A Good Week For Mountain Bike Rides

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We did some nice singletrack riding close to home this week. Get out on the bikes in the morning, the temps about 38 - 40 degrees. It's always great to get out in the woods in the late fall, with the leaves on the trail and surface a little damp from the frost in the morning, it can be a little slick. I always like twisty singletrack to work the reflexes and the short climbs to stretch the legs and work the upper body. I like to end the ride on the pavement to finish with a steady power pedal and spin the legs.

It's great to get out in the middle of the week, without the week-end crowd. Three bike rides in the last 4 days, I like it.

Mountain Cat in the Den

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The new sled in the trailer, a 2008 M8 162" Arctic Cat. It's a long story, but I'll keep it short.

I sold the 2008 700 RMK 155", it had about 400 miles. I kept the 2008 700 RMK Dragon 155". Ended the day with a 2008 800 Mountain Cat 162" track, the sled is in excellent condition with about 500 miles.

The Cat is going to be an awesome sled for sledboarding. With a 162" track it's going to hook up and climb anything I dare. The Cat is supposed to be the top deep powder boondocking sled in the mountains. The Polaris Dragon kicks out 140 horsepower, the Cat is putting out about 146 horsepower. For sure the 800 will have more grunt up the steep mountains pulling a snowboarder. This is going to be an excellent opportunity to ride two of the top ranked mountain sleds. The Polaris Dragon 700 and the M8 Arctic Cat. I didn't plan this scenario it just fell into place.

I have the Dragon set up completely for us. I raised the handle bars up to 5.25", put a left hand throttle, snowboard rack, ice scratchers, gas can rack, removed the windshield and mounted a set of hand guards. This sled rocks. The Cat will be my project over the next 4 weeks. To set up for my riding style, I'll need to put a riser block for the bars (90% of the riding in the mountains is standing up), hand guards, ice scratchers, and a new taller, shorter seat. Then mount a snowboard rack.

I rode the Dragon on two of the 4 trips last year. The second trip with the wild bunch, we rode in epic conditions, 4 feet of fresh powder over 3 days. The first day in the backcountry it was about -12 degrees, with 35-40 MPH winds, it was super light powder. it was great on the ridge tops with the snow blowing across. The Dragon performed great in theses conditions. I will be looking for these conditions to run the Cat in and add more snowboarding to the adventures.

Two different sleds, it will be great to ride both different set-ups, first hand comparing. Two trips in December, coming up fast. The planning and gearing up for the adventures is a huge part of the whole experience. Both the gear and the body have to be in shape for the, GOOD TIMES!!

Many paddles to move the powder and climb the mountain.

THE TRUTH IS, IF YOU RIDE A MOUNTAIN BIKE OR SNOWMOBILE WE COULD ALL LOSE GROUND

When one group loses, we all lose. The skiers will probably be the next group on the list if it keeps going this direction.

The following is from an article in Bikemagazine in the Spring of 2009. the Forest Service is deciding what to do with OUR LAND. This article pertains to Montana.

The rules are clear when it comes to Congressionally designated Wilderness: no roads, no buildings, no mining or logging, no motorized travel, no mechanized transport, and no bikes. They were written into the Wilderness Act of 1964. But the policies on how to manage Recommended Wilderness are less clear, especially concerning mountain bikers. The question for the Forest Service boils down to this: If a piece of land is recommended for Wilderness, and the Forest Service is required to preserve the wilderness character of that land, since mountain biking is banned from Wilderness, should the Forest Service ban mountain bikers from Recommended Wilderness, even if people have been riding on the trails for decades?

Foresters in the Region 1 offices of the Forest Service debated this question. But while they debated, demands on these lands grew greater every year. More hikers were hitting the trails. Mountain bikers, too. And snowmobilers were riding higher and further into the mountains than ever before. The Forest Service felt compelled to do something. So instead of a policy, it created a philosophy. And the philosophy is this: These lands should be managed as if they were Wilderness.

In doing so, the Forest Service sidestepped Congress and created de facto Wilderness— land managers in Montana found a way to create what is essentially Wilderness without any oversight, legislation, public comment or approval of any kind.

The effects of this philosophy first rippled through Montana three years ago, when the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest released its travel-management plan, a document that dictates how the forest manages recreational uses. The Beaverhead Deerlodge includes 16 Recommended Wilderness Areas, and the new plan offered a similar recommendation for them all: ban mountain bikes, a move that closed 350 miles of singletrack in the forest to riders.

Tis the Snow Season / Snow & Cold in the Mountains

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Finished the Fred Flintstone / St. Paul Landscape Project

This is part 2 of the September 4 Post

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The creating part of the landscape jobs are done, now the fall clean-up is in full swing. It is snowing/raining today and we cleaned up one yard and checked out another job that is a yard clean-up on a big house. These are good jobs before the winter season starts.

Yeah, Bring on the Powder

Some pictures from last year, some epic powder. The beauty of not having a home base in the mountains is that one can chase the powder. I very seldom make reservations, just track the weather on the link to the National Weather Maps. Just go to the snowstorm.

The new tool that I will be able to utilize is my new laptop computer which is set up with Verizon Mobile Broadband. I can access the Internet and get weather updates and avalanche reports right in my pickup on the road. I can check the avalanche reports from Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah to help me keep up with the snow conditions as the weather systems move through.

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Last run of the day on my 166 Burton Malolo. This is one awesome board, I rode it at Copper Mountain for 3 days and then in the backcountry for 2 days on this trip. It just rips in the untracked powder. I used it on a couple of sledboarding trips last year up on Buffalo Pass and in Montana it floats up on top of cold powder.

What rides down must hike back up in the dark. 10th Mountain Hut trip, December 2008.

Weez hiking up with the 156 Burton Fish, powder board. This board rocks in deep cold pow.

Colorado

Powder morning at a 10th Mountain Hut in Colorado.

Wyoming

Just needed this little powder fix. It's been snowing out west, still early, but time to start tracking the weather.

I'll be checking out the boards, the sleds and going through my backpacks. Fresh batteries in the avalanche beacons. Preparing the winter gear. GOOD TIMES!!

"deeper" / TGR Snowboard Teaser / Jeremy Jones

Avalanche Burial and Rescue in Haines, Alaska

Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska from Chappy on Vimeo.

This a video from a helmet cam on a guy in Alaska. I found this on the Wildsnow blog site. He was dug out in less than 5 minutes. When the guide and the rest of the group started their search they found one of the buried skiers gloves on top of the snow which helped speed up the search. Notice the Tracker Avalanche Beacon hanging from the rescuers chest. This why you should have avalanche rescue training.

I have taken Avalanche I and II courses and did a refresher course 2 years ago, I learned new information each class. In the winter I receive 4 emails a day with the daily avalanche reports from Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. It keeps me up to speed on conditions in the different areas that I travel to in the winter snowmobiling and snowboarding. You can also get daily reports on many different areas just by checking the avalanche links on my blog. Click on the Avalanche Links. For up-to date weather reports click on the National Weather Map link on my page.