elevation plot: go up, then down
This has to be one of my current favorite trails. It’s the hardest easiest ride. The longest, shortest, most complicated basic ride ever.
Ride
I went for a rip on the North American Enduro Tour / Cascadia Dirt Cup course over in the Chuckanuts, on the south edge of town.
Bellingham could be called the Loam Factory. The trails on Chuckanut Mountain weave through an old growth forest that provides that abundance of soft, PNW dirt. When the trails get steeper they snake around some crazy sandstone ridges that brake up the flow and add a technical aspect to some of the harder sections. The course is on the longer side for a single day race, we’ll keep the specific layout under wraps until closer to race day, but expect a 26-28mi course with 4000+ feet of climbing.
Back in Bellingham WA. We spent about a month here last year dealing with a bike-replacement which involved a complete warranty and rebuild on my old ride. It was a good place to have such a big problem. It’s a great feeling to be back. It’s like coming home. But it’s cold, rainy and fall…already! Trees are turning and leaves falling.
After leaving Montana, we camped out by Rose Lake in the Idaho panhandle, near Coeur D’Alene Idaho and Spokane Washington.
For a final ride in the Flathead region I opted to hit the “Beardance” trail which has a bit more of a climb-once, descend-once backcountry style. This is your basic “big mountain” ride layout.
Next stop in the Flathead Lake region was a great little in-town trail system near Foys Lake, just near Kalispell. The trails were cruisy and fun with some nice overlooks. And the best part was that we made a new friend, Jason, another guy formerly from Canada who lives down here now!
We decided to go check out the Flathead Lake area in Montana. What an amazing place.
The first ride was near Whitefish, at Spencer Mountain. The trails there were an incredible surprise. Insanely high quality trail system with a high level of difficulty.
When we were in the Black Hills, we spent a night camping at the “Wrinkled Rock Climbers Campground”. This guy Bill started chatting with us as we made dinner. He introduced himself as a climber and asked us about the biking. He said that the “last place he lived was Wyoming”. (It’s complicated: he’s a traveller.)
We camped in the National Forest at “Moose Creek” last night. Very relaxing spot.
This morning we hit another south hills trail area here in Helena. I rode the “Helena Ridge” trail and it was an awesome trip.
Today I rode the south hills in Helena MT. Cruisy trails on the way up to various outlooks, eventually peaking out on the summit with an excellent high elevation view towards town. Continue Reading