Category: Blog Posts

It is supposed to rain today and in a big way but for now the morning is peaceful and the usual routine has me chomping down cheesy eggs and preparing for work. Last night”s On-line Meeting here at the Web Lodge had a decent turnout last night at around 5 chatters during one point. Most of the discussion was about this weekends up and coming Montana Series Mountain Bike Race at the Discovery Ski Area.

The plan is to camp out near Georgetown Lake and do th race on Sunday. I think Ill actually want to leave town on Friday. Last weekend a bunch of friends and myself went down the Bitterroot to the Warm Springs Trail. The trail is somewhere near Sula and I don”t want to be to specific because while the trails here in Missoula are well known I would like to keep the jewels of our neighbors off the web. Its our little playground! The trail was very technical but with great rewards 5 miles in.

Future plans are to actually do a bigger ride and find out just how far one could ride into the Selway.

It’s raining! I am willing to bet that we are over our usual precipitation level for the month already. I am at Break Espresso sitting in front of a cinnamon roll and coffee. I am here this morning for a on line meeting with a bud to do web stuff on his site.

I am hoping that the rain tapers off so I can go for a bike ride later on. If not, thats fine; I’ll take Marcy for a walk about somewhere close. Yes, I must stay close because I have run into a money less situation where I got to make 35 dollars turn into groceries for the week. Its not bad but it also means no gas money. Oh well, I am happy to be at a coffee shop looking out the window at refreshing rain and meeting a bud on line.

So tomorrow is in line to be a good day. First off it is supposed to be sunny and dry. Second there is a possibility that Ill go riding with some friends in the Bitterroot. I was almost canceling the trip late Friday when I got a email aiming at going. So I am in … again. I am hoping to trade a couple bike tun ups for a ride into the Roots!

So have a good Saturday and Ill have one too.

It started raining around 6:30 Am and it hasn’t let up since. It feels good and the air is sweet with positive ions (a friends phrase). I just came back from walking Marcy and we are soaked. After last nights ride maybe a higher power is saying, ”stay home tonight“. Yea, I feel sore from the ride but planned on ridding tonight with the group. If it is raining, Ill have to go hiking somewhere. My infected body cant stand a wet ride just yet. But then again maybe things will improve. This weekend is up in the air as I am leaning towards a slightly long Mountain Bike Ride over Miller Creek Pass and then on Sunday going up to Lost Trail and looking for the Warm Springs Trails. I got wind of some good ridin down yonder. Now that staying alive is off my mind I can go back to stressing out about my job. I dread working still and I now appreciate my last job where I wanted to go to work every day. If they could of just payed me a tiny bit more … oh well. Now its stress time where doing ten things at once and showing progress is at the top of the list. If I don’t progress fast I don’t get payed and neither does my co workers … very stressful. Life is too short for this. But for now its back to the grind.

I just got back from a ride. I rode the mountain bike and wanted to a easy test ride. I was very uncomfortable to say the least but I dont think any damage was done. I rode the Deer Creek Sneak. I hope to ride tomorrow with the Thursday Night Group so I better hit the sack and put the ol infection in a heat pack. I was able to post my training journal but am dissapointed by the lack of miles last month. Good night!

Well, maybe not running yet; although I did run up the last streatch to the top of Jumbo last night. Marcy and I hiked Jumbo last night and tonight South Sentinal.

I am feeling better but not as good as yesterday. Yesterday was the biggest jump in getting over this staff infection. Today I feel sore and maybe need to keep on the attack with antibiotics and treatment. I am back online so you know at least that I am sitting again.

I hope to see some friends online tonight so in the meantime, have a good day.

Well it is Monday as I eat my breakfast in my apartment and prepare for the work day. I am experimenting to see if I can sit at a computer better than I could last week. I have been away from my blog and cycling as well for a week now. Without giving too much detail, lets just say a staff infection nabbed my cycling season in the bud.

What is the future? Well that is up to my healing situation. I am at least 3 to 5 days away from cycling and 1 to 2 days away from exercising. This weeks Thursday Night Ride could be attended if all goes well but it will have to go better that this weekend.

I did make progress healing up this weekend but not as drastic as I wanted. I didn’t get to watch extra movies and I never got around to my pictures. Bottom line is I was laid up is one position all weekend.

So off I go to work and I tell you all that Mondays suck when you never got to have fun on the weekend. Heck I don’t even feel rested. This is Monday on a steroid. Ok the test is over and I can sit but already I am feeling like a day at work and Ill be hurting pretty bad.

Every web cam I go to this morning shows heavy snow in the mountains and the forecasts are not much better. I am sitting at the Break Espresso once again contemplating where to ride today. I have at least two hours in the saddle today even with a certain new issue I am dealing with which is too personal to comment on here. Every web cam I go to this morning shows heavy snow in the mountains and the forecasts are not much better. I am sitting at the Break Espresso once again contemplating where to ride today. I have at least two hours in the saddle today even with a certain new issue I am dealing with which is too personal to comment on here.

Yesterday I went cycling with a friend in the pouring rain. It was good and I indeed got wet; very wet! Fun in the mud but a tingly come back to life feeling in the shower.

Today I was going to try the Pipestone Pass in Butte but now that the weather has kept up her furey (its nice actually) I am thinking Skalkaho Pass on ol Katie (K2 MTB or The Beast).

So that is it as I near day two of the three day weekend and I am going to do a possible bike ride instead of getting caught up with my photos and trail descriptions. I was able to post a Standings page today but did not get to my riding diary yet.

Last night’s Thursday Night Ride got out of hand as I try to get prepared for this weekend’s race in Billings. While my new job continues to be very stressful I struggle to keep everything else normal and so I head out of town on Saturday for Billings for the first race of the Montana State Mountain Bike Series.

