Oh deer!

26.5 Miles

This afternoon Sarah and I got a rare chance to sneak off and do a bike ride together.  We decided that since we didn't have a lot of time we'd do a shorter ride to Pictograph Caves State Park.  We finally got out the door around 7:30pm and were soon on our way up the long hill.  As we climbed I noticed several deer and knowing how many deer are in this area I said to Sarah, "I hope we don't see any deer on the way down the hill."  You may be aware that I have a phobia of getting hit by a deer while on my bike.  Maybe its not really a phobia but rather a premonition.  Either way, I've had enough close calls that I try to err on the side of caution when dealing with these unpredictable beasts.  I've always got my eyes peeled for those pesky critters.  I like to get the jump on them before they surprise me.

So back to the story.  Sarah and I climbed  and climbed and climbed until we finally crested the hill eagerly awaiting the steep but beautiful decent down the backside.  As we crested, an SUV passed and then stopped at the gate ahead of us.   Apparently the park closes at 8:00pm and they had just barely closed the gates before we got there.  Bummer.  We had to turn around.  With a nice tail wind, we sped back down the hill.  20mph...25....30....35...38mph  We were flying, taking turns hiding in one another's wind shadow and then sling shotting around to take the lead.  I was in the lead now.  Just then, out of the corner of my eye I saw movement to my right.  Then it happens.  Before I can even grab the brake levers, a big doe bounds over the barbed wire fence and darts out directly in front of me crossing the road only feet away.  I missed her by that much (in my best Maxwell Smart impersonation).  Phew!  But its not over yet.  There was another doe behind her and she was ready to jump that fence and do the same thing.

Stay tuned for our next episode, "A lucky break" or "Russ' last stand."....

At a distance of about twenty feet, the second deer ran along side me on the other side of the fence.  She was getting antsy and really wanted to cross the road.  I reached for the brakes again but didn't know if Sarah was right behind me or if she had dropped back.  I hesitated to react until I had to hoping to avoid colliding with Sarah if I hit the brakes too hard.  I watched the doe carefully when suddenly she hit the skids, turned and leapt in the air directly at me.  I yelled (it might have been a scream) and prayed for the best.  Suddenly, this deer who was flying right at me, tumbled in the air.  Huh?  She clipped the top wire of the barbed wire fence, flipped over with her back hooves in the air and slammed to the ground.  I couldn't see much after that but Sarah saw the whole thing.  Apparently the doe tripped on the top wire causing her to flip over completely, smash into the fence and slip between the wires ending up on the same side of the fence that she started. Terrified, the poor thing got up, bolted away from the fence and then, again paralleled me down the road.

Round 2

I am extremely confused at this point thinking that there is a poor deer behind me caught in the barbed wire fence.  Trembling I turn to look back to hear Sarah laughing hysterically.  All of the sudden, the doe is running with me again and again she is itching to jump the fence and cross the road.  Having a better idea of where Sarah was, this time I didn't hesitate to hit the brakes.  She again bound over the fence, this time clearing it, darted across the road in front of me, leapt the fence on the other side of the road and was gone in a flash.  I'm glad Sarah was there because I doubt she would have believed me otherwise.  I just wish I had the helmet camera with me to document the whole thing.

Round 3

Now, I wish I could say that was my only encounter of the evening, but lamentably, it was not.  As we pulled back into town, I rounded the corner, starling another doe.  This time the deer had nowhere to go.  She was trapped between us and a tall chain link fence.  She took off and multiple times, leapt into the air and smashed sideways into the fence until we finally passed.

Until today, I'm pretty sure that Sarah thought I was being paranoid with my certainty that a deer would finally bring my untimely demise.  I've had too many of these experiences to simply credit it to mere coincidence.  There IS a deer conspiracy and they ARE out to get me!

Lost in the woods

11 Miles
It was a dark and stormy night and instead of hiding in the house, I geared up, hopped on the mountain bike and sloshed my way over to Riverfront Park.  It was 7:30pm and already dark with the cloud cover.  I entered the park and turned onto the first trail.  I was soon trekking through the trees, came to an unfamiliar fork in the trail and made a snap desicion.  I soon reached the river heading back toward the entrance to the park.  I headed back toward the first trail, found the same fork and chose the other direction.  It seems as there has been some trail building efforts since the last time I was there and the trail system has changed just enough to confuse me.  I finally found my way into the main park.  On my way, I had to cross a bog, got stuck and had to walk out, sinking both feet into the muck.
I goofed around a bit until sunset and decided to turn around so I could get out of the park before dark.  I was almost to the entrance to the park when I took a wrong trail that twisted and turned through the woods with a full canopy above.  The sky was darkening and it was geting harder and harder to see in the trees.  The trail wound all over the place, twisting and turning so much that I lost all sense of direction.  When I finally exited the woods onto a main trail, I had no idea where I was and where to go.  After a quarter of mile, I finally caught a glince of the river and realized I was heading deeper into the park with dwindling light.  After turning around, I finally found my way out of the park.  Sarah told me I was a dork for describing my experience this way, but here goes.  The windy trail through the woods looked and felt like the scary woods where Rabbit, Pooh and Piglet went to lose Tigger and trick him into giving up his bounce.  It was a cool experience, not at all scary.  I hope I can find that trail again.
After getting home, I had to hose off my bike, shoes, and well, my whole person.  I was one filthy, muddy mess.  I look forward to my next Riverfornt Park trip.

