MTB COB

It is time to get my ride on in COB and prep for that High Cascades hundie thingie...

I got out on the mtn bike yesterday for the first time since the 24 hrs of Spokane and was curious to see how the body and legs would hold up.  My body has been a bit beat up the last few days trying to fight a chest/sinus thing.  I spent most of Monday/Tues coughing up lung cheese and dealing with a runny nose - good times.

Wednesday was a turning point of sorts as the body was starting to feel somewhat normal and it was time to return to the saddle.  There are less than 2 months until the High Cascades so time is of the essence and a pesky little cold is no reason to make excuses to not be on the bike riding.  Here is to hoping the return to activity won't trigger a relapse....

Wednesday's ride from downtown up to the Phil's trail system and beyond:

24 hrs of Spokane

The Round n' Round weekend ended up being a good weekend of saddle time.  The wifer and I did it as a team (duo) and I was a little anxious to see how it would all play out.  It had the potential to blow up in our faces considering it involved riding, sleep deprivation and all that goes with sleep deprivation (grumpiness, inability to think, etc).

All in all, it turned out well.  We had a couple of logistical challenges to sort through (as to be expected).

I rolled into Spokane on Friday morning and secured a good camp-spot with the Airstream right next to the course so it made it easy to coordinate during the race.  Perhaps the only minor tweak would have been to set up camp on the other side of the course/road in order to try to minimize the dust.  For whatever reason, the dust from the riders kicked up and floated our way and we quickly realized everything would be covered in a layer of dirt.  We were super psyched to be in the Airstream as it gave us some additional comfort and privacy.

The wifer rolled into town late on Friday and I was pleasantly surprised at just how relatively quite the race area was that night.  People were mostly considerate in prep for the start on Saturday.

The madness kicked off at noon on Saturday and ended at noon on Sunday.  Each team is required to do a 4hr shift of volunteering at the race.  This poses a bit of a problem for duo team because it means that 1 rider will be unavailable for riding for 4 hrs...Our idea was to try to get a good shift (shift options were determined based on when you signed up for the race - so the earlier you signed up, the better shot you had at a better slot for volunteering).  By the time I got to the sign up sheet, the only slots available were the undesirable ones like 12:00-4:00 a.m., etc...With a bit of luck there was a page that the organizers had forgotten about and happened to notice when I showed up to sign up.  We were able to get a cherry shift from 12:00-4:00 p.m. on Saturday.  This meant the wifer would have to pick up the first 4 hours of riding while I fulfilled our volunteer duties.  The plan was she would ride for 4 hrs, then I would ride for the next 4 hrs...and then we would alternate laps until night time when we would try to stack a couple laps together in order to try to get some sleep.

Lady luck was smiling on us that day because when I went to check in for my volunteer duty, I asked if there was any way we could split the shift such that I did 2 hrs and then the wifer picked up 2 hrs in order to break up the volunteer and ride shifts.  As luck would have it, there was a lady there who was looking for a volunteer job at the time I was having this conversation with the race organizer and the race organizer promptly coordinated for her to take our shift and let us off the hook!

By this time it was about 15 minutes until the start and the wifer was ready for the lemans start (they made everyone run a 600 yd lap before hopping on the bikes).  The lemans start was intended to try to thin out the herd at the start of the race.  Our new plan was to for the wifer to do the lemans start and the first 2 laps at which point we would switch off and I would pick up the next 2 laps and we would then alternate laps until dark.

Day turned to night and it got COLD COLD COLD.  As in low 30's!  I was totally unprepared for this and ended up getting so cold on my 2nd night lap that I had wooden blocks for feet.  The missus got super dehydrated on her 2nd night lap and had to stop to recover for a while.  A while turned into about 6hrs later....so long story short is between my wooden blocks for feet and her spinning dehydrated head, we got some shut eye.  It took about an hour for me to 'warm' up again as I lay shivering in my sleeping bag trying to coax one of the dogs to come give me some body heat.  The goofballs were having none of it as they were plenty toasty sharing their mama's bed and blankets, so I was on my own to shiver away for a bit.

The wifer rallied at about 6 and we were back on task to alternate laps until the finish at noon.

Long story short, we each did 7 laps on a very fast 15 mile course.  We got in a total of 14 laps as a team and shared a few lessons learned from the experience.  It was a great event and we ended up meeting a bunch of really interesting people.

