Phattie Trail Prep

The problem with being early adaptors of a sport is that you have to often forge your own path.  In the case of snow-biking, there are not many trails available to go pedal through.  We took initiative to go out and pack down some trails in Thompson Park.  It was a ton of work and we are yet to reap the bennies of all the packing but I am hopeful that the 5 hours spent snowhoeing on existing trails in the Thompson Park area will help in making the trail rideable.

It was warmer than usual during the weekend so it was nice to get out with the dogs and go pound some trail.  I am thinking that the first pack is probably the hardest and it will be a little easier to maintain going forward.  In an ideal world, there would be more folks interested in getting out and doing a little trail packeroo action.  If nothing else, it will provide a learning curve as to what conditions are rideable and how much work it is to get trails rideable.

Regardless, it was good to get out and be playing outside,  Unfortunately, all the snow packing meant there was little time to get out on phattie proper.  Although the missus did manage to get out on Saturday as I slaved away on the lower loop in Thompson.

Pix of the ation:

prepack:

 pack in motion

 post-pack

 even the dogs helped:

 nice view of the highlands:

History of Rap 2

part 2....

History of Rap 1

funny and talented - JT never ceases to amaze me - not too shabby with the Roots backing them up as the house band!

ThomPhatt

I wrapped up the work day on Tuesday and gathered the phattessories to hit the snow on the phattie.  I decided to head up to Thompson Park and check out what was rideable.  There was one trail that was packed down and rideable up to the railroad tracks.

The upper trails have not been packed down or hiked yet so the snow is too deep and loose to ride.  I rode the old railroad bed up to the trussel and saw that they had done a lot of work to it.  There are now railings on the trussel and the surface has been redone so it is no longer loose dirts, but it is all wood!  They did a nice job and you can see they spent a lot of energy and $ to get it updated.

The ride proper was super fun - it was an hour of feeling like a child again...just reminding me of why and how riding can be so much fun.  Throw a couple of new twists onto an old theme and a whole new world opens up.  It is pretty cool as I am just starting to understand and see the possibilities.

Ride Info:
started at the second pullout and headed up to the RR bed where I went up to the trussel, turned around and went through both tunnels and traced my snow tracks back to the trail I originally climbed up.

 I think the elevation graph is a little messed up because I had the Garmin in my pocket (hoping Santa delivers a mount for the bike) so the temps and calcs it does to figure out elevation were off.  I believe it figures out atmospheric or barometric pressure to determine elevation so the fact that it was in my pocket and dealing with my sweatiness probably threw it all off.

The challenge of keeping the feet warm remains to be resolved...I tried a different combo this time with 2 pairs of socks but my feet still felt like wooden blocks when I finished the hour long ride.  Next combo might involve goretex socks for wicking moisture away from the feet.  That base wick layer seems to be working for my hands.  I have a thin liner that wicks away moisture from my hands and moves it to the thicker gloves that I use over the liners....so far, so good.  The hands should feel even toastier once the Pogie option gets thrown into the mix.

pix of the adventure:
nice railings

 entry way

 on the trussel

 looking down to Roosevelt Drive

 Railings are sturdy - bonus!

 notice the re-done surface...nice and burly

 bike portrait

 must remember to bring ice skates next time:

Phattie Video

A little vid put together of the weekend's snowbiking festivities.  I realized after publishing on Vimeo that there is a typo...instead of pulling the vid, waiting a week and resubmitting to Vimeo, I will just leave as is....in case you care, the typo is on the mileage...it should say 2 miles - after all, 3 km is not the same is 3 miles.

Snow Biking in Montana from Tiago on Vimeo.

Snow Biking in SW Montana - first rides in the world of PHAT

Maude S Phattie

Sunday turned out to be a great day to get on the phattie and ride.  The missus got a little taste of riding while in Hamilton when we tried Blodgett Canyon the day before.  Unfortunately, conditions prevented us from exploring too far but it was a good teaser for her of the possibilities.

On Sunday, we headed up to Maude S Canyon in Butte and rode up the canyon to the scenic vista and then headed back downhill to the railroad tracks where we took the tracks for a few miles until we got to the railroad trussel.  We went over the trussel and then turned around an traced our steps back to the car.  I was curious to see how the huge snow/sand tires would handle the bumpety bump bump bump of the railroad ties - it was better than being on a regular mountain bike tire but still pretty bumpy.

The climb up to the vista through the canyon is a great workout where the blood moved and the body temps went up up up - as did the elevation.  There is a 1,000 ft gain in about 2 miles.  It is bit of a grinder getting up but the payback on the way down is worth it.  Ordinarily I don't ever ride Maude S at all but it happens to be pretty well tracked during the winter such that the snow is packed down and is rideable.

view from the top:

 topo of the ride

The challenge is figuring out how to link rides together in order to make for a longer ride.  It might involve just sucking it up and doing laps on stuff, or snowshoeing trails to pack them down enough.  The other option is to check out the snowmobile trail network to see if any of those will be rideable on the phattie.  More due diligence needed

Phattie Finds A Friend

Santa Claus had a case of premature surprise this weekend and decided to drop a little sum'n' sum'n' off for the missus.  I had been plotting for a couple of weeks and was able to orchestrate a trip to Hamilton wih the missus as a getaway.  Part of the getaway included a trip to Red Barn Bikes where waiting for her was a snow bike!  I had chatted with Chad over at Red Barn and he had an awesome deal on a Mukluk and it was just in time for this Christmas thingie.

We went over under the guise of checking out the bike shop...if you have not made a stop into Red Barn and you happen to be in the hood (Hamilton, MT), it is a must see.  The shop is one of those very unique shops that has stuff in tons of nooks and crannies.  As you stop to take inventory, you realize there is more there than upon first glance.  Red Barn is a bike afficionado's crack.  You can get into a lot of trouble as there is plenty of temptation to distract you.

Speaking of distraction...the wife was definitely surprised (or at least played the role) when she figured out we were there to pick up a bike for her.  She did a quick test spin around the parking lot and was smiling ear to ear as she rode through the white stuff.  A good day indeed!

We went up to Blodgett Canyon and rode the trail for a little while until the snow was not packed down enough to ride.  It was a blast.  The dogs had great fun, the bikers had equally as much fun and the missus got to take her new ride out.

Pic of phattie's new Mukluk buddy: