solo bonus

sometimes rolling solo has major perks. You get to see things at what ever pace you like. You can also leave, stop and go anytime you like. In this case my ride down piquett creek was a success due to the fact that i scored some plump morel shrooms. The ride ended up short...... however, the outting was long as i had a very hard time leaving an area ripe for the picking. Morels rock ! Grilled on top of a steak, bathed in melted butter. A cold can of kokanee while tending the barbie.....yummy.

how bout' that front chainwheel

before shimano biopace of the late eighties they had:

happy b-day ride

yessir.....i'm officially 36 years young. My wife Tracy and i had the afternoon to ourselves and decided to invite the bikes along for a little celebration. Willow creek style.

12 mile dirt road climb that eventually leads to trail, but before we could ride trail....2 hours of fantastic hiking through very deep snow drifts.

the bday surprise....yours truely smiling at the thought of dry singletrack and a fantastic 7 mile drop

Tracy

chad

Tracy

weekend

This past weekend was quite interesting and also a darn good time. Friday after work Brian and i headed toward Dillon MT (with our mtbs) to volunteer our services as mechanics for the annual RATPOD road ride which is a 140 mile, single day ride around the Pioneer Mountains and actually up and over them. On our way over to Dillon we stopped at the May Creek trail for a short mtb ride along a nice slice of smooth and mellow singletrack. It was a nice cool evening for a ride until you stopped long enough for the mosquitos to settle in. Damn Mosquitos !! So with pests at hand we quickly loaded the Toyota back up and headed toward the big hole valley.....and of course you can't stop through Wisdom MT without stopping at Fetty's for dinner (and a beer), and finally further down the road we ended up at Jackson Hotsprings to soak (and drink another beer) and to spend the night in one of their more affordable rooms which also happens to be a singlewide trailer parked out (far) back in grass that was 2ft in height. The cheap bed seemed just about right for a weary head.

Next morning came very early and Brian and i were back into the toyoter as we were expected to be in Dillon by 6am.

there was an early morning buzz as 500 cyclists all gathered for the 7th annual ride for Camp Mak-A-Dream fundraiser. Brian and i soaked up the excitement until our assignments were handed to us and then we SLOWLY followed small groups of cyclist until a nice view obstructed our attention and then we'd pull over for awhile as cyclists passed by....hoping that one or another would need our assistance.

an early view from the rearward mirror:

a picture of Joe, Rick, Brett, and Rick.

early am cattle drive

scenery over Crystal Park

so all in all it was a purdy darn good afternoon. Brian and i reckon to have worked on approx 25-30 bikes...some easy and some not so easy repairs. After the ride the ride organisers provided dinner, good music, and handed out awards for the top fundraisers (which was $18,000!!!).

The following sunday afternoon, Brian and i rewarded ourselves with a mtb ride in the Pioneer Mountains and on a trail that neither of us had been on (you know....since we were in the area we kinda felt entitled). And it was purdy darn good too !