Ride Report: 71 Miles, 1,255 Total Miles, 15.9 Avg.
mph, 3,392 Ft. Climbing, 5,525 Calories, 13 Unlucky Prairie Dogs. Most of the ride report is self-explanatory. I shall avoid offending the reader’s
sensibilities by not posting pics, but suffice it to say that when prairie dogs
are struck by fast moving vehicles, they pretty much explode. The magpies seem to appreciate it tho. The things one notices at 15 mph, eh? At least it’s colorful…
There – see? No
sensibilities offended. Just trying to
do my part.
Oh – and BLM is an acronym for the Federal Government’s
Bureau of Land Management. The Feds own
much of the mountain west and it is managed chiefly by BLM and the Ag.
Department’s Forest Service crew. Just
so ya know…
One final thing about the ride report. Interestingly, although there was a good bit of
climbing today only a little over 1k of it came by virtue of a “mountain”
pass. The rest was garnered by one of
those slow uphill grinds that lasted all day at between 1-3%. I think I’ve said it before – those days wear
on a guy.
But as always, it was an interesting day. Saw some great sights, met some interesting
people, cried (If that doesn’t make ya read on I don’t know what will.) And the observant and astute reader will note
something different about today’s pics which will be revealed to the more
mundane of you at the end of the post.
Buckle up kids, here we go…
OK – this was just too gorgeous to pass up. I mean really, the frequency of scenes like
this while on The Thin Blue Ride sometimes takes my breath away.
These two are Arnold and Margareet. They’re riding the T/A East to West and are
from the Netherlands. I ran into them as
I was leaving Sheridan, MT and they were pulling in. They had 90 days from the time they set foot
in the country to get it all done – tourist visa limits, doncha know. I asked about Kansas – my home state. They say it’s still there and that one can
certainly see a long ways there. Hmmm,
never noticed. I’ll have to check it out
when I get there. They also happened to
be in Colorado during that last big snow storm.
Arnold said they were fortunate as they only got about 5 cm, where they
were. Hey – don’t get after me about it,
he’s from Europe where the metric system is apparently all the rage.
Sig and I looked at this scene for a long time today. Just amazing.
The rock behind me is from gold dredging operations between
the mid 1850s and the early 1920s. At
the time there was little concern for environmental issues, and as a result,
this stuff was piled beside the road all the way from Sheridan to Virginia
City. Not inherently dangerous, just
unsightly – and it was everywhere.
According to the historical marker I read they had huge floating dredges
that moved down the creek as they went by creating their own ponds in which to
float. They basically dredged out a pond
ahead of them as they moved downstream.
The tailings were just dumped to the side of the dredge. The creek still flows there, but its
continuity is destroyed.
The entire City of Virginia City is apparently on the
national register of historic districts.
This according to the sign outside town. The team of horses and
stagecoach are in keeping with that theme.
Plus, tourists like me love ‘em.
I was afraid they were gonna try to charge me for taking a pic.
The reader will not that Virginia City has been resisting
change since ????. Apparently with much
success. See above pic...
This is George. He
hails from New York City by way of Hong Kong.
He was waiting for a friend to descend from the only climb (for me) of
the day in order to head on down the road.
Turns out that he knew Arnold and Margareet who I had met earlier in
Sheridan. According to George they’ve been
riding together for over a month. This
may require some explanation and is a curious function of the T/A. People come to know each other and may or may
not ride together all the time. But if
they move at the same approximate pace and for the same distance each day, they
tend to run into each other frequently.
Sometimes one group is a day or two ahead, sometimes behind (depending
on rest days and “tourist” days) but they still say that they’re riding
together.
This is me at the top of “Un-named Pass”. At least that’s what the ACA map calls
it. Note the grassy mountain top behind
me. All fake, it’s sagebrush. The frequent reader may also note the
recently (and stylishly) trimmed beard.
Susan claims I miss a bunch that “stand out”. I try to explain that beards aren’t like
normal hair. An explanation which is
lost on her.
Susan and me at the top of Un-named pass. There.
Now it has a name. Those reader
who recall my mention of changing out “headsweats” and wondered what I was
talking about can now see one in action.
I’m wearing it. On my head. The reader can infer its utility. Maybe they could call it
“baldguysheadwon’tsunburnthruhelmetvents”.
Always good to see one of these. Another 40+ mph descent. Oh – and I had my first experience with a
“Tar Snake” today. Sam (of Paul and Sam
fame) told me about these and described the feeling of having your tires slip
sideways if ya hit one while cornering.
They’re tar strips that seal cracks in the pavement. The worst ones being those that run parallel
to the road – for obvious reasons.
They’re disconcerting to say the least, and to be avoided. I made it a point of doing so the rest of the
way down the mountain. We obviously have
‘em in Kansas, but lacking mountains which generate a good bit of speed for a
rider, their significance to riders is minimal.
And then there was this.
Madison Valley as seen from a pull-out on the descent. Susan and I had arranged ahead of time to
meet there for lunch, having no idea how beautiful the view would be. As it happens, once we made it to the town of
Ennis (In the valley) we turned right and rode up the valley along the Madison
River for the rest of the day.
I’m soaking in the view.
Susan asked for my phone and took this pic. After she left, and as I sat there, I
cried. Looking at scenery like this, can
there be any doubt that we are created beings living in a world created to
display its maker’s might? Words are
insufficient to describe the view so I won’t even try. PS - and I'm not typically a cryer.
As I said, Susan and I had arranged lunch at this
pull-out. I decided to do a scientific
experiment. Recall the Oreo with avocado
pic from a few day’s past. This is where
the rubber meets the road. As it turns
out, the combination of Oreo with peanut butter was also quite tasty. Given that Oreos were the common denominator
in these two taste testing experiments, one is left to assume that it’s the
Oreo that does the trick. Not the
topping. More experiments may follow to
confirm my findings. And just to give
credit where credit is due, it was Kelsy and Parker who set me down this path.
Fortunately, we finished lunch, and were about 5 miles South
of Ennis by the time the pass was shrouded in rain. From all appearances as we continued South,
it persisted for much of the rest of the afternoon.
It’s just unreal. One
never tires of these views. However, I
think we have some climbing to do tomorrow to make it up to West Yellowstone,
MT, and I suspect these mountains will play their part.
This is Susan and me in front of the Madison River. It runs right past the back of The Rig and
will provide welcome “white noise” for sleeping. Plus, like many geographical features here,
its just plain easy on the eyes.
This is home for the night at the BLM campground. Quite the view out the back window. (The Author Smiles)
And this is the view out the front. (Smile gets bigger.)
And for you purists, this is a pic of just plain old
mountains – The Rig isn’t in the way. I
can’t think of a better way to end this post.
Till next time.
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