Blogger slackin', Fat Tire Trackin'. Airstreamin'

Slackin'
So it has been a few days since the last blog update and I can't help but feel like a slacker for not putting fingers to keyboard.  The truth is I did not have any pics to upload and subsequently decided to skip the weekend of blogaroo action and spare anyone (other than Erin and I) the agony of reading this diatribe.

Fat Tire Trackin'
It was a banner weekend weather wise.  I got an early start to Saturday and was on the trails by 7:30 with the intention of being able to salvage 1/2 the day for airstream to-do's.  It ended up being a 4 hour ride with about 5,000 ft if elevation gain.  The legs felt decent and the real barometer (relative to last year) fitness wise came when we approached the 8 miles of hell on the CDT.  It has become fondly known as the 8 miles of hell because the trail is pretty rough with some fairly steep grades.  The good news is that it felt easier than I remember it last year so hopefully that is a good sign of how the legs are holding up this year.

Sunday's ride was a repeat performance of the Homestake CDT to Hwy 2 ride I did earlier in the week.  I spent most of the day getting things done around the house and Airstream.  Erin was pulling an extra shift at the hospital and the least I could do was to bone up on house chores and make some progress on the Globetrotter.  After she got off work, we went up to the Homestake CDT trailhead at the pass and hopped on some buff & super tacky singletrack.  My goal was to do the ride in sub 2 hours (Wednesday's ride was 2:03)...the legs started to warm up for the long gradual climb.  It was starting to cool off from the heat of the day and it was good to keep moving since the skeeters were out in full force.  Fortunately I did not have to stop and let them go into attack mode.  I hit the turn-around point at 1:01 and knew that I would have to motor to make it back in the sub 2 hour goal.  The return leg is slightly easier since there is a little less climbing and more descent...Erin was out for a 2 hour ride of her own and I passed her towards the top of the lookout on the return.  It seemed a little rude to pass her by and ride back to the car with her but as the Blues Brothers infamously said 'I am on  mission' (a sub 2 hr mission to be precise), so my legs kept pumping away and it was a race against the clock.

1:57 - I got back to the car in my sub 2 hr goal and started to get ready to load the bike into the truck when a swarm of hungry skeeters saw me as target # 1 (probably since I was the only moving thing in the vicinity).  I did the 'load the bike, swat the skeeter dance' and got the bike loaded in record time and hopped into the truck to wait for Erin.  She was not far behind and I could tell that her ride was therapeutic as she came to the car looking less stressed than when we had started.  She has a long weekend at the hospital and it was good to see her face less anxious than a couple of hours earlier.

Airstreamin'

It was also a good productive day on the Airstream.  I managed to paint the cabinets in the bathroom as well as paint the screen frames which all took time since it required diligence to cut the edges (which is a challenge unto itself when the airstream is moving a little as you move around).  There was some detail work that needed touch up too - scraping paint of some of the edging so there is a nice contrast against the dark paint, etc

I also took some oven cleaner to the gauchos and removed the awful, dated copper color off the metal pieces on the gaucho.  I still need to give it another round with oven cleaner in order to remove all the color  and get it down to a stainless color (before on left, after on right in pic below on right).  The gauchos also need another round of paint and touch up but we are well on our way.

The  color scheme is coming together and it is nice to see some of the contrasts with the colors.

The door also needed some scrubbing and priming...next is two coats of paint to match the inside that we painted.  The race is on as we want to try and get the GT up to Missoula this weekend so they can install the fridge and some other items for us.

There is still plenty to get done before the Missoula trek, although it was a very productive weekend of biking, airstreaming, house chores, and yard chores.

Homestake Continental Divide Trail

Back on the trails!  Summer was in the air and the trails were calling all fat tires out to play.  I picked up my wheel earlier in the day from the Outdoorsman who replaced a broken nipple on the the wheel and trued everything up.  As work wrapped up, I quickly re-mounted the wheel, mixed some calories in the water bottle, and loaded up the truck to hit the trails.

The air was starting to cool off so riding conditions were almost perfect.  As I hopped on the CDT the trails were nice and tacky.  I was curious to see how the legs were going to feel after the struggle on Sunday.  Curiously they felt pretty good - they did not have a lot of snap in them but they felt surprisingly good considering what they felt like on Sunday. 

The plan was to do a quick out and back from Homestake over to Hwy 2 / Toll Canyon and back.  As I rode I started to notice moto tracks (which are not allowed on this segment of the CDT).  It is a pet peeve to see tracks on non-motorized trails.  The sad part is there are hundreds of miles of trails that moto's have access to and just a couple of runs on a super fast rolling trail made up of decomposed granite will really tear up the trail (the horses don't help much either).  I found myself getting frustrated that moto's had been on the trail and then started to realize that I was letting that impact my experience of riding. 

All efforts were made to put that out of my mind and get back to enjoying the ride.  There were some storms off in the distance but figured that given how localized they were they were probably not heading my way.  I crested the top of the first set of switchbacks and felt good...started the slight downhill to the base of the next climb...made it up those switch backs thinking that the terrain did not feel as steep as it has in the past.  I quickly descended and stopped to take a quick pic of the Highlands on the way.  The Hwy 2 junction came quickly and it was time to turn around and head back to re-trace my steps back to the car.  All in all it was a great ride - a little under 18 miles with 2,700 ft of elevation gain in a little over 2 hours with the legs starting to wake up from their slumber!

