Lyons Fat Tire Fest

Went up to Lyons for the fat tire fest and planned on hooking up with Dave from redstone cyclery for the uber death march. Drove up to Estes Park, and boy is it beautiful!
25 of us were on this ride. Started out kind of slow as there was a missed turn by about 18 of us and we had to retrace our steps while part of the other group went out to head us off. Turned into quite a big wait, but it was all good.
We got unbelievably lucky, weather wise, as multiple storms rolled in and we just randomly avoided them. The road was wet in one place and it drizzled for maybe 10 minutes.
We started off with a nice climb up to the summit of ? mtn, where we watched a big ole storm moving towards us. That's when I decided I wasn't going to sit on top of a rock out cropping at the highest point of the day with lightening all around.
So we dropped, what could be one of my favorite descents here, 3000 feet in a 5 or 6 mile descent. Full of techie/sketchy sections that kept you on your toes for the whole trip. Rolled about 98% of it on the fixie and their was plenty of on the verge of crashing HARD moments. But, all was good.
Sitting at 9,250' as a storm rolls in!
This ride was billed as the uber duber death march, but it was definitely miss named. It was more like a sweet after work ride. 20 miles with 4400' of elevation gain in an absolutley gorgeous area of the state. Already have plans for heading back up there and adding about 30 miles and hopefully another 5,000' of climbing.
Good ride with good people, for sure. Went back to Lyons where they had us a big ole dinner at Oscar Blues where the beer was flowing freely for those partaking. I have to say it was a good day!

Stellar!!!

sweetness, an excellent start to the day


riding through the clouds
finding the snow line, 11,250'
beautiful and tucked away singletrack, it's good to be in the know



exposed side cut, over 5 miles of this pristine 1-trackKevin, Jeremy and the vicious

Had an absolutely awesome bike ride today. Met up with PBR and evil mountain goat at 5:30 this morning for some sweetness in Georgetown. I had heard this was good but didn't realize just how good, until today.

Parked at the visitor's center and headed up. Climbed up a bunch of stuff that led us to 11,250ft, which was also the snow line. We realized it was chilly, but on the descent back down we soon realized it was right around freezing. My hands were pretty numb, no gloves as I despise them, and add that to the fact that my hands were pretty tender and sore from my crash yesterday. This added up to a very slow descent on my behalf. It would be safe to say that I descended like a Susie cream cheese, lame!

After the gravel road descent is where the awesomeness began. Absolutely amazing singletrack! Some of the best I have ridden out here. Narrow, twisty, cliff side with high exposure filled with technical delight. It was a good day. Ended up with 35 miles of mostly singletrack while being out for just over 6 and 1/2 hours, under 5 of ride time. Other than the fact that my hands straight up hurt, it was a great day on the bike. Kevin and Jeremy both rocked it and we got lots of pictures. Can't wait to link up some more sweetness from that area. Hopefully we can get a 100 mile loop pieced together. That would be rad.

14 hours of saddle time on the fixie between yesterday and today. It sure feels nice!

Oh yeah, GO NUGGETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beat Down!

top of Mt. Falconcan you see my bike, missed the switchback and away she went, about 20 yards straight off the side of the mountain. I wasn't the first to do this either, but whatcha gonna do?

Late pic update. First day off since back to Denver, so what better way to spend it then on the bike?

Left the house @ 10 this am, had plannd on waking up early, but sleeping sure was nice. Hopped on the vicious and headed out. Was hoping the coastie bike would be back in town, but not yet.

house>South Platte bike path>Bear Creek Bike path>Bear Creek State Park>through Morrison>Mt. Falcon and all of the trails up top>Lair of the Bear>up Grape Vine>Apex>Dakota Ridge>Zorro>Green Mountain>house! It was a good day!

Started out pretty chill, until I get to the base of Mt Falcon. No matter how you look at it, that trail just blows. The only thing it is good for is making you want to vomit. It's quite humbling actually. I think I'm in shape until I get to it. I would rather climb Black Mountain in Pisgah any day rather than falcon, for sure. Cruised around the top for a bit then dropped down the hill to the top of Lair of the Bear. Such a fun and fast section of singletrack. Stopped and had some snacks then let her rip. A bit down the trail I ran into Jackson and Laura. Laura on her second mtb ride and Jackson on her new el mariachi 1x9.

