MTB: Riding in the 5th Dimension

Friday late afternoon was another splendid day to be out on a bike.  Once again the temps were just about perfect and yet again I had the trails all to myself.  I did not once run into another biker and am starting to think maybe I am riding in a parallel universe where people are tearing up the same trail but in a different dimension....enough of the Star Trekkie geeking out...

I decided to head up to Thompson Park where I did the lower loop, upper loop, then road the RR bed up to Pipestone Pass and caught the CDT over to Beaver Ponds and followed the trail until the connector over to Blacktail and caught the spur down through the Archery Range and back over to Thompson Park.  It was my third day on (relatively hard efforts) so the legs were not super snappy but they did respond when they were asked to crank up the wattage.

The Garmin somehow picked up some weird signals and apparently either it got a little confused and got lost, or I really did go off into the 4th dimension and set some serious world speed records.  I am going with the confused Garmin or else the 77 mph average and my little jaunt down to Utah during my ride were so flash fast that I don't remember it.  All the other data points seem to be OK with the exception of the distance.

I once again captured some Panoramic shots - apparently I currently only have eyes for Pano shots.
Heading along the RR bed to Pipestone Pass - crossing over the trussel with Roosevelt below:

The Beaver Ponds are looking green for August:

MTB: Homestake Pipestone TT

What an awesome time to be out riding a bike yesterday afternoon.  I headed up to Homestake Pass and caught the CDT up and over to Pipestone Pass.  More than anything, I wanted to find out where the legs were and gauge the level of fitness.  The temps were perfect, the riding conditions were nice and tacky and it was just a good day to be out riding on trails.

The theme of the day was panoramic photos...just like a new kid with a new toy...I was watching someone create panoramic shots on their phone camera and then wondered whether the point and shoot that I use had that function...shua' enough, it did so I have been playing around with that feature the past couple of rides and just can't get enough....so here are some of the results from the rider yesterday - you can click on the pictures to enlarge and get the full effect:

Bo-Zone Overflow

Saturday treated us to yet another surprisingly warm day in southwest Montana.  The mercury climbed to around the mid 60's and we took full advantage by taking the dogs for a long walk up around Blacktail trails and then hitting the CDT trail for a couple hrs of singletrack riding.

We went up to Homestake Pass and got on the CDT and rode over to the next pass over (Pipestone Pass) and back.  It is about a 17 mile loop with ridiculously good riding.  We pulled into the parking lot and we wifer and I both commented about the number of cars in the parking area.  There were probably around 15 cars parked there and the vast majority of them were from Bozeman.  I have never seen that many cars or bikes on that trail. It was great to see people riding (it is usually an anomaly to run into people, let alone multiple groups), but it also made me a little protective of the trails hoping they don't get 'too discovered'.  In some ways, it felt like spring fever in reverse where everyone was trying to get in a ride before the weather turns (which it is supposed to do on Monday).

The recent snow and rains had packed the trails down really well and all the areas that were loose a month ago, were packed down again.  Most of the trails here are decomposed granite so they have a tendency to get a little sandy as the season progresses and they see more traffic.  Fortunately, mother nature gets back to work in the winter and packs everything back down again for spring/summer riding.

There is about 2,600 ft of elevation gain over the 17 miles of out and back trail.  Here be the profile:

It was a big bonus to get a great ride in on one of my favorite local trails this late in the season.  Big thumbs up and smiley face!

Thompson Park - New Goods

Friday turned out to be a mellow day work wise and I was able to get out by 3 and enjoy an abby-normal (Young Frankenstein reference for you Mel Brooks fans) warm day for this time of year.  We pedaled up to Thompson Park and decided to check if they had completed the new trail building up there.

It was great to do a little exploring and figure out where these new trails linked up.  It was the missing link for the area that now links up to the 9 mile junction.  What is nice about this new link up is that it gives you access to new trail without having to ride on Hwy 2 at all.  You can pretty much avoid the road and the grade going up hill is very reasonable.  It was a quick ride but a really good ride to piece together.  There are multiple loops up there and you could easily put in a couple hour ride without doubling back on trails.  This will be a great place for taking the dogs in the summer too.  It is nice and shaded and has some great little aspen groves (also have been some bear sightings in that area).  The ride profile looked like:

