Mountain Bike Flashback to 1992 & Yesterday

1992, I was racing every week. This particular race was at the Buck Hill venue. The day was extremely hot and humid. I remember hydrating and staying indoors in the the cool townhouse I was living in. Keeping my body cool and waiting as long as I could till I did my warmup ride. It was a good game plan because I finished top 10, I believe 6th place overall. 

Made the cover of the Metro Section of the newspaper... 

At the time Jeff Hall was out in Colorado racing with Scott Hebel in the Colorado Mountain Bike Races. I traveled the following week to meet up with Jeff and Scott. We were members of the Diamond Back Racing Team. I met them in Winter Park, Colorado. At 9700 feet high in the Rocky Mountains, it was a crash course in racing and living at high altitude. Heck of an adventure. 

I returned to the Minnesota River Bottoms this week. Took a break after the Montana adventure. I have been recovering and organizing my gear. Preparing for the season change to colder weather. 

Good to get out on an evening mountain bike ride into the dark of night.

Ride on!
 

Montana Adventure / Four Wheel Camper Base Camp

National Forest Campground camping on this trip make for a good base camp. The new Ford F-350 is really coming together with my Four Wheel Camper. The 6.2 gas motor with the 10 speed transmission is a very good combination. Climbs the mountains like a power goat... Haha! 

The rough backcountry vehicle of choice on the trip was the Kawasaki KLX 300. It’s a very capable backcountry Moto. The single track trails and forest roads led me into some incredible mountain terrain. 

Sweet single track 

Shadow rider followed me through the mountains.

Crazy Mountains, Montana 

Cooke City 

My view in Cooke City Campground.

Ride on!
 

Montana Backcountry with Four Wheel Camper and Kawasaki KLX 300

Open sky Montana ranch land.

It was a bit of a last minute decision to travel to Bozeman, Montana. Bozeman is where I purchased the FWC back in March of 2020. I contacted the FWC dealer and he told me that if I could get out to Bozeman the next day that he could get the wiring connection done. So I pulled an overnight drive of 1100 miles/14 hours.

I needed to have my Four Wheel Camper wired to my new pickup, my 2021 F-350. I have the 160 watts of solar on the roof to charge my duel batteries in the camper. With the wiring connected to the truck, now I have the running lights on the camper plus the batteries are being charged as I drive, which keeps them fully charged. So that was the start of my 11 day Montana adventure.

Good exploring the Bridger Mountains on the KLX.

Put in a good 101 mile day on the Moto towards the Crazy Mountains, Met Thunder Jack, a mountain man from many decades ago.

Plenty of range cattle wondering the mountains.

Pure black cow moose crossing a field after emerging from a creek bottom.

Eyeing me up as I travel the ranch road on the Moto.

The only vehicle on the remote ranch road...

A fellow in the campground told me about this single track that climbed through the forest and dropped into a high plateau.

Met up with ole Smoky the Bear outside the Bridger Range.

Tools of the backcountry, The Kawasaki is the perfect vehicle for exploring the upper mountain trails. 

This was a good 11 day trip to Montana with good weather, some good trail information from some local folks. The Kawasaki KLX 300 is the goat for the mountain roads & trails.

Ride on!
 

Survival of da Fittest

Live life like ya stole it, cause in the end... all ya got is your life.

Minnesota Mountain Bike Race Weekend at Maplelag Resort /2021

In 1991 my son Jeff, age 15 on the 2nd place podium and Jay Richards, on the 1st place podium step. Battled a muddy “Chequamegon / Short and Fat” race course to start a relationship with Mountain Biking that has spanned 30 years.

Fast forward to 2021 and Jeff Hall is 45 years old and Jay Richards is the race promoter at his resort in Callaway, Minnesota... this is good stuff!

The start of the 18 mile Elite Men’s cross country race. 

Jeff and Brendan battling it out early in the Elite Cross Country Mountain Bike Race.

Brendan would finish 1st and Jeff finished 3rd.

Little Donnie, Jeff’s son, had a good weekend camping, riding his mountain bike, playing catch with the football and the never ending supply of cookies at the lodge.

Jeff Hall, he finished 3rd in the cross country race.

Jeff, Brendan Moore and Jay Richards.

Ride on!
 

Colorado High Country Mountain Biking

 

Colorado / Buffalo Pass / Four Wheel Camper

The northern Colorado high country is my destination. I’m up at 9500 feet, tucked into the pines. 

It took 6 inches to level truck.

Soaking in the morning mountain sun. Cooled down to 40 degrees over night. Furnace was on task and took the chill off.

A morning mountain bike ride 5.5 miles up the mountain. Started at 9500 feet and rode up to the summit at 10,500 feet. One of a couple sweet mountain lakes at the summit.

The view over the ridge from my campsite.

Gotta fuel the Beast... 

I’ll post some more of the adventure soon.

Ride on!
 

Four Wheel Camper Adventure on da Lake Superior North Shore

Five day camping trip, the final 3 days I was dispersed camped southwest of Silver Bay, Minnesota. Started out the 3rd day of the trip scouting off forest roads for a suitable pulloff for my pickup / Four Wheel Camper and trailer. 

As luck would have it, I found 2 locations. Drove the rig down a spur forest road and was able to back the trailer onto a smaller, somewhat overgrown forest road.

One day on the 300 KLX. Took off for the day in the rain. It actually makes it easier to gear up for the rain from the get go. Hooked on to Highway #1 that heads north towards Ely. Steady rain most of the day. Traveled the highway scouting for some likely forest roads. Found a 2 track road that led to a remote lake. The trail meandered up and down until it narrowed into a single trail. Crossed a creek and got bogged down a bit in a muddy low area. Got out of the bog, then came upon a very cool forest lake where the trail ended.

Back at camp with a good day of exploring on the moto. About 110 miles of pavement, gravel forest roads and a couple good forest trails. Good time adventure!

Cover up

RZR day.

Back er in about 150 yards off the spur trail. Good remote camp for 3 days. 

My “Frogg Togg” rain suit, good for rain, bugs and dust.

Gotta check out Lake Superior. Skip a few rocks, climb around a few rocks, listening to the waves on the rocks. Lake Superior Rocks!

Ride on!