gaucho777 

Just spitballing…could the moon dust be a mixture of sand/dust and ash from all the recent fires up north?

Keep the photos and stories coming. I wish I could have been there.

gugie 

@mountaindave is the local expert. The rest of us that rode through it are as confused as you are

merziac

Volcanic dust/ash/pulverized rock?

Sounds like what it was like here when Mt. St. Helens blew in 82.

Water/rain turned it to concrete, what a mess that was.

Robvolz 

the flats were the tread missing. Big chunks of tread missing. Carved off

reminded me of riding the hills of Gibraltar and those pesky apes kept biting my tires.

it was never a sidewall. And never a lil hole that some Stan’s could fix.

also, two tires leaked at the stem. I’m mailing those to Vittoria

Kabuki12

you definitely paid the price of admission on this ride. Kudos for sticking with it and smiling for the camera , I’m not sure I would have that tenacity. 👍

merziac

This is Rob's stock in trade.

Kabuki12

As always Rich, your assessment is great. I would be tempted to ride a vintage mountain bike if I ever get to do this ride , which I would in a heartbeat if I could get away . I don’t know if I would do any better or worse , but I assure you I would enjoy the scenery.

AngryScientist 

Ride report:

Amazing ride, the best of people and unreal scenery.

First off, the volunteers from the Montessori school and everyone else were beyond amazing. The amount of kind faces, support and enthusiasm is near unmatched.

Probably about 40-45 people total this year, but felt like just the right amount with old friends and mostly new to me. There were no egos or jerks to be seen all weekend.

Flew into Bozeman; made the 5+ hour drive over to Kalispell and the crew got promptly to work on assembly.



Day one saw plenty of climbing and moon dust. The going up was a slow slog and the going down needed caution, which meant a long day on the bike. Towards the end of the day, the temps were brutal.





You can almost feel the sun in this picture





I even got to help @Robvolz tru up his rear tandem wheel!

Arrived for the big dinner party, everyone dressed to impress

[photos withheld here to protect the innocent]

Lux accommodations awaited.

AngryScientist 

Day 2

More fun out on MT roads. More heat, but started earlier, which was smart. Ice cold martinis made to order were the highlight!





My trusty steed, at the symes and ready to be packed to go home!

Andy_K 

This is a fantastic picture of the moon dust. It would have been perfect if you had a dry shuffleboard table that needed some help.

Robvolz 

Borrowing a pic from Nick……



ok, this is the moon dust. Rich said at times 6” deep. I disagree and found pockets of it much deeper.

Look at the trees. No dust.

I theorized ash from Canadian fires but I’ve been religious about checking the weather and air quality daily for the past two months, so I don’t think that’s it.

I agree with Merziac that it reminds me of the pumice from when Mt. St. Helens blew. Bremerton only got a sprinkling of it compared to areas west and south. That stuff would clog a car’s air filter quick.

Deer dander?

Andy_K 

I mostly don't have any pictures with people in them because I was following through on my announced intention of bringing in the laterne rouge. Alas, you have to finish to be the lanterne rouge, so I didn't do ot after all. I was feeling pretty good at the bacon lady stop, and that was possibly the best bacon I've ever had.

I walked the first quarter mile or so down through the moon dust because I'm still healing from my last crash. Once I got down to solid ground I really enjoyed that part of the descent and I was feeling pretty good about my chances for completing the day's ride. But then the road went uphill again and the trees parted enough to give me a preview of the afternoon.

At some point one of the support drivers came by and mentioned that I wasn't likely to make it to lunch before they closed up, but he said he'd make me a plate and I should keep going. About 1000 yards later I saw the same driver talking to @bikingshearer. A gentleman's agreement was made with regard to whose idea we would say it was to sag and we both got it the car. Another 1000 yards down the road we found a rider on his back trying to fight off heat stroke. It turned out to be @gugie. Rich took one for the team and got back on his bike to give up his place in the sag wagon to our fallen comrade. I wasn't so noble.