After leaving them descended for a bit and then hit some pavement. Climbed grapevine up to i-70 out of Idledale. What a nice and mellow pedal up the side of a mountain, partially paved and partially dirt.

Up to Lookout Mountain to the trail head of Apex. This is where it gets silly. First time on this descent, and boy is it fun. Rolled with a few different people on this one. One dude was wearing biowheels gear, but was from the Cinci store not Asheville. He was ripping right behind me when I jumped a water bar and then promptly stuffed my front wheel into a drainage ditch. Tuck and roll is all I have to say, with out even thinking about it. Hit my shoulder pretty hard but rolled to my feet and straight back on the bike. I wish I could have seen that one. We parted ways and away I went.

This is where my first ever crash induced by dog happened, and yes I was PISSED! Two dogs in the trail going in the same direction as me, slow as can be with no owner in site. Gave every command I could think of and nothing, the bell didn't work either. I get by the first one but not the second. As I go to pass the second one he nudged me to the right, into some tree branches and down I went. Tore the skin off of both palms and my left knee. When I caught up to the owner I let him know what I thought about his dogs. This coming from a person who takes his dog to work with him everyday and on lots of long bike rides, but not in the front range. Plus my dog has trail etticate (sp), and knows her commands.

The up 93 to dakota ridge trail head. Started up the climb and got introduced to the wall of shame. Yes, I had to push my bike up that stupid dirt road. Not for fatique, but it was hard to grab the bars with no skin on my palms. Rode the first section of dakota, but bailed out onto Zorro. Over to the lower section on green mountain to jewel for a slow pedal home.

Had thought it would take 7hrs and it ended up taking me 7hrs and 10min with stopping and eating ice cream on the way home. Not a bad outing at all. Was kind of bummed that I didn't get to finish with the hogback as that was my motivation all day, whatever.

Have no clue on mileage or anything bu will guess 75ish with a few fairly solid climbs. Meeting up with PBR and MGE at 5:30 in the am for another 5+ hr ride. It should be sweet.

Home Sweet Home!!

It was awesome to be in Asheville for a few weeks, but I do have to say that I am glad to be home! Got back to town late Tuesday night and started work Wednesday am. Worked three 12 hr days followed by a short 8 hr day on Saturday. Haven't worked since December and I do have to say that it is such a strange concept. I am glad that I love what I do or it might seem like an unhappy task. One of which I would NOT do.

It's sweet that I can take the dog and get to spend all day outside in the beautiful, rocky mountains. Cutting trees for 12 hr days is one of the best possible ways to train for loooong bicycle rides. I mean, if you can cut and carry trees for 12 hrs surely you can ride bicycles for even longer.

Went out for an easy spin last night on the merckx, just to enjoy the sunset. Was riding over to Cherry Creek Reservoir on the bike path, when the single track by the river started enticing me. Was flowing over the flowy 1-trak, when bam to the ground I went. WTF was that? The ground felt like pavement and tore a bit of skin off the palm and elbow, but I couldn't stand up straight. Looked around and found where some douche bag had drivven some 2x4 stakes into the ground and left about three inches of them sticking out. Grass was growing around them so they were pretty much invisible. Caught my pedal on one at about 15mph, which then slammed me to the ground, left arm and twisted back first. This is where I had the nice soft landing of two more wooden stakes into the small of my back right on the vertebra where it connects with my sacrum.

It was the worst pain I can remember feeling from a bike wreck, and I wreck hard fairly often. Once I was able to stand up straight and move my legs a little I hopped back on the bike and pedaled home. 10 miles feels really long when you can't sit upright.

Once home, I was able to inspect my back, BIG hematoma on left side of vertebra and no skin on top of it. Feels Awesome. Iced it for a while and sucked it up. Feels better today, can almost touch the ground without grimacing. It'll be better later.

Sorry for the rant, but damn.

Taking the day off. Going to fire up the grill and have a day filled full of eating. It's gonna be sweet.

My posts will be kind of sporadic as I don't have a wireless connection at the house. Can only get service when I can steal it from the neighbors or go to a coffee shop. One day, I may actually pay for wireless service, maybe.

