Yeah yeah...I know.  It's been a while.  Its been busy times. Summer is here.  Along with work and a heavier than normal work schedule.  I've also helped Kelsey landscape the whole back yard. 

There is still some more to do but this is as far as we are at this point.

I also finished up an art show that is hanging at the Daily Coffee Bar this month. 

This is one of the pieces unfinished.  I made a sunset style sky, and hung two rounded ends held by cafe hooks to the top and bottom.  Both with a sun on them.  All the lines are wood burned and the color is stain.  I also decorated around 14 skateboard decks of which I have sold 5.  I will post more pictures of this all as I get pictures.

Not much else other than all of that has been happenin' around here except some river trips.



This picture is at the take out below house rock.  You Tube it.  It is a crazy stretch of rapids.  They call the run "The Mad Mile".   It is.  I was thrown from the boat and was swept away from the boat after holding on through two huge waves.  "Crazy" also seen in the picture above was thrown out at house rock.  It was a crazy, wild ride.  SO much fun.

There has also been a couple drunk floats on the Jefferson and on the Madison rivers.




And a small camping trip with hike at Pine creek. 




Good times had by all!

Even Driggs.

        

Today was a good day. 

Logan and I decided to do a little shuttle action and hit Brackett creek.  I think this might also be known in these parts as the Bangtail divide.  Heak of a trail.  We climbed for about an hour on a fire road, then hit some sweet single track.  I am going to have to say this is my new favorite trail here in the Bozeman area.  It is what most would call "Cherry".  The views were stunning the whole way.  We had clear views of the Bridger, Spanish Peaks, and the Crazy mountain ranges.

Like I said.

"Cherry"

Here are some pictures from the EPIC ride today...



Nice view of the Crazy mountain range.




The Bridger mountain range.



The whole way down was perfect single track.  Lots of switchbacks but the trail is well built with most of the corners built with a berm.



Here's Logan! 



...and one of the biggest dorks ever.


Anyway, as you all can see, today was quite the day. 

Anyone traveling through the area should hit this ride for sure.

All right...time for beer and dinner. 

Sleep.

And what the hey...get up and do it all again tomorrow?

        

I am amazingly worked. 


Awoke this morning to the phone ringing and a little voice saying....

"Be there in a half hour."

These at first thought, these are words that hurt...but really, getting up is all you have to do.

We took off to the Bozeman creek trail head and headed up the fire road 9 1/2 miles....and yes I said up.  Once we got to the lake we decided to do some exploring and climbed a few miles further and found a nice meadow looking at some mountain peaks and the beginning blooms of flowers.




After a quick break with this guy...



...we took off heading downhill.  The part that makes it all worth it.   The ride home was sweet!  We took a single track trail back down to Mystic lake and all of the views were stunning.




This is the second single speed "real"ride of the season. And holy cow I feel it. And finally...dare I day it...no more snow falling.  One week before summer solstice.

I say it is the second ride of the season...because Sunday I took off up South Cottonwood creek.  I can't wait to do this ride again...well both of 'em.  South Cottonwood was a beautiful trail with some river crossings...



...and mountain meadows.  I wanted to ride further back than I did but eventually hit snow and I still had to ride back to town.  I'd say another good 12 miles or so after leaving the trail, on the road.


Good times and nice weather are here...

Time to take advantage.

Anyway, like I said I am spent.  I am going to run down to the local coffee bar to revive a bit so I can muster up some energy just to make dinner.  Two more weeks and all this will be easy....

...right?

        

     Ok...so I havn't posted in a while.  But, times have been rather chilly and wet.  My camera is now busted from trying to ride in it.   It's crazy.  It's June.  What's that?  You don't  believe me...


Check this out.

        

     This morning I started off on my regular routine.  I woke up...slowly.  Heated up some water.  Ate some oat meal and sucked on some coffee that I am not even done with yet.  There are a couple web sites I check while enjoying that joe.  One being the drunk cyclist site.  Big J does such a good job on letting us know what is going on in the cycling world and  what not. 

    This morning I couldn't believe my eyes.  My jaw is still hanging open.  I can't even think of what I want to say about it.  So I am just going to drop it on you all.

  

Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico (Monday June-2-2008) Seven competitors from yesterday cyclist race were severely injured after being hit by a drunk driver, one of them died and other three were hospitalized. The drunk driver was arrested after the rest of the participants tried to lynch him.

