Rad Ride

Threatdown

Took the new setup (see below) out Buck Creek Road loop, towards Huntley Butte north of Absarokee. About halfway, heading down Buck Creek West Road right next to the old Homestead, I saw two green dots reflecting my light back to me. It was about 10:30 pm, and Kip was with me, so for a minute I though somehow he had gotten ahead of me.
Then the eyes rose up; it was a big black bear, who stood up on hind legs to look at me. I stopped the bike, turned around; Kip was still nowhere to be seen, behind me on the long downhill. Took out my bearspray and removed the safety clip.
The bear teetered, staring at me. My music kept blaring out into the darkness. I'm not sure the bear would have responded so cautiously, nor that I would have seen it so soon, and stayed so far away, without the music.
It seemed forever, but was probably only a few seconds. Then the bear got scared and ran the other way. I waited to make sure there weren't any followers. Big enough to be a mom, I was worried there may be kids nearby.
The bear went out of sight down the road. No choice but to follow. Kip caught up. We rolled slowly. When we intersected the bear's path, Kip perked up, caught the scent and gave chase. He stopped when I gave a loud "Leave it!!" and came back.
We followed cautiously. From time to time the bear would peer back from about 100 meters ahead and then keep running. After a few hundred meters the bear took off uphill, off the road, over a downed section of fence, off into the night.
Then we saw a skunk down the road, and a few owls. Great wildlife ride.

Radness

I was out at night because it was a crazy homeschool day yesterday. I spent a lot of one on on, way more than I planned, and so I was hours behind on other stuff. Need to ride though because I have a big race this weekend, and I also was eager to test a new drivetrain.
Installed my Rad Cage from OneUp Components yesterday, and took it out for a test ride last night. It's a replacement derailleur cage for mid cage Shimano XT / XTR derailleurs. I'm running a pretty new XT Shadow +. Installation was easy, using their Youtube instructions. I got the green one. Looks great on Shrek, who's pretty disgustingly matchy matchy black & green at this point.
The point of the Rad Cage is to realign the derailleur pulley during its travel, so that it stays close to the cassette in both the low and high gears. It's an idea similar to one in my patent from years ago, and again it's so cool to see these ideas we've been working on for years show up in the market.
The result: really nice crisp shifting.  It's on par with the best 10 speed shifting I've ever had.  It's the third best shifting bike I've ever ridden now, after my old 8 spd XC Pro shifter XT derailleur setup, and the second prototype version of my prototype derailleur.
The shifting is crisp, instant. Lever action is smooth and light. Running an unusual cable setup: it's the GORE Ride On system, now licensed by SRAM and packaged in full SRAM fashion with only a small badge reflecting the GORE legacy, from the shifter to the frame; then internal with the GORE sleeve; the internal routing for the TREK Farley stops there though, and there wasn't enough GORE 5mm to bridge the gap. I had to take my old NOKON aluminum segment housing, and use it for the derailleur loop, and then I stuck it into a hollow writing pen, and joined it to the GORE 5mm housing. It's a funky setup, but it seems to work really well.
The cassette is still the stock one, with the 42T adapter out back. Swapped to the Gold KMC chain, and it is really nice. Love the look, and it runs nice and smooth.
Lookout Spearfish: Shrek is running like a bat out of hell!

You got Schooled

Recess Spot for Homeschoolers

Science rocks.  Girls rock.
Girls doing science; oh yeah!!

How old were you when you first cloned?
Rose was seven.

The 3 Amigos de Red Lodge; Updates

Los Tres Amigos

2014 has been a year of evolution for the Johnsons; so much has changed, most of it with me.  A great reflection is Red Lodge: apart from my time cooking at the Pollard, I've spent more time in the Red Lodge area this year than I have in the previous six combined.  Red Lodge has become a part of my life on a weekly basis.
Last night I honored that by stringing together three of the standards of RL biking for one night ride.

Amigo Tres: Los Palisades

The newest section of RL singletrack, Palisades starts at a new TH a bit NW of RL.  Four miles of new, well-built, flowy ST wind through aspen groves and pine forests to Palisades Campground, down below the ski area.  It's very reminiscent of the best CO ST; I thought I was on Emerald MT in Steamboat.