Volleyball is tonight...sure hope a team shows up that will give us a game...last week was an embarrassment..the team we played was bombed out of their collective skulls and were barely able to walk, let alone pass a v-ball...we ended up winning 64-0...

New Little Treasure Found

It was another easy day for the legs to recover yesterday.  It turned out to be a somewhat productive day though...mowed the lawn, painted some trim on the Airstream, walked the dogs, and rode out to Rocker on the townie singlespeed to get the blood moving.

Erin and I took the dogs up to Janney road last night for a walk....we found a new little treasure in the area.  The dogs had a blast sniffing and exploring while we all took in the new sights and smells.  The road turns into the railroad bed that we rode for a little while on Sunday (further up).  As we explored we found a trail that deviated off to the left and decided to take it.  It meandered through Aspen groves in the Thompson Park area and linked into where we accessed the railroad bed on Sunday when we rode the fat tires.  It was really peaceful and everything was really green from all our recent moisture.  It will be a great option when it warms up as it sits at around 6,000 ft and has a lot of trees which provide shade throughout the walk.

As we adventured up Janney road we ended up parking by a house that was close to the trailhead.  The residence had some horses and a little pony (or mini horse).  The dogs were immediately curious about the horses and went up to the fence line.  Little horse was pretty friendly and also was at the fence.  As we took it all in, we realized that the pony was not all that much bigger than the dogs...DOH...will have to bring the camera along on our next adventure up there to capture the scene.

We wrapped up the day with a leisurely ride out to Rocker with the intention of stopping at the little Burrito stand to eat dinner...unfortunately, our timing was off and the shack was closed by the time we got there so we rode back to the house and improvised a few snacks that constituted dinner.

The Hammer nutrition order is on the way and should be here today...it was a whopper with about $350+ of stuff....although a big chunk of that is for Sean so it is not as bad as it sounds!  Now if only the Hammer products would do the training for me too...

countdown to the Puff is on...about 3 weeks to go...maybe another week or so of buckling down and getting in some long intervals...might be a Beeftrail interval day of 2 mile/500 ft gain repeats...although it is such a nice day...hmmmmmm

Day Off and Dog Drama

My legs were tired enough after the last few weeks of riding that it was difficult to get my heart rate up above 140 during our ride on Sunday.  I decided it was prime time to take a day or two off.  It probably also makes some sense since I hit my knee really hard on my down-tube and it is not very happy with me right now.  The irony is that the weather is FINALLY turning for the better and it really is prime time to ride.  If anything I might take the fixie/townie out today for a spin just to get the legs moving and some blood pumping through the legs.

Yesterday's dog walk proved to be a little exciting for Otis.  We came up on another dog and he decided he was going to be his usual playful pest with this dog...this means he was going to get right in his grill and try to play with him.  The lab put up with it for a few seconds and then promptly put him in his place and managed to get both his ears with his teeth.  Otis was pretty freaked out as he came running to me and was crying and shaking.  It was his first experience with a dog putting him in his place.  Hopefully it helps him figure out that not every dog wants to play (or is nice).  He was pretty much attached to my left hip for the rest of the walk and kept licking my hand looking for re-assurance that it was all good in the dog hood. 

As soon as we got home, he got out of the car, ran to the front door and then went running from room to room looking for his human momma' - Unfortunately for him, Erin was at work so no dice!  He settled back in though and was soon enough bothering Moby and being a pest.

I watched Portugal's 7-0 thrashing of North Korea yesterday morning and it looks like it might be enough to get them out of the group of death and into the next round at the World Cup.  They play Brazil in the next game but it is somewhat a meaningless game as both Brazil and Portugal look like they are moving through (unless Ivory Coast can make up a 9 goal differential).  One of my friends joked about how Portugal should be careful so that N Korea does not nuke them....DOH!

ole ole ole ole......OLE....OLE

Dodging Storms On The Skinny and Fatty

Saturday's Montana adventure:  Anaconda Bike Fest

It was all about saddle time this weekend.  The cast of characters included Sean, Angie, Erin and myself.  Angie and Sean shared BIG news with us before the race.  They are expecting twins!  We got up on Saturday morning hoping that the weather would cooperate and hold out until the forecasted p.m. thunderstorms.  The Ananconda Bike Festival offered 3 road bike distances to choose from on Saturday.  They had a 20 mile shuttle ride, a 50 mile out and back and then a 100 mile option.  The 50 miler went from Anaconda up and around Georgetown lake and back to Anaconda.  Erin and Angie did the 50 and Sean & I did the hundie.  The 100 mile version did the same as the 50 miler and then  left Anaconda again to go down to Wisdom and back.  The scenery throughout the course was amazing. 

We lucked out BIG with the weather.  The morning was great and the first 1/2 of the course was really fast.  We were able to knock the first 1/2 of the race out in 2 1/2 hrs.  Once we left Anaconda to ride the 2nd 50, we saw some clouds building up along either side of the sunny corridor we were in.  We rode and figured that we would keep riding until the weather turned for the worse.  We dug deep and grunted up the steep climb up to Mt Haggin and then dropped down towards Wisdom / Big Hole.   At about mile 63 my left inner thigh started to cramp and wanted to seize up...I was now paying the price for not staying well hydrated and for having pushed the first 50.  We had anticipated an aid station at the turn around point and had our collective bubble burst when we got there and the only person there was the course marshal who informed that it was indeed the turn-around point and that he did not have any agua....It was about 10 miles back to the Mt Haggin lodge so we just had to suck on the dribble drops left in our bottles.

