History Made-Shields Valley 200K Brevet

On June 19, 2010 I hosted my first brevet as a Regional Brevet Administrator. This is a ride I’ve been looking forward to since last fall when I put it on the schedule.

The ride was scheduled to leave at 6:00 a.m. from the Walmart parking lot in Bozeman. An ominous sign-a raw blustery east wind was blowing under a gloomy overcast sky as I was setting out my clip boards with the requisite forms and cue sheets. It’s almost always calm in the mornings in Bozeman-even if it gets windy later. Knowing that the ride goes through one of Montana’s windiest places in Livingston, I was afraid we could be in trouble.

The turnout for the ride exceeded my expectations. I was joined by fellow Montanans Ken Billingsley from Molt and Karel Stroethoff from Missoula along with Jim Moores from Boise who is in the Bozeman area often with his bike. Ken, Karel, and Jim had ridden some of my permanents last summer. I was very glad to meet Brian and Rob Kennedy, randonneurs from Florida, who were in the Jackson, Wyoming area on vacation and came all the way to Bozeman for the ride.

My wife Brenda showed up at the start a little before departure to handle the paperwork for me so I could get geared up. Much appreciation to Brenda for waking up awfully early on a Saturday morning to do that. It was a huge help.

After the obligatory group photo, we were off on time and working hard into a headwind on the rolling hills going into Bridger Canyon. The temperatures, which were somewhere in the 40’s weren’t warming up very fast as we climbed up the canyon, but the wind did die down considerably. I think this is the first time I can remember a ride where the wind speed actually declined. Much more frequently it’s just the opposite.

The six of us were fairly compatible riders, keeping more or less together as we ascended the challenging Battle Ridge Pass climb, descended into the Shields River Valley, and arrived in Livingston. The sun finally overcame the clouds as we headed out of Livingston into the Paradise Valley on the tranquil East River Road. The air was crystal clear and the surrounding mountains really stood out against the tree lined river bottoms, emerald green hills, and big blue sky. We were lucky to get a nice sunny afternoon during this abnormally rainy spring.

I was delayed a few minutes by a flat tire, the result of a piece of glass no doubt picked up on the debris laden shoulders of Park Street/US 89 out of Livingston-apparently a place where street sweepers fear to tread. Karel waited for me to change the tube while pealing off a cool weather layer. We got into the Paradise Valley checkpoint, manned by my Mom and Dad, as the other guys were finishing up a snack. Jim left the control first, understandably concerned about some building clouds to the west, followed shortly by Rob, Brian, and Ken. Karel and I stayed a little longer to restock and rest up. Karel let me use his superior frame pump to get a few more psi into my repaired rear tire. Many thanks to Mom and Dad for waiting for us at the checkpoint, signing our brevet cards, and setting out all the goodies. I owe them big time!

Karel and I made brief stop at a Livingston gas station on the way back to top off our bottles and prepare for the Bozeman Hill and Jackson Creek climbs. Despite a juicy tailwind, I suddenly ran out of energy sometime after mile 100 and had to let Karel go. I had felt good all day, but a severe lack of training this spring, along with some early nutritional miscalculations conspired to put me in the little chain ring. As I was slogging up Jackson Creek Road, riders from some of the local race teams came cruising by-looking fresh as daisies on their own 100 mile training ride. I'm sure I was quite the pathetic site spinning alone in my tiny gears. But alas, I'm a randonneur not a racer. I embrace my slowness! I rallied a little after the final climb was over and finished strong.

Brenda was at the finish with our son Jackson and dog Ernie to check everybody in and collect our brevet cards. Once again-much appreciation.

The day went incredibly well. The sun came out, the winds helped more than hurt, and the thunderstorms stayed away. Many thanks to the riders-all who came from a considerable distance. It was a tremendous honor having them ride this brevet. Also, thanks to my family for being such loyal and capable volunteers. Results and links to some photos here.

I am one happy lantern rouge!

Shields Valley 200k Brevet Preview

One week before the main event I pre-rode the Shields Valley 200k course-first and foremost for my own fitness, but also to make sure route was rideable. With all the road construction going on, and very few alternate routes, that's always a concern.

The route is in good shape. There's some construction on Park Street/US 89 near the Livingston I-90 interchange, but a side path takes us right around it. The only other construction I encountered was some shoulder work on the Battle Ridge Pass descent, but that didn't impact the traveled way.

The weather was cool and breezy. I got sprinkled on in the lower Bridger Canyon and again just outside of Livingston. Northeast winds gave me a tailwind for much of the route. The forecasts for next weekend show it will be much warmer, breezes out of the west (which may hurt a little on the final climbs), and some possible thunderstorms in the afternoon (which is pretty common this time of year). All in all-it should be a great day to be out on the bike.

Here's photos I snapped along the way:

The view of the Bridger Ridge in Bridger Canyon is beautiful in the morning light. I hope we don't have so many clouds in the way on June 19.
Our first checkpoint is Nordies Grocery in Wilsall.

