m just going to get bent out of shape again.
“Like Friday”?
Suddenly realizing I was talking out loud and my partner chimed in.
“uh, yea, perfect example”, referring to a blowup when my phone stopped working.
Actually, you know, what’s funny? I’m walking and blogging now, haha.
Boneshakerbike 