The course marshal was not only the course marshal, but a water supplier and personal photographer.  When he told us there was not water at the turn-around point, he got in his car, drove to the Mt Haggin lodge and got us some water.  He drove back out to meet us on the course and was kind enough to give us all a bottle of water - BIG THANKS!!!  At that point there were 4 of us that were riding within sight of each other so it was good to have company while plodding along.  Personal photographer??  So the course marshal also had a sweet camera with about the largets lens I have ever seen...He would drive about 5-10 miles ahead of us, snap pictures as we rode and then do the same drill the next 5-10 miles.  He must have had some great shots because the scenery was amazing (riding along the meadows alongside the Pintlers).  Mental note - must try to chase those down...

As we stopped at Mt Haggin to refuel, the two guys that we were riding with decided to stay and enjoy some of the homemade pie.  Sean and I decided we wanted to keep moving and get back as the clouds were continuing to build and it was starting to look dark and ominous.  Our timing could not have been better as we got a few drops on us as we rode into town but noticed that it must have rained fairly hard since the streets all looked wet.  As Erin and Angie later told us, we just dodged the down-pour by a few minutes...talk about impeccable timing!  I took my helmet off and everyone had a good laugh at my helmet head.  All in all it was a great day with some amazing views of the Pintlers!

We went back home in fear of what the 1 yr old puppy had destroyed (considering we had been gone for about 8 hrs).  To our pleasant surprise nothing new was chewed up...'atta' boy Otis!  We finished off the night with Angie and Sean at the Uptown restaurant and Erin and I ordered our favorites dishes of blackened sole and pork tenderloins....mmm mmm good.



Sunday's ride:  CDT adventure on the mountain bike

There was a bit of a false start to the morning (I got up at 5:30 to watch the World Cup game).  As I got comfy on the couch...I started to doze...and doze...and doze...and then heard some doggy style WWF action going on...Moby and Otis were in overdrive and were chasing each other inside the house.
The forecast for Sunday was overcast with severe thunderstorms as the day progressed.  Sean called shortly after 8 and rallied the troops to get out and enjoy the day while the weather cooperated.  We organized ourselves and got over to Angie and Sean's to go mountain biking from their house.  They have great access to a number of trails from their front door...pretty sweet.  We went up to Thompson Park, rode along the railroad bed through a couple of tunnels, over a high tressel and then linked up to the CDT up by the pass.

At that point we decided to split into 2 groups.  Angie and Erin were going to ride CDT to Toll Canyon, head down to the road, ride up the CDT to Beaver Ponds and then hook up into trails back to their house.  It ended up being about a 24 mile ride with a lot of climbing.  It is Erin's longest day on a mountain bike yet - so she is taking full advantage of her fitness from her Tri.  
Sean and I  ended up riding up the CDT to Toll Canyon, then over to Lime Kiln and continued on the CDT for part of the '8 miles of Hell'.  This part of the CDT segment is on the Butte 100 so it was good to be able to ride some of that with Sean so he knows what to anticipate on race day...although it will be ridden in its entirety prior to race day too.  We got up to about the highpoint of the Butte 100 race which is right at about 8,000 ft and had amazing views of the Highlands - they felt so close that you could almost reach out and touch them.  You could also see the Tobacco Root range in the background too.  We turned around, and re-traced our steps back to the CDT and took a right on Lime Kiln road so we could catch the Fish Creek singletrack.  We rode the drainage down to Toll Canyon and then back up the switch-backs to the CDT.  At this point it was a race against time because the sky was starting to look mean.  We high-tailed it back over to Beaver Ponds and then took the same trails that the ladies had earlier.  As we pulled onto the road that Sean and Angie's house is on, it started to sprinkle.  We had once again gotten very lucky and dodge the temperamental side of Mother Nature! 

Friday Linkage

We have found the sun here in MT...It is a chill day at work and so I find myself re-visiting some great links that are just amazing or make me laugh....

Tear it up Danny!

MC Spandex

All You Haters.....

as for training...time to get out & get some saddle time this weekend.  The training is starting to wrap up though...2 more weeks of work then time to taper and ease into the race.  The next two weeks will be rough though...it will probably involve some long hard intervals to prep for the long 10 mile climbs on the Puff.  They still have not published the Cascade Cream Puff profile so it does not look like we will know exactly how much climbing is in store.

In the mean time...time to go out and enjoy the nice weather while it is good.

World Cupping in the rain/snow

Can you say brutal weather???  It has been raining non-stop since we got back from Boise on Sunday.  There is standing water on the lawn because the ground is so saturated.  The upside is that we have not had to water the lawn this year, but it probably also means the weeds will grow like mad this year too.

