Worth the wait...

I FINALLY have all the parts to finish my bike.

Mavic A319 rim laced 36/4x
to White Industries' ENO hub and 18T freewheel.
Oh, and a Bayern Dopple Weizen which is the correct lubricant for the job, I think.

Looks like I'm working on the bike tonight. :)

Ring around the mountain...

Let me start off by saying that this ride was too early, too ambitious, and will be much more fun in a month or two. Okay... now, on to the good part.

We woke up to bluebird skies and warm sun in a cool 32 degree morning. Perfect. Julian says "We have to go on a bike ride today." Cool, just what I was thinking. So I asked "Do you want a short bike ride or a long bike ride?" His reply "A long bike ride, dad."

So I give this some thought... how can we get some mileage in this early in the season without riding some boring route on the side of the road? I know. Let's go.

We took the bike path to the Kim Williams Trail.

Trail conditions were, at times, less than ideal.

We did get to ride on some dirt now and then.

But mostly it looked like this. Surprisingly rideable, actually.
That 38mm tire at 35 psi is a beautiful thing.

Part of the trail follows a train track quite closely. Julian LOVES trains. This was great.

Starting the climb up Deer Creek Rd. Mmmmmmmud.

We saw lush forests, snow melting off of tall trees, rivers of mud running down the hillsides,
and these very cool looking rocks. I like rocks.

We made it up to this vantage point nearing the end of the climb
and looked down through the trees at the valley below.

At the top, it became an icy, unrideable slushfest.
There was plenty of hiking.

Descending Pattee Canyon Road into a brutally chilling wind.
If not where the rainbow ends, at least where the climbing ends.

Our ride.

19 or so miles, and the jury is still out on the total climbing. GPS says 1200, Topofusion says 2100. I'll say it subjectively felt like right around 1500 or so total, and that the climb up Deer Creek is MUCH steeper than up Pattee Creek. Add to this that my drivetrain was complaining (I still don't have all my new parts yet, grumble grumble) and I rode up most of this in the middle ring when i wasn't hiking. My legs are feeling a little burnt at the moment. 

This was a great ride, and a great day for a ride. We saw lots of other people out on bikes and skis, and everyone was so happy. We stopped at the Subway for a big lunch and headed home. First real offroad "dirty" ride of the season. Everything is covered in mud. Sweet.

Chasing Rattlesnakes...

It wasn't raining this morning. It was cool, and windy... and the skies looked threatening. Which meant it probably was not going to rain, and just sort of look ominous all day. So off we went.

First stop, Greenough Park. A lovely path along Rattlesnake Creek.

We did a couple loops around the park, and over the many bridges.

Leaving Greenough, we headed north, bound for the Rattlesnake NRA. Julian has only been up there a couple times, and he mentions it every now and then.

Riding in the sun, and looking up at the dark, gloomy mountains.

In Missoula, this qualifies as a beautiful day to be out riding.

We arrived at the turnoff to the Main TH and stopped long enough to take a couple pictures at the bridge and notice the huge tailwind that had pushed us up the road. Brrrrr. 

The bridge over Rattlesnake Creek just before the main TH.

"We are at the Rattlesnake, Dad!"

Now, I thought it might be a good opportunity to get a feel for what trail conditions were like, and see if there was any possibility of sneaking in a few XC ski days this late in the season. Ummmm. No. Conditions are what you would expect after some very warm thaw/freeze cycles and rain. Icy. Rotten snow, slush, and puddles. I imagine one would have to get much more elevation in before being able to switch it up to the skis. Definitely possible in this terrain, but for such a small, and quickly dwindling return on all that invested sweat.

The main trail was a mess of sheet ice and slush.

So we found a good parking spot for the bike and set off on foot.

Julian carefully navigating the slushy forest.

He quickly found a walking stick to help him with the trail conditions, and carried it everywhere.

It felt like spring up there. It looked like spring. Just ignore all the patches of nasty off-white crud, and you could be in the rainforest. The valleys of western Montana are technically in the Pacific Northwest climate zone, and so we see lots of moss, lichens, dense green undergrowth, and other forest features that you expect to see in Oregon or Washington. This, blended with the moderate elevation and proximity to the Divide, makes for some truly enchanted forests.

Tree trunks covered in lichens.

Mossy stump jutting up out of the snow. A little island of green life amid the remains of winter.

So it was a great ride. It got cold on the way back, due to the lack of disappearance of the sun behind the usual eggshell skies, and the insistent headwind. I wrapped Julian up in my jacket as he was actually shivering. We stopped for a quesadilla lunch and headed for home. A truly magnificent day to be out on a ride, and hiking around in the woods.... for March, anyways.

