Escaping the 100+ Heat

It's amazing what a week of warm weather will do to a snowfield that was over 100 square yards and 5-6 feet deep...just compare this pic with the one of my previous post (yes this is the same snow field). I did run into one huge snowfield (6-8 ft deep and well over a 100-yards long) that kept traffic to zero (and I like that) since it was impassable by most motorized vehicles...which means I had the entire place to myself for the most part.




On this trip I was able to finally complete a loop. I traversed 38-miles (all up hill) to the top of S. Fork of Asotin Cr. Rd (aka Smoothing Iron Rd) for a spectacular, clear view of the Grand Ronde Canyon and the Wallowa Mtns in the distance. From there I took the rolling ridge line past the headwaters of Asotin Cr. (all three forks of it) on one side and the headwaters of the Tucannon River on the other side. Very eye-pleasing stuff that lifts the spirits. Total climbing today was about 9K for the 84-mile trek.



I'm still looking at doing a "day-ride" to Joseph, OR (~130-miles I figure) on the back roads, but the road is not quite as fast as I'd like it yet. It still has some snow on it and plenty of downed trees which don't bother me that much, except when I'm putting time constraints on the ride. I will continue to be patient...maybe.







Temps on this day were 100+ in the valley which made riding up at elevation highly desireable. I saw plenty of wildlife enjoying the cooler temps up higher and signs of others that maybe did not want to be seen...like this small bear track (very small by what I have run across in Montana). Even with the nicer temps above, it was still rather warm and I ended up stopping a few time to filter some of that sweet, cool water from of my favorite spring sources.







I've had a few local inquiries as to where I ride and it seems that me pointing in the direction I ride is not enough info for anyone, so I decided to provide a profile and 3D-maps here just to clarify (or maybe confuse) the issue of where I've was on this ride.




I produced these images with a program called TopoFusion, a rather cool software developed by a mountain biking fanatic out of Arizona. I simply download my GPS data directly to the program and it produces maps and more data than I will ever need with ease. You can view his stuff at TopoFusion.com. (click on the map images for better viewing)

Yes, There's Still Snow up There

Amazingly, the snow is still hindering my exploration progress up in the higher country. It's hanging on at 6000-ft elevation and I can see an end to it soon so hopefully the snow will no longer be an epic ride stopper in the near future. For this ride though I was slogging through snow fields trying to make a complete loop back home. I had to re-route and back-track numerous times and eventually finished a higly modified 82-mile loop (9000-ft climbing) with a muddy bike and a smiling muddy me (the mud was from the melting snow fields of course).



The day was spectacular, warm, and was full of those automatic-mood-lifting flowers blooming everywhere. Everywhere I looked there was a jaw-dropping field of flowers that made me say "WoW!" all day long. How can it get better than this???








Someday (soon hopefully) I am going to ride a mountain bike on dirt road ride to the far distant mountains here (the Wallowa Mtns)...to Joseph, Oregon. I'm thinking that I can do it in a single day, but I will make a plan to overnight it if necessary. Right now my thoughts are to go light and fast since I estimate the trip will be over 100-miles and I have no idea how huge the climbing elevation will be. And that is only part one of the plan...part-2 involves returning by another route to make a loop of it the next day. Can it be done? Hmmm...time may tell.


The Ellsworth super-endurance bike with the 650b wheel up front is still the most amazing and comfy ride I've ever put together. I've got some serious mileage on it now and still I can not seem to get enough of this bike. I'm thinking a 2nd Ellsworth built in a similar way may be in my future for a back-up bike...hmmm think pink?

24-hrs Takes its Toll

Riding a mountain bike over a bumpy course for 24-hours is an annual challenge that I seem to enjoy since I do it every year. I can not find a sane answer as to why I like torture myself with this 24-hr race. But every year I am enlightened with something new about myself and how my body fuels, hydrates, and reacts to extended riding time.

This year I rode only for 16-hrs of the 24 for a total distance of 190-miles. Not good enough for fame and glory, but I am satisfied that next time I will be better prepared. I started the event not well hydrated and my body let me know it by making me sit out after every 60-miles or 4-5 hours of riding to rehydrate to a minimal amount to again start riding at my desired speeds.