There was about 1600 ft of climbing and it was almost an 11 mile ride.  It was nice to be able to get out and finish the week off on the dirt...There is something very therapeutic about it.
During our ride, Sean's chain-ring snapped like a frosted flake under a car tire.  It broke in two different places.  He has been having drive train issues all year on his singlespeed and this was just the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back to get a new bike...It was good to get out on the singlespeed again and the knee seems to be holding up so all in all thumbs up, unless of course you were Sean and had to coast back home.  There were a few times when the trail leveled off and I grabbed a branch and pulled him along.  It all felt a little awkward - almost as if we were holding hands while riding.  We just kept hoping no one would see these two lycra clad fellers holding a branch as we rode.  The big picture was that it could have been worse...this could have all happened last week on our Halloween night ride when we were all costumed up and I was wearing a tutu and Sean was wearing his mullet - imagine what people might have thought if they had seen us in that situation then!

and for you Mel Brooks fans...here you be:

Zelda's Night Ride

We were fortunate enough to be able to get on our bikes again last evening and get a good ride in.  I dusted off the singlespeed and was anxious to see how it would feel to get back on SS.  It really reminded me how much I enjoy the singlespeed experience!  There is something so simple, so beautiful...and of course painful.

We went up along Hwy 2....our band of bouncing lights heading down the 2 lane Hwy until we hit the second Thompson Park entrance where we took the trail up to the railroad bed.  I figured this would be the test of how strong the legs felt because that first push up Thompson has some steep punchy sections where I was out of the saddle and doing the singlespeed side to side dance.  I cleared all the switchties with the exception of the last one which was just too steep and too sharp to clean.

Once we got to the railroad bed, we headed through the tunnel, over the truss and up to Pipestone Pass where we connected onto the CDT and took the CDT over to Beaver Ponds.  Once we got to the Beaver Ponds, we took Zelda's trail back down to our starting point.  It was a good ride....around 14 miles and 1,800 ft of vertical gain:

The light system held up well and I continue to be impressed with their overall performance and quality.  They are made in China so it is all good as long as I don't lick or try to eat the lights (made a point of making a mental note after seeing all the issues with the 'made in China' drywall, toys, and just about everything else).  I suspect you are going to say something like 'well, why in the world would you lick your lights?'....good question and I don't have an answer - then again, who was the first person to think it was a good idea to pull a carrot out of the ground and eat it?  I will however leave the lamp licking to someone else...

Night Ride Video

The weekend is here!  Hot Dogggieee!  We finished up the week in fine form last night by hitting the Quarry Brewery and then heading up to The Hummingbird where there was a band and a variety of desserts spread out to gorge on.  We ran into lots of familiar faces and saw some very interesting costumes throughout the night.

The highlight might well have been listening to Keith weave a story about his recent haircut which included an ear wax and nose wax...OUCH!  I have not laughed that hard in a long time - classic!

During out recent evening ride, I took some footage and tried to put a quickie vid together:



It is hard to capture all the action at night given the light limitations but hopefully it catches the mood of our Thurs evening rides - although they usually don't involve costumes.

Tutu Night Riding

Night Riding Halloween style - woohoooo!

We took to the dirt trails last night in full Halloween regalia.  Some twisted soul (won't name any names but their initials are T.R.) suggested we ride in costumes to celebrate Halloween..the mention of Halloween always takes me back to Ashland, Oregon and having grown up in a town that fully embraced the day/evening and all the peripheral buffoonery (of which I was a part of) that usually ensued.  It has since become much calmer, but they used to close down Main street and just about all of the Rogue Valley would make their way to Ashland to show off their costumer, party, fight, etc.

All in all a good time for the po po to have to try to manage (which might just explain why it is a lot more subdued these days).  My favorite costume that I saw during that era was this dude who wore a trench coat and he would go around flashing people and saying 'Happy Halloweenie'.  When he flashed you, he had a fake donger about 2 ft long and he would proceed to stroke it and squeeze it, and whatever he filled his fake dong with would squirt on those unfortunate enough to be in the squirt zone....so to all, Happy Halloweenie

The sordid crew included the usual suspects for last night's ride and it started a little something like:

I must admit I was feeling especially sassy with my pink tutu, leg warmers, pink tank and long black hair...what the picture does not show is the cute panties underneath the tutu...Warren remembered to put the fig leaf in front but conveniently forgot about the fig leaf in the back while Sean rocked the Mormon Mullet, or Momo Mullet, or better yet the Mollet and Mike sported a killer fro'.  Bob and Gary were smart and did not partake in costumes or pictures that could  be used for blackmail at some point in the future.