From the dash

Yesterday I drove to West Yellowstone to rendezvous with Mom and Grandma and to pick up Sydney and Tara after a week at summer camp.  On the way, I was surprise to see how many bikes you can really haul with one vehicle.  At first, I was in awe seeing this minivan hauling what looked like seven bicycles...

Until I saw this van.  Your guess is as good as mine as to how many bikes were up there but I'd have to guess it's over a dozen.  I wonder if the trailer is full of bikes too. 

It was a beautiful day for riding and I saw lots of people out.  Some, I'm sure were doing the century route from Billings to Columbus and back.  Others were touring, on there way to Yellowstone.  There were many floating the Gallatin River on raft and kayak.  And of course, I was stuck in the car...

Evie and Me

With Sarah working night shifts and Sydney and Tara off at summer camp with Grandma, it was just Evie and me for part of the week.  Evie wanted to go for a bike ride Friday night so I loaded her up in the trailer and we took off.  Nothing like pulling a 50 pound parachute in the 20 mile and hour winds.  At first I thought about going to Pictograph Caves but the thought of pulling that trailer up the hills in the wind was too daunting and most of my other usual rides wouldn't be very trailer friendly so I stuck to the trails and decided to do the newly paved Black Otter Trail.  Yes, its still a climb but nothing like the backside of Colburn Road coming back from Pictograph Caves.  Plus I thought this ride might be more interesting for Evie with four tunnels and several bridges.  I tried to get Evie to make noise in the tunnels.  Every once in awhile I'd hear a mute wolf's howl.  It was pretty cute.  Although I did embarrass myself making noises along with her only to get strange looks from others in the tunnel.

As I mashed the pedals to climb the hills, I told Evie to repeat, "Faster Daddy!  Faster!"  And she whooped and hollered on the descents, until she fell asleep.  She enjoyed seeing the planes take off overhead at the airport and racing the trains.  It was a fun afternoon even though it was a lot of work.

We even got a pleasant surprise on top of the rims.  The Yucca were in full bloom, and for this child of the desert, those muted flowers were beautiful.  I have to admit, I'd seen these tiny yucca plants for years but didn't realize what they actually were until they bloomed.  The yucca of the Mojave sometimes grow to over six feet tall with the flower stem rising far above that.  After having been removed from the Mojave for almost twenty years, these little dwarfed yucca (soapweed yucca) were a welcome site.  I wonder if I can get a few for my yard.

In all, Evie and I logged in 18 miles and probably climbed about 400 feet.  It was a good little ride for a Friday afternoon, especially since I had to peel myself off the coach after a day's work.

She tried so hard to stay awake

Yucca plant in bloom

View over the rims

View of the city below

View to the East

Some more yucca

Bike to Work Day

26 Miles

Today is bike to work day and after having a beautiful week of warmth and sunshine, I awoke to a wet, cold and dreary mess.  I am no 'fair weather rider' so the rain was no deterrent, especially on National Bike to Work Day.  However, dragging exhausted and no responsive butt out of bed from a restless night's sleep and try to pry my eyes open was another story.  It almost took a crow bar to do so.  The kids weren't moving either but after a lot of coercing I finally got the kids to school and packed all my gear for the day, including my bike shoes and clothes. 

Last week I offered to host a noon ride on Bike to Work Day to anyone interested.  I received no responses except from one of my firms principals, Mike, a lean, mean, Iron Man competing machine, and he wanted to do a ride to Pryor Creek and back, some 26 miles.  What on earth am I doing?  I offered so I just had to suck it up and endure the punishment.
 
By the time noon rolled around the rain had picked up, not quite pouring, but still coming down pretty consistently.  We took off down the road dodging traffic until we finally turned off on the Old Hardin Road.  From there it was climb, climb, climb until we reached the crest, some four or five miles away.  I really tired to keep up and pedaled hard as long as I could, but I am out of shape and definitely out of form.  Mike was patient and went at my pace while chatting it up for awhile.  We talked about his Iron Man and triathlon races.  I asked how long each leg of the Iron Man really was.  He said, "Let's put it this way.  Let's say you start at the office and swim to the intersection of King Ave. and 24th Street (2.4 miles), then pedal to Livingston, MT (100 miles) and then run a full marathon to Bozeman, MT (26.2 miles).  I don't even like to drive that route!  I am way out of my league here!  Eventually Mike decided to peel away and wait for me at the top.  I watched his lean, cut legs pumped like pistons in a super up engine as he quickly left me in the dust. 

Huffing and puffing, I finally made it to the top, an 800 foot climb behind me with a 600 foot descent in 3 miles waiting for me.  'Great, at least I can keep up on the descent,' I thought, but I was wrong there too.  Mike made me work to get down the hill.  We almost hit 40 MPH down the backside and  I pedaled like a mad man until I ran out of gears and could do nothing to increase my speed.  I again watched as Mike pulled away leaving me behind.

After reaching the bottom, we turned around to crank back up the same three miles that we near effortlessly cruised down in a matter of minutes.  Getting back up the hill wouldn't be so easy.  I kept him in my sights although I lagged behind.  After reaching the top, we started back down the hill towards Billings.  By now the rain had picked up even more and the wind had started to blow.  The rain was painful as it pelted out cold skin.  I was cold, wet, and becoming very hungry, but it was almost over, and I wasn't completely spent yet. 

Despite the cold and the rain, we had a good ride.  I was slow and struggled but am consoled by the fact that we climbed over 1,400 feet over the coarse of our ride.  I'm not sure what I was more greatful for, the warm shower in the basement or the microwave containing my hot serving of left over tater tot casserole.