30 year old Alejandro Alvarez, from Brownsville,Texas, was pronounced dead on the scene, while Alejandro Salvador Tamez, 18, Juan Machaita, 38, and Guadalupe Martinez,, 16, were severely injured.

Cyclists were participating in a race from Matamoros to Bagdad Beach, when drunk driver Jesse Campos, a Brownsville, Texas resident, in his Ford Grand Marquis, license 659-FKF from Texas, impacted seven cyclists, even as they were being escorted by Local Transit Officials.

News Source: Periodico El Bravo
Pictures Taken By: Fidelino Vera

This is a story that comes out every day.  Driver hits cyclist.  Always in some kind of back page or hidden article.  Usually nothing happens to the driver.  Hopefully some day that will all change. 

There was a picture taken at the event.  It is hard to look at so don't look if things like this bother you.




Cyclist awareness is something that most people think is a joke.  This picture is NO F-ING JOKE.

Drivers take some responsibility.  Realize that your car can take out people.  And for crying out loud...stop driving drunk.  I know 2 people personally now that have been hit by a car.  One was hit by a drunk driver, and one hit by someone not paying attention.   One can walk now...and one can't.

Pay attention.  It's that easy.

Todays ride will be in total silence for these guys.

Want links to more articles on this subject?

Go to www.drunkcyclist.com  

I think he even has a section called bikers down.  You can see a BUNCH of instances like these.  And I think he has links to articles from CNN and such.

Take care and be safe.

        

I posted more pictures from Yellowstone. Hit the photo page to see.

        

     I think from now on I will never report on spring being here.   Or, if I do, I should surely knock on wood. 

     Last Tuesday Kelsey and I packed up the car and headed out of town in shorts and tank tops.  After an hour and a half of driving we arrived in West Yellowstone with huge flakes of snow falling.  Good ol' mountain weather.  I hear it even snowed in Flagstaff through my favorite site www.drunkcyclist.com . 

     Wed. morning was just like waking up to a December morning.  Still snowing.  Any ride on the road that connects West to Norris was not happening.  We were just happy to be able to drive into the park.  When it snows there and the plows start running they close the entrance gates until the plows are off the road.  Luckily we made it in time.

    We ate some darn good breakfast and visited the funniest, most cracked out (in a good way) T-shirt shop ever.  The people who work there are hilarious.  One lady is a barkeep at night, and the older lady was also the driver of the short bus for elderly that runs from West to Bozeman.  The two put together were a riot.  Did you know that Unicorns were in Yellowstone?  I didn't.  Until then.  They had Yellowstone shirts of all varieties.  Ones with bears, eagles, moose, elk, bison, and unicorns.  Who would have ever thought?  Of course one of us had to get one.

West Yellowstone.  Everyone should go there and hang out at least once in their lives.


     No unicorn sightings though.  Maybe they don't come out in the snow.  Or their white coats are good camo.  Who knows?

     We made it into the park to find the water levels higher than I have ever seen them.  I guess this is our year for floods.  There were parts of the park where usually there is a tiny trickle of a babbling brook turned raging river.  Here is a shot of how the Yellowstone river is flowing.




As we continued to Lake Yellowstone the snow levels kept getting higher and higher.  It was kind of cool.  It reminded me of the couple winters I worked there.



     Good times though.  The night we arrived we were going to try to go to Old Faithful to try to find some of my Moms friends.  But, alas!!!  The roads were closed due to snow.  We were stuck.  Not a bad place to be stuck in though.  The Lake dining room does a darn good job at fixin' some meals.  After dinner we just sat and talked to some hotel guests and a few dear friends I haven't seen in about 7 years.  The lobby has windows all around and the view was amazing.  Lots of snowfall and it was still cold enough that the lake was still fully frozen over.  Thats chilly seeing how the lake is 110 miles if you were to hike the whole shore. 

     The next day, the roads opened.  Still snowing though.  We took a jaunt to Old Faithful.  I would love to show you a picture of it but it was steam on the background of snow dropping clouds.  Gray.  After locating friends for a quick drink, and exploring the Old Faithful Inn, we took off on the scenic route back to Lake. 

     Due to the weather we decided to pick 2 major stops to enjoy.  The first being the midway geyser basin.  Midway is a smaller basin that is technically attached to the lower geyser basin.  Old Faithful is in the upper.
Midway was once referred to "hells half acre".  It has 2 of the largest hot springs in the world.  One being Grand Prismatic.



