Hibernating!

Not really, but the weather is in flux, too much snow to ride not enough snow to ski. Run club is in full effect as well as other exercise induced activities. No pictures due to no desire to take them. Good times...........




something I've been thinking about for next year. Haven't ridden gears or squishy bits for about a decade but I'm thinking it may be time. Keystone is too close to not take advantage of.



GO RIDE!!!

Late season

and the amazing conditions it brings. A few pics from the last few weeks worth of trips. Short and sweet!







Frost on the bags after sleeping at 11,000' after the CB classic







Camping at buffalo creek for beanfeSSt







Moisty conditions







Kokomo pass last weekend, before we got to the real snow above copper mtn, i guarantee we were the last ones to hit this loop for the season, 10hrs with the last two in the dark with no lights. Spectacular!






GO RIDE!!!

Crested Butte Classic

Had never been to CB before and what better way to see a new place than to do a 100 miler? Had a map but wasn't sure about all of the logistics since it's a non marked ride. Turns out the only hard part was finding the beginning for lap 2. The goal was to have fun and not push hard enough to hurt at any point in time. Goal achieved, 11:13 was my finish time on an absolutely perfect fall day in the high country. The trails were spectacular, the weather phenomenal and surrounded by people who love to ride bikes. No write up about, but if interested check here, Pablo did a quite nice write up and check this little video clip by Chris Miller and you will see what I mean. First snow last night, so gonna ride as much as possible until it's time for the skis to come out. peace.


GO RIDE!!!

Fall Foliage 100

Been piecing this together for a while. I knew the leaves would be popping and there needed to be a fun 100 mile MTB ride IN Leadville that was a loop......none of this out and back shit!

So a few weeks ago I set a date and sent out some invites........only to have 2 commit, one had a scheduling conflict. He's a math teacher so he sometimes has troubles with numbers aka dates. The other was local fast girl Becky. That's right, only a girl was tough enough to take on the 100.

Met up at 7 and headed out for chill paced and fun loop. Would tell you the loop, but what fun would that be? Stashed the truck around mile 70 for a much needed snack break, where Susan met up with and rode for 3hrs or so with us. Becky bailed on the last section after the hike a bike and I finished it up with a quick sprint.









Awesome day to be out on the bike, perfect weather, beautiful views, chill pace and good company. Totals were right over 100 miles, I think, a good amount of climbing while most of the ride was over 10,000' and out for 12 1/2 hours. Could definitely pull it off in under 10, if you want to hurt! The plan is for this to be my annual fall ride. It's a rout that is definitely worth your time. Crested Butte 100 next weekend with Bean FeSSt the following weekend. Trying to prolong the riding season as long as possible! The leaves will be be around for about another week in the high country, so get out and enjoy them. peace.


GO RIDE!!!

Livin'

That's the name of the game. Been playing hard in the high country, doing whatever feels right at the moment. Long runs to get high in the mountains where there are no trails, long road rides exploring the gravel infiniteness that surrounds us. Fast and fun mountain bike rides because it is my favorite thing to do. Pushing myself while climbing to get comfortable leading with the tiniest of holds, absolutely exhilerating! Cross training is what some call it, I call it playing and enjoying the amazing beauty that surrounds me. Get out in it, no plans, no time frames, just go and see where you end up. peace












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New road bike

of sorts. I hate riding on the road other than as a connector to trails and commuting to and fro, but love riding gravel and dirt roads and hitting some singletrack on a skinny tired bike. A little bit of sketchiness is oh so fun. Just pedaling to pedal, hence the new bike............



A 42 up front and a 35 out back, since that is what was lying around and she is a bruiser. The 36x16 is a bit stout for the climbs but nice and quick for everything else.

Just cruising around enjoying the fall like weather in the high country. Started climbing a couple times per week and it's so rad. 1st day on ropes and started leading, getting ready for some multi-pitch silliness. Taking advantage of what Leadville has to offer before the snow starts to fly.

Putting a feeler out there, anyone interested in a sweet and fun 100ish miler, hopefully full of fall foliage, hit me up. It's going down on Sunday sept. 25th starting at 6 am from my house. Let me know if you need more info or want to join in.

GO RIDE!!!

Chillin'

Recovery time is hiking with the dogs, behind the house.....
















No trails, no plan, no time constraints. Just the simple art of breathing!

GO RIDE!!!

Little review

you could classify my latest ride as a fail if you are unable to see the positives out of the situation. The day started with Kevin dropping me off at the Indian creek trailhead at 5:45 am for the 6:30 start. Lots of peeps out and about. Hung with the bandwagon crew, Csakany, doug, Joey, Chavez and leadville crew member John Fulton.

Day started out sweet, just pedaling along, trying not to push too hard. Felt good, was a little worried about overheating rolling through the buffalo burn area so kept my pace in check. Just mingled with some folks and snacked a bit and kept drinking fluids. Pedaled with joey for a while, just back and forth? Rolled into Bailey somewhere between 6-7 hours feeling good. Gas station was closed and the little store didn't have much. Had to roll to the next store to get some Gatorade, about 8 miles down the road. Felt good to have some cold fluids and rolled up 285 to Kenosha pass in a non-eventful manner. Stopped at the bench, lied down and had a burrito. Such a sweet place for a picnic. About 7 folks passed me here, but I reeled them all in on the climb up to Georgia pass. This is where I could tell I wasn't totally right. Thought it was temporary and pushed/slogged up to the top. John and I were back and forth up the climb until we started the descent and we rolled together for the next several hours.