Last night the Thursday Night Group did the Treasure Ride but when it came time to come back into town no one wanted to so we did the Sam Braxton Trail as well. It was a fabulous evening ending with a big BBQ at Julie’s house and ended it with a slide show. What a great evening! I just hope the ectra riding didn’t deplete me for this weekends race.

This weekend begins as I leave town tomorrow for Billings. I hope to get into Billings early afternoon and pre ride the course with my buddy Cory. Ill stay the night and race on Sunday with my family watching me for the first time race. I sure wish they could of seen me when I was int top form during my East Coast years.

Have a great Weekend Everyone. For me … I have to get through the stress and Ill be home free!

The drive to the Big Hole is over 2 hours and 100 some miles but every bit beautiful . I got out of the house and on the road a tiny bit late and drove down the Bitterroot, over Chief Joseph Pass and into the Big Hole. The drive into the BH is beautiful and at one point I had to park the car while these elk took their time hogging the highway before getting spooked by a cyclist. The weird thing is that on my way back 7 hours later and the same elk was standing by the fence watching the traffic roll by at a rate of about 1 car every hour.

I started out from the car at 2 pm and headed the two miles into the little town of Jackson elevation 6,400. Its a nice little town of about 50 people and also has a hot springs/hotel which I made note of. This would be a great Stay the night and launch bike rides town. As I left this town and headed to my first climb I noticed the wind was picking up and the bad news … at my back.

At 12 miles I rounded a corner and saw my first climb up the Big Hole Pass. The entire 1.5 mile climb was in view and this was a straight shot up to a high point of 7,400 (around 1000 ft up). I took it easy and gently took this pass and looked for the web cam on top. After waving

Surprise! The sun was out at Phillipsburg and even more surprisingly they were hosting a road race. I almost came back home but decided to sit in my car until 1PM when all the racers had started on their course which was part of my route. As I rolled into Phillipsburg at 6:15, 5 hours and 15 minutes later, I had posted over a thousand miles for the year and my knees told me that. The ride Saturday was brutal but very fun.

I was disgusted that I had to share the roadway with a big bike race. Furtherer more I was not in the race which made me feel small. I wanted to race but at the same time felt that I had no business racing until my body fat is back down. I still feel like a strong climber at times and today was no exception as I climbed right up Pinter pass in under a half hour. I passed two stranglers off the back of the race and was in my big ring at Georgetown Lake.

The Pintlers are so beautiful and majestic. The ride from the top of the pass to Anaconda was beautiful and exciting. I even got some spectators rooting me on. I rode hard not because I wanted to but I was inspired to be fast like the racers. At this point I felt like I could of raced and done very well.

I rode through Anaconda down route 1, through town, and beyond. I was now out in the flat desolate plains and was amazed about how this land looked like Arizona. I had never been in Anaconda before so I was going off my memory to find route 569 (Big Hole Road).

Once on Big Hole Road I rode South towards Wisdom. Soon enough I started climbing again but in different terrain. I could see the back of the amazing Pintler Mountain Range but the land I was in more resembled Idaho. No pine trees and lots of open space; some of the brush reminded me of New York’s Adirondacks. I climbed and climbed and the pitch got steep. I don’t know if I was bonking but I struggled to take the pass. I could have gone no further. I attribute this little bonk to the Cliff bar that I ate an hour back. Maybe it was the apple juice in my water bottles that I started out with (poor mans athletic drink).

One thing sticks in my mind, ”boy we could tele-ski here all summer“. Take a trip from Anaconda to Wisdom and you will see what I mean. There are some of the biggest snow slabs, drifts, and depths that I have yet to see in Montana. The back side of the Pintlers are truly amazing. I ate an Otwalla bar and returned back down the pass. I was fried and didn’t feel like I could make the journey back. It seemed like I had already rode 80 miles.

As the Otwalla bar started to digest (a little feeling of wanting to puke but not strong) I felt more optimistic and rode into Phillipsburgh looking for fresh water. I brought my water filter but did not want to dip into any streams near all the strip mining activities around there. I stopped at the first gas station and got fresh water. That would prove to be a key stop because it afforded me the opportunity to drink a lot more water than I normally ration to myself to get back to the car. The big story at this point was the struggle to eat another Otwalla bar. This one was a Super-food bar and it tasted like slimy snot. In a sick way it was good but I just couldn’t swallow it. It took the entire ride through Anaconda and 6 miles up the road to eat the bar.

Drinking lots of water and that Super-Food Otwalla Bar (blue green algae, wheat grass, you know that healthy crap) hit my body hard at first. I felt like puking but only for about 10 minutes. It kicked in just in time for my 3rd mountain pass of the day. This would be my personal record for mountain passes in a day on a road bike (not as hard as the Grave Creek Growler MTB Ride though). My knee really hurt but if it didn’t hamper my ability to stand and climb I would of rode an exceptional climb. Surprisingly I rode up and over Pintler pass with great strength.

The screaming downhill of Pintler Pass is great. You can go all out, there is not much traffic, and the turns are not as sever as most passes. The scenery is beautiful with waterfalls and high mountain ponds. I bombed the downhill and headed into the flat last 9 miles back to the car.

I though I would do the ride in under 5 hours and pushed hard to hammer the last miles of my ride. I gave up the ghost a mile from Phillipsburg and coasted in at the 5 hour 15 minute mark.

Today is a group mountain bike ride at around 11 and I cant wait to meet up with some buddies. It will be nice to just ride along at a relaxed pace after my mental ”I am winning the Tour“ pace. I just hope the weather is a beautiful as it was in the Pintlars yesterday.