I got my first KOM (King of the Mountain) on Strava, meaning that of all bikers that use Strava to chart their rides, I went the fastest on a section of the trail.  :-)

Transition

Does anybody know how to get from Palisades Campground to the junction of Ski Area Rd and West Fork Rd?  There's the obvious way to go through the housing development, but every road has at least one Private Road sign.  I couldn't figure it out, and ended up tacking on a few miles on the roads.  I don't mind that route, but it sucks for Kip.  Locals?  Red Rover?  Anybody?

Nichols Creek

Kip needed a breather after a long road section, so I popped up Nichols.  First time in at least four years.  There is something very unique about that little valley: it's so effing cold!  Every time I've been there, it seems ten or fifteen degrees colder than the surrounding area.  It is a tight, dark little valley with a lot of aspens, lots of shade, and lots of springs.  It also seems to channel an icy wind down from the Beartooths.
Froze last night going uphill on Nichols.  Then, on the way down, I got blasted with a super cold wind as I rode by the mouth of the valley.
So, if you're every in RL and want to cool down quickly, head up to Nichols for a safety meeting.

Amigo Numero Uno, El Jefe, El Queso Fresco Grande: Silver Run

The Granddaddy of RL MTBiking, Silver Run is comprised of one really nice doubletrack uphill, with three choices of a DH to make it a loop: Green, Blue, or Black (it's also a XC ski trail system).  I took the Blue last night, because it was getting late and I still had the big ski area climb coming, and Kip still had a big DH to deal with on West Fork Rd.
The Blue loop rocks.  It may be my favorite.  The Black loop is much more advanced, techy, and more of a real ride; if you want a real ride though there are so many better ones so close by (Ingles, Nichols, and Basin Lakes are all within a mile or two).  Last night was my first night ride there.  Such a great DH.  You're on this bench a couple meters above the creek, the ST is a couple feet wide, it's all very fast and steady.

Ski Area Rd

Great ride to get a read on your fitness.  This is a three mile or so uphill, with a very consistent pitch.  It's one of those rides when you feel great you cruise up it in the middle of your cogset, feel like it flies by.  I've also been on it and resorted to my granny sometimes.  I'll admit it.
Last night I kept it smooth, didn't push it and felt great.  I was in no hurry, and it did seem to take a while, but I was in the comfort zone the whole time, and that is a good feeling on a climb like this.  Especially at night.

Amigo Dos: Willow Creek

Now (with the addition of Palisades) the Sophomore of the RL scene, Willow is a great DH.  Last night I lost Kip in the early sections and ended up waiting a bunch and eventually riding back up to retrieve him.  I think he chased a squirrel and lost the trail at night.  But once I got him back I got to enjoy the bottom 2/3 of the run.  It was my first time, and I love it.  Pleasant surprise too as the creek had bridges at all the crossings.
I used to love creek crossings.  Then I started maintaining my own bike.  Now I love bridges.
Two miles of world class ST DH.  Then I met back up with Palisades, and enjoyed those four miles again.
There is nothing like doing a section of new ST.  It can be new to you, or new to the world.  Palisades, and pretty much Willow for that matter, are both.  Doubly cool.  Then, when you add to it that you do it for the first time at night, triply cool.
Plus, now I get to go back in the day, and it'll be like doing it for the first time again!

Updates

WTF Summer?!?!  Where'd you go?  Last night on the ride, I was cold!  Really cold.  This morning, cold in our house.  Last night I put my lights on at 8:30.  I used to come home without lights at 10.
Don't go yet, please!!  It's been such a great summer, I don't want it to end.
One reason: the Rocket Lodge and Save-a-Tree House projects.

Rocket Lodge

Experimenting with a lot of ideas in sustainable housing with our new sweat lodge.  Our old sweat lodge was a great first try.  It really made our last winter, and this spring.  The only problems: it could have been smaller horizontally and bigger vertically.  You could stand and stretch, but only one at a time.  Also, the spiders.  Big time spider hangout.
So, with the rocket lodge, we're going to build an actual house.  An Earthen house.  Sunk down in the ground, with Earthship style tire walls and nice, thick roof, with mud plaster on the inside, it'll be like a little Adobe Hobbit hole.
In the middle, we're trying our first Rocket Mass Stove.  I want one in the house, but we'll try it in the Sweat first so we can work out the kinks there.

