With gasoline at $4.36 a gallon right now I've basically parked my vehicle, especially since the fuel gauge is well below E and next time I drive it, if I'm lucky enough to even make it to a gas station, the bill will run about 75 bucks. Sure, I have 75 bucks, I'm not destitute or anything, but I'd rather not spend 75 dollars on driving. After all, it's summer and I have a perfectly functional bicycle. I have a pretty good arrangement going on right now: I substitute exercise for fuel consumption and spend the money I'm saving on gas at the liquor store. Instead of driving this summer I spend my time on endurance athletics and boozing. There is nothing about the previous sentence that I don't like.

Anyway, I left the house at 9:15 this morning on the Motiv; it's kind of a lower end mountain bike, a little old, but works shockingly well and has been a real reliable bike that's faster than you'd think. I totally hammered it up Fishhook road and made the Motherlode Lodge in just over an hour. Stopped there for water and a snack before starting the climb. Since I only went to Archangel road it wasn't too long of a climb, but that first part is steep. We're talking lowest gear on a 21 speed mountain bike steep. Climbed up to Archangel road and made really good time to the Reed Lakes trailhead. Archangel is a dirt, excessively potholed road that's faster on a mountain bike than in a car, provided you drive prudently out of concern for the well- being of your automobile. Rode as far as I could down the Reed Lakes trail, which was about 400 yards, chucked my bike in the bushes alongside the trail and took off running. The trail must have gotten washed out in recent years, because I remember back in high school I could ride a bicycle from the trailhead to the cabin, but right now the Reed Lakes trail is totally impassable on a bike.

Lingering snow prevented me from going to the shore of Upper Reed Lake so I climbed up the ridge a ways and finally stopped on a perch above and between the two Reed Lakes. Time of ascent: 2:45. Not too bad. I burned a lot of energy doing that though, and had a leisurely lunch up there, drank a ton of water, and even layed down for about a ten minute nap before heading back down. I was pretty tired so I kind of half-assed walk/jogged down to the cabin, but then picked up the pace when I went by a couple groups of hikers that each had an attractive girl my age. I'm going to phrase this as delicately as possible so I don't overstate it: I am an extremely sexually frustrated man, so seeing hot girls as I jogged by made me totally go all Brock Sampson. I restrained myself until they were gone and then came the twitching eyes, ferocious grunting with my breaths, and I hauled ass all the way back to the trailhead, onto my bike and back to the paved road.

Riding back down should have been easy, but it wasn't. Strong winds whipped up in the afternoon and unfortunately for me they were straight into my face. The road is steep enough all the way back down to the Little Su crossing that it didn't really matter, but the last seven miles or so were rough. On the flat sections I was in the second front sprocket. That sucked. I got home a little before three o'clock for a total round trip time of 5:40.

And here are some pictures...

Looking up Reed Creek from the Reed Lakes Trailhead.

Lynx Peak

Bomber Pass above Upper Reed Lake

The mandatory arm held out self portrait to prove that these are my pictures and that I actually was there.

Microdot in the center, Hatch Peak way in the distance through the saddle on the left.

Lower Reed Lake and the view to the South.

Talkeetna high country in late June.

furious@furiousm.com
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© 2008, Michael Logsdon