Commuting: May 2016

After best intentions of commuting on studded tires through the winter, we're back on the bike this spring commuting to work and running errands. Alli and I are very fortunate to live where a bike path connects us all the way into town. Jackson has one of the best pathway programs around, particularly for a small western-Wyoming town. But then again, we wind up having a lot of amenities that western towns of our size don't, so not all that surprising.

Anyway that brings me to the reason for this post: a monthly record of bike commuting miles! During the month of May I rode my bike 111.8 miles running errands in town, riding to work, to church, and else where. I haven't take the time to sit down to make a mileage goal for this year, but I do want to keep riding throughout the calendar year. I don't think 100 miles a month is reasonable, but ending the year with close to 600 miles total sounds pretty good. At the gas mileage of our van (about 16 mpg), that equates to roughly 38 gallons of fuel saved!

We'll see if we can keep this thing going for the rest of the year...and beyond. Half the fun will be kitting out the bike to make it more and more pleasurable. The other half of the adventure will be figuring out the best clothing system for all kinds of weather. We had some weeks of good rain in May and I was pleased with my clothing system staying relatively dry.

Stay tuned for more monthly updates!

Recent Adventures

In this post are some photos of my recent adventures in an effort to catch up my blog to my life, not a whole lot of in depth stories or profound writings, but hopefully I'll get back into a rhythm of writing that will foster more creativity.

Climbing at Practice Rock in Hyalite Canyon before the road opened to vehicles. On this spectacular day, Alli and I road our bikes up the road to climb for most of the day. Kyler enjoyed hanging out with us at the rock. 

Later that evening after climbing, Alli and I went to a swing dance sponsored by Bozeman's Senior Center with my roommate and his fiance. This was a 3 wheeled electric car in the parking lot, affectionately named Kermit the Pod. I was super intrigued and actually talked to the electrical engineer who designed the car at the dance.

Group photo after the dance. Two good looking couples if I don't say so myself. 

The next day, Sunday afternoon, I got to hang out with Ryan of Lion's Ridge and some Young Life buddies climbing at Allenspur in the Paradise Valley. Great climbing, wonderful weather, entertaining conversations, and DQ Blizzards to cool off afterwards. Amazing! Reminds me a lot of climbing in Texas actually. 

Another beautiful day in paradise! Alli and I road our bikes up the Hyalite Canyon road to the reservoir two days before the official opening of the road to vehicles. Stupid or not we road from town and racked up a round trip of 35.5 miles in 2 1/2 hours. Mummy Peak in the background. 

Just last weekend, we climbed to the top of Mt. Baldy, the southernmost high point in the Bridger Range. Round trip 9 miles with about 4000 ft elevation gain and lost. Jon and Alli shown with Baldy in the background. 

At the Summit! We were tired puppies by the time we got back to the pickup. 

Life is good here in Bozeman and I feel really blessed to be living and working and playing in the Gallatin Valley this summer. This will be the first summer since High School where I haven't had to move from one town to the next for school.  I am doing Civil Engineering research for the university through a group called Western Transportation Institute. Research has been both physically and mentally demanding, but I'm having a blast! Look for a future post of my lab.