Taking the week off of riding, but plan on going huge next weekend. peace.

East Coast Bliss!

Two weeks of riding in Pisgah was absolutely badass! It rained everyday, except mother's day. Rode for all but one of those days and definitely spent my fair share of time in wet clothes. The rocks, roots, mud and deep water crossings were all fabulous. It reminds me that if you can ride east coast singletrack, you can ride anything. It was great to get to spend time with all of my friends. It doesn't seem like I moved away from here three years ago. I felt at home, for sure.

Gabe hooked it up, we had a bbq almost everyday and his house felt like home. Jane was awesome, she drove me to A LOT of trailheads and spent quite a lot of time with me on the bicycle. She's absolutely amazing and I'm blessed to have her as my friend. Hung out with everyone that I set out to hang out with, except Nate Bowe, only got to see him for a quick minute.

Pisgah claimed several things along the way. Finally blew up my shoes, still wearable but not real functional. Blew up my I9 hub and the rim was pretty trashed also. Ran through a pair of brake pads, bearings are shot on my american classic front hub and put some wear on the drivetrain. Finished off one chain and the second one is in need of replacement. The magic gear on the ss with vertical drops doesn't allow for a very long life span on chains. Can't wait to get back to Denver and convert the tires back to tubeless. 8 flats is no joke. It was evenly distributed, 4 front and 4 rear, but definitely not cool! My ergon bag, serious POS, blew up as I was packing to leave for here, so I count that as a trip fatality.

The good news is Craig at Ski Country hooked me up with 2 new pairs of shoes for the price of 1, I9 hooked me up with a brand new wheel, in a while you wait format. Super stoked on that one. Then all of my replacement parts at cost, along with a shop to do the work in! I don't get that in CO. Shanna hooked me up with several sizes of endless cogs and Bruce gave me some new accessories to wear. Friends are such a nice thing to have.

Overall my trip was amazing. So glad to turn off my brain for a bit and just ride bikes. My goal was to be in shape when I left here and I feel like I have gotten a pretty good start on that one. Over 40 hours of saddle time pushing a gear, I thought was going to be too big, that turned out to be just right! 34X18 felt surprisingly good!

Went out downtown for the evening and ended up running into just about everyone. Hit up a few bars and ate a couple of dinners. Nice night to finish off the trip. Rolling to work with Gabe in the a.m. then get dropped off at Ski Country to box up the bike and catch a plane back to CO!

Got to ride with numerous different people that all pedaled quite nicely. It was good times for sure. Hopefully will get to see some of these folks in sept. before sswc09 in Durango. Then I can show them some trails in the rockies, where I call home. 'Til then , ride bikes! peace.

Mother's Day!

It was mother's day so called up my mama and wished her a beautiful day then off to spend the day with mother nature. Met up at Tavis' house that he is watching, this huge monstrosity that is a geothermal monolithic dome, that sits right below the Blue Ridge Parkway. Absolutely amazing and absurd at the same time. He and Jane cooked us up a killer breakfast before we headed to ridgecrest to meet up with the rest of the posse for a ride on heartbreak ridge.
Si's van stuffed full of bikes, with lawn chairs for our sitting pleasure. Dirtbag mountain bikers are a different breed and I love it!
The posse at one of many overlooks, this one on the way up.
beautiful western nc singletrack
Bruce rolling through the rhododendrons. I gave a him head start after this section, was he able to hold me of on the descent? No, but he gave it a valiant effort.
So glad to be riding in these mountains for two weeks and this day turned out to be the only rain free day of it. Beautiful day with amazing people.
Rolling along!

Full Moon Ride

John, Tony and Jane before John's wedding.
John and Ann met on bikes so it is a very big part of their new life together. It was held at deerfields which is a 900+ acre homestead nestled up to the Pisgah National forest.
They definitely compliment each other well.
We then met up for a full moon night ride. Rounded up a few who were up to to wet & moisty night ride. Shanna, Gabe, Jane, Tony, Si and Tavis came out to play.
Gabe does ride bikes.
Rolling along climbing north boundary.

All sprawled out in the parking lot after a fun bike ride in the woods. We actually even got to see the moon for a minute or two.

Lazy Day!