The poor dogs have also been couped up and it shows.  They are like coiled springs waiting for a good window so we can get them out for some walks.  It is starting to feel like we like in the Pacific Northwest but without the perks of a cosmopolitan lifestyle.  I guess we should be thankful that this is not a winter storm or we would have several feet (and counting) of snow outside.  It was in the mid 30's this morning and it means we have some fresh snow up higher in the hills (snow, and it is almost July).  The snow line is right between 6,000 ft - 6,500 ft

Training has been difficult this week too - it has been minimized to indoor trainer time which is not all that interesting or fun.  The problem is that it does not look like it will be clearing any time soon.

So apparently there are grizzly bears in the area (or at least one).  Someone killed a griz last week because it was getting into the chicken coup.  It happened about 5 miles north of us in an area where we go riding...it might be time to invest in some bear spray to stash in the jersey or bike somewhere while out and about in the back-country.  Last year there were some kitty sightings too...guess it is probably a good idea to not ride solo too much out there.

The World Cup has been getting me up early as of late.  The first games are on at 5:30 a.m. local time which is earlier than usual wake up time but it has been well worth it.  The first round of games have lacked a little in scoring but teams are hesitant to lose a game and subsequently risk not making it out of the first round. 

The airstream continues to sit in the garage and it is an ideal time to get some work done on it before taking it up to Missoula at the end of the month for the fridge install, etc...now to find the motivation to get 'er done!

Schwag & Close Calls

The Boise KnobbyTire 9to5 handed out t-shirts and beer glasses as schwag for the race.  The beer glass idea is a pretty cool and unique give-away which was promptly put to good use last night.

I got out on the road bike to see how the legs felt after a long day in the saddle on Saturday.  In order to minimize road time (due to various close calls here in Butte), I took the paved bike path.  The bike path clearly has signs at every entry point stating 'No Motorized Vehicles Allowed'....and so you see where this is going...Sure enough I came up on a 4-wheeler who motioned for me to go by him.  I slowed down as I went by and indicated he was not supposed to be on there, no motorized vehicles allowed...after I got about 100 yards ahead of him, I heard the engine wind up and churn through the gears...at this point I knew he took objection to me saying something to him and was anticipating something.  He was probably going close to 50 when he buzzed at 6 inches from me.  Of course the tough guy was not man enough to want to stop and discuss...
The irony was that I was trying to avoid any conflict by being on the bike path.  I had a couple of incidents last year where things were thrown at me.  The first incident was a kid who thought it funny to throw a full beer can at us as we were riding out to Bozeman.  Fortunately it only hit my friend's frame (they were aiming for the rear wheel) and bounced off.  The second incident was even more alarming.  I was on a 2 lane back-country highway and someone was going the opposite direction at 60 miles an hr.  They intentionally swerved into my lane and threw a water bottle at me...I have no idea why people are so ignorant and malicious.

Back to yesterday's ride...After the 4 wheeler incident I had a little extra adrenaline which might explain why I seemed to feel great on the bike.  I felt so good that I extended my ride a little longer in order to take advantage of how the legs felt and more importantly of the weather that was forecasted to turn to the worse again on Tuesday.  On this add-on section I had incident #2.  I was on another backcountry 2 lane highway when I saw a car approaching in the other direction.  I usually ride right on the white line if there is no shoulder on the road (this way, I am out of the way as much as possible).  As this car was passing me in the opposite direction there was a big hillbilly truck who passed me going the same direction I was.  Instead of slowing down to wait for the approaching car to go by so that it would be safe, he decides to pass me as the other car is passing me in the other direction.  This guy was also going about 50 and also missed be by inches.  Of course I gave him the middle finger salute and he obliged with the same back at which point I motioned for him to pull over.  Mr tough guy slammed on the brakes and started to pull over.  As I got closer he took off - what a putz!  After the 4 wheeler incident I was going to start throwing punches and asking questions later (regardless if that meant getting my tail kicked).

I have been day-dreaming of how to mount a paint gun to the bike in order to feel safer - might also stop to pick up a can of mace (I actually know of riders who have been maced by drivers while riding..) or bear spray for potential altercations as this is just getting a little silly

and all things lead back to schwag....I was able to put the beer glass to good use after these adrenaline inducing episodes...

Velo-Drama, Tri's, 8 hour Enduro's and Basque Boise

Boise 70.3 (1.2 mile swim + 56 mile bike + 13.1 mile run) 1/2 Iron Man Triathlon: 
So we are back in Montana after a great weekend of races, and a lot of drive time.  Erin completed her 1/2 Iron Man in Boise in grand style.  She checked her bike in on Friday afternoon and then spent the next few hours agonizing about her nutrition plan.  The Boise 1/2 Iron transitions sound somewhat brutal...for starters, the swim-->bike transition is in a different place (miles away) from the bike-->run transition.  You have to pack up your transition stuff in a bag, drop the bags off prior to the race (which means you can't really pre-mix your nutrition, etc). 

To make matters even more challenging, Saturday was really windy in Boise which proved to be a real butt kicker on the bike.  While I was waiting for Erin in the bike to run transition I kept hearing all the people coming in off the bike saying they were battling headwinds all day...ouch!  We all know how headwinds can make a long day in the saddle a very very long day.  I was surprised by how good she looked going from her bike to her run.  She had a bounce to her step so figured her chances of finishing were really good.  As it turns out she surprised me by how fast she did her run.  She crushed the run after suffering those brutal headwinds on the bike.  She finished her first 1/2 Iron Man in sub 7 hrs...very impressive indeed!

Knobbytire 9to5 Race Report:
Earlier in the day, I started the Boise knobbytire 9to5 race.  It is an 8 hour race where you see how many laps you can do around a particular course in the span of 8 hours.  Each lap was about 9.25 miles long with about 1400 ft of elevation gain.  I decided it would be a great barometer for the Cascade Cream Puff in early July.  I decided to use the singlespeed (in hopes of laying to rest whether or not to singlespeed the Cream Puff).  I ran a gear ratio of 33 x 18 which ended up being a good choice as there were no climbs that were long and steep (definitely some that were short and steep, and others that were long and not so steep).  It was the perfect course for a singlespeed as you could carry some momentum (if you laid off the brakes) on the downhills into the ups. 

I managed 7 laps which was a good training day (ended up being close to about 10,000ft of climbing for me that day).  I felt decent throughout the day considering the heat wave of a day (relative to our colder weather I had been training in).  The legs felt OK and although it was a hard day, I did not really start to suffer until the last lap.  What is encouraging is that the legs seemed to recover well the day after too (a little stiff but no soreness).  I plan on getting out on the bike today and seeing what they feel like.  It should be a decent precursor to the Cream Puff.  The Puff will be a long day (hoping for only 13 hrs) but I will have a full taper and will probably also run a slightly easier ratio of 33 x 19 on the singlespeed for a little extra buffer when the body starts to ache and the legs start to rebel later in the race.  The Puff will certainly be a long day with an estimated 14-16K of climbing.

I might have been able to get an 8th lap in if not having been bottlenecked the first lap.  The race went into some tight singletrack early on and people who could not ride through technical areas were dismounting and not letting the rest of us go by.  It did open up a few miles later which was good.  It might have been just enough to prevent the 8th lap for me (if I would have come in about 5 mins earlier I would have probably tried to head out for lap 8.  It would have been close though as I would have had to dig deep to make it in time for the 5 p.m. cutoff. 

The course and event were awesome!  They did a great job of trail maintenance and the way the course was set up, you could swing by your car making self support ridiculously easy.  I had the tail-gate down and put my water and nutrition in the bed of the truck so that I was able to re-fill on each lap.  I did not even have to veer off the course to get access to my stuff - very very well laid out.

Boise:
Erin and I were both impressed by Boise.  There is a very active bike community with hundreds of miles of singletrack access out of your back door.  It is amazing how much trail access you have.  The old part of town has tons of character with lots of Victorian and Craftsman style homes.  The finish area of the triathlon was downtown and when I walked to the finish area, I stumbled upon a block that had Basque restaurants on both sides of the street!  As Erin was suffering during her run, I was quaffing a brew and eating a tortilla patata (almost got the croquetta)...mmmm mmmm good.   All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by the cultural options that Boise offered.

We also decided to take the scenic way on the way back to Montana.  We drove via the scenic 55 through Mcall to Missoula - what an amazing drive!  It turned a 7 hour drive (via highways) into a twisty 2 lane 10 hour drive but it was well worth the scenery.

stay tuned...name of the blog might changed to Velo-Drama...Erin thinks it would be a great name for a women's bike team!  The story behind that is that I was checking in for the Boise 9to5 on Friday evening.  The check in was at the future site of the Boise velodrome.  Erin mis-read the sign as velo-drama and that little catch phrase subsequently stuck for the rest of the weekend!

OLE OLE OLE OLE.......OLE.......OLE

The World Cup has kicked off!  The first game is in the books and the host country stepped up and managed a tie in the opening game.  Congratulations to South Africa for a nice performance in their first game on the big stage.  It seems like agggggeeeeessss ago since I lived there but there is definitely some pride in how they were able to hang with a more skilled opponent today.

On a different note, we are in Boise.  We pushed through the rain in Montana and then the skies opened in Idaho.  We ended up getting in at about 1 a.m. and promptly tried to get some zzzzzzzz's.  We woke up to a beautiful sunny blue sky in Boise.  Erin has already been out and done her final shortie run and bike before the big event tomorrow.  The swim-->bike transition sounds like it is in a different place than the bike--->run transition.  It seems like a weird set up (especially for trying to collect your transition belongings later), but I am sure Erin will figure it all out as she goes through check in today and unlocks all the details.

I will most likely go check in for my event later this evening too - also need to spend a little time doing some maintenance but fortunately, there is not much to do on a single-speed.  It is just a matter of making sure the chain is relatively tight & lubed.  The biggest part of prepping will be showing up tomorrow a.m. to lay out the cooler and sustenance/food for the day.  Then it is just a matter of showing up and riding.  The plan is to ride the race until it finishes at 5, then mosey on over to catch the finish of Erin's tri.  It sounds like a good plan...

Hitting the Road & The World Cup!!!.

Boise, here we come.  There are still a handful of things to do before packing up the car and heading south.  Somehow departure days always end up being busy.  We are hoping to hit the road after work, and at least make it half-way to Boise so we can have an easy day on Friday.  Erin needs to check in for her 1/2 Iron, and I also need to check in for the 9 to 5.  Worst case, I can check in on Saturday early in the a.m.

I will probably take it easy on the legs today (might just stay off the bike or at the most a quick spin to get some blood moving).

Countdown to the World Cup is 1 day!!! 