For the first time ever I had a support crew helping me (in the past I did this unsupported which I found difficult, but attainable). A support team makes a huge difference since I no longer had to fill up my own water bottles, get my food, or maintain my bike throughout the race. Plus they provide encouragement a push me onward when I was getting mentally tired. Overall it was great to have the both of them...my wife, Donna, and Scott my friend and race mechanic. Finally there was Scott's son, Everest, (aka Master Yoda), who schooled me in using my internal Force to achieve greatness within and speed on the bike...very advance words of wisdom coming from a 4-yr old, words that I continue to use.





After the race I traditionally eat dinner with a group of friends from Sandpoint then breakfast the following morning and we top off our fun with a slow ride around the race course picking up racer trash (used gel packets, energy bar wrappers, and typically some lost rider swag like tools, lights, etc.) I am not sure why some of these piggish racers feel it is necessary to throw their used wrappers on the trail instead of back into their jersey pockets, and I have an ill feeling about them after I've personally picked up 50 or 60 of these (just as everyone else in my post ride group has). Part of their race fees do not include litter pickup off the trails and I personnally think any racer found littering purposefully should be disqualified.


This is the funnest post-race ride I've done simply because Donna decided to ride the 15-mile course with us. She is not a traditional cyclist, but you would never know that by the way she climbs the hills and rides over things many beginners would walk. I put her on my Ellsworth for the ride and afterwards she announced quite forcefully that my Ellsworth was now her bike...hmmm. There was also several people from the Sandpoint crew that were trying to recruit her onto their 24-hr race team next year. So the end story is that Donna may start racing...she's got her co-workers at the Wound-Care Clinic fired up to make a local team...Warriors Over Wounds or WOW! Hmmm...I'm excited even if it mean I will need to share my bike(s).

I have a few more planned outings for self torture tests this year, but much depends on the expense of fuel to get there. Otherwise it will be local backcountry outings of endurance that will satisfy my insane desires to ride all day on a mountain bike.

Predictably-Unpredictable

With restless needs to explore I am continuing to test the snow depth/elevation...which means I ride as high up as I can until I hit impassable snow. On my last re-con mission I found the snow level at 5100' was the end of the ride...much improved over just a few weeks ago. I anticipate that this weekend's high temps may put a final end to the over-abundance of impassable snow for this year. The cool thing on this trip was finding flowers growing right beside the snow at elevation. The snow seen in the back ground is 3-feet deep which also just so happens to be the road I was on...it's like someone just drew a line and said, "The snow will end here!"

It was a great place for some lunch amoung the little purple flowers, with a wind-block provided by a sizeable ponderosa pine, and just enough sun making it through the thin clouds to provide some warm comfort. Aaaaa...this is the life! After contenting my self with wild-flowers, fresh-air, and the green of pine trees I headed back to the wastelands below.

Knowing that snow still blocks my desired routes I turned to my next essential life need...Pizza! Yesterday morning I decided it was "Eric Needs a Slice-of-Pizza Day" in Pullman and promptly found myself drooling with anticipation on what became a hungry sprint ride to Pullman on my mountain bike...taking as much dirt road as possible of course. Coincidentally there is a Pizza shop that sells by-the-slice that is remarkably close to B&L Bicycles in Pullman.

My mouth was watering all the way up Stepto Canyon in anticipation of that Pizza slice and I was making great time even with the increasing strength of the crossing-headwinds to full-on headwinds. The sky had been cloudy since I left and did not look threatening, plus the mighty National Weather Service-Disney-fantasy-weather-machine said there was only a very slight chance of rain...hmmm that should have clued me in a bit more. About 3-miles from Pullman I could smell not pizza, but rain! The winds were suddenly much colder and stonger, which dissolved my Pizza hunger in a hurry.