Save-a-Tree House 

We want a Tree House.  No trees.  Can't afford proper lumber.  We have a deck that was poorly finished then destroyed in rain and has sat useless for four years.
Solution: take pallets, widely available locally, and use them to create a funky, fun, organic structure that bridges the gap from the backyard up to the deck and turns the hot, exposed deck into a cool little playground treehouse.
Started both projects and trying to plug away before the winter gets here.  Wish us luck.

Dakota 50

My last race of the year is coming.  Been a long recovery from Maah Daah Hey, and I've been backpacking instead of biking for the past week, so it's been tricky to get a feel on my fitness.  Judging by last night's ride, I think I'll be in a good spot at Dakota.
One example of that is my prep for a 50 mile race.  I've been going so big this year, it almost feels like a XC race of old, much more of a sprint than a marathon.  I'm going with a fast, light, aggressive plan.  Taking my lessons from Maah Daah Hey and Tatanka, I'm going to go out there and try to kick some ass on the uphills especially, put the hammer down, and try to mix it up towards the head of the race.  Can't wait!!!

Homeschool

With Yokie's schedule a bit akimbo lately, our homeschool has suffered too.  So, perfect time to put a bow on the summer quarter and get ready for the fall session.  We'll start today.

Summer Quarter Summary

We did a lot of math this summer.  Rose has passed her competency exam for second grade math.  We haven't finished all second grade curriculum yet, but almost.
We read a lot, and did a lot of creative story telling.  She has an imagination that is frankly nothing short of frightening.
Frisbee, biking, hiking, and gymnastics.  What summer session wouldn't have tons of PE?  Rose rocks the house at PE.

Fall Quarter Plan

Continue hiking and outdoor lessons.  During the summer her casting, hiking, biking, camping, and general outdoors knowledge and skills took a huge leap forward.  The fall is my favorite season to be out there, and I want to go on a lot of big day hikes and keep working biology and the above subjects.
Language.  We've been terrible this summer.  Non existent.  Since I can't work in the bike business for at least five years or so, it's time to refocus on French, and get Rose ready for our Paris trip.
Reading.  Time to get back to reading.
Oops, time for breakfast is what it is. . . .

Spirit Mountain Manslide

The Plan: 

Climb Spirit Mountain and spend a night on top.  It's a mesa-like mountain with a relatively large flat top. Then come down the next day and hike from lake to lake on the way home.  

Moon Creek: Most guidebooks say take a right here for Moon Lake.
I found it better to climb the left side of Moon Creek basin, not the right.
I did it accidentally, but there's a trail there too, and it was a scramble, but direct.

Looking back down Moon Creek towards Rock Creek.

Happy Kip!!!

Such a cool creek.  Probably six feet deep, but only a foot wide.

First glimpse of the Bear's Tooth

What Went Wrong: 

The Fantan Lake Incident still seared in my mind, I changed my approach at the last minute from Island Lake TH in Wyoming to Glacier Lake Trailhead on the state line.  Then the weather got worse and worse.  I decided at the last minute to bring fishing gear, which made my pack heavier.  And then I decided to take Moon Lake approach instead of what would have been the much more prudent Glacier Lake route.  Also started late.  Much of the approach was done on very wet ground, so all my equipment was pretty soaked when I got to Frosty Glacier.  On Frosty Glacier I got socked in by a storm.  

Long story short: everything that could go wrong went wrong, but I kept going on instead of being safe.  I paid for it. 

Not sure what exactly happened.  Towards the very top of Spirit Mt, on Frosty Glacier, I knew I had to turn around.  It was the thunder; I've never felt anything like it, I was inside the cloud that was thundering.  This cloud just kind of reared up and materialized all around the mountain.  It was hailing, snowing, laced with lightning, and rolling thunder. 

No Filter: the red in the air is dust being blown around. 