The funny thing is that everyone thought I was wearing a costume....little do they know that working from home enables you to wear whatever the hell you want! 

We rode up Thompson Park, over to Drunken Indian trail and then back up to the Archery Range and down Black Tail...both climbs were short and punchy...or maybe it is the return of the winter legs....

I was on the wifer's bike since my bike is still out of action for the time being...I supposed it just all made sense, wearing the tutu and all...speaking of, where did I place that tutu.....

Halloween Night Ride & Country Hip Hop

We have a scheduled night ride this evening and each week we ride at night makes me wonder if this will be our last ride of the season on these trails before old man winter shuts us down....now to find an appropriate (or inappropriate) costume for the evening....We got some snow earlier this week and it feels like we are in extra time with being able to get out on these trails.

Another upside of this nocturnal riding action is the continued testing of the Magicshine light series.  The little brother of the Magicshine 1400 came in and the Magicshine 900 will be the perfect compliment mounted on the helmet and for a backup.  The last thing you want when riding at night is for your light system to go belly up and be stuck out in the dark.  While doing the 24 hours of Steamboat 3 yrs ago, this happened to me and it was a very very rough descent back down.  By the time I got back to the start/finish area, I was so motion sick that my day was o-v-e-r...It is a weird sensation to have your body moving one way while your mind sees something completely different.

speaking of weird sensations...this is just PRICELESS - wonder why it never caught on?

Thurs Night Ride & Busted Link Assembly

Friday is here and the week is wrapping up into a nice and tight little burrito!  We went up to Pipestone Pass last night and got our ride on in the full moon........hoooooowwwwwwwllllllllllllllllll.....or to quote Ozzie, Bark at the Moon....
Ride profile looked a little something like:

Around 10 miles, 2400 of climbing and lots of shots of the full moon.  There were no werewolf sightings but there was a little howling at the moon...

Early in the ride, something did not feel right on my bike.  My pedal motion felt squishy and uneven...my first thought was that my bottom bracket conked out...on closer inspection we noticed the link assembly on my bike completely broke (excuse the poor quality photo -little blurry - no pun intended considering the bike is called 'Blur')

This must have happened on Tuesday night's ride but I don't remember hitting anything that hard or catching big air, or ride through anything, or feeling anything strange happen....so the mystery remains and now the dilemma will be whether to replace the link assembly, or to look at a new frame.  The frame is close to 10 yrs old at this point so maybe it makes sense to replace the frame....will have to call to see how much it will be to replace the link assembly, see how common a problem it is, etc.  I spent the rest of the ride thinking of how many cool places this little contraption took me...
It was probably not a smart thing to do, but I decided to just finish the ride with the completely broken link assembly.  The uphills were strange...could not hammer on the pedals as my chain would start to skip or the frame would start to creak a little too much from the flex...the downhills were a little hairy at first but I just decided to go ahead and not think about it too much.  I did not ride with the usual reckless abandon but tried to still enjoy the fun.  The bike definitely felt different and in hindsight it was probably not the best idea to have hit some sections at speed.

Given the sequence of events from last night's ride, the magicshine review will have to wait for now...but I leave you with some Ozzie

CDT Night Ride & Baby's Got Sauce

After a long day of juggling multiple balls in the air (something about being as busy as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest...), it was great to get out on the bike and get the wheeled therapy in.  I met Sean O up at the Homestake CDT trailhead and we promptly hit the trails and rode.  It was my first ride with the Magicshine 1400 light setup and I was impressed...a fuller review will be forthcoming on Friday after I get the chance to ride on Thurs evening with the setup again.

It was a quick out and back ride from the trailhead up to the second lookout and back.  It was a 10 miler with a very enjoyable climb and descent of about 1700 ft...profile looked a little something like:

It was good to get out on the bike again.  It had been almost a week since spinning the legs and not only did the body need the excursion, but so did the mind.  All in all it was a fruitful quickie ride that made it all smiles at the end.  I got home with cold fingers and an ice-cream headache around the fore-head area from the chilliness of the temps while descending...not noticeable until after the fun was 'in the bag'.

and on being Saucey.....
Our quest for Tahini sauce in Butte has finally come to a close.  The wifer found the elusive Tahini at the only store that had it stocked (but was out of stock the past few weeks).  For some reason we seem to load up on sauces like one of those hoarder peeps...We recently loaded up on a great sauce from a restaurant we hit when we were out of town and are very anxious to put it to good use.  One of our shelves in our kitchen cabinets seems to be almost fully dedicated to sauces...it is probably a good idea for us to do a quickie date check to make sure the sauces are not way beyond their expiration dates and subsequently are extra Saucey!

and because we are on the subject of Sauces, I would be remiss if I did not mention G. Love & Special Sauce....

