Trumans

Rode Truman Gulch tonight with a few friends. one hour up and only 2.14 miles. only 15 minutes down though. it's pretty steep towards the top. but the lower half is totally sweet at speed, like 3 or 4 feet wide buff trail with some fun rocks and roots and rollers. you can haul ass. i forgot my bike shorts so i rocked my jeans....didn't seem to matter, especially with all the pushing at the top.

News

So I went to Missoula with Team Muleterro and raced downhill in the Jedzilla! I got third in sport class. It was pretty fun, but the course was a bit much for my bike. I had major issues with my fork compression/preload adjustment. This weekend I bit the bullet again and put money down on a road bike. I just want to ride, man! Plus the Muleteers convinced me I would have a good time riding some events and training with them. I guess it's better to spend money on stuff that makes me more healthy than not, but I still feel kind of silly buying two new bikes in one summer! It's okay because I will get to pedal more this fall, as i can still hit the road once the snow starts to stick up in the mountains.
This weekend I am going with the Muleteers to Red Lodge for another race. They all do XC and I will do the downhill again.

Peaceful Ride

Last night I was over in the Pipestone area for a ride. It was sunset, and totally quiet, no motos or anything. I spent an hour just pedaling around. It was really good. Really calming and centering. 9.5 miles, 11oo ft vertical. 45 min. up, 15 min. down. good times.

Safety First!

So with the new bike I find myself going ever faster down the hill, and I am ending up scaring myself. So I just ordered a new Giro full-face helmet and a set of RaceFace leg armor from pricepoint. 150 bucks for both things, not bad I think.

Epic!

Did the Curly Lake Highline ride yesterday with a great crew of guys. 7 hours, 5000 ft of climbing, and an 11+ mile downhill! This was one of my top 5 best rides ever, for sure. More later

Dirt Church

One of my buddies who rides a lot of dirt bikes (the motor kind) calls it Dirt Church. I had that kind of ride this morning. Got up, decided to go riding, Grassy Mountain, my current favorite downhill. I got to the trailhead at 9 am, and had a great ride up, taking my time, using the little ring a bunch, relaxing almost. Topped out a bit after 10, geared up, and hauled ass back down to the car. 4.4 miles one way, about 1500 vertical feet. I got home and it started to rain, so I am glad I happened to go that early. Tomorrow is Curly Lake, a legendary epic ride, with a big group of Bozeman mountain bikers. Should be good.

Wildlife

On my ride last night to Mystic Lake, I saw a black bear, a marten-type of thing, and a cow moose. Pretty cool for one ride? That's the second bear sighting this summer. The other was up in Truman Gulch in the Bridgers. It is really smoky in the valley right now, with all the wildfires in the state. Could barely see the mountains yesterday, but it cleared up overnight with a little rain.

New Bike Build

So my new Heckler finally arrived last week. It took 14 weeks to get here. I am gathering parts bit by bit:

Frame: 2007 Santa Cruz Heckler size M, Fox DHX 5.0 rear shock
Fr. Derailleur: Shimano Deore
Shifters: Mismatch set found at the shop new LX and Deore
Rear Cassette: Sram
Brakes: Hayes HFX 9 hydraulics salvaged from my roommates bike
Cranks: Shimano XT 751 also salvaged
Tires: Maxxis ADvantage 2.4. Found one on craigslist for 12 bucks, ridden once! Looks like one of the lightest, highest volume tires there is.
Pedals: Shimano PDM424. pulled from my old bike. I love these pedals, have used them for years. No issues ever.
Headset: Cane Creek. shop recommended. cheaper than king, but pretty solid.
Fork: 07 Marzocchi All Mountain 1. Coil spring, lockout, 20 mm axle, 6.3 inches travel. Should be really good. especially after riding a 2001 Z1 with 4 inches for the past 6 years.
Seat: I am thinking I use my haggard WTB seat from my current bike, just because I am used to it. And get a new one for the old bike.

I went coil on the shocks because I weigh in around 195 and like to rally on the downhills. Also I like the low maintenance with coils. Don't care much about weight: I weigh a lot, and so does my bike. But neither me or my bike break very often. It's all about the sturdy build!

If I am lucky and my parts come soon I may be riding this weekend. I hope so.

Wed Nite Ride

So on Wednesday nite I went and did Grassy Mtn as a loop from Olson Creek Rd. There were 5 of us total and it was a pretty fun time. Took a little over 2 hours total, and was 16.4 miles. Still no new bike...waiting and waiting, but I think it's okay because I still don't have enough money saved to pay for it when it comes anyway.

Mud.

Rode in the first real mud in a long time tonight, on the Mystic Lake trail. It was pretty dry most places but due to the rain earlier this week the low spots were pretty wet. Rode it for the first time this season with Ciaran tonight. Long dirt road climb of about 9 miles. And then 3 down on a really really great singletrack. Totally cool and fun and fast. Went in today and talked to the shop about getting a fork from them for the new frame when it comes, and about wheels. They actually had competitive prices on everything compared to the cheap places on the net.