Morels, Beeftrail Intervals,& Lucky Ballers

It looks as though our window for good weather is going to be shut on us rather abruptly.  We had a mostly sunny day yesterday in Montana and everyone seemed to have Spring fever as I heard lots of lawn mowers singing their throttled odes to long blades everywhere.  Sure enough we are back to liquid sunshine today with more forecasted for the remainder of the week.

The upside to this rain is that not only do we have mushrooms growing throughout our lawn, but we have some delicacy mushrooms growing too!  I noticed a few morel mushrooms growing along the west side of our garage where we planted a raised flower bed last year.  There must have been some mushroom spores on the bark we laid down because we have several morel mushrooms growing there (and more popping up through the bark).  It is too bad that neither the wifer or I are morel fans...if anyone wants some homegrown shrooms, come on over and harvest...apparently they are good cut length wise and sauteed in butter (Thank Toad for the beta).

It was such a nice day yesterday that I decided to more or less make it miserable by getting on the road bike and doing repeats on Beeftrail Road (not to be confused with Beefcake).  This hill is about 2 miles long and gains about 550 ft over that distance.  So I rode our leisurely to the foot of the hill and then proceeded to try and convince myself this is good training as the legs started to push the gears...I quickly started to hit my lactate threshold and tried to hold there for the next 10 minutes until cresting the hill...point the bike downhill, let 'er rip (can hit around 40 mph without having to pedal much on the way down)...then turn bike around and go back up...So 5 repeats later, my legs were screaming for mercy and it was time to head home.  The best part of the ride was trying to see what max speed I could hit on the steepest part of the downhill on Beeftrail - yesterday the legs managed to get the skinny tires rolling at 46 mph.  I will probably take it somewhat easy the remainder of the week so the legs are not completely hammered for the http://www.knobbytireseries.com/925poster.pdf this weekend.  I am hoping to gauge just where the legs are during this 8 hr race on Saturday.  I am going to use this as a barometer for the Puff, but realistically it will just be a longgggg training ride - just hoping to be able to ride and get some mileage in on the fatty tire singlespeed.

Our outdoor volleyball league starts today - our team (Lucky Ballers) will play each Wed in a nice sandy pit.  It mostly means it is a good excuse to get out of the house in the middle of the week and swill a few bottled PBR's and maybe mix in some shots of Jaeger (our friends Abe & Amanda would be proud!)  This is about the only time PBR enters my lexicon of beer intake but it has now more or less turned into tradition (ok so it is more less just Brian and I having a few adult beverages but hey, traditions have to start somewhere).

Globetrotter Color Scheming

Bike speak: Yesterday was definitely a recovery day for the legs...did nada except for graze from the fridge to the cupboards all day. I had a ravenous appetite that would just not be appeased. The legs feel a little better today (just in time for some long intervals later today).

Airstream Speak: The color scheme for the GT is coming together. The inside has been painted in a combination of white and a light tan color. We wanted something to contrast against the white without being too loud. It seems to be a good neutral that hopefully works with every else we are picking (making the leap of faith until it all comes together). The white-washed looking walls will be covered (as well as the back splash area where the counter top will be - where the plumbing is currently sticking out) with an aluminum sheet to try and update the look too. One coat of oil based Kilz primer and 2 coats of oil based paint later, it is starting to come together. Let's just hope the paint stays on there and does not start to peel. I have heard some interesting stories about painting vinyl and I hope to not be one of the contributors on 'how not to do it'. We tried mitigating that by lurking on the Airstream blogs and learning from other people's mistakes - then again I have never been very good at that and have had to hit the noggin' against the wall at my own speed and frequency in order for the marbles to align themselves adequately enough for me to learn.

We chose a funky curtain pattern that should fit with the color schemes we are trying to go with. It is a combo funky, retro, modern but not too loud. The wifer's momma has been gracious enough to offer her sewing skills to the project so this is turning into a real family effort!

We picked out a light bamboo vinyl planking product for the floor. It is the lightest material out there and they say you can cut it with a utility knife. The only concern is that it will be a floating floor so it will expand/contract somewhat with temperature changes.

The wifer is in charge of selecting the upholstery color for the couches (will probably be a solid of some sort).

We hope to hear from the Airstream renovators in Missoula within a week or two so they can order and install a new fridge. It is probably a good idea to have someone who knows what they are doing install the fridge considering it needs to be hooked up to the propane and vented adequately. In the interim, the Airstream is in parts...there are two piles of Globetrotter carnage in the super-size garage.

The next big decision is whether to build our own cabinets or just have the restoration/renovation guys do it (will largely depend on their price)

Dogs Toys That Go Ouch In The Night

I woke up this a.m. at about 3:00 with the urge to empty the bladder. En route I stepped on a plastic dog chew toy that has seen better days. It is chewed to the point where it now has sharp edges. It was enough of a startle that it made me go from 1/2 groggy to fully awake in a split second. Unfortunately it woke me up enough so that I could not get back to sleep. The irony is that I should have known better as that seems to be Otis' favorite place to deposit his nylon bone - right smack dab in the middle of the hall.

The wifer woke up early to get a quick spin in before her work day started. The coinkey-dink of coinkey-dinks was that I heard her yelp as she stepped on the very same bone that I did a couple of hours earlier...DOH.

Her 1/2 Iron Man is this upcoming weekend and she is tapering this week in prep for her suffer-fest.