Which is over 370 ft. in diameter.  The steam is covering it but the water is a deep blue.  Also, those tracks you see in the bottom of the picture are from bison.  Bison use thermal basins to help them survive the winters.  The other major pool here is Excelsior geyser.  Excelsior is 328 ft. in its widest point.  It was the largest geyser in the world but has been dormant since the 1880's other than one eruption in '85.  It used to erupt to 300 ft. but now is just a thermal pool that discharges over 4000 gallons of water per minute.  Yes, per minute.  Pretty amazing in my book. Once again I couldn't get a good shot due to the steam.  Heh...but the walk ways were nice.



     After strolling around for a while it was time to head on.  The next stop was The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It's not a small canyon being about 20 miles long.  It houses 2 major waterfalls. Upper and Lower Falls.  What creative naming.  I guess they saved that for the geysers.



    Anyway, back to the canyon.  The waterfalls had a real stomach felt rumble to them due to the water being so high.  Simply majestic.




   It doesn't even look real.


   At the completion of the lower loop the snow and cold weather had taken a toll on us so we hit the lake employee pub where I found my name still written on the wall from '98.  It's kind of a tradition for employees to put their name somewhere inside the pub.  There are thousands of names.  It was a surprise to remember where I had put it because I'm sure I was slightly intoxicated when I put it there. 

   Much to our surprise we awoke to sunshine on Friday morning.  With huge smiles on our faces we said goodbye to our friends and B-lined it to Norris Geyser basin.  Norris is one of the hottest places on earth.  I remember hearing guests tell stories of the bottoms of their shoes getting hot and almost melting because the ground was so hot.  The basin changes there so much that NPS has to move the boardwalks often.  To give a couple examples on why it is so hot here, average crest depth of the earth is 90 miles.  In Yellowstone it is less than 40 miles.  Norris is a magma intrusion.  Intrusions are anywhere from 4-10 miles.  Crazy to think about it.  Especially while standing on that spot...knowing it is a super volcano....that could take out the world.  WOW.  What a big mass of energy. 

    I guess they tried to drill into the basin to study it once.  They drilled to 265 ft. and they had to stop due to steam.  The temp. at that depth was 401 deg... Holy cow...or bison for that matter.  Or if you are from West Yellowstone....HOLY UNICORN! 

     Anyway, Steamboat geyser was being slightly active for us.  Spitting water and blowing steam that sounded like a train.  Steamboat is the tallest geyser in the world sometimes erupting up to 380 ft.  The only thing is its unpredictability.  It could be days...to years.



Norris is such a neat place.  The acidity crating the barren landscape sometimes makes you feel like you are on Mars.



I am posting all of the pictures from the trip on the photo site.  You can get to it by going to:

http://photos.longhaultruckettes.com

     Friday night I was dropped off in lower elevations with hope for warmer weather.  At this point it was just me and my bicycle.  WOO HOO!!!  It seemed the weather was clearing up and even the local weather man said it was going to. 

     Never trust the weather man.

      I woke up to clouds slowly moving in.  I started pedaling sometime just after 6  a.m.  For most of Paradise valley it remained dry.  This part of the ride was AWESOME!  I saw bald eagles, bighorn sheep, mule deer, bison, elk, geese, and pelicans. 




   The rain started about 45 miles into the ride.  After a stop in Livingston for some warm coffee and a hot dog I headed up Bozeman pass.  Just before I was at the top, the temp. dropped and  it started raining hard.  At about 64 miles (for some reason I remember it clearly) my old Craft rain gear started failing.  Pushing on I thought I would be able to make it but somewhere around my 75th mile, cold started to set in and I still had 30 to go.  I turned around from ascending Jackson Creek roads pass and headed toward the interstate after calling Kelsbot for a ride home.  I think I found out the wrong way what the beginning stages of hypothermia feels like.  But it was worth it.  Every rain drop.

    After all of that, macaroni and cheese with a Fat Tire beer never tasted so good!  Never heard of Fat Tire???  Where have you been??  Want to know what it is? Go to www.newbelgium.com

   All right.  I'm done talking all of your ears off.  If you want to see more pictures, here is the link again:


                                            http://photos.longhaultruckettes.com









    

        

     What a great past couple of days!  I have officially started my vacation. I decided to go...well, nowhere. There is nothing like taking some time off and exploring the region you live in.  Luckily, Bozeman is actually a pretty nice place to just hang out. 