Then a sinister smile appeared on my face and the self challenge had changed into a 34-mile race home to see if I could beat the inevitiable rain, now on the immediate horizon. I turned the SuperCal 29er around into another (now changed) headwind and started my sprint home...I was sickly happy, chuckling all the way. At Johnson I was being hit with some very fine little sprinkles which made me tap additional power to speed this endeavor along (Note: At this point I was riding down the road at a tilt to compensate for the huge cross-winds). Down Stepto Canyon the sprinkles turned into a fine mist...not enough for a rain jacket, but enough to mildly dampen the outer layer. On my doorstep as I was getting my key out the clouds let loose which started a gentle, soaking rain...(smiles)

Experience has shown me that weather and seasonal predictions are incompetent wizardry at best and seem to be more of a whimsical brain fart than a science. The fantasy computers used to predict weather and seasons I'm sure were programmed by Disney characters on psychotropic, mind-altering la-la drugs. So what this means is when the National Weather Service predicts there is a "very slight chance of rain" it really means it's going to pour on you while at the farthest point from home...."sunny" means cloudy, warm can mean either cold or blood-boiling HOT, a mild 3-5 mph wind means gail-force wind (a 10-15 mph wind means hurricane force winds) and the wind direction is always in your face no matter what they predicted.

Flower Power

I took the Ellsworth ultra-cross country MTB bike out for another mid-length (77-mile) cruise yesterday, which I must say was nearly a perfect day (temps high 70's) except I had headwinds in 3-directions of travel. Can anyone explain to me how that is possible? Maybe God has a sense of humor watching me or maybe He is just providing me with some additional resistance training (but we all know I don't train because that would be work). Anyway I just put on a smile and rode into the wind happily because it was a great, sunny day and I was happy to be out pedaling.

My ride was on dirt and gravel roads since there is still too much snow on my favorite trails. Some of these "roads" are far beyond rough compared the the smooth trails I ride. How bad can some of these roads be? They are so rough that your butt screams for mercy even on a full-suspension ride, your hands go numb from continuous jarring, you look at your ultra plush front fork often to see if it is even working anymore, your teeth rattle if you don't keep you jaw clinched, you pray you can continue to maintain 20-25mph speeds to help smooth out the ride some, and ultimately these roads fatigue every part of your body to a point of full-body exhaustion which makes you realize what suffering is all about. Good thing these sections are not too long (5-miles or less).

It was great to see the flowers are finally blooming up at the mid-level elevations - still quite late for around here, but they are always an uplifting sight. If fact I think wild flowers have special powers that stimulate and elevate my inner soul...it seems I can never get enough of them.








Hmmm...what's this stuff? I'm still finding many of my routes blocked by snow. I rode and trudged through some and had to back-track out on most. Again very unusual for this to go on so late in the year around here. I have no choice but to be patient and wait for the melting to be done.

Tubeless 650B

The Ellsworth Truth went full tubeless today after I made some time to build up a tubeless 650B front wheel last night (I've had the parts for a while, but I've been a tad busy it seems). While I was at it I built up another tubeless rear wheel (yes I love tubeless wheels). On the front I mounted a "spare" Pacenti NeoMoto (truly a great all around MTB tire - a 10 on a 10-scale in my opinion, which is all that matters here). On the rear I put a Bontrager Revolt that I had laying around = fast tire, but cornering in loose stuff can be a real eye-popping experience.

So new wheels are like any new bike or bike part to me, which means it's thrash test time. So I jump on the Ells and start riding towards Asotin Creek with the intent of riding Asotin Creek Trail (some rather sweet single track). For the first 20 miles up Asotin Cr Rd. I typically ride fairly hard because I have a very strange obsession with timing myself from my house up to the S. Fork Asotin Cr. Rd...one of my many personal time trials (yes I'm weird). So I get up there and look at my elapsed time and pop a little grin after seeing I just cleared this section 2-minutes faster than I ever have. Hmmm...that one will be hard to top in the future.

