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
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!
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