Yesterday I went on the most technical ride I've been on yet. I did a ride called the Flathead Pass climb about 20 miles north of town. Of course I brought my trusty adventure dog. The ride was rated 3/5 in "technical difficulty" in my guide. Well, apparently 3 is not in my comfort zone. I definitely had to get off and push my bike a bunch, but there were also sections that I pushed myself and surprised myself by making it up.
The weather was phenomenal. So were the views. The Bozeman area is really fantastic (oh yeah, for those reading this, I moved to Bozeman for the summer to work at a non-profit conservation organization called the Greater Yellowstone Coalition). I'm riding my dad's old hardtail Marin no-bells-or-whistles-no-hydraulics-no-diskbreaks bike. It is sweet.
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| riding up through ranchlands |
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| Izzy (in her new backpack) at the top. |
The ride took place on a rugged, rutted, super rocky jeep road. At the top, we ran into a bunch of ATVers and people who had driven Jeeps up. What the hell is the point in driving a vehicle on a really rugged road?
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| view looking south. |
We rode another few miles from the pass and got back onto trails very few people use. On the way down I learned the hard way that to ride down super rocky, rutted terrain, you need to go fast. I went too slow and ate shit pretty hard on the rocks. Somehow I walked away with only a scrape on my hand, which bled enough to get all over my shirt. I was pretty shaken up after the fall, but did get back on and then had fun again. After getting back to town, I had to run a few errands, and was humored by the fact that I was covered in mud with blood all over my shirt returning a mousepad at Staples.