     Friday, I just decided to run a bunch of errands.  I hooked up the BOB and went to it.  First to grab dog food. Then to the store.  I paid off some co-workers with beer as thanks for working my shifts this week.  I found that I can carry 2 twenty-four packs of PBR and 1 twenty-four pack of Ranier in the BOB without any problem.  The Surly stayed stiff and didn't really flex much.  Surly.  What a great name.

    After shopping I decided I wasn't done riding yet and took the fixie out for about 15 mi.  It was nice to finally be riding in warmth after a great north winter long of riding in frigid temps with constant wind. 

     Lets hear it for spring.  I am sure you all are feeling the same.

     Yesterday I actually got up at 6:30.  Went to my favorite coffee shop.  Had a couple shots of joe along with one of their yummy, yummy bacon breakfast burrito. Then hopped on the steed.  Put a good 45 miles on with lots of stopping and hangin' out in the sun.  Those Raniers looked so good in the fridge, I grabbed one and told myself I could have it at the top.

     CHEERS!!!  Also, check out the water bottles.  They are made by a company called Klean Kanteen.  Check them out at www.kleankanteen.com .  They are stainless steel water bottles.  There has been research coming about saying that some plastic bottles leak certain chemicals that could cause cancer.  You can read a little about it here.  Or you can pretty much just google safe plastic and it will give you plenty of articles.  Try www.care2.com/greenliving/which-plastics-are-safe.html 

     Anyway, I love mine. 

     Here are a few photos from yesterday.



Even the little homie was stiked to get out today!



And remember just 6 days ago...in a previous post, it was snowing.  Yesterday, the surrounding peaks were BOOMIN!




     To top off the day, Kelsey and I decided to go for some Fiesta Mexicana food complimented with a nice pitcher of margs.  Yummy.

     Today has been a nice a relaxing day.  I even took a nap.  The wind is blowing hard today.  So, pretty much just hangin' out with the dog and fixing bikes.  Doin' a couple part swaps and what not. 

     This week is looking like it will be a good one.  I plan on another venture to the lake tomorrow. Then on Tuesday, Kelsey and I are heading in to Yellowstone for a few days.  We are taking the bikes and I plan on riding back to Bozeman from the north part of the park.

     So...until next time.  Cheers!  And once again,

                                                                      HAPPY SPRING!

 

  

        

Today was a darn good day.  I slept in after pulling a double at work yesterday.  Packed the good ol' seat bag...



..along with some rain gear of course.  And hit the road.  I went up Hylite Canyon up to the lake, sat, popped open one shown beer (see above), and watched a snow storm move in on me.  It was really beautiful.  Luckily I had my rain stuff cuz by the time I finished my beer it started snowing...which led to rain as I went back down the canyon.  I logged about 45 of the most beautiful miles I have ridden so far this year.  The rain was making the pine trees smell fantastic. Everything was so quiet you could hear every rain drop. 

Here is a couple shots from the ride.




Hylite lake was still frozen over a bit.




If you ever get the chance to calmly watch a spring storm roll in on you...I recommend doing it.  Watching the wind currents play with the land is pretty amazing.  Definitely worth the cold ride back down the hill.

Happy Mothers day to all the moms out there.  Especially mine!

        

Posting has been slow lately due to an unexpected sore throat.  I've been down since Saturday.  I went to head up Hylite canyon.  8 miles in to the trek.  The soreness arrived and swallowing ceased to be comfortable.  I rode home and have done nothing but sleep (and I went to work yesterday because I was feeling a bit better).

But, ALAS!  Today I am on the verge of being my own self again.  Driggs and I went for a short, very easy urban trail ride.  Here is a couple shots...




Driggs was lovin' the river after the long run.




Also, other things happenin' around these parts.  Kelsey received her new racks today.  She opted for some Tubus brand steel racks.  They seem to be some of the best on the market.  Here is what they look like mounted.




I think they look nice and classy.  But those are some tough little boogers. 

My frame seems to be having trouble with the paint job.  There are little bubbles forming ant they are slowly chipping off.  Here is a picture of one of the spots. 

That one is on one of the rear stays.  But most of the damage seems to be happening on the top tube.  There are spots where it has flaked off, and other spots where you can see it bubbling and about to chip off.  I am going to notify surly of the problem.  It seems to me they didn't prepare the frame properly before powder coating it.

I will keep you updated on how that turns out.

Anyway, it is still nice outside...so I think I might take  a short stroll to the local brewery (the Bozone) and grab a Growler for the evening.  It is the weekend for me, ya know.

Cheers!