RANT WARNING -- if you just wanted to see pretty pictures of our day outing, you can stop reading right here. Below contains graphic images, and me going off on some long tangential blah blah blah about a pet peeve of mine. 

Of course, now that the weather is getting warmer, and the woods are more accessible, lots of people (including us) are going there. Some people bring their four-legged friends along as well. you can see, smell, and step in the evidence that they have been there. Let's see... responsible humans bury their waste six inches deep and 100 yards from any trail or water source. Yet they let their dogs poop anywhere they please and just leave it there for my toddler's hiking boots to find? Do I grumble about the Elk poo just across the trail? No. I've got news for you, your canine is a non-native species. I'm pretty sure if I took a dump on the edge of the trail and left it there, someone might be none too pleased.

The tell-tale signs of invasive species coming to the woods in Spring.

I'm not even gonna get into the issue of leash laws, and why they exist, and how they would have prevented a near crash in Greenough Park this morning as someone's big black labrador came charging up the path at us... nope... not gonna go there.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate your dogs. They are mostly cute and lovable, and want to have fun just like everybody else. But they are your responsibility. And as more and more of us share the space which is the outdoors, we need to be respectful and courteous of one another and the land. 

End Rant.

Gizmos and gadgets...

I thought I would post some pics of my new bike. A purpose built bikepacking/dirt-touring machine. Gravel, forest roads, mild singletrack, road... any route that can carry me and my gear to a campsite far away from the city. Reliability, redundancy, and keeping everything a little bit old-school were my priorities with this build. Of course, 'a bit old school' does not apply to fancy lights, gps, or microtex bar tape. So perhaps a bit anachronistic. 

I'm just waiting on a couple components right now, the most important of which are the WHEELS! So right now, the drivetrain isn't even what it should be without the WI 18T freewheel in back. I'm on the 14T of a 9 speed cassette right now, which makes for some interesting (read: difficult) gearing.

Eventually it will be a 3x1 setup with a 40, 50 and 60 inch gear. High engagement, simple rear mech, and the rear wheel is an ENO eccentric disc hub, so if everything goes to hell out in the wilds, I can always bolt on a cog, tension the chain with the eccentric hub, and ride out fixed.

But the rest of the bike is shaping up nicely. Try to ignore the silly low spoke count Xero wheels.

Yes, that is a friction shifter on the downtube. A nice one.
Have seen these as original equipment on 30 year old bikes still working perfectly.
No rear derailleur, no STI levers, no worries.

Specialized Crossroads 700x38 Armadillo Elite.
Happy to report that these tires are working very well.
Fast and quiet on the road, plenty of grip offroad and in the muck.
The Tektro CR720 brakes are very nice as well. Powerful with good modulation. Kool-Stop Tectonic pads on those.

Here's the cockpit. A bit crowded, but everything is there.
Soma Junebug Bars. Wide, shallow, flared, with a good on-the-hoods position as well.
700 lumens of light from the Niterider MiNewts, Garmin Edge 500 GPS, a PB wireless cyclometer,
and my digital camera case on a QR mount.

I was trying to figure out how to capture some video while riding the bike.
So I took the pan/tilt head off of an old tripod and zip-tied it to the bars.
It is very secure, acts as a mild shock mount, the camera is supported by the QR mount next to it,
and it has its own QR plate. What more could you ask for? Yes, it does look a bit odd.

But then, so does this. Alien spacecraft?
Or, remember those lovely films from the 80s about the military robot that
 gains sentience after being struck by lighting?
Short Circuit. Yeah. I'm not naming my bike Johnny 5.

A reminder...

From the Buddhist perspective on time and existence, the only thing that exists, the only thing we can ever "have" is this moment. This one. Right now. Anything else is just thinking arising from the mind, and can only serve to distract us from reality.

So when the sun burst through the early a.m. fog, and blue skies started appearing, it was time to 'do' not time to 'think.' I got Julian dressed and we scooted out the door in a kind of jubilant excitement. We were halfway to Higgins Ave before I even really formulated a thought about what we were doing. Our movement was natural, instinctive, and immediate. The sirens' call of the sun, the sky, the mountains. And before we knew it, we were in the woods.

Something just feels right about walking amidst these towering trees.

Even we were walking on the shoulder of a paved road,
it was mostly covered in snow anyways.

At this point we had climbed about 750 feet up Pattee Canyon, and my copilot was beginning to look a little antsy.

I think he is done sitting.

Fortunately, we were right next to the Crazy Canyon TH... so we parked the bike and wandered a bit. Well... I wandered a bit. Julian went tearing off into the woods with a definite purposefulness.

He says, "That way, Dad!"