East Ridge Night Ride & Airstream updates

Friday has rolled around and my to-do list is the only thing that seems to be getting my mind's focus this morning...first is the work to do list, then the home to-do list which might just well take up a big chunk of the weekend.

We went out for a night ride last night to the East Ridge CDT.  Night riding is always fun and always a different set of variables.  My legs and body did not feel good on the ride at all.  It was the first time in a long time that I felt so bad on a ride...the lungs were tight, the legs had no snap...although it might have also had to do with the blistering pace the boys were setting ahead of me.  I finally just opted to be dropped and go at my own pace.  It was a quickie ride but much needed considering I had not been out since Sunday's ride.  Last night's profile looked like:

I sure hope that was just an aberration last night in terms of how the body felt...It is always good to be able to get out and ride (especially this time of year, so thumbs up).

Of things Airstream....
I picked up the tin can from Mintage last week and one of the more pressing to-do's is to winterize it...I need to drain all the tanks, including the hot water heater and then move it into the garage where it will sit for the winter while we get things completed on it.

The boys up at Mintage did a nice job.  Here are some pics of the work they did:
front cabinets re-done, need stain though... installation of new lights - more contemporary and low profile but still staying true to the retro'ish feel......

Installation of  stove burners, countertop, sink & fixtures:

New cabinets and fridge.  I asked them to install a sheet of aluminum on the front walls to give it a more updated look and also lighten up the inside:

Those were the major cosmetic changes on the inside.  They also put in a new water heater, and put a stainless sheet on the bathroom sink and potty (and a new potty)...all in all we are really happy with how it turned out so far.  It was a bit of a leap of faith on how we picked the options and what we wanted them to  do.  They had never put in aluminum sheets on the walls, etc...were a little skeptical but then became believers once they saw it!  All the cabinets need staining and once the staining/painting finishes are done, it will be time to install the floor and then put in the remaining furniture.  I guess that list of to-do's just keeps growing and growing the more I think about it...and it is not getting done on its own so off to work to get the work day in motion...

East Ridge Night Ride

ahhhhh Friday....just writing that eases the anxiety...Admittedly, this week went by pretty fast and here we are on Friday with the weekend looming and mother nature offering up yet another bounty of great weather! It is a stark difference to this time last year when we were already in sub-zero temps and the foliage was abruptly interrupted by some really cold weather that killed off the leaves changing color - all the leaves pretty much stopped changing and froze. It certainly did not play out that way this year...and it is a good thing too!

Wednesday was relatively calm and I ended up on the trainer spinning lightly for about 45 minutes. Thursday evening's ride was to start off in the daylight and the last 1 1/2 hours was a great night ride. We ended up on the East Ridge CDT and rode from the Homestake Pass up to the peak where you can see the lights of Whitehall and also Butte - within a hundred yards you could also get view of Our Lady.
The ride profile looked a little something like:

It was a 15 mile ride with around 2,600 ft of elevation gain and as you can probably make out from the ride profile, it was an out and back.  Night riding always adds a little extra spice into a ride.  I mounted my light on my bars so I ended up having a little bit of a restricted view (there was only light where the bike was pointed which is great but sometimes you want to be able to look beyond a curve, switchback, etc). 
On the descent, a rabbit appeared out of no where, hopped alongside me for a few feet and then darted across the trail scaring the beeejeeezus outta' me.  About another mile or so further down the trail I heard this big animal ripping through the vegetation.  I stopped immediately and shone the light in the area to see if I could make out what it was...no joy...whatever made that big noise was nowhere to be seen.  We made it back to the car without further excitement or additional heebiejeebies which brings me to Friday morning and plotting the weekend.

Another banner weather weekend is forecasted and what ohhhh what to do....

