Bergen Peak

Threw down a ride this morning that I have been thinking about for a while, just hadn't done it for some reason. Parked at Bergen Park, by the whippletree, rode over Elk meadow to Bergan Peak Trail. Hit the lookout then dropped down too long. Rolled through the park and hit the bike path to Dedisse Park. Rolled it for a bit then up the connector to 3 sisters where I climbed up to Evergreen mtn then back down to hit up the sisters trail, which I had thought was techie but actually was pretty easy, then back down the connector to Dedisse to bike path to Elk Meadow to the rig. 4 1/2 hours of solid riding. Just me and the vicious. No pics just riding. No clue on mileage but will guess 40ish +/- 5 miles! Good times and some nice climbing. Cleaned more of bergen peak trail that I ever had before and I was fixed. Pretty sweet. Will definitely go do that one again, soon. Only try to be done by 10 am instead of 12 and take a third bottle of H2O. Good times.

Oh yeah, here is a pic of a few kitties that were kickin' it at the white ranch parking lot. A local TH here in the front range. Such pretty pussies!

Evening Spin!

Haven't been very motivated to ride bikes lately. Was supposed to head up to Spikefest! this past weekend but due to circumstances beyond my control, I was unable to attend. And yes, I was pissed. Spent the weekend just taking it easy with some small pedals around town thrown in.

Got off work early today and decided to get a sunset ride in. Mentioned it to Laura and she was down. 1st ride on the vicious since building it back up. I swear she lost a few pounds of dirt and grime and almost feels light.

The flowers were beautiful, there was a slight breeze and an awesome sunset. This ride made me realize that I absolutely love riding fixed. The coastie bike has become a little bit boring to me. The fixie just keeps me on my toes and feels oh so good. The coastie is officially parked. I'm out. peace

Spikefest!

Packing up everything to head up to Spikefest this a.m. Gonna meet up with Spike and take black & white for a pre-ride of tomorrow's ride. Definitely wanna hit up the como trails since they are uber sweet. Then set up camp and watch the rain fall, since you know it's gonna rain. The question is, just how much water are we gonna get. Full report on the flipside. peace

Slackin!

So I haven't been on the bike much lately, but it's ok. The tree thing (job) has me beat down. 12 hour days running a saw and carrying big 'ole logs up the side of mountains is no joke. Haven't ridden in the last 10 days or so, but plan on hitting it again starting tomorrow. My five day weekend should help out.

Been dealing with vehicle non-sense. Sold the big blue dodge and have spent the last few days trying to find something to upgrade too. I have this '79 civic, but it's on the way out. This shit makes my head spin. Found this '98 GTI, signed the paperwork today and pick it up on Friday a.m. to head up to Spikefest. It should be good for the time being. Until I can get me an STI wagon.

Back to bikes. Dropped the Vicious off at the powdercoater last week for some MUCH needed love. The pictures don't really do it justice. Green metallic that changes color in the sunlight. It turned out pretty sik!, now if I only had some sweet phil wood hubs to bolt up to her. SInce the frame was stripped I decided to polish up my old XT cranks a bit. They definitely look way better, I just didn't spend very much time with them since they are pretty marred from all of the rock mashing I do with them. This is the first cleaning she has had in about 2 years. She cleans up nice and lost a few pounds. A new tugnutt is on the way and she will be ready to roll.

Maybe I will rock the fixie for the 85 mile ride at Spikefest or the coastie for the 110 mile option. I have two days to figure it out.

peace

Happy Lord's Day

Went to Estes today to ride a loop with the boys from the springs. Had planned on hitting Crosier Mtn. and then rolling over and climbing up to Donner Pass. Didn't happen!

The ride started out solid, for the first 2 miles. At our first real intersection, we were short a Paul. So back up the climb to make sure all is good. As soon as I get back to the top he said all was good, flat, and we headed back down. Then his second flat happened at the bottom of said hill. I go to take a picture and there is no camera. So back up the hill in search of camera, found it 3 miles later in the car. Stupid camera or me, however you want to look at it.

Now to try and catch some fast dudes who had a BIG headstart on me. Get back to where Paul had his second flat and I got the same present, think it may have even been the same rock. Patched some holes and up I went. Finally ran into them at the turn off for Crozier as they had just finished that descent. Timing wasn't too bad on my part.

Then dropped an uber fun descent. Hacked it up all the way down, but it sure was fun.
Once the descent was over, the exploring began. Missed the road we were supposed to turn on by a few miles. Back tracked and up we went. Three mile gravel climb and we were at the border of the wilderness area. On up to the trailhead only to find this stupid no white bike's sign. None of us were riding white bikes but decided to turn around anyways.

Paul and Fred tried to figure it out, but to no avail. Away we went to finish the ride. This is where the slumming really began. I had been dragging ass all day but this was the point when I said I would rather push than try to clean that little climb. Kind of sad, but it happens!