Given the realities of the road surface, we didn't make it to the lunch stop a whole lot sooner than the riders we saw on the road. For instance, I had been leap frogging with @ollo_ollo most of the day, and he passed our sag vehicle at least once before we got to lunch and he was at lunch before I finished my sandwich.

Finally, facing temps approaching 100 degrees and no shade in the afternoon I called it a day and road to Hot Springs in the backseat of a support vehicle.

Next year for sure!

If you look really close, you can see @ollo_ollo riding away from me in this first picture.

Spaghetti Legs 

OK I posted some pics, now some verbiage. I don’t think the dust is ash, but just a guess on my part. Except for a few very isolated spots out on the south side of the course it was all there in about a 1 mile stretch. I think it was somehow some very dry topsoil blown off these sheer ridges along side the road. Most of it was on the down side of the Bacon Lady climb, meaning we had to ride downhill in it on day one. I rode it with one foot out of the clips at a speed of 8-10 mph. Because of that I broke a toe clip which, fortunately, was my only mechanical of the event. On day 2 it was the last stretch of the 9 mile (but really 5 mile climb). I had to walk about a 100 meters of it but managed to ride the rest. In a lot of places there seemed to be a weird thin crust along the top so you’d hear a little crunchy sound, but that also, to me , meant I’d get some traction. When I was coming down it on Saturday it seemed like it would never end and I was prepared for a long uphill slog through that stuff but lo and behold I turned a corner and there was Choke waiting with a very good martini. Sorry I was too cooked for a pic.

I came into this in pretty good shape and not worried about the distance or the climbing, but the road surfaces and the heat made for a very tough ride. The 5 mile climb is very hard as there are soft spots, in addition to the moon dust, alternating with very rough large rock sections, making it hard to get the rhythm you need on these long climbs. I have some very rough gravel sections on my local roads but this is mile after mile after mile of rough road which takes a lot out of you.

I’ve had a lot of stuff going on in life in general lately so was somewhat distracted while preparing for the trip. I shipped my bike out early and between faulty memory of what I put in the bike box and what I should bring with me I ended up at Cino with 1 spare tube, a multi tool, no tire levers and the wrong size frame pump.I also decided not to use a saddle bag so just had one water bottle. With that ominous set up I resolved to ride very carefully so as not to flat. I think keeping sharp focus mile after mile to pick a good line took a lot out of me as well. With that, zero flats and a big shout out for my Grand Bois Cerf 28’s which have now carried me through a Cino and Eroica California. The single water bottle worked out fine. There were two occasions when I was down to brewed tea temperature water dregs in my bottle and Choke cruises by in the Sag with cold water and sunscreen. He seemed to be everywhere out on the course!

This was my first Cino and it delivered! It was challenging but not impossible. Great support crew and great people riding. The Adelaide is the perfect little spot to get a bunch of nice people together. I met a couple of BF’ers for the first time but I think there may have been a couple more that I missed and I’m sorry for that. I’m pretty sure I drank too much also.

Andy_K 

Hugh's report reminds me that I have to give a very big thank you to @mountaindave. I came to Cino planning to do a very non-Cino thing in using clipless pedals, but the bike gods intervened. As I was gathering my things Friday night I discovered that I hadn't brought my bike shoes. I made a quick trip to Walmart, arriving just before they closed, to buy some cheapo platform pedals, but I also sent a text to mountaindave asking if he had anything better I could borrow. I had left my bike with Andy Speier (if he's on BF I don't know his username) to deliver to the start (thanks, Andy). When I arrived at the start on Saturday (having gotten a ride from @Robvolz -- thanks, Rob), I found my bike equipped with some sweet MKS Lambda pedals that Dave had pulled from one of her s own bikes.

Friday night when I discovered that I was going to have to do the ride on platform pedals I thought the bike gods had judged me. After doing the ride on the MKS Lambda pedals and seeing how perfect they were for this ride I must now say the bike gods instructed me.

Thanks again, Dave for saving me from having to ride on Walmart pedals.

