Descent From Pipestone Pass- Day Five

I finally got my GoPro helmet camera up and running and took this video on the last of the major descents on Cycle Montana. This is Pipestone Pass on old US10 headed east out of Butte, MT.  It wasn't the fastest or the longest of the descents by a long shot but it was good fun.nonetheless. Pic of the top of the Pass:

And the ride down, again, headed east.
Video Part1: Click to make larger!

More of this video is coming soon.

A Walkabout Around Butte

I really should have posted this earlier but maybe it will work okay to do it now from home.

My first thought when I saw that our CM rest day in Butte was, well, not so favorable. Bozeman and Missoula have much more hip reputations, being college towns with much more "leisure time physical activity" going on. But I am told by my friends from Montana that Butte folks are known to be very vocal advocates for their home town. And now I can see why.

For one thing downtown Butte is situated high on a hill with a spectacular view of the valley below. It has a great stock of Victorian houses and other 19th century buildings with a large number of them on the National Register of Historic Places. Butte has a fascinating history based or the "extraction" of minerals, especially copper, and the mining industry is responsible for both the boom and bust that have obviously taken place in the area. The Montana Tech campus, where Cycle Montana set up camp, is a truly lovely place with a great view overlooking the downtown area and the valley below. I can highly recommend a visit to the campus Mineral Museum though, sadly, I did not get any photos of that. The historic hotel in downtown Butte was a good mile walk from the CM campsite so the walk back and forth offered the occasion for a look at some of Butte's old neighborhoods. I was told that young Levi Leipheimer grew up in Butte. If so, I can see where he got his legs for there are some truly scary San Francisco-like hills all over the place!

Anyway, here is a selection of pics from our layover day in Butte, Montana:

This might also be a good place to comment on the cuisine of Cycle Montana. It was just excellent! A shameless plug is well-deserved for Chef Kathy at feeding-the-tribe. Thanks Kathy... well done!

 Tour mechanic Don needs to be fed too! He looks guilty of something here....

Yum!

Cycle Montana Day Six

Three Forks to Belgrade

Today's Garmin Link
Well today was the end of the 2011 Cycle Montana saga... kind of a parade lap really. Just a simple ride of 35  miles or so to get back to our point or origin near Bozeman. I had breakfast at the 3-4Ks Cafe in Three Forks and Bike Forums 50+ member Brad saw my bike at the Cafe and stopped in just to say goodbye before taking off down the road. That made me feel really good. I enjoyed Brad's company and think we might be good friends if we lived in the same town.

Again today I probably did not take as many pictures as I should have. We rode by the entrance to Missouri Headwaters State Park, a place I am kind of interested in, but I decided to drive back over later after the ride.  I did this only to find the place shut down due to flooding. What a disappointment! This is the Madison River taken along the way today:... roaring and very muddy with sediment. Not good for flyfishing!

Throughout this event I have mostly ridden along alone, in my own little cocoon so to speak. With only about 60 riders and people starting at different times etc. that is just the nature of these things. There can always be socializing at water stations, lunch and at other meals. But about half way through the ride today something nice happened. Now all Adventure Cycling road rides require riders to display reflective triangles that have your name printed on them and it is possible to notice another persons name while riding along. Well a rider I had chatted with briefly on day one of the ride cruised up by me and it turns out that her last name is the same as mine and a long conversation about family origins ensued as the miles rolled by. We agreed to meet up for pictures back at camp. It was really nice to make a new friend even if it was at the end.

Well, as I said, I did not take many pictures today. But here is one taken at the water stop. Mechanic Don is in dark sweatshirt.

This was taken in camp as people packed up to go home.
 

This is the tour baggage guy. Matt. He was very affable all week long and is greatly appreciated. He also gave a very nice talk on Montana history last night! Thanks, Matt!

Larry (left), Richard and I had a nice dinner and terrific conversation tonight. Richard says he likes his Bike Friday more than his Pinarello!

Thank you Old Reliable! You did not let me down!

Cycle Montana Day Five

Note: You can click these pictures to see them full size. The detail is much better.

We rode out of Butte and over the Continental Divide at Pipestone Pass to Three Forks, MT today for a total of 66.5 miles. After the descent of the pass we rode through a great agricultural plain and the nice little town of Whitehall, where we had our lunch break. Then we followed the Jefferson River through a spectacular canyon before finally arriving at Three Forks. Everyone was impressed by the beauty of the canyon section of this ride. There seemed to be a little sadness at dinner because everyone knew it was our last night together. I did not get as many photos as usual today because, for one thing, I was able to climb this pass nonstop (!) . And this ride was by far my fastest overall of the week and I was just flowing through it. I felt at the end it was a day I could have ridden a century. But here are a few of the photos I did get:

The water stop at the top of the pass was a landmark of the day, along with lunch and the coffee shop in Whitehall.