As I lay awake at 4:00 trying to get back to sleep I sat there agonizing over the issue of under training vs over-training...The problem with signing up for these long endurance events is that you convince yourself you are never prepared well enough. The problem with that is that is pushes you into the fear of failure and in my case has motivated me to over-train in the past. This was evidently clear during 2008 when the fear of Leadville motivated me over the fine line (of course hindsight is 20/20). With the Cream Puff a month away, I can't help but feel under-trained...then again back to the above pontification of never being prepared enough...guess I should just leave well enough alone and be prepared for a 13-15 hr day in the saddle for the Puff....and I paid money to do this??

Manhattan (not the island)

The weather forecast for today was 60% of rain...to be closer to the 60% in the p.m. Being that the weather was going to be temperamental in the afternoon, it was in our best interest to get an early start to the day. I woke up still feeling the effects of the prior day's ride (and most likely the accumulation of saddle time this week which hit 18 hrs).

I rallied though and was out the door by 7:30 a.m. The truth is that this is probably the best time of day (if not earlier) to get out for a road ride. The drunks are not on the road yet and the bible thumpers are still busy putting on their Sunday finest. This was sure to be a banner day with the hope of limiting the 1 finger salute as much as possible (peeps don't take kindly to funny lookin' fellas in tights around here)

The plan was to go for a long'ish' ride. Erin was heading over to Bozeman in the afternoon so it made some sense to try and rendezvous somewhere close to Bozeman.
As it turns out, I was definitely feeling the effects of a long ride and light dinner from yesterday. I stopped 60 miles into the ride and inhaled a Red Bull and a fine pre-maid Tuna sammy....mmmmm..mmmm....good. At about mile 80 I decided to stop and see whereabout Erin was en route to Bozeman. It turns out she was only 5 minutes away so I figured it would be a good time to call it a day. It ended up being a 80 mile ride & 4 1/2 hrs of saddle time.

The scenery was amazing - I took Highway 2 over Pipestone Pass over to Whitehall where I had amazing views of the Highlands and the Tobacco Root Ranges. Once I pushed through Three Forks, the Bridgiers were in grand view and it felt like they were helping me ride by pulling me in (or so I tried to tell myself in order to minimize the dull aches everywhere - ohhh the games we play to keep forward motion going).

It turns out it was a good thing that I stopped at mile 80 because about 30 minutes later the hypoglycemia and dehydration spanked me and made me want to howl like a scalded monkey! Fortunately the wifer was there to nurse me back to my usual ornery self and prevented a potentially awkward social faux pas with me toppling over like a good midday drunk.

Speaking of the wifer, she is now a Butte Weekly contributor (no link available)! Her first article came out and she will be sending in articles once every couple of weeks. Now if only all the mcfatties would heed her article and get out there and exercise a little. OK OK, so I am taking some liberties in translation but so be it.
just for giggles (and because people might be more inclined to read if they see a pic), I am attaching a pic from last week's mountain bike excursion when we were reconning for what kind of shape the CD trail was in from Highlands to Basin Creek - looks like it's a GO!

SingleSpeed mileage and training

Data points for the ride:
Bike - Single speed
Distance 33.56 miles
Ride Time 4:40 hrs
Elevation Gain: 6,700ft

It was a beautimous day in Butte today! It is the first day we have had in the past several weeks where the sky is mostly blue and there is no rain forecasted. We quickly rallied to get out and play - the fat tire was calling my name and I needed to get out and put in a longer effort in prep for the Cream Puff. We got out at around 11:00 and managed to leave the house around 11:00. We took a different way to access the CDT trails via Thompson Park and an old railroad. We went through a couple of tunnels (first one was ankle deep mud and the second was iced over). After going through the second tunnel we came upon a plastic squirrel perched atop a rock in the middle of the railroad bed. Once we made it past plastic squirrel (I offered him some Hammer Gel but apparently he was not hungry), we rode across a railroad tressel that was pretty high up and about ten feet wide - it made a lot of sense to try and stay focused on riding down the middle so as not to go over the edge and freefall about 200 ft!



We hooked into the Continental Divide Trail and started our first grunter climb of the day up Toll Canyon. As we approached the top of the climb, Sean told us to hold up...we pulled a quickie U-Turn to see what was up. It turns out Sean's egg-beater pedal came loose. We tried tightening the spindle on the pedal but did not have the small socket wrench required for this particular trailside maintenance. Sean pointed his bike downhill and we made plans to keep riding while he coasted back to the house and got fixed. Hamilton and I ended up riding and reconning the Fish Creek Loop but turned around fairly quickly as snow prevented us from making further progress. The idea was we wanted to ride as much of the Butte 100 course as possible. We doubled back and headed out the infamous 8 miles of hell....aptly named due to the rather rocky and unenjoyable singletrack...after about a 1/2 mile we were again forced to retreat due to snow (elevation was around 8,000 ft).

