I decided to knock off work a tad early yesterday and was able to get rolling on the bike by 5 p.m. The gameplan was to go up to Burton Park, catch the CDT and do some scouting for bouldering along the way. I took a small day pack this time and packed my climbing shoes, chalk, and a toothbrush for some heavy duty boulder cleaning (ha!).
The ride itself was very enjoyable...The ride ended up being around 24 miles with around 3,000 ft of climbing - ride profile below:
I put up a few quick lines and ended up finding plenty of loose rock to explode off. The most notable toss was when I was working the line on the right and my right hand suddenly broke off a part of the mini jug I was on and subsequently sent my body flying backwards landing flat on my back...spotter would have been good! After that I was a little more cautious to make sure to clean any loose rock as best as possible...although that right hand felt solid...
After climbing our that rock, I moved along and stopped by the boulder I had originally had on the radar. Unfortunately the rock was a little more rotten than what it looked like and although it had some good friction it was crumbly...with the recent back flip of the prior rock I decided it was a good idea to not tempt fate too much so I opted to just walk around a little and do more scouting....
All in all it ended up being a good day. I got in a 3 hour ride which followed the 4 hour Curly Lake ride on Sunday. The legs are a little heavy today but not too bad considering. It has been a little weird to be riding the full squish as of late but it has been fun. Unfortunately my singlespeed bike is riding the pine until I can get a new valve stem for my tubeless setup. The valve stem on my rear wheel is leaking beyond repair so I am waiting for parts to come in to get it all Humpy Dumpty'ed back together again. In the interim I will keep finding all the squeaky pivots on the full squish.
The ride itself was very enjoyable...The ride ended up being around 24 miles with around 3,000 ft of climbing - ride profile below:
It was a mellow climb up to Burton Park where I hooked into the CDT. As usual it is a good idea to stop or slow down to take in the views. Once you crested the hill and gained access to the CDT proper there was a great view of the Pintlers in the distance. As I got closer to the trail-head I could see sunlight poking through lots of little holes on the sign. The sign indicated no motorized vehicles and apparently some local must have taken exception to the sign and used it as target practice. The absurdity of it all is that the moto's have thousands (not exaggerating) of miles of trails available to them locally but that does not prevent them from poaching nice pristine CDT singletrack...ahh yes, the forbidden fruit
The viewpoint from the trailhead is pretty cool because you can look west towards the Pintlers, or if you look East, you have a great view of the Highlands and have a somewhat close look at the lookout up on the Highlands. It is always a little crazy to think that these are only about 15 miles due south of Butte...clear as day from Butte and always a treat to get into the playground.
I usually tend to err on the side of caution when going out riding (especially in the backcountry), and this time I was tempting fate all too much...I broke some of my own rules along the way...
Rule #1: Always carry tools in case you need to do some trailside maint.....I had no device to pump up a tire in event of flat...I realized that my saddlebag opened up yet again on the Curly Lake ride and subsequently my multi-tool and my CO2 cartridge adaptor to inflate my tires also fell out...I realized this once I started to ride so did not have time to pack a hand pump either...
Rule #2: Always take a cell-phone with you...I had the cellie but the batteries were on the low side...had to turn the phone off in case I would need it later
Rule #3: Never boulder without a spotter or at min a crash pad....I had my shoes and chalk...no pad no spotter
In order to break all of my cardinal rules above, I needed to find some rock...The first boulder that caught my eye was right off the trail and was begging to be climbed.
After climbing our that rock, I moved along and stopped by the boulder I had originally had on the radar. Unfortunately the rock was a little more rotten than what it looked like and although it had some good friction it was crumbly...with the recent back flip of the prior rock I decided it was a good idea to not tempt fate too much so I opted to just walk around a little and do more scouting....
All in all it ended up being a good day. I got in a 3 hour ride which followed the 4 hour Curly Lake ride on Sunday. The legs are a little heavy today but not too bad considering. It has been a little weird to be riding the full squish as of late but it has been fun. Unfortunately my singlespeed bike is riding the pine until I can get a new valve stem for my tubeless setup. The valve stem on my rear wheel is leaking beyond repair so I am waiting for parts to come in to get it all Humpy Dumpty'ed back together again. In the interim I will keep finding all the squeaky pivots on the full squish.
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