Bear Lake Monster Cross

16 riders for the 1st annual BLMX

I signed up for the Bear Lake Monster Cross to get an idea how a gravel grinder race would feel.  I'm really interested in riding the Dirty Kanza.  This ride would be the longest I'd ever done on my cyclocross bike.

The BLMX was initially scheduled for August but was postponed which caused most of the riders to cancel.

I was really excited to ride the dirt and gravel roads around Bear Lake and nearby mountains.  This was the longest ride

The temperature at the start was in the upper thirties.  The 16 of us headed south from Montpelier through gravel roads until we hit the causeway from the east side of Bear lake to the west.  After more dirt and gravel roads we hit the mountains at Paris, ID.  The views awesome.  The leaves were turning colors and there was snow at the higher elevations.

A view from some of the back roads

The ride was great.  I'll definitely do it again.  I could have used more gears for climbing and wider tires for the gravel roads.