East Pioneers Trail 2758

The weather was so stellar all weekend that I got motivated to head back down to the Pioneers to explore trails on the mountain bike.  I called the Forest Service and figured out exactly where bikes were allowed, and what had recently been closed to us.  Armed with this knowledge and some good beta from Mike B I headed down into the Pioneers towards the O'Dell trailhead.

There was no one else in the parking lot when I drove to the trailhead so it was going to be a nice peaceful ride with perfect temps to boot.  Mike warned me that it was going to be a bit of a rough ride and suggested going with the full squish and gears...I have not been on the single speed since my knee episode (not quite 100% and there is no need to tempt fate with regressing).  It ended up being about a 14 mile ride with roughly 3,000 ft of elevation gain.

At times, the trail reminded me of some East Coast stylin' ridin' with lots of rocks and roots - get that tech game on and pick a good line while pedaling.  The gameplan was to do an out and back or perhaps even a loop if time allowed or a spur looked interesting enough.

The trail takes you by three lakes.  The first lake you come to is O'Dell Lake which would be the largest lake I would pass that day.  Most of the riding to the lake was uphill but fairly mellow on rideable trail with some sections that you had to get out of the saddle to navigate through.

The trail then got steeper, rockier, and more technical and you had a short section of hike a bike until it leveled back out and took you by Lake of the Woods:

After Lake of the Woods, the trail went downhill, got pretty steep and more technical.  Riding downhill was not much of a problem but I remember thinking there was going to be some hike a bike on the way back.  About a mile later the trail opened up to yet another lake...this time it was Schwinger (no Austin Powers reference intended....)

I decided to venture onwards and see if I could find the next lake.  As I got a couple of miles beyond the lake, the terrain turned ROUGH!  The trail got very steep and it consisted of nothing but soccer size and bigger boulders that made it tough going.  At that point the skies started to get a little dark and I figured it would be a good idea to head back.  Looking at the map indicated I was close to the next lake but it will just have to wait until the next time out...

The ride back was straight forward and once I got back to O'Dell Lake the view opened up big time:

All in all it was a great ride with beautimous weather and a sneaking suspicion that our window of opportunity to ride in these conditions might be closing.

A couple of random encounters along the adventure included an old abandoned rig:

A grouse in full plumage getting is mojo going with the 2 females in the same tree (maybe he is a mormon grouse?):

passing through a cool funky gate:

with an even niftier gate latch:

All in all it was a great weekend filled with enough random things that made me appreciate the quirkiness of the spirit of adventure and how it fills the soul...

Sat Road Ride-Pioneer Scenic Byway

What an incredible weekend!  We had amazing weather and were completely spoiled by summer-like temps.  It definitely feels like Fall is in the air with the nice crisp mornings but the days have been warming up and it reached into the low 80's on Saturday.

I ran some errands on Saturday morning and wanted to get those out of the way so I could get out and play.  I took a load of stuff that had been sitting on the trailer out to the dump - for some strange reason it is always a good feeling to get rid of stuff.

With the errands completed it was time to map out the day.  The best course of action in my mind was to load up the car with the road bike and try to do something different.  I have gotten tired of doing the same rides as of late and remembered as I was driving the Pioneer Scenic Byway last weekend that it would be a great road ride.  I drove down to Wise and the plan was to pull into either a trailhead parking area or a campground and then start the ride from there, ride up the pass and then back.  I ended up parking at the Sheep Creek trailhead and started my ride from there.  It was amazing how little traffic was on the road (which is a good thing since there really are no shoulders to speak of).

It ended up being a 40 mile ride:

The tentative plan was to ride up the pass and then turn around and head back down.  The beginning of the ride looks flat while riding it but based on the speed and power output, I could tell it was climbing gently.  The road then took it up a few notches and got steep!  It was steeper than I remembered as I rode up...probably something to do with being in a car and not really paying a ton of attention the week prior.  At one point I remember thinking that I must be losing fitness because it felt sort of hard but just kept the legs moving and spinning.  It was nice to get to the upper meadows and take in the amazing views. 

At mile 20, it was time to turn the bike around and head back.  On the way back I quickly realized why it felt steep on the way back...my bike was hauling going downhill - even the spots of the road that looked flat were steep as the bike just picked up speed.  When I got to the steeper sections I got out of the saddle and put the hammer down to see the MPH's go up up up.  Top speed heading downhill was 47 mph!  No wonder it felt hard on the way up. 

I took the GO PRO cam on the ride and need to do some editing and will post a quickie vid over the next few days of parts of the ride.

