Category: Bikes and biking
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The practice of practice
Boundary Trail, Glacier NP. I started this blog in late 2006, a significant date for my purposes today because it marked a rapidly growing interest/obsession with mountain biking. Serial obsessions have defined my life since childhood, but those of adulthood have necessarily been more defining. Mountain biking is thus far secondary only to climbing in…
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Rolltops, drawcords, and larger packs for cycling
I made another bikerafting descent of the main Flathead today, using experience from last trip to dial in the crossings better. I did fewer boat crossings (six versus nine), rode a lot more, and did the whole deal hours faster. It’s a sweet route. With slightly warmer weather and more confidence in my rigging abilities,…
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Fatbike freeride
Spring has come to the Flathead, even though for the third morning in a row there is a few inches of heavy snow in the backyard. Surely it will do what it has all week and turn through snain to rain within the hour. There’s got to be some great skiing up high, but in…
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Preliminary data
Fleece, synthetic fill, and down: the big three insulators for outdoor garments since before I can remember. Synthetic’s have come on strong from the back of the pack in the last 15 years, down fill powers have crept higher, and fleece has undergone myriad transformations in an attempt to address the three reasons why so…
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The cycling of middle childhood
Flood debris, Flathead River bends. Below the high water mark, so nobody owns this ground. I started mountain biking in middle school, on my Bridgestone MB5. My friend Adam and I would ride out to Hueston Woods, the only large natural area nearby, and ride on the mountain bike trails that were only then being…
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On the fatbike fad
Let us dispense with this nonsense once, so that it need not be said again: -Yes, fatbikes are necessarily heavier. So are fat skis. And larger paddle blades. -If you mistake stable handling for sluggishness, you need to get out more. And learn that the best way to steer a mountain bike usually involves the…
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Riding like an animal
It doesn’t take much for something to go on a fatbike. We’re finally getting winter. The nordic trails are in good shape (finally enough to cover the deadfall), an powwdah is happening in the mountains, but all I want to do is ride my Mukluk. Halfway through todays trip, while yardsaling gear and preparing to…
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The growth of monstercross
First of all, it’s one word, not “monster cross” (just like it’s packrafting, not “pack rafting”). Second, I’m glad to see the term spreading far and wide, in the sense I invented, that which describes a not especially technical dirt bike race or route. Do a google and you’ll see that since the original monstercross…
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Wilderness biking in the lower 48
Fat bikes are in the process of reshaping what a mountain bike is. They’re a fad, insofar as their popularity is riding a cissoidal curve. Doubtless in five years there will be a number of Pugsleys and Mukluks gathering dust. There will also be exponentially more fat frames and components. In 20 years the average…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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