Shocking

Replaced my rear shock spring with a slightly heavier spring that I had bought long ago. It really changed how my bike rides! It is a lot more spunky and less mushy. I felt a lot faster for some reason too. No new bike yet though.

Today's Weather! Ha!

MADISON-GALLATIN-

INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ENNIS...BOZEMAN...WEST YELLOWSTONE
431 AM MDT WED JUN 6 2007

...HEAVY SNOW WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 12 PM MDT
THURSDAY ABOVE 6000 FEET..
...WINTER STORM WATCH NO LONGER IN EFFECT ABOVE 6000 FEET..

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS HAS ISSUED A HEAVY
SNOW WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 12 PM MDT
THURSDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

SNOW...HEAVY AT TIMES...WILL DEVELOP OVER THE MOUNTAINS ABOVE
6000 FEET. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 8 TO 12 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE WITH
LOCAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 2 FEET ON HIGHER MOUNTAIN PEAKS.

Riding Statistics

This year I started keeping a log of all my biking activity, tracking time, distance, and cumulative totals for the year. Here are some stats:

May

total miles: 131.4
total time: 16.75 hours

Year to Date

total miles: 333
total time: 47.75 hours

This is since February when I first began riding for the year. I have decided I need a road bike because mtn biking takes a lot of time... I have to get in the car most of the time and drive to the trailhead to pedal, and after work sometimes I don't have the time. But I could go out my door and ride for a solid hour or so and be back at the house, in the same time it takes to just drive back and forth to certain trails.

More Moab Pics

I got the rest of the Moab pics up on my Flickr. These were all from Ciaran's camera.

Oh Brother

My brother Arlo has a blog too, which somehow I didn't know about until just now. He's always had sites going in some form or other but this one is the current focus I think. He's a pretty sweet dude, so check it out.

Bangtail Divide Trail

Yesterday I rode Bangtail Divide with Ciaran. We shuttled cars and started at Brackett Creek and rode to Stone Creek.

Trail mileage: 24
Time: 4.5 hours.

It was the longest ride I have done in a long time and I was pretty beat by the end of it. That ride has climbing all through it until the final downhill no matter which direction you run it. I am used to mostly out-and-back rides that are up then down. But it was a beautiful day, and we saw a number of other bikers out on the trail. No mechanicals, no crashing, no problems. It was around 70 degrees and sunny. Trail conditions were excellent, with some mud puddles, and maybe one snow patch to walk through in the woodsy section. Lots of wildflowers out, and no dust because of our recent rain/snow. Ciaran saw a coyote run across the trail ahead of him at one point. And we met some funny old guys on fourwheelers doing trail maintenance who were very friendly.

After we got done we headed straight for La Tinga for some burritos but they were closed. So it was the Garage instead where I had a buffalo burger with pepper jack, garlic aioli, and bacon. With fries. It was pretty damn good, after only eating 2 bars on that whole ride. Later we went to our buddy Ben's work party where I had 2 more burgers and a hot dog. Then home for sleeping.

On the way up to the trail, Ciaran got a call from Summit Bike saying his frame had arrived. We both ordered new Santa Cruz Heckler frames about 7 weeks ago. Where is mine???!!

The Solo Ride

I love the solo ride. Last night I went up to Bozeman Creek or Sourdough, or Mystic Lake trail, whatever you call it. I went at 8 pm. The sun was heading down, and the light was really great, soft and orange on the hillsides. This was in place of heading to the local tavern, which I am trying to cut down on....I had a great ride. The trail is a 9 mile dirt road leading back into the hills to Mystic Lake, in the Gallatin Range. I rode to the high point at 8 miles, and I was surprised to find no snow on the road. Totally melted out! I turned around, but you can continue around to the lake, and then onto a sweet singletrack that goes downhill and spits you out at mile 5 on the road up. I think it may be really muddy in there in spots so I will wait until next week to do that part. I turned around and hammered down the road for 8 miles, probably averaging about 20 miles per hour. It was pretty fun to just rail it on the way down. Got done, went home, ate dinner, went to bed.
Today Ciaran and I are doing Bangtail Divide. It should be really good.

Mountain Living

So it is 79 degrees out right now, and on Monday this week I woke up to snow in the yard. Hmm. Bozeman is at 5000 ft and this is what it means. There is hardly any snow left up high, compared to a normal year, and it is melting fast. The trails for biking are drying out quickly and every few weeks a new one is ridable. Being from Maine, I always laugh when riders complain about mud or water or mosquitos when we are riding. They just don't know. All the trails here are pretty buff and smooth for the most part, and dry. Trails dry out in about 3 days if it rains, because they are all up high in the mountains and all the water drains off them quickly. Going to try to ride tonight, since i just got off of work, and tomorrow the plan is to ride the Bangtail Divide Trail, which is 25+ miles long, all singletrack!

Here We Go!

So I am going to give this a shot. Publishing my life, as it were. I love writing journals and also started a bike ride journal, so this will fit right in. Also inspired by my dad's trailjournal entries.