24 Hours of Rapelje

Our camp at Rapelje.

Just did this race last weekend. Rapelje is a small cow town in Montana. A 24 hour race involves pedaling laps for 24 hours. The team or individual (depending on the category you're in) that gets the most laps wins. At Rapelje the course is 11 miles. Chuck and Karla were on my team. We competed in the 3 person category, though we only had two bikes. We got 16 laps total- eight a piece, for a total of 114 or so miles a piece. It's exhausting. No sleep- rest, and eat at 1 hour intervals. We may have tied for third place in our category. Couldn't keep up with a couple of the teams though. But hey, per person we got more miles in! Ha! Good training for Leadville. For more info on the race visit this link...

http://www.mbpost.com/race/event/261968/24-Hours-of-Rapelje.html#chapter_1

Chuck and Karla start us off at Rapelje!

Off to the races.

There they go.

The fun doesn't stop at night.

Arriving from my second night lap.

The moon over my tent- which was really just a storage shed. There was a sleeping bag in it, but after the race started- it never got used. Crazy and exhausting. Why do we do it?

It's fun... um ya. Now I'm off to do a 4 to 5 vertical K training ride.

Riding the Switchbacks

Roaring Fork Mountain and Wind River Peak, coming into view at the top of the Switchbacks.

Since the finished up paving the loop road up past Frye lake last fall, we now have a great mountain road ride in our back yard. 3000 ft. of vertical in all- from my house to the top. A 35 mile ride (round trip)... 17 or so going up. I've been riding it nearly every week now. It was awesome in April, May and June because it wasn't open to cars yet. Didn't really open up all the way, enough for bikes, until late May. The day I took these pictures was June 5th, 2010- a great day!

A bearded roadie!

Click on map to enlarge.

Chuck and Karla pedal past Frye Lake.

Seems like the standard view as you're climbing- takes me a little over an hour. My fastest time so far this is year is 1:10:30 (starting from intersection of 9th).

Looking down on Chuck and Karla as they climb their way up.

Over the top!

The view as I crest the top.

Zoom, zoom!

Down hill to Frye Lake from here.

Chuck and Karla, Frye Lake in the background.

Motoring down the final stretch.

Getting er' done!

Karla's view.

Lucky to have such a nifty ride so close to home. Though I opposed the paving of the road for quite some time- I'd have to say it took an alright MTB gravel road ride/ climb and turned it into a world class road ride/ climb. More good stuff!

Riding the Bus

"The Bus"

Dunno why they call this "The Bus", but that's all I've ever known it as. It's good section of BLM and State land about five miles behind my house (up Baldwin Creek Road). Locals use it for Mt Bike riding, running, walking and riding horses- particularly in the early spring before the mountains open up. Last month I did alot of riding up there. On one of those rides I took my camera along.

The ride, as captured by my custom Camelback Cam.

The rider, or... the man getting laughed at.

Cresting a ridge and nearing the end of nearly every climb, you're rewarded with fantastic views of the Winds.


The Anthem's point of view.

A nice bit of single track.

The high prairie wild flowers were just starting to come out. I stopped to smell them several times...

It's a pretty cool thing having a ride like this, pretty much out of your back yard. As the temps increase and summer comes along- the options only increase. Seems like this time of year it's ride, work, ride, eat and sleep- every day. Sometimes the order changes, and somewhere the kids get thrown in there too. Ha! Good stuff! Great country- I love it!