The committee in my head has been beating me down lately for not taking time across the top tube since I returned to Montana some 36 days ago. I've just been too busy keeping my hands greasy with other folks bikes and drive trains since the Tour Divide started June 10th. But this past Sunday, on my day off from wrenching at the Outdoorsman, I managed to get in a great day on my new Stumpy Expert Carbon 29er.
This is my third summer in Butte, and I have barely scratched the surface for places to ride, so I went exploring. During 5 hours and 22 minutes of saddle time and enroute to doing 3025ft of climbing, I found myself alone in the forest with the marmots, elk, ground squirrels, and hawks. It was glorious! I rode a portion of the Butte 100 mountain bike race route up from Herman Gulch to Moose Creek and Highland Road.
I had never before ridden this route, so I decided to head up Herman Gulch to explore a bit. I just made it a half mile up the trail when I encountered a badly washed out route full of mud holes. The 29er plowed through BB deep mud really well. But, when a hike-a-bike was evident I turned around and back tracked to were the trail split. 
This time, I took the uphill trail and rode all but some of the tighter switchbacks that were really steep.
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| In Thompson Park |
I came to a small meadow and pond with an old stone fireplace. Then I headed south on the rutted, muddy road, crossed a small stream.
About a mile uphill I surprised three cow elk grazing
along the trail. They leaped off the trail and watched me pedal out of sight. When I reached the mountain homes along Roosevelt Rd, I headed south to Highland Pass on the Continental Divide along Moose Creek Road. This is a section of the Tour Divide route.
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| View of the Basin Creek Reservoirs |
About a 1/4 mile below the summit I stopped by a small stream to have a snack and take a bit of a rest after a constant climb for about 8 miles.
The wild flowers at the pass were in full bloom and the snow covered views of the Highland and Pintler Mountains was stunning.
The return downhill trip on the Moose Creek forest road from the Highland Camp Ground was a fast 20-30mph screamer. It was exciting, but I kept feathering the disc brakes as thoughts of my crash in Las Vegas in March flashed in my head. Also omnipresent in my mind as I encountered vehicles on the blind curves of this forest road during the long descent, was what must have happened a year earlier to Tour Divide racer, Dave Blumenthal when he died in a collision with a truck on a narrow mountain road north of Steam Boat Springs, Colorado. It tempered my vigilance to take the corners cautiously. When I finally hit pavement on Roosevelt Drive I managed to hit 36.3mph on the section that runs alongside Blacktail Creek.
That relentless head wind on the downhill portion on Montana 2 (known locally as Harding Way) to Nine Mile and then all the way on Continental back into Butte ate my lunch. The legs were tired, the wind blew harder, and the road grew narrower. The cars passing within 6 to 7 feet of me on Continental at 65 mph kind of freaked me out. I was glad that I only had to travel two miles on this section to get back to home base.
Anyway it was a great ride. I enjoyed my time across the top tube. And, the committee in my head was well pleased.
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