Onward to Asotin Creek Trail I ran the new tubeless wheels through everything - even chased a bear down the trail for a short ways...I slowed a bit when my brain realized that the running rug which was nearly being shaved by the Pacenti 650B tire's ultra biting, burly knobs was indeed a bear that could realize at any moment he was running from a snack on wheels. OK enough of this I thought so I headed back the other way since the bear was not wanting to leave his grub rich little canyon area.

Back at the trail head I decided to see how far up the snow line was this week and proceeded up S. Fork Asotin Cr Rd. Near the top I never did find the actual snow line because the road became so muddy that it was deem impassable by me. No big deal...back down I went then up and back down Campbell Grade (for fun) before heading home.

After 72-miles everthing about the new tubeless wheels was perfect. Today was an easy test (mostly because the snow is taking it's time leaving this year). I'm still deviously planning the ultimate thrash test for this entire bike and I will be putting it through that test of all tests in the near future.

Turned Back by Snow...Again

Another well intended ride loop turned into an out-and-back due to an unforeseen circumstance...aka snow and plenty of it. The warmer weather here has me salvating to do one of my longish, super-duper-climbing-fest-mountain-bike loops, but it seems that I will have to wait a bit longer for the snow to melt. Last year in mid-March there was much less snow up there than now...evidently it was a banner snow year in the higher country this past season.

So instead of the planned 70-mile loop I had to settle for a 60ish mile ride to see some snow (actually I rolled in it some leaving an Eric angel riding a bike).

Nothing to complain about since it was the first day this year that I've been able to ride in shorts and without sleeves all day! Plus riding my Ellsworth Truth with the Pacenti Neo-Moto 650B tire up front is beyond your wildest pleasure to ride all day.

The Gunnar Continued

The Gunnar Crosshairs has been getting the gentle loving break-in (aka super-duper all out thrash-testing) that I give every new bike I come aquire. The results thus far after 3-rides (226 road miles) in sun, rain, and even some snow have left me with big smiles and some tired legs.

(Please wipe the slobber off your computer screen)




The Salsa bars I'm using are nice, but they are still the typical and stupidly "traditional" road-type bars that have very little ergonomic design built in which makes my long-ride comfort somewhat less than desirable. I may yet change these out for some On-One Midge bars...a rather odd (and old) design that my hands and wrists seem to like for the most part.





I also have been having some fun revisiting canti-lever brakes again...they're always more interesting to set-up properly. The Paul's cantis are a fine piece of equipment and work well, wet or dry, so far.












Speaking of on the road...I like a little road ride now and then, but I still find road riding much less interesting than a back road (gravel grinder) any day. Hmmm...I will have to expand the testing to dirt some time soon, but I'm in no hurry since I have several capable gravel-grinder monster-cross bikes eager to take on the task at any time.

At this time I am running the drive train in the big ring (an all-around 48-tooth) since I am not sure if I really need a front derailleur yet. On the road the 48t combined with a 12-25 cassette seems to be plenty for both climbing and flat speeds, but I'm sure that once I hit some of those steep gravel ginder hills that I will be begging for that small ring. Overall the bike is still in rough draft form and I'm sure a few more changes (parts) are in the works (some sooner, some later)...I have not even put on my final bar tape since I am am still fine-tuning the fit for that perfect sweet-spot I seek out on every bike.

Gunnar #2

It seems that my obsession to own-and-ride-every-bike-ever-made continues...meet Gunnar #2, a Crosshairs (that means it's a cyclocross bike that I intend to use as an all around ride).

Why #2? Because this is my 2nd Gunnar, my last one was a 29er mountain bike that a guy named Felix now owns.

This sweet steel frame arrived recently and of course I immediately built it up into a rideable condition. I ordered the frame with a Gunnar steel fork that Brice (owner of B&L Bicycles in Pullman, WA) talked this semi-weight weenie into because it provides "a better ride than carbon on the rough roads and other stuff" according to him. Well all I can say about the steel fork is WOW!!!...it provides a ride that beyond smooth, beyond belief...THANKS BRICE!!!

Even though I have extreme lustful bike desires for many bikes out there, I must admit that they have slowed to a near halt lately because of pure satisfaction with my current rides and this one is no exception.