Some more of the beauty that is Colorado, the place I call home! 36ish miles with 5000' of climbing.



After riding the coastie for 6 days in a row I am not sure if I still like it. I REALLY enjoy riding the fixie, but can only go so fast down the hill. Not sure of the coastie but can let it rip without really thinking. hmmm, decisions. we'll see how it plays out. peace

Platte Canyon High School to Columbine High School

Every fall there is a motorcycle rally, for a girl who was killed at Platte Canyon High School, as a fund raiser. Spike wants to do a mtb ride at the same time for the same cause. So today we embarked for a backwards route, as a recon mission and it was badass. Spike picked us up at Columbine High School at 6:30 a.m for the shuttle up 285 to Platte Canyon High School.

Grant, visiting from Asheville on his virgin trip to CO, was able to tag along. About an hour into the drive he looks at me and says "it appears as though we are still headed away from the car" and I say "welcome to my world!"

Four of us embark on an epic day. Steep and rolling gravel roads are what began our day, then fast and flowy singletrack for about the next 45ish miles. Absolutely amazing!

Have ridden it all from the other direction in one shot but not in this direction! This way is definitely faster and less climbing.

Somehow our all day of descending ended up with a fair amount of climbing. But you always have to go up at some point.

The scenery was beautiful and the company was very pleasurable. We rocked a fairly quick pace and only had one mechanical, Spike lost a cleat for his shoe. He wrapped a tube around his shoe and all was good.

Another beautiful day in Colorado. Hopefully Grant will still want to ride with me another day, we'll see. 64 miles with 6000' of climbing. Only to do it again on Sunday.

Adventures with Spike!

Headed west to meet up with some singletrack goodness. Headed out on Friday with no destination in sight. Talked with Spike on the way up and he gave the heads up on some SIK! camping spots. Got there Friday about noon and as soon as I set up the hammock I was out. I woke up 4 hours later with no motivation to ride. Made it about 3 miles before heading back to the camp. Thursday's late night riding in BC, followed by an early am packing session, combined with a 100ish mile drive created one tired critter.
Met up with Spike at 7am on Saturday for some freshies on my virgin run of Como. All I have to say is that this is the first Slatyfork-esque trails that I have ridden since I have been here. Combine the rock gardens and wet roots with the fast and flowy, black bear-esque trails, and you have some epic singletrack.
We climbed for quite a while, to 11,600ish feet actually. It was absolutely beautiful. Rode in the wind for a bit, then headed for some goodies south of Breck. This is where we ran into some snow, actually multiple feet of it. We pushed on and meandered our way off the mountain and towards town. Along the way, we found a sweet little freeride section with a couple of nice table tops, maybe Spike will send a shot of me hitting it? Once in town, nothing else to do but head up on as much trail as possible. That is, after hitting the local pump track. Not my forte, yet! Climbed up and then descended what we climbed to start the day. Ended up with 40ish miles and just under 6,000 feet of climbing with 6 1/2 hours of saddle time. An epic day for sure, can't wait for Spike fest in two weeks.
Got back in time to catch a sweet sunset and make gobs of food so I could do it all again on Sunday.
Started out on the east side of Kenosha with plans to get as close to Georgia pass as possible, didn't happen. Climbed for a bit and realized my legs were toasted. So a day of slumming was what went down.
The east side is way flowy, but I had some concerns. I broke out the coastie because it's faster, you'd think, and would be more fun, you'd think. I still ride it like the fixie and forget to coast and am clueless on how to stop it without back pedaling. Maybe one day I will learn how to ride a coastie, again. With a few consecutive big days on it, that should happen, you'd think. We shall see.
Maddie went out with me today and rocked it. She definitely made up for her lackluster effort on Thursday. We ended up with just over 30 miles in almost exactly 4 hours with a picnic in the middle. Didn't do what I had planned on doing, but it was still an awesome day on the bike.
Got back before the rain and wind hit. I had skirted the rain for 3 days and didn't want to press my luck for another one.

Add all of this together and you get one happy black and white. 'Til next time, peace.

BC Night Ride

Went up to Buffalo Creek last night and had a blast! Didn't take any pictures as I forgot my camera. There was a fast racer dude that showed up, who made me ride much faster than I had planned but made it way fun. Rocked it for a few hours of going up and then down with b&w chasing. She was getting a little tired so we bailed off kind of early. Was still a killer ride. Got back to the truck and took a nap while waiting for the rest of the crew.

Rode my first 36er and it was SIK! It was a bit big, but super cool. For those that don't know research it and find out, I'll attach a pic in a bit. Late addition, thanks PBR!


Headed back to BC in a bit to camp for the night then off to Kenosha or Salida in the a.m. for a few days of BIG rides. Don't forget the full moon is sunday, so get out and enjoy it. peace. e