Lap stats:

Round n' Round

Ratt?  nope....Spokane Round and Round...The 24 hr mountain bike race has just kicked off and the wifer is taking the first couple of laps which means she got to partake in the lemans start where everyone had to run a short lap of around 600 yards before getting on the bike to start the course.  This helps to thin out the herd a bit on the trail during the first lap.

Somehow, I was able to get out of volunteering.  Each team (exception of solo riders) has to take on a 4 hour shift of volunteer work.  This is not too big a deal for 4-5 person teams but it becomes a bit of a challenge with a duo.  I was able to get a 12-4 Sat shift which coincided with the race start.  This meant the wifer was going to have to take the first 4 hours on the course riding until we could switch off.  When I went to sign in, there was another volunteer looking for something to do so as they say timing is everything and in this case timing definitely worked in our favor as that volunteer took our shift and we were let off the hook.

The plan is to start the race by doing a couple of laps then alternating to the other rider.  Each lap is around 15 miles.  The wifer and I signed up as a duo so it does take a little planning to figure out how it will go.  Once we each do a couple of laps, the plan is to start alternating 1 lap each until it gets dark & late at which point we might try to do 3-4 laps each in order to try to salvage some sleepy time shut eye.  What do they say about best laid plans?  curious to see how it will shake out based on how we feel as we progress through the event....

more to come...

Video: MTB CDT Elk Park

A quickie video of the new CDT trail up by Elk Park in SW Montana:

MTB Elk Park CDT Pix

Some photo's of the ride recon up in Elk Park:

 Fleecer - looking South'ish

 looking west towards the Pintlers

 Fleecer

 looking west

MTB More Butte

When I ran into the Forest Service last year on the local trails, they told me about some new trail that they had been working on north of town from Elk Park to the Electric Peaks area.  Fast forward to spring and voila the trails are finished and ready for the taste of rubber!

I had explored the Electric Peaks area by Thunderbolt Mtn a couple of years ago and thought that the area had potential to have some hidden gems.  This new trail links into that network and now offers more options to really put in some long, epic rides.  My thought was that you could actually link trails from Helena all the way to Butte for a long day in the saddle through some singletrack that does not get much traffic.  You would have to self support because there is no place to stop and get food or parts.  My guess is it would probably be around 80 miles with some sweet views along the way.

I drove up to Elk Park yesterday and dodged the storms in the area in order to do some exploring on said new trail.   I parked in the first parking area with access to the konda trail.  After 4 miles or chunky, rocky, and bumpy terrain it spits you out by the lowland campground area.  This is where the choice trail starts.  The trail is much smoother and offers up some really great views of the Pintlers, Fleecer, and even the Tobacco's in a couple of spots.

I did an out and back partially through the lower section and the trail looks broken in enough that you could ride it the full 16 miles towards the Thunderbolt Mtn network of trails.  There are plenty of water sources along the way where you could fill up if you had a filter.  Not only did I not have a filter, but I left my 2 water bottles sitting on the counter at home - DOH!

The riding was good and my timing was impeccable as the first rain drops started to sprinkle right about the moment I loaded up the bike to head home.

I did take some pix and video footage that I hope to put together over the coming days....

Tour de Butte

My stay in Butte is wrapping up and with 2 months to go until the High Cascades hundie it was time to get the singlespeed out and get in some saddle time.  The beauty of much of the riding in Butte is that you are usually going up, or down...meaning there is not a ton of time to chill, regroup, eat, drink, etc...so you have to figure out how to do all that while on gentle slopes, etc...or stop which is not always an option if you are in race mode and trying to eliminate un-needed stops.

Saturday's ride took me through many of my usual trail choices.  With my days in Butte wrapping up, it was time to get in some last hurrahs on some of the usual suspects...

I parked at 9 mile, rode up Blacktail, over to Archery, down Archery, up Thompson where I did the upper and lower loop, then took the RR bed up to Toll Canyon, went up the CDT to Fish creek, down Fish Creek, up Toll, then down Toll to catch the CDT over to Beaver Ponds and back over to Blacktail...ride summary below...a little over 4 hrs with almost 6K of climbing.  A good day in the saddle - got worked!

Sunday's ride was a quick tempo ride up from Homestake Pass to the peak and then back down.  Low mileage, high intensity.  The legs were a little tired from Saturday's ride but it was good to give them another quickie beating.