OMG a BFF Ride

I got invited on a trail ride with a few guys in Montana. I was the youngest one in the group at 57 yrs young with the oldest being Montana John and his odometer is just about to roll over to 70.

The original BFF group consisted of Matt, Doug, Tim and Ron who was the designated ride leader on this ride since he knew the area best. These four were all hovering around the 60 thousand mile mark on their odometers. I found out these guys have known each other since their school days and have been friends through all these years. They still get together to ride motorcycles and enjoy each other’s company. It seems Montana John being almost 10 years older was an honorary member of the group after stumbling into the right motorcycle shop years ago. He met Matt who after some twists and turns in life runs his own shop called TWO WHEELZ in Butte, Montana.

The ride was very challenging and in a beautiful setting outside of Butte. We rode on a Wednesday and didn’t expect to see much trail traffic. It was a good thing because we rode some awesome singletrack with rock side hills, small creek crossings, superb wooded side hills and an occasional bridge leading to a LOT of switch backs. Well you probably know what switch backs mean, yup, steep climbs. It seems everyone did pretty well with the occasional mishap that would have someone picking up, kick starting or getting another run at the uphill turn.

The exception was Montana John. It seems he has a switch back limiter kind of like a rev limiter, after 3 or 4 he is ready to find another trail. Therein lies the problem, each trail led to another trail that led to more switch backs. The riding area is fantastic but so steep there are going to eventually be switch backs on just about any trail. MJ soldiered on and rode until he was pretty much “used up” to quote him. He still never quit and never turned around, pretty amazing at 70 yrs of life experience. We took a few breaks and helped him with some of the tight difficult turns and he made it to the top.

It was well worth the effort because the views were amazing! After a short rest to catch his breath rest and recover MJ even enjoyed the scenery, although he said, “been there done that, won’t do it again!”.   So I made sure to take some pictures of him up there so he could mount them on the wall sort of like a trophy. 9,000+ feet is an accomplishment for most riders.

We made our way down the hill while taking in the views, the photos just don’t do it justice. Still, MJ was not happy with the switch backs going down but had a MUCH easier time using gravity instead of fighting a losing battle with it.

When we got back to the trucks, changed clothes and loaded the bikes that’s when the beer, water and snacks appeared. The group hung out and B.S.’d for a while with no hurry to rush off since they had just spent the day with their BFF group and were in no hurry to call it quits. I could tell each guy appreciated their ride and time together. Our ride leader Ron was shaking his head quietly saying he didn’t remember that many switch backs the last time he rode it. I believe you Ron, but give MJ a few weeks he will come around.

#33

“It doesn’t matter where you ride, what matters is who you ride with”