Day 4

Since the kayak had been canceled, we were to do a 80+ mile bike ride in it’s place. We got a good nights sleep and as the sun rose, we jumped on the bikes. We powered along in a nice paceline. We covered the 80 or so miles from the TA to Big Timber in about 6 hours. This was basically a road ride through a couple of towns and following along the Yellowstone River. We were more concerned with conserving energy then going fast. With the four of us sharing the pulling, we were able to cover the road with a minimum of effort. As we were pulling into Big Timber (the location of the TA) Susan told us we needed a team meeting. To my great surprise Susan had rubbed the skin off of both of her heels down to the tendon sheaths.

We made such good time, that we beat the crew to the TA. Susan immediately went into the medical tent. Other team’s crews were very kind in making sure that we had food and drink. After talking to the doctors in the medical tent it was clear Susan would not be able to go on. We had three more long ultra marathon treks plus some bike riding.

Once it was clear that Susan could not go on, and our crew arrived, we packed for the next leg. While this “delay” didn’t cost much in time, it was a huge blow. We, as a team, had talked about this possibility and had all agreed that if one could not go on, the other three would continue. Although we were now unranked we still had resolve to continue the journey and continue to race.This next leg, required biking 20 miles to the foot of the

Crazy Mountains, dropping the bikes and trekking through the Crazy’s. This ride was a lot longer then I expected and we were carrying a trekking gear along with all the mandatory gear.

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riding from Big Timber to the bike drop at the foot of the Crazy’s

We arrived at the bike drop around 7 pm. There were 5 teams at the drop. We switched to our trekking gear and headed out. I knew that we would need sleep and wanted to do so before we got into the snow. We trekked up Big Timber Creek. Around 11 pm we began to hit snow and felt it was a good place to do a laydown for a few hours.

Will had been battling bronchitis for most of the race and Brian feet were pretty messed up. This was going to be a critical trek for us. Because Will was sick, I was doing most of the navigating. From the outside we looked pretty good. In reality we were on the ropes. But everyone was staying up beat and not complaining. In fact, it was hard to determine just how bad everyone was because no one was complaining. We put Will in the mandatory sleeping bag and everyone fell asleep.

Day 5

We got up around 1-2 am and hiked through the snow and then up over the ridge. The climb up was steep and no clear trail where we were. I had a bit of trouble finding the trail over the ridge. Finally, with Will’s help, we got a good location and bearing and quickly found the trial over the saddle. The Crazy’s are a very rough and steep series of ridges. The terrain is rocky and the snow sections were exposed. This was not an easy trek. Once we got over the saddle at about 10,000 feet we headed down into a valley to the South Fork of Sweet Grass Creek.

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Finally got to the top of the ridge in the Crazy’s

This descent into the valley was fraught with hazards. Aside from the steep rocky trail, there were streams running under the snow. These can cause a very dangerous situation. If you fall through the snow and into the stream, it’s very bad. As we worked our way down the valley we trekked for miles through wet, marshy and sometimes snow covered ground. The trial took us down the valley, around the mountain and up the Middle Fork of Sweet Grass Creek. This valley was totally covered with snow so we could see a “trail”. We followed the footprints of the teams in front of us. We weaved our way up the valley and had to climb up another ridge up to Campfire Lake which sat the CP. I was told later that when set the CP flag was at chest level. When we got there it was way over my head and I couldn’t touch it. Also, there was no punch. From this CP, it was around the lake and up a very exposed snow field. 20 minutes of nervous climbing and we were at the top of the ridge at 9500 feet.

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Brian and Mike coming up the last ridge in the Crazy’s. The CP was at the end of the frozen lake below them. The valley climbed is below the lake.

At the top of the ridge, it was very windy but a great view. We quickly headed down the other side and got to glissade down a part of the ridge. From there is was down Trespass Creek valley out to the road and then a long 10K walk to the TA. These long walk outs on the road were very hard both mentally and on the feet. Every trek had a long walk out from the mountains to the TA. We got to the TA in the late afternoon shortly before dark.

One of the odd things about this trek was that from the time we slept till we got into the TA we didn’t see another team. It was a weird feeling to go 18 hours with no contact with anyone else. It just added to the strangeness of the Crazy Mountains.