Not unique to Montana, but more common here than most. The cows will go around you-just be calm-then dodge cow pies for the next several miles.

A view of the Yellowstone River from Old Clyde Park Road

Construction in Livingston. Get on the path adjacent to Park Street to get around it. On the way back get on this same path after riding under I-90.

2010 Brevets getting closer!

My first brevet as a RBA, the Sheilds Valley 200k, on June 19 is pretty much ready to go. I have all the pertinent info on my brevet website. It should be an amazing ride. Please contact me with any questions.

My other brevet, the Tobacco Roots 300k, will be on July 10. There's a couple of bridges under construction between Belgrade and Three Forks that may cause some minor detours that could make the ride a little bit longer (but no less spectacular). I'll keep an eye on it-and hopefully we'll be able to get through the construction without any issues.

I hope to get both routes (or significant portions thereof) pre-ridden before the ride dates-that is if spring ever comes to southwestern Montana. It's been a little slow in coming. Until then-here's a couple of preview photos:

One of the many scenic views on the Sheilds Valley 200k

Looking back towards Ennis on the Tobacco Roots 300k

Season 2010...It's on.

The bison in the photo below looks more nimble than I feel on the bike. I've had a serious case of winter blahs this year. I've done some riding here and there, but nothing sustained. Whenever the weather cooperated I had some excuse not to go out.

The season finally got underway for me with yesterday's Yellowstone Park Ride with the Gallatin Valley Bicycle Club.

My nephew Brian and I set off for West Yellowstone on Saturday morning. There was nary a cloud in the bright blue sky as the sun was coming up, but it was chilly. Others reported temps of around 7 degrees on the drive down through Gallatin Canyon. When our group set off at about 10:15 a.m. temps were in the 20's, but on the rise. By the end of the ride in the early afternoon it was nice and toasty in the low 40's (that's toasty for West Yellowstone in April).

The April ride in Yellowstone has become a nice tradition for our bike club over the years. The Park is still closed to motor vehicle traffic, but the roads have been plowed and are nice and dry. Other than a rare car of a park employee, cyclists have the Park all to themselves (at least the portion they let us ride in). It's a rare treat to have such nice roads virtually car-free-along with the incredible scenery and occasional wildlife. Anyone who knows anything about Yellowstone knows that riding a bike after it has opened to cars isn't quite so much fun.

Due to some road construction by Gibbon Falls, our ride was cut a few miles short, but we still got a nice easy spin of 37 miles done. I wish the Park staff would let us go towards Old Faithful, instead of Norris Junction, but apparently that way is a "bear management" area (whatever that means).

I rode very easy-staying with several other riders, most of whom are also just waking up their legs after the long winter. I felt great-just warmed up really-at the end. I considered turning around and riding the route again-but Brian, who is just getting in cycling, had had enough. He rode very well-it probably won't be long and he'll be dropping me.


Riding in the Park without the cars is a great thing and a rare treat. If I was King of the World-I'd close the Park to motor vehicles for about two weeks in the middle of the summer and turn it over to bicycles and other human powered vehicles. Seriously, I think they should do it-people would come from all over the world to ride! It'll never happen-but I can dream. At least we get the opportunity for a little taste in April.

A Quiet Winter

2009 was a good year for me on the bike. I completed a super randonneur series, (200k, 300k, 400k, and 600k brevets), rode several permanents, and totaled more than 5000 miles for the first time.

When compared to fellow randonneurs from other parts of the country, my numbers look pretty pedestrian. I routinely read accounts of people totaling up to and beyond 10,000 miles with multiple 1200 kilometer grand randonnees. I guess I'll just have to use the excuse of living in a northern intermountain climate.

This winter has been especially frustrating. My bike went on the hook in the garage sometime in October and has barely been off since. Warm days have been few and far between and the roads are slow to give up their layer of ice and snow. The rides I have gotten in have been short. It’s just not much fun for me enduring the wind chill factor of a 15 mph ride-no matter how many layers I have on.

In lieu of cycling I’ve tried to mitigate my annual winter weight gain by walking back and forth to work. My commute is only about 3 miles round trip, but the 20 minute or so walk each way wakes me up in the morning and relaxes me in the evening. I also get a few extra steps walking the dog. A little cross-country skiing here and there helps too. Despite my efforts, a few extra pounds have packed on (especially due to a bountiful supply of goodies at Christmas time), but I think I’ve peaked and now have it going back in the right direction.

2010 will be an interesting cycling year. I am really looking forward to hosting my first brevets in June and July. Now let’s just hope the Montana Department of Transportation doesn’t have significant portions of my routes slated for reconstruction (dang stimulus money!). Paved alternate routes are hard to come by.

Until the weather starts to turn, I will continue to stare at my lonely bike hanging on the hook in the garage. Oh well, it shouldn’t be ridden that much anyway-not until it gets a tune-up.

Brevets in Montana in 2010!

With early winter snows blanketing Southwest Montana (techically it's not even winter yet), it may seem too early to be thinking about riding next year...but it's not!