Rolling around west Asheville last night with Gabe was pretty chill. We ran into these two and started a conversation. Mandy and Ryan are touring the US., started in San Fransisco and headed east then going back via the northern route. All about sustainable living and creating a documentary on it. Interesting folks for sure.
Gabe actually rides bikes, sometimes
Rainy day and John canceled his pre-wedding ride so we went bowling. Jane, Tavis, Tony and I. And yes, we do suck! You know if the high score is 100 it's a bit ridiculous, but good times for sure. It was nice having a casual day, then pedaled around town with Gabe for a while in the evening after throwing a round of disc golf. Full moon ride tonight, it's gonna be sweet.

Another Day in Pisgah!!!

Here's Jane not wanting to be beside of me, and yes that is her jersey I am wearing. And as a matter of fact all of my clothes are still wet from yesterdays ride. Pleasant, huh?

So, yesterday's ride got cut a little short, but whatever. It was good to go spend a day with Marshall, just pedaling our bikes. It's not often there is another guy on a carbon ss, but that's how we roll.
On to today, Jane picked me up and we headed over to the campsite from the night before so I could take down Marshall's shelter and pack up my hammock and rainfly. Then it was off to the ranger district for some sweet and techie riding. Jane decided it was a day for the geared bike and away we pedaled. I didn't have a shirt so had to borrow a jersey from Jane. If you would have seen me, you would think that I would be fast or something. Got in around a 2hr pedal, that had a few little techie climbs with some nice and fun descents. Spent a fair share of time snapping some pics while generally just enjoying being in the woods.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous today, it would have been perfect for the ride that was planned yesterday, but shit happens.
This trail on top of black mtn was ridiculously green and absolutely beautiful.
It's all of these hidden little sections of trail that I miss the most about riding in the east. It's always wet and rooty with water trickling off of everything.

After the ride, we had to stop and get some ice cream which is a great way to finish a ride. Put a new hollywood rack together and installed it on Jane's rig then got dropped off at Gabe's house where Big Nate and Gab were rocking the grill with hot wings, steaks, corn, squash, zucchini and potatoes. Followed that up by hitting the brew & view for a world bicycle relief fund raiser that was showing the video, seasons. Have to say it was a good day!

This trip has made me realize that when I do the Colorado Trail this summer that I am not going to do it at the time of the race. I would rather do it in a fast but casual pace in the 7ish day range. 500 plus miles of singletrack in 7 days is still a good pace, but maybe I can at least enjoy the sights along the way.

Going to go ride with John Greene and Anne tomorrow for their pre-wedding ride. Should be a good time. peace

Throw Down with Marshall

Threw down an 8 plus hr ride yesterday with Marshall. Had planned on a 100 mile single speed mtb ride, but the weather was against us. Rained for most of the day , which turned into 8hrs of being wet. We ate really well, kind of turned into a ride where we ate lots of food.
The rain started and didn't stop. We still rolled on for quite a while. Solid bicycle riding was had by both participants, the water was just a good motivation killer.
Sitting in the rain just enjoying the water.

The campsite was rad. It was nice and dry the first night but the second night was very damp. Luckily, Adam came to hang out and rescued us. We kicked it in the rain for a while before we bitched out and headed back to Adam's house. Spent the night there and slept like a baby. Woke up the next a.m when Jane came to pick me up. I'll talk about that ride in a bit. peace.

Heartbreak, baby!

Hit up Heart Break today with miss Jane. The ride up Old Toll is less than smoothe, but is a nice and steady rock field. It kind of resembles a dried up creek bed. So beautiful and lush. 4ish hour pedal. Small little rain storm right before the top. We had a nice little picnic right where the descent began.
The view while descending was absolutely gorgeous and the rhododendrons were in bloom, pinks, white and light pinks. The fragrances were absolutely heavenly. Stopped and took a lot of pictures but still carried a nice little pace.
Jane climbing through the rhododendrons
and me doing the same. What an amazingly beautiful day and glad I got to share it with Jane.

The greenery is so stellar. Then with the rain hanging on the leaves, oh my. Can't wait to go spend some more time in the woods. Taking it easy tomorrow and going for a hundo-ish with Marshall on wed. Camp tomorrow night and wed. night. It's gonna be sik! peace