Day 6We laid down and got a few hours of sleep before jumping on the bike for a 90+ mile, mostly road ride. We left around 1am for the road just ahead of the Dancing Pandas but took a longer way to the main highway. Without Susan it was much harder to paceline. Also, Brian was having a tough time for a few hours so we moved along as best we could. We got to CP 19 a little after dawn and were about 30 minutes behind the Pandas. From CP 19 the road was rolling hills basically around the Bridgers Mountain range. The only interesting part of the ride was a canyon through the northern part of the Bridgers. The canyon was pretty, slightly down hill and curvey . It was a hoot to ride. The rest of the ride went ok but as the day wore on it got hotter and hotter. By the time we got to the TA it was very hot and dry. The teams that did that ride during the day must have hated it. About 5 or 6 miles before the TA we caught the Panda’s and arrived in the TA ahead of them.We got to the TA at the base of the Bridgers around 1 pm. Brian got his feet worked on, we ate and took off, just behind a handful of teams on the trek. Susan was limping around trying to help crew. She would later fly home to be with her family and heal up.

This trek started with a 5000 foot climb to the top of Sacagawea Peak. It was steep and beautiful. Again we were traveling with the Dancing Panda’s. Brian was in a bad way with his feet. We took all of the heavy stuff - like water - out of his pack and tried to help him as much as possible. Brian never complained and just kept marching on.

<!–[if !vml]–><!–[endif]–> Brian and Mike at the top of the ridge in the Bridgers.

We got to the top near Sacagawea Peak with the Pandas at about 5 pm. Also close by was Team Blue, Shasta and a 3^rd team. With the Panda’s we decided to drop down the valley and find the trail . The other teams traveled along the ridge. I didn’t like the look of that ridge and it was going to be dark before you finished. So I was happy to take the trail. As it turned out, we put a lot of time on the teams that took the ridge.

The trail had a ton of climbing over each arm that dropped down towards Bozeman. As darkness fell, we crossed over Ross Pass at 7,600 feet. At this junction we could have jumped on the ridge. As it was now dark we determined that staying on the trail would be the best course of action.

Day 7

As the trail went on we were all getting tired. We took a 15 min laydown around 1 am and later around 3 am did a regular sleep for a couple of hours. Still we trekked hour after hour. Up and over, time and again. We did most of our trekking with the Panda’s that night. Once out of the mountains, we had a couple of miles of walk out to the TA at a recreation area.

Hiking through the Bridgers with Bozeman in the background

Finally, around 1 ish we got to the TA which as a recreation area in Bozeman. There was a lake and I jumped in while Brian got his feet worked on. We got some food and I got maps and bikes ready. The Bridger’s had been tough on us but we knew we were getting close.

The next leg was on bikes from Bozeman over the mountains of the Gallatin National Forest back to Storm Castle and the TA for the ropes. The CP on the way was at the Little Bear Cabin, a forest service cabin that over looks the Little Bear Creek valley. I figured this was about a 6 hour leg.

We got some local info on how to travel through Bozeman to get to Little Bear Creek. The bike ride was uneventful, with some good climbing to the cabin.

Take a left and follow this road . . .

We got to the cabin just before sun set. From that point there were lots of fireroads going everywhere. We had to be very careful about taking the right roads so the movement was slow. Above 7500 we had to hike a bike through the snow. We wanted to get to the ropes in the daylight so we weren’t too concern about moving slow, we just didn’t want to go down the wrong road. Finally we hit the intersection where we would ride the only non- road in the entire 300 miles. It was a very steep ATV track. It was a little dicey because of the speed, loose, rutty trail and the fact that we were getting pretty tired.         After a couple of near crashes we made it down to the road at

Storm Castle and into the TA for a bit of sleep before the ropes and the start of Day 8.        7 days into the race, we were still in the top 20 and holding up well despite everything. We missed having Susan with us but we were still racing and looking forward to the ropes. Will’s bronchitis was getting better and Brian’s feet were actually healing. I was feeling pretty good and was confident that we were going to complete the long course. We needed to keep moving steadily but we had time. We only had the ropes course, a long trek and the last bike. The end was in sight.

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