I am pleased to announce that I will be hosting two ACP sanctioned brevets in Montana in 2010. The 200k ride on June 19 will start in Bozeman and make a loop through Wilsall and Livingston with a nice out-and-back into the Paradise Valley before heading back to Bozeman. The 300k ride on July 10 will start here in Belgrade and take a big loop around the Tobacco Root Mountains in Southwest Montana, passing through Ennis, Virginia City, and Whitehall among other towns along the way. Both rides promise to be very scenic, challenging, and fun!

I've set up a website CLICK HERE to provide all the necessary details. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions.

Hollowtop 200-Norris, Montana never looked so beautiful!

One of the most gratifying things about this summer is having other people come out and ride my permanents. Recently, Jim Moores of Boise got in touch with me about riding my Hollowtop 200 route. Jim's family has a cabin in Gallatin Canyon, he is in the area frequently, and is looking to do some cycling when he is here. Jim's blog is here.

We planned to do the ride on Sunday of Labor Day weekend-hoping that everyone was camped at their holiday destination and not on the road. I let Karel Stroethoff of Missoula know that Jim and I would be riding and that he was welcome to join us. Even though he had ridden this route with me on August 16th, Karel took me up on the offer and drove to Belgrade from Missoula in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Karel has had an amazing year-putting on mega miles on his bike-and even more miles on his car getting to the rides. This ride would help him keep his R-12 streak alive (the R-12 is a prestigious RUSA award given for riding at least one 200k or longer randonneuring ride in every month of the year). I've got a modest R-12 streak going as well, but I will probably end up letting it lapse when the snow starts flying. Karel and Jim cruising on the frontage road into Whitehall.

We had a cloudy, but fairly comfortable morning heading west on the Frontage Road through Manhattan and Three Forks. As we rode Jim and Karel got reaquainted-as they had ridden a 400k brevet out of Driggs, Idaho in 2007.

All was going great until we got to Sappington Junction (MT 2 and US 287) which is being completely reconfigured. As we approached the torn up road it was obvious that Jim, who had nice fat tires on his bike, was going to get over the mile or so of gravel and dirt much faster than Karel and me. As he rolled ahead, I told him our road (MT 2) would just go straight. Well-three weeks ago when Karel and I rode through here our road did go straight. But not anymore. The new configuration of the intersection now keeps the main traffic on US 287 heading towards Ennis while those of us going towards Whitehall on MT 2 have to make a right turn. Signage is very sparse at this stage of constuction with only one little orange sign pointing towards Butte. Jim, following my flawed advice stayed on 287. He was pretty quickly way out in front of us-but on the wrong road. I yelled and waved, but it was no use-Jim was a blip on the horizon-getting through the construction and heading up Harrison Hill to what he thought would be our first checkpoint in three or four miles-oblivious to the route mishap. So what to do? There's no cell phone service out here, and I wasn't too keen on trying to chase Jim up the hill-knowing he had at least a mile head start on me. Before long a pickup came by so I flagged it down. Fortunately it wasn't a redneck cyclist hater-just a nice friendly couple who pulled over for me. I asked them if they wouldn't mind telling the cyclist up the road that he needed to turn around. They said they'd be glad to and headed on up the hill. After a little while Jim came cruising back down the hill after almost making it all the way to the top. Oh well-at least he got to enjoy the downhill on the way back. I felt bad for my direction mishap-but was pleased with myself for successfully flagging down the pickup. It all worked out just fine...except Jim burned a few matches he would need later.

The rest of the ride to Whitehall was wonderful-with nice temps, very little traffic, and even a light tailwind at times.

The second half of the ride got much tougher starting with the hills of Highway 359 and then the wind-which was in the weather forecast-kicked up out of the south-southwest at 15-25 mph. The last few hills on 359 and and the hilly 10 miles on US 287 between Harrison and Norris were brutal. We just had to put our heads down and slog through it. The little c-store in Norris was a beautiful site to behold and our oasis as we sat on the leeward side of the building, ate a snack, and watched the flag on the post office across the highway whipping in the gale.

The good news was we turned east-northeast at Norris on MT 84 and the formerly vicious cross-headwind wind became a quarter-tailwind ally. The final 38 miles went relatively quickly as the wind helped us through the canyon along the Madison River and over the rolling hills back to the Gallatin Valley.

My tire started going soft in the last four miles. After pumping up with my wimpy pump and only going another mile, Karel used his much better pump to get more air into the tire. It worked-we made it back to the Town Pump in Belgrade with air to spare...so to speak. Jim, who fought leg cramps for about 80 miles, had to drop his pace, but came in only 13 minutes after Karel and me. I was very glad that my cue sheet brought him home with no trouble.

So other than our little route mishap-courtesy of the economic stimulus funded road reconstruction, the brutal winds between Harrison and Norris, and Jim's leg troubles, it was a pretty nice day. Going on Sunday was a good decision as traffic was light and trucks were very few and far between. Karel kept his R-12 streak going, Jim will get his name in this year's RUSA results publication, and best of all-I got to share my route again with fellow randonneurs. Yep-it was definitely a nice day!