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).