MS Ride 2018

Day before

Wendy and I arrived at Silver Mountain Resort, got checked in to our room, and hauled luggage up. I then went down and checked in for the MS Ride. After getting settled we decided to go ahead and take a short little ride on the trail. Rode four miles towards Osburn and stopped at a grocery store to pick up a bottle of orange juice on the way back. We ate dinner in the room and relaxed a bit before going to bed.

Day one – 107 miles – 5:53 ride time

Got up and had scrambled eggs and toast. Went down to get the bike out of the storage area and hit the trail at a quarter to 8. Had a little bit of a head wind on the way to Cataldo and the wind was a lot stronger when I got to the lake at Harrison. Saw quite a few ducks in different place and about 20 herons in a field between Medimont and Harrison. I had never seen that many herons in one place.

Pickle Juice in a Box

Pickle Juice in a Box is a thing and they had it at some of the rest areas for the ride.

    

Stopped in Harrison for lunch. Rode from Harrison to Cataldo with two other riders,  Chris from Spokane whose mom was diagnosed with MS 15 years ago and Scott from Silverdale who was diagnosed with MS several years ago. Both of these guys were moving pretty quickly and we averaged close to 20mph in that section of the trail. Chris decided to get to Kellogg quicker after the stop at Cataldo since he was wearing out. Scott and I rode at a slower pace and had a really good conversation.

Texted Wendy when I got back to the resort to see if she wanted to go for a short ride before dinner. She came down and we went about 2 miles towards Osburn and then back to Kellogg.

We ate dinner with the other riders and volunteers that evening and then went up to the hot tub on the roof of the building we were staying in to relax for a while before going back to the room.

Day two – 40 miles – 2:30 ride time

STRIKE!

Rained during the night and it was raining a little bit when I went to get breakfast with the other riders and volunteers. Rain stopped before setting out on the trail to Mullan. I decided to skip the Burke turnoff in Wallace since we needed to check out before noon. Rode all the way through Mullan past the Lucky Friday Mine on Friday Avenue towards Shoshone Park. Saw a lot of signs for a strike at the Lucky Friday Mine. Turned around at the first fork in the road and headed back to the rest stop. Got a few snacks and headed back down towards Wallace and Kellogg.

Thanks

I want to really thank all of the people that donated to the MS Society. Your donations will go a long way in helping those affected by MS.

Little Post - Almost There

Next Saturday is the MS Ride on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. Getting excited to get back out on that trail and ride for a great cause. Haven't been doing very many long rides since the last update. Have ridden a bit more gravel in preparation for Cyclocross season which starts the end of September in Sandpoint.

Did go for another ride up on Moscow Mountain last weekend. Stayed mostly on Foothill Road and came down Moscow Mountain Road. There were quite a bit of washboard areas heading down and it was hard to see them.

My next update will be a little write up about the MS Ride. To donate you can click this link.

July update

I guess it is time to do an update after letting this blog sit for a while. Been a busy Spring so far. Not getting a lot of miles in but having some fun on and with the bikes.

I am now in the midst of working on the Vandalbike to get it back into riding shape. The seat tube was stuck so it took some time to get that free. Now it is just a matter of cleaning up or replacing some parts. Not bad for a bike with over 10,000 miles on it.

I replaced the bottom bracket on the GT a couple of weeks ago. The old bottom bracket had over 14,000 miles on it. This bike has been my go to ride for the past 6 years and it has been a great bike for all sorts of riding.

The Snake has been pretty fun to ride since I got it. I am glad I got it so that I could do a bit more off road riding and have a good bike for Cross season. I have ridden it a couple of time up Foot Hill Road to the back side of Moscow Mountain. Even made it down to Tamarack Road to ride to Troy. Used it last Thursday to ride from Council to Cambridge on the Weiser Trail. That was a nice trail to ride and I hope to be able to ride more of it at some point.

On Friday I participated in the first ever Chrono Kristin Armstrong. This was a 14 mile time trial race from Star , ID to Firebird Raceway outside Emmett, ID. My goal for the race was to make it in 45 minutes. I ended up finishing in 45 minutes and 57 seconds. Not bad for my first ever sanctioned time trial. I am looking forward to doing it again next year. We ended up sticking around after the amateur race to watch the pro-women come in to the finish and they sure were flying. A lot of them bettered my 45 minutes by 11 to 13 minutes.

Saturday was spent near the Capital building in Boise watching the Twilight Criterium. Nothing like watching people on bikes racing around in circles.

Next ride that I have planned is the Fondo on the Palouse this Saturday. I will then start planning for the MS Ride in September. Here is the link to my donation page at the National MS Society if you would like to go ahead and donate right now.

Keep the shiny side up.

Busy year

2017 was a busy year on the bike for me. Here is a summary of what happened:

• 6,097 total miles ridden for the year. First time over 6,000 miles.
• 1,012 total miles ridden in July. First time over 1,000 miles in a month.
• 712 total rides for the year. 102 more than the previous year.
• 145 miles ridden in one day. This was the first day of the MS Ride in September.
• 231 rides to work.
• I achieved 40,000+ miles ridden since July of 2008 when I started keeping track of my mileage.

Here are some interesting places that I rode over the year:

• Morgan, UT to Echo, UT - Rode up Highway 66 to East Canyon State Park and rode down Highway 65 to Henefer, UT. Rode past Henefer on a side road that paralleled Interstate 84 to Echo, UT. Finished the day with 26 miles.
• Fort Collins, CO - Rode over 130 miles over six days on the trails around Fort Collins.
• Green River, WY to Little America, WY - Rode on Highway 374 that parallels Interstate 80. Finished with 22 miles for the day.
• Poulsbo, WA - Did the longest ride of the Viking Tour. Finished the day with 62 miles.
• Hiawatha Trail - Rode down from the top and back up. Philip rode down and rode the bus back up. Finished the day with 30 miles.
• Trail of the Coeur d' Alenes - Rode the full trail on the first day of the MS Ride. This is by far the most miles that I have ridden in one day.

My goals for 2018 are:

• Ride over 7,000 miles.
• Ride more than 1,000 miles in 2 or more months.
• Ride the Hiawatha Trail again plus other trails in that area such as the Norpac.
• Ride part or all of the Weiser Trail starting in the North and working South and then work from the South to the North.
• Race quite a few Cyclocross races.