Rode Galbraith alone on a hot afternoon while my daughter, Shanna, and her friend Ashley Cook were at the Hoop Jam at Belles Fare.

There were a lot of people on the mountain, and all of them except me seemed to be in large boisterous groups. You could hear the good groove going down all over Galbraith from the whoops and shouts and snatches of song drifting on the light summer breeze.

Turned around at the top of the Ridge Trail, having gotten my 30,000 feet for July. I now have 244,027 vertical feet climbed for the first seven months of 2000.

Approximately 600 verts.

Vert Quest chronicles "The Man Known As Mongo's" pursuit of the World Record for climbing on a mountain bike, 404,000 vertical feet, or the vertical equivalent of 13 sea-level-to-summit ascents of Mt. Everest during a 12 month period. Mongo's mountain bike climbing tricks are distilled in Mongo's Over-the-top Guide to Climbing.