We started to head back and ended up meeting Sean (after his fix of the pedal on Toll Canyon). We quickly pointed our bikes downhill and dropped about 1000 ft in 3 miles. At that bottom we decided we should ride back up (that is the way the Butte 100 course will be flowing) in order to get a feel for the climb. We again grunted up the climb...Hamilton crushed the climb, I lumbered in after him and then we waited for a while....and saw Sean walking his bike up the trailhead.... UH OH....he had his broken chain in hand. We went about trying to remove the broken link but because we were riding single speeds, removing 1 link was enough to shorten the chain to the point where it would no longer fit on the bike...so Sean once again had to point his bike downhill and head home...The plan was for Hamilton and I to keep riding and we would link up with Sean on the other side of the Continental Divide Trail on the Homestake side. Poor Sean went back home, swapped out bikes and un-retired his old retired Independent bike (a geared bike no less!). Hamilton and I both gave Sean some grief about how his chain looked very clean and he should think about lubing it!! The irony is that the chain was lubed and was relatively new with about 150 miles on it. Apparently it was just his turn in the barrel today.

On the way downhill we ran into the wifer who was walking the dogs - the dogs seemed not to notice me at first (weird critter with a funny looking head shaped liked a helmet going on a weird 2 wheeled contraption - that would probably scare me too)

Sean headed back home and we headed up the next grunter climb over the Continental Divide to Homestake Pass. We found our happy spot and zoned out enough to get up the hill. On the way down, Sean called us and mentioned he was heading up our way in the opposite direction. Soon enough we crossed paths we Sean and we all pointed our bikes downhill again. We rolled downhill to the trail-head and then lost our way for a few minutes trying to find Blacktail Road that would get us back to town. While descending the doubletrack I quickly remembered why this was my least favorite section of the Butte 50 the year prior. It is steap and loose which makes for a lot of hike a bike if you are going up t. Fortunately for us, we were going downhill. We quickly traversed a couple of streets and made it back to Sean's house.

Now it is time for some dinner and some live bluegrass (not a big fan but it is always good to get out)...time to recover and prep for a ride tomorrow (weather permitting).

In over our heads and super-sizing

Last year we were able to put a tic next to one of our goals of buying a real piece of Americana!!! We found a 1971 Airstream Globetrotter that was in good structural shape, but was/is in dire need of some serious updating.

The GT (Globetrotter) sat in our garage over the winter (yes, in true Montana style, our garage might just be bigger than our house). I have teased our friend Nate for being 'Super-Size' on anything from trucks, tents, dogs, clip sticks, etc...Having moved to Montana (where Nate is from), I have come to appreciate and actively participate in this super-sizing ethos...but alas, I digress back to the tin can. With all this liquid sunshine, I got antsy....I went into the super size garage and walked into the GT and started to hear little voices telling me 'Gut Gut Gut'.

I figured I would just remove some of the cabinets with the intention of replacing the floor and doing some re-painting & re-upholstering (and no that is not velvet on that gaucho/sofa) in order to bring the decor into this century....as I started to pull the cabinets apart I decided why go 1/2 arse when you can go full monty - although airstreamers will be quick to point out that I am by no means doing the full monty on our little lady (full monty is known as gutting everything and removing the shell off the frame and essentially starting at ground zero).


Notice the really swanky carpet...not so sure that was even in style back when shag carpet was rocking floors everywhere!

All good things must come to an end, and in this case poor tasted things should have an even shorter shelf life....

The gutting began and continued for a few days (trying to be careful not to pull the vinyl walls off so we could salvage the bones of our beloved tin can.

Once everything was pulled apart, the cleaning, priming, painting began...or the clarification should be that was when the analysis paralysis began...ohh what should the color choice be? Can vinyl be painted, should it be painted, etc etc....

I slaved away and inhaled the pungent odors of oil based paints while losing a few brain cells in the process (to the point where I kept forgetting where we made plans to eat later in the day), the dogs were checking their eyelids for leaks and making sure that the couch did not get up and run away!

I fear we are still in the initial stages of all this, but we have painted the inside now (more pics to come) and Erin's mom has been nice enough to offer to help sewing the new curtains...

The GT should pretty much be ready to go just in time for the winter where it will once again be relegated to our super-size garage! At this rate we might be able to use it next summer!

Initial Blog Entry

So I decided to join the Blog world in order to try and keep ourselves organized. Without getting too philosophical, life seems to be in warp speed mode and this might be the vehicle to at least keep track of all things zooming by us.

Our summer is quickly approaching (despite all the liquid sunshine we have received and continue to get). I mowed our lawn the other day for the first time this year and noticed we had mushrooms growing! I am not sure that is commonplace for Montana...but it might explain why the dogs were acting funny the other day.

Erin and I both signed up for long epic suffer-fest events this year. Erin is signed up to do the 1/2 Iron Man in Boise on June 12th (http://www.ironmanboise.com/ )and has been diligently training in preparation. This is no small feat considering the temperate spring we have had. While Erin is doing her 1/2 Iron Man, I signed up for the http://www.knobbytireseries.com/925poster.pdf

It will be a good training day for the upcoming: http://www.cascadecreampuff.com/

The Cream Puff is going to be a long day in the saddle. The 100 miles with a TON of elevation gain (have heard it is around 19,000 ft) is enough to scare me into taking some diapers with me so I have some fresh linens to switch out of during the grinder climbs. The open question / challenge (aside from the obvious of trying to finish) will be whether to attempt this on a single speed bike, or on the geared bike. The smart move would be to go out and ride it on the geared bike this year and do some recon for single-speeding it next year - then again, no one ever accused me of being smart...which brings me to the next blog entry...