All in all, it was a really great ride.  There was very little traffic on the road (less than 10 cars passed me while in the saddle) which always makes it much less stressful.  The ride and scenery were truly amazing and it will be great to add this into the quiver of local ride options.

I got home and the dogs and I went for a nice walk up at Homestake Pass on the CDT.  It was weird to have to wait until the end of the day to take them out (because it was hot and they have already started their winter coats) but it ended up a being a good long walk.  The intention was to try and wear them out a little so they would be tired and sleep most of the day Sunday so I could get out and ride again.  Sunday's activities forthcoming....

Pioneering

So I decided to step outside the bubble for a moment and do something a little different on Sunday.  I decided to drive the the Pioneer Scenic Hwy from Wise south and then back over to Dillon.  The idea was to take a casual drive and scope out the possibilities for recreating.

Unfortunately for bikers there are very limited choices to get out and play in the amazing area.  The Pioneer range includes some big scenery!  The recent passages or proposed passages of bills have changed access for bikers to most of the area and we as bicyclists no longer have access to some amazing country.  The irony is that horses still have access and they really really trash trails (noticed that yet again on Sunday as the trail I was scoping out was just totally wrecked from horses).  Somehow bicyclists have gotten lumped in with motorized vehicles, although they have recently created a new category to single us out because someone realized we were out using the trails for their intended use and having fun...ohh boy, we certainly don't want people to be outside enjoying our outdoors and trying to be healthy!  Before it used to be 'motorized vehicles' which meant we as bicyclists could still enjoy these spectacular areas.  Now they have decided to refine that to include bicyclists to say no 'mechanized' vehicles.  If we wanted to be picky, you could argue that horse bits, saddles or even hiking shoes are 'mechanical'.

Once again our elected officials fail to try to understand different user groups and have decided to take the easy way out.  There is enough open space everywhere around here that all it would take would be to take a pro-active approach and manage trails for certain user groups.  Instead they have singled out certain user groups and decided to just close down areas to them.  What a bunch of putzes!

OK OK, enough of my political musings and disgust and back to my happy place:

As you turn south going into the Pioneers, the views just start to impress.  With all of the trees and bushes starting to change, it made for some impressive scenery.  As you get driving south on the Hwy the campsites start to come at you fast and furiously...I can't imagine the area would ever fill up with campers just because of the number of sites available everywhere (official, as well as primitive).

What was especially amazing was how green everything was due to all the moisture we got this year.  The combination of bright vivid Fall colors and rich greens from all the moisture provided for some pretty spectacular views.

After doing some initial recon , I decided to go check out the ghost Town of Coolidge.  More on that tomorrow....for now, it is time to see what chaos is unfolding at work.

getting Fleeced

Yesterday's adventure was an exploration into new territory around Fleecer Mountain.  On the Forest Service maps it appears as though there are a fair amount of trails but I had heard that most of them are double track/4 wheeler trails.  None the less, I thought it would be fun to head out and see if that was indeed the case.  Worst case it would be a day of new scenery.

It ended up being a great ride.  Sometimes you just don't know how things will turn out and the spirit of adventure takes you into uncharted territory.  It was a 23 mile out and back ride with a fair amount of elevation gain (close to 4,000 ft).

There was some amazing views along the way and the route that I took pretty much follows a very small segment of the route that the Tour Divide Race racers take (2,745 miles self supported race)...

When I explore a new area there is always a little anxiety added into the mix...the anxiety of getting lost...the anxiety of wildlife (I did see some bear and elk scat but did not see anything live).  It always keeps you on full alert....as I pedaled up-hill, I came across the remnants of an old cabin:

The aspens are starting to change color and it will just continue to get better and better as the foliage gets brighter and brighter.  It was interesting to see the patches of aspens mixed in with all the evergreens.  As the trail meandered up, you had a couple of spots where you had great views of Fleecer:

 
There was still more climbing until a little spur off the main trail took you to an incredible vista that overlooked east/north where you could see for miles and miles....

The 'back' portion of the out and back was mostly downhill and was much faster than the 'out'.  On the way back, you could really appreciate the stellar views of Fleecer and even the Highlands of the last segments of trail back to the trail head.  The whole ride ended being a game of tracking the weather and seeing if the skies were going to unload.  There were some dark looking skies towards my chosen turn around point and it was a race to get back to the car before mother nature unloaded her fury.  I felt a few drops here and there but was able to dodge the big storm.  By the time I got to the car I looked around and it was pretty much raining everywhere 360 around me (Fleecer, Highlands, etc) except for the little pocket that I was in - bizarre but no complaints.