I panicked, and tried to get back down the mountain ASAP.  

Not sure of the details frankly.  I think I blacked out just a touch for a second.  I remember experimenting with a couple techniques for scooting safely down.  Then I remember tumbling through the air and looking down at the snowfield zooming by below me at an amazing rate, and trying to figure out how to stop.  I remember watching my right leg extended straight out and my heel slicing through the snow like an angry hoe, shooting up snow everywhere but not at all slowing me down.  

Then I was stopped.  Shattered and torn equipment continued to fall around me with pebbles and snow.   

I gathered what I could, adrenaline rushing, and ran / skied / slid / tumbled down to Frosty Lake.  

Frosty Glacier

Bad Mojo

Spotted a nice slice of flat grass on a bench above Frosty Lake just as darkness took hold.  Quickly pitched my tent and hopped in.  All my clothes were soaking wet and I needed to heat up.  

Frosty Lake

After a minute of warmth and repose in my bag, this wind picked up all of the sudden and the sky clouded again.  I made a mistake again and got out to put on my rainfly.  The rain never came, but the wind kept up for the next twelve hours solid, and for the first six of it I kept the fly on and suffered.  The fly acted like a sail and I spent six solid hours limbs akimbo, moving my pack and wet clothes around on the inside of the tent in an attempt to stay earthbound, as the tent was constantly threatening to leap skyward, off towards the glacier that was trying to suck me in again.  

During a thirty second respite from the wind, I scampered out naked in the night and took down the fly.  It helped a lot, but I still probably only slept an hour or so.  The wind got even stronger and started to collapse the tent on to me.  At six in the morning, it became clear the wind would never, ever, every stop blowing up the skirts of Spirit Mountain, I packed up all my stuff and got the $%*& out of there.  

Not twenty meters below the wind stopped.  

*&%$ YOU FROSTY LAKE!!!

Mountain Goat Lake

At a kind of island / bench on Mountain Goat Lake, I spent the warmest, nicest hour of my weekend unpacking all my stuff and drying it out.  Kip finally stopped trembling and slept in the hot sun.  

I took stock of the damages: smashed my sunglasses in two and shattered the remaining lens, lost a nalgene, tore my nice tights, lost my best pocket knife, and seriously jacked up my right shoulder, neck, jaw, and ear.  

But I was (very) alive. 

Get out of Dodge

You can't tell here, but about ten minutes after this picture with Kip, the weather took another crazy turn for the worse.  Also, it was becoming more and more apparent that my shoulder was jacked up, and backpacking out would be hard, much less fishing and backpacking my way out.

Looking down on Triangle and Glacier Lakes

Really wanted to fish Triangle.  It's supposed to be epic fishing.  No go though.  Storm coming.

Tried to sleep on the beach.  Second spot in the wild, after the bottom of the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone, that really made Kip uncomfortable.  Something here he didn't like.  Kept nudging me.  So, no nap, and get back going home.  

Glacier Lake after the storm. 

Last Lake: Glacier Lake Afterbay.  Sunny stroll downhill home from here. 

Rose's 1st Backpacking Mission

7 Years Old &
Hellroaring Bound

Rose has profoundly altered my view of the world in so many ways, and one of them is the things a girl can do vs. a boy.  At her age, we're getting into the territory now where I have scattered memories of myself at that age, and in comparison she is far ahead in so many aspects.
She can climb ropes and do monkey bars way better than I could.  It seems silly, but at 7 that's really the heart of your social and athletic environment.  Social skills.  Reading.  Foreign languages.  She does so much of what is important to me way better than I did at that age.
We can add backpacking to that list now as well.  I don't know when I went on my first backpacking mission, but this trip was a demanding, big one for a kid that age, and she did awesome.
We went to the Hellroaring Plateau, and the Hellroaring Lake Basin.
If you've ever been going up Beartooth Pass, heading south from Red Lodge, you can look across the valley as the road starts to kick up towards Vista Point, and on the other side you can see a dirt road, a dirt Beartooth Pass if you will.  This is the Twin Bridges / Hellroaring Plateau road.  Before the Wilderness designation, it was one of the many jeep roads that bisected the area.  Hard to believe now, but there used to be at least three different routes south over the Beartooth Mountains.