I have mentioned before that this kid loves to be in the woods, and loves to run. Today, I fell behind. Here he is, enjoying every second of his time up here with hardly a second thought, and I'm taking pictures and thinking of my blog. He's better at staying "only in this moment" sometimes than me. I plead temporary insanity, and admit my desire to share this scene, one of the prettiest outdoor photos I've taken in months.

Forest. Blue skies. Sunlight.

We hiked up the trail a bit and turned back when we could no longer see the parking lot. The sun was in and out, and the wind was beginning to pick up. I managed a shot of Julian at the turn around point in the last of the sunlight.

This is one happy kid.

Back to the bikes, and time for a little snack. Walnut oatmeal raisin Clif Bars are really quite good. Julian ate his piece, we talked about sharing, and then he began foraging around on the forest floor.

"What's this?" Some fresh, green, spongy lichen.

Time to roll. The descent down the canyon was cold. It wasn't cold out, but the wind had shifted around, so our ground speed in addition to the wind speed was producing some bitter windchill. We emerged from the canyon and got back on the riverfront trail where there was some shelter from the wind, faces red, and fingers numb. Crossing the river, I spotted some ducks, and Julian started pointing out more of them, until I think we had individually identified every duck on the river.

Ducks.

By the time we started towards home, it was windy, cold and gray. Julian wasn't so thrilled about being outside anymore, and I was beginning to feel slightly underdressed. I reminded myself that I had been chasing the sun into the forest, climbing in a t-shirt just an hour earlier. These moments underscore two very important points.

1. Mindfulness means more than thinking about the present moment. It means really being aware of that moment, and what your correct function is at that moment. 

2. He who hesitates is lost.

Virtual Route Finding

I have been spending a great deal of time looking at maps lately. Not an entirely pleasant activity, but I just haven't been able to put it down.

I got this idea in my head after seeing some video of a ride down Rock Creek. I thought, wouldn't it be great if you could ride out of Missoula, head down Rock Creek, cross the Sapphires, and then come back to Missoula, all in the mountains?

So, yeah... it IS possible.

It is not what I had envisioned, however. You see, I had this fantasy where one could climb into the mountains, ride along the well defined spine of the Sapphires, and descend around Eightmile and then into Miller Creek. Fabulous. Except that the Welcome Creek Wilderness is one of those pesky "No Mechanized Vehicles" areas... so no bikes.

The alternative route must go around the Wilderness Area, and cross three very steep drainages in the process.

(note to self: I should really actually buy Topofusion. It is great software that I have been using frequently.)

115 miles, 16,000 feet of climbing.

Once you climb up at Cinnamon Bear, there's (right to left, south to north)
Ambrose, Three Mile, Cooney Ridge, and Eightmile.
That's some climbing right there.

So the route has been found. I really doubt my own ability to do it at this point. Especially inside a two day time constraint.

I am planning to do the portion of this route from Missoula down Rock Creek, across the Sapphires, and then up to Ambrose Saddle, but will probably head down toward Florence via the Eastside Hwy from there. There are a few people interested already. Could be a great trip. Two days of bikepacking on the Lolo NF. I'm thinking late June or early July depending on what the weather does.

Sunday Rides

It decided to be really nice on Saturday. The sun came washing down from blue skies, the temps soared above 40 degrees, and we were hanging out in shorts and t-shirts enjoying every drop of Spring while doing some much needed bike maintenance.

So when it decided to be nice again on Sunday, we all went for a ride up Grant Creek Rd. We didn't know if it would still be frozen near the top, but I was determined to get my 1000 ft. of climbing in for the weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Sun dappled snow along the creek.

The road was a little icy. Further down, it was a melting, flowing mess.

Turns out, it is still icy and snowy at the top, but I got my climbing and we had a great ride.

We got the mudflap situation sorted so we could ride this without the J man getting totally filthy.

From my apartment, to the top of Grant Creek Rd, and then back down to the coffee shop where we usually stop is almost exactly 15 miles with 1000 feet of ascent and 875 feet of descent according to GPS. A nice sunday morning toodle. And, I think we got a little sunburned, actually. I'm not complaining. We probably got as much sun exposure in the last two days as we've gotten in the last two months.

My bike is finished enough to ride, so I rode it even though the current gearing is a little high. My new wheelset hasn't arrived yet, so my lowest gear was about 50 gear inches. I did much of the ride in my 66 inch gear as well. I'll explain that a bit later. Full build spec and photos to come... I just want to finish it first.

March

In Colorado we had a simple two-word phrase for heavy, wet, sticky snow that piled up and coated everything, usually melting off into huge piles of slush and icy puddles by afternoon. "March snow." I guess the same applies in Montana. March 1st. Right on time.

Usually there are mountains in this picture.