There is a lot more of exploring to be done out that way with many many more miles to ride and somehow try to link up.  As with anywhere, it will take a while to develop the comfort zone in this area.  Unfortunately mother nature is in the process of changing seasons and who knows how much longer that window will be open.

Night Ride

So as the days get shorter, the after work rides get shorter too....or do they?  I loaded up the night light system for the bike, met Sean at their place and then headed out to ride with the intention of riding until it got dark and then turning on the lights and finishing up.

We rode up Hwy 2 to Thompson Park then took the railroad bed to Pipestone Pass and caught the CDT and took it all the way to Homestake Pass.  As we reached the peak going towards Homestake we had to turn on the lights...I realized that my lighting system looked a little on the dim side...enough to ride though so onwards!  It was fun to ride that trail at night - even though I am super familiar with the trail, it is always a 'new trail' and full of surprises when riding at night...The field of vision is always narrower and you can never really see very far ahead so you end up reacting to the more immediate - it is definitely a good training mechanism to test the technical skills as you have to man-handle your bike and throw it around a little more.

It still ended up being a solid ride:  18 miles and a little over 2K of elevation gain. 

I took the GoPro camera out again and got some footage that I hope to edit over the next day or so...The camera is not effective at all at night but I was able to capture some footage prior to getting dark.

It was good to be riding with someone at night.  It was  re-assuring in the sense that we hit spots where there are critters and I could have sworn I heard some critters rustling as we pedaled by them (could have been the mind playing tricks on me too though). 

The descent from Homestake to Blacktail Canyon was a little exciting.  The descent is usually sketch in day-light hours because there are some super rutted sections and some very sandy, washed sections too...as we started down my night light showed a rutted section so I slowed down to navigate through it.  What I quickly realized was that the section immediately following was not rideable at all - the ruts were about 2 ft deep (about 4-6 inches wide)!  They are definitely the deepest ruts I have seen and am very psyched I did not bomb into that section as it would have been UGLY!

Fishy Toll Beaver

Yesterday ended up being a good & productive day.  I managed to get a fair amount done work-wise while also taking advantage of the lunch hour to mow the lawn, pull some weeds and then even cut it close on the daylight hours after work to get a ride in. 

The choice of trail for Monday's fatty tire ride was a collage of trails and link-ups around the Toll Canyon and Beaver Ponds area.  I parked at the Beaver Ponds parking lot and then rode the road up to the pass to catch the Toll Canyon section of the CDT.  I took Toll up to Lime Kiln Road, and then ascended to the top of the road and caught the Fish Creek spur which eventually links back up into Toll Canyon. 

As I pedaled up Toll, I could see mother nature brewing up a storm...I could see dark clouds and rain falling about 3-5 miles south of me in the Highlands.  At this point it was a crap-shoot as to whether or not the storm was going to envelope me or somehow skirt around me.  Somehow (not sure how), mother nature took it easy on me and spared me any significant rain-fall.

At the bottom of the Fish Creek trail, I linked back into Toll Canyon and climbed back out of the gulch and rode Toll Canyon CDT back to the road where I would barely have enough time to take the Beaver Pond trail back to the car.  I noticed that there were a couple of spots on the Toll Canyon trail that were fairly wet so somehow the rain missed me!  By the end of the ride when I got to the car, it was dark...it was a race against time and fortunately there were just enough daylight minutes to make it back.  It was one of those days where it felt like I was able to use up every available minute of good weather and daylight...mmmm.mmmmm.goooooood

I pushed a little harder on the bike as I was curious to see how the knee would hold up.  This was the 3rd relatively hard day on and it was definitely barking at me a few times.  17 miles and over 3,000 ft of elevation gain probably has something to do with the knee talking back to me...I got home and could tell that it was a little sore...popped some Vitamin I in order to try and be proactive.

I took the Go Pro HD viddy cam with me and hope to get something together today....I tried a few different camera angles...tried the Helmet cam, the Seat Post cam, the Fork Mount Cam...I think I like the Seat Post and Fork Mount best, although the seat mount was quickly obscured by a drop of mud that hit it square in the middle of the camera (no damage to the camera at all but talk about perfect aim!)