I have a nice helmet-cam video of the complete downhill ride from the pass that I will post when I get home. It should be fun to watch on a fast computer. Here are some shots taken along the Jefferson river:

Lowlight of the day was road construction and very rough pavement for the last three miles into the campground. I did not get any photos of that but did get a nice shot of "Ole Reliable" just before the bone shaking began.

Tomorrow it is a short 37 mile trek back to our point of origin in Belgrade, outside of Bozeman.

GARMIN LINK FOR TODAY'S RIDE

Cycle Montana Day Four- Part 2

Wise River to Butte, MT- about 55 miles

This was one of the best cycling days ever. Leaving Wise River my legs were very tired at first but a relatively level ten-mile ride along the Big Hole River loosened them up just fine. It was some of the nicest scenery you could ask for.

At mile 10.9 we turned north onto little-used County Road 539 and climbed slowly for about ten miles up a picturesque valley to a water stop at a place called the Mule Ranch Overlook. Wow! (Note: you can click to enlarge pictures in this post... try it here!)

About five miles of periodic climbing followed, ending with the steepest climb of the entire ride- about 3/4 mile at 7 to 10 percent grade to the top of the Continental Divide. That hurt a lot but the result was worth it! For the next eight miles the road pitched downward, and very steeply for the first mile or two, which had very bumpy pavement.

Daredevils in the group started ripping down that valley from the very top, but I took it slowly until the pavement smoothed out. Then I did not turn a pedal stroke (except to stretch my legs or shift balance) and barely touched the brakes for the next six miles. My average speed was about 30 mph and it was a huge thrill. It just kept going and going with gentle curves and good vision ahead all the way. I have never ridden so fast for so long.... amazing! GARMIN LINK CLICK HERE

The rest of the ride in to Butte was less than thrilling and included about 6 miles on I-90 and about 3 miles on an unpaved path finishing at the Montana Tech campus in Butte.I quicky headed off to the Hotel Finlen and arrived there just in time to avoid a pretty severe thunderstorm.

A day of rest in Butte is very welcome. Lots of Victorian architecture to view here...I am going to try some video going down Pipestone Pass tomorrow.

Cycle Montana Day Four- Part 1

Today we are in Butte, MT for a day of rest. It was quite an interesting 55 mile ride yesterday- more to follow later on that.

I have enjoyed getting to know fellow Bikeforums 50+ member Brad, though we have not pedaled a single stroke together. He is always a very early starter and, I surmise, a faster rider than me. We had a good walk back from dinner yesterday to our hotel through the historic district of Butte.

 Start of Day 4 in Wise River- I will not see Brad again until dinner.... hmmm, does he really ride?

I wore my official Bikeforums 50+ jersey yesterday and received compliments from a young California couple passing me on the road at about mile 20.

Thinking back on four days and about 250 miles of riding (and there is lots of time for thinking at my climbing speed), two impressions come to mind:

1. It is dang satisfying to ride a bike you have built for yourself. My bike was an eBay frame I got about 8 weeks ago and every piece on it was selected with this ride in mind. It has performed flawlessly and been extremely comfortable all the way. (I did mount one of my Brooks saddles, which I do not really use for shorter local rides and that was a great decision.) Sure, an extra gear would have been nice a time or two. I am not much for naming my bikes, but "Ole Reliable" comes to mind.... or perhaps it should be "Funbringer"? No it must be the former since yesterday's "brisk" downhill ride had me thinking preeminently about bike reliability and its relationship to remaining alive. Ole Reliable has seen many scenes this week and would have some great stories to tell:

2. The big mountains out here are a very different kind of bicycling experience. Nowhere else can you spend so much time going incredibly slow (thinking 15 mph would be so cool but you will never go that fast again) and then suddenly (when you are very tired) an invisible force is relentlessly pushing you to heretofore unimaginable, and obviously life threatening, speeds limited by who knows what. This, for me at least, truly takes some getting used to. But, heaven help me, I do think I love it.

Cycle Montana Day Three

Dillon to Wise River- 74 miles

Due to unexpected internet access I offer a quick report: Tonight those of us not camping reside in the Wise River Club where a local cowboy poet performed for us in the bar. I am told that about 75 persons reside in Wise River, which is on the banks of the Big Hole River.

Aside from the 4000 feet of climbing which is unbelievably slow or me, the featured events of the day were descents from the summit of Badger Pass into the arid Big Hole Valley

and the descent from Grasshopper Pass to Wise River, which is more forested and twisty.

In both cases the only question is "how fast do you dare to go?" and I highly recommend they be placed on the bucket list of any avid descender. The entire 28 mile ride down from Grasshopper Pass to Wise River is almost entirely downhill and is an amazingly fun ride though not all of it is hair-raisingly steep.

There are places to cool your rims if the need arises.

The view from the deck of the Grasshopper Inn was exceptional. It was a great place for lunch.

 It is 54 miles to Butte tomorrow, where we have a layover/recovery day.

LINK TO ALL OF TODAY'S PHOTOS