At this point, I find that accumulating a large list of people you want to thank for something or another is very Cino.

etherhuffer 

Moon dust is likely from blowing dirt and likely originates from unprotected soil, Dust Bowl style dirt. If you go further east to E MT and North Dakota it becomes 'scorio' or 'scoria' dust but it's red instead of grey. It sticks to EVERYTHING and does not wash off with ease. Being semi ancient I used to visit family in MT and ND every summer before I-90 was finished and you could easily end up detoured on roads full of moon dust. Windows up, boiling hot in a 1955 Willys Bermuda sedan, wet bandanas over the face, all vents off. It was truly horrid. For some reason, every female I know and can remember finds having moon dust on their feet the worst aspect of all.

panzerwagon 

What a stellar weekend! I’m still at the Denver airport, my flight back to Texas woefully delayed by 4 hrs (so far).

Flew into Spokane Friday morning, then drove straight to Alamedas, where I’d booked a room for all three nights.





This being my first Cino, everything was new to me, including the abundance of deer in the courtyard during bike assembly (next day I realized there are at least 3 apple trees that draw them in so frequently)




The morning of Day 1 brought a mad dash to the starting line in Kila, where most everyone was ready to roll.




The dicey descent through the moon dust was made tolerable only through the company of @gugie and his brakes, the latter having much to say.

The descent after the moon dust was probably my favorite part of the whole ride, with Dana leading the charge thanks to his 2” mtb tyres.

panzerwagon 

After lunch, Dana and I were the last to leave, and this proved fateful as the heat really started baking us, threatening with flashes of cramp. We eventually got picked up around the 47 mile mark.






The bike performed very well, the 33.33mm Jack Browns (that 0.33mm was critical) really proved themselves on those surfaces. My frankenbike build was exactly what I needed, although I left it late on day 2 in deciding to remove the dropout adjusters (many many thanks to @Choke for help with that, on top of the olive-laden grand martini!)

​​​​​​​

panzerwagon 

Day 2 started off with a long slog through gravel rollers and washes until the first rest stop, where I caught up with Dana, @davester and Thor.



After lunch, we powered up 9-mile hill, interrupted by frequent stoic pauses under every patch of shade. My rear wheel kept slipping and rubbing into the chain stays (could’ve done without that extra 0.33mm on the Jack Browns). The skewer was already very tight and I feared over-tightening. At the summit, our reward was a final dusting through moondust, and the welcome sight of @Choke manning the martini station.



The final descent was fast and fabulous, although the gravel was a bit gnarly in spots. Thus ended day 2, sharing drinks with new friends and thankful for the opportunity to spend these moments together.

Robvolz 

As I rounded Hood River, the girlfriend said, “are you going to build us different bikes for next year?” Which sounds like permission to grab up two more bikes!!!

If there is a more perfect woman, I dunno.

I also thought about the Colnago I just sold. Slightly smaller frame, taller seat post, taller stem and a flat bar. Fat tires!! Would have been perfect.

someone asked about the tires: chunks.



A lil bite

Full on ape style bite

bibliobob

Oh, wow, thanks for the great write-up and pRobvolz !

​​ Looks truly epic. Memories that you'll carry for a long time, I'm sure!

gaucho777 

Not one photo of bacon or a martini?

bikingshearer 

“Moon dust” is what mountaindave called it and he can better explain it. From an outlander’s perspective, it’s as if The Almighty sifted an huge amount of tan flour on the road. It has something to do with weather conditions, perhaps a lack of recent rain. Why is it on the road? I dunno. It might be all over and I didn’t see it, mainly because riding downhill through it demanded every last bit of my attention and then some. Why doesn’t it just blow away in the wind? Because (a) there wasn’t much if any wind and (b) most of it is in forested areas the cut down on whatever wind there might be. It is definitely Type 2 fun.

Steel Charlie

Off Topic -- totally, and I apologize for that
But this has puzzled me for quite some time. Could someone please explain to me the rationale for chopping off the tops of bottles that have corks in them?

TIA

Classtime 

How'd the Harley do?

merziac

Pomp, circumstance and fun, high zoot party trick.

Rob may be along to give us the official 411.

Its not actually chopping, its a quick, slick motion that kind of defies logic when you first see it in person.