The close switchbacks are the Hellroaring Jeep road;
 in the background Beartooth Pass and Vista Point

Traffic Jam

Six vehicles and seven groups of people at the TH.  Amazed.  Did not expect that.  The parking lot was overflowing.  It was a bad sign.
Then, one by one, within about ten minutes, they all left going back down.  Including one older couple (mid 70's ish) who absolutely mystified all of us by getting a ride all the way up the road with an ATVer, then wandering around the parking lot, seemingly in a silent but tense discussion, before heading straight down the fall line off into no-man's land towards upper Rock Creek.  So if anybody knows a missing couple of white folk about that age, go look there.  God only knows what their plan was that day.  Teeny little backpacks too.
So Rose and I headed up.  She carried a backpack too.  Mine was heavier, but she was doing her part.  We caught and passed the ATVer, and headed down off the plateau into the Basin.
The trail down from the plateau did not exist, and we slipped and slid all the way down, all buts and elbows.  Halfway down we scouted the basin, and we both picked out the same exact campsite at the same time.  Great minds.  . .
We thought we were going to Snowbank Lake, but we missed and hit much lower in the chain, next to an unnamed lake we named Shrimp Lake.

Next to Rydberg & Smethurst: Shrimp Lake.
I've seen smaller lakes with names, and it's so scenic, it merits a name.
Shrimp Lake because it is filled to the brim with HUGE shrimp.
Never seen anything like it, it was tough to scoop up water without them.

First Three Hellroaring

That first night, we fished three lakes: Smethurst, then Daly, then Rydberg.  On many maps, all lakes in the area are simply named Hellroaring.  It's a confusing basin.  The NatGeo or the Beartooth only maps are better.  Smethurst and Rydberg are also considered the first Hellroaring Lakes because many people park at Twin Bridges and scramble up the Hellroaring Creek rather than going up the plateau.  It makes a lot of sense, and it's probably what we'll do next time.  If you do this, you hit Rydberg first.
Smehturst and Rydberg were filled with teeny tiny little brookies, plus a CT or two, and we didn't fish much.
Daly was insane.  So scenic, and filled to the brim with little pan sized brookies.

Daly Lake

Her cast is really nice.  She's a great little fisherwoman.

All about Elkhorn

Day two we did one big mission, that ended up being all about Elkhorn.  That lake rocks!!!!!

Hellroaring sucks as a name.  It's not loud down there.  There's nothing distinctly roaring about it.
The only hellish thing: navigation.  It is tough to get around down in the basin; it's very swampy.
Once we learn our way around more, maybe it's easier, but on your first try, it's a swampy maze.

Secret Tunnel

The highlight of the day for Rose was this secret tunnel.  It's the outlet from Elkhorn Lake.  It was one of the most beautiful spots I've ever seen.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

When you pop out on the uphill side of the tunnel, you're at Elkhorn Lake.  Like Smethurst, it's amazing such a small lake even holds fish.  Unlike Smethurst, these fish are really nice sized, great looking bookies.  Also caught three baby CT's, but mostly nice brookies.  Rose calls them Bronco Fans, because of the orange and blue dots.  We slayed it at Elkhorn, filled up a bag with snow and brookies, and headed back to camp to get home.

Crescent Lake

Look at that Cast!!!  She almost nailed a big one with this one.

Crescent is super scenic, including this waterfall inlet.  It's also stocked with big fish.
They're more choosy though.  Only caught one.  Great one though.

Hellroaring proper.  Really wanted to fish this one, but we were both low on energy.
Instead, we packed up and headed out.

All Told

The first day, Rose hiked 1.2 miles in, with a bunch of gained lost' elevation.  She had on a backpack even. During our fishing mission, I didn't keep track, but it had to be another mile or two at least.
The second day, she did five miles, and with a couple of thousand vertical feet.  It was an insane effort for a girl her age.  No complaints, no problems at all.  In fact she had a great time, keeping herself entertained all day by finding rocks for her fairy crew back home.  The whole area has a lot of quartz and rose quartz.  We had a great time.
Go Homeschool!