Off Georgia pass the single track turns spectacular if you like tight and rocky, which I do. Passed a whole lotta folks on this, get to the bottom, grab some water and head out for some fast flowy stuff. At the next climbing section there was a cluster, trail sign said closed, dude standing there said most of the others went up anyway. So away John and I went, climbed up above keystone and then had a baller descent back down chasing the sunset.....absolutely spectacular. Stop threw on a layer, grabbed a bite, turned on the headlight and away we went. Dropping down to hwy 9 was a sweet and tight switch back delight. Got to the bottom, grabbed some water and Joey and another dude rolled up. Crossed the hwy, saw Stefan, grabbed a quick photo and headed for the top of ten mile.


John said he didn't have enough food to stop so he was rolling all night. We dropped the folks behind us and then John left me behind. By this time I was unable to put any force into my pedal stroke for the climbs and could barely sit in the saddle. Climbed for an hour or two and saw a soft spot beside the trail and decided I was sleeping right there. 17 1/2 hours of riding was good for day 1. Threw down my bag and crashed at right around midnight. A few folks rolled by through the nite, but I stayed in bed. Awoke around 4 am feeling good and started the rest of the climb.

This is when I new I was about done. Legs were fine, lungs were fine, mental component was fine, inflamed hemorrhoids were literally a pain in my ass. Couldn't sit on the saddle but even worse I couldn't put any strain into my climbs. Pushed to the top of ten mile and realized I was about to have a loooooong hike to leadvillle. So I sat down, ate some snacks and enjoyed my morning on top of the world. Stoked to be able to do this for fun, even though I had to bail due to reasons beyond my control. Called in my plans and worked out a ride home. Once I got chilled at the top I headed down to copper mtn, where I lied in the grass and chatted it up with everyone that came along. Such great people involved with this ride. No egos, no bullshit, just people riding bikes because they love riding bikes. I'll be back, for sure! Thanks Susan for picking me up.



GO RIDE!!!

CTR

starts on Monday at 6:30 am in Denver. Mentally and physically ready, but anything can happen. Here's the gist of it, 475 miles, 65,000' of climbing and fully self supported. Hopefully will end the week by rolling into durango. If you wanna know a bit more of what it is check this and to track it check it. Makes it kind of fun from home. 75 racers should be showing up, largest field by far. Lots of different strategies, we shall see if mine works.

ride wheelies. I'm out. peace

Shakedown

Been needing a good night ride loaded down in prep for the CTR. Saturday was the night. Headed out at 7 pm from the house toward the CT. From wurtz ditch road it was the CT to camp hale. Ran into James from Frisco who was out doing a shakedown ride as well, good to chat it up for a bit.


Locked and loaded!!!




Darkness set in on the climb up resolution pass. Normally this is a fully rideable road, but planning is a bit different for the monster coming up. So, big long hikes are good to get used to. Topped over the pass and headed toward the bike path off of vail pass. Ate some snacks and put on some warm clothes for the descent to copper. Hit the CT off of the main road for the ride to searle and kokamo passes. Highly rideable until right before treeline. Kept plugging along, the moon came up and was glistening off of the mountain lake and raging stream beds. Almost magical like. Up high pushing through snowfields while being surrounded by wildflowers underneath the stars. Exceptional beauty on so many levels! Snacked at the top of kokamo then the flow was on down to camp hale. Nice climb back to Tennessee pass and a gentle spin back to town. Out 11 hours and felt good. Got home, napped for two hours and was feeling ready to roll again. The rig felt good, the only change will be the food and I have that figured out.......I think.

Another week then it's on. For those of you who haven't done a big, back country night ride, I highly recommend it. Sooooo good for the soul.

GO RIDE!!!

parts list

If you wanna know, cool. If not, sorry for the boring post
Here's what I swear by while riding:

Bars: black sheep, titanium mountain mustache
Stem: thomson 70 mm
Headset: Chris king
Fork: black sheep titanium unicrown, 430mm axle to crown
BB: quad Phil wood pressed in bearings
Crank: xt 170mm
Chainring: black spire 32t ring
Cog: endless kick ass cog 20t
Chain: pc1
Brakes: avid bb7, 7" rotors
Wheels: I9 hubs lace to DT Swiss 7.1 hoops
Tires: front, WTB 2.55 weirwolf, rear, WTB 2.3 exiwolf
Seat post: Kent Eriksen laid back sweet post
Saddle: Terry titanium fly
Brake Levers: avid speed dial 7
Grips: oury

It's not the lightest rig out there, but durability is key. The best riding whip I have ever owned or been on.

Huge thanks to those involved and for the hook ups:
New River Bikes for the parts
Endless Bikes for the cogs
Industry Nine for the wheel set
Cycles of Life for the randomness
Keith Anderson for the amazing paint
And most importantly
Fred Cuthbert of wolfhound cycles for building such an amazing bicycle


GO RIDE!!!

Breck 100

Was nice and humbling. Wolfhound arrived Friday at 4:30, had it together by 5:30, and drove to Breck for registration. No shake down ride, just a 100 mile ride with just under 13,000' of climbing.

Show up ready. First lap is a warmup, just set in and figure out my place. Front part of the pack was the plan, to have space for the singletrack. Get to wheeler pass fairly quickly, passing lots of folks while just pedaling along. Drop over the pass and see where sweetness! (aka the wolfhound) excels. Pass several full squishies along the way. Arrive at bike path at copper and cruise to frisco for a sweet section of trail back to breck. Wet, rocky and rooty, a little east coast-esqu. Real in those who passed me on the bike path and a few others. Roll in from lap 1 feeling awesome, 7-ish ss and and in the top 25 or so.

Head out for lap 2, only to be humbled. Climb, climb and then climb some more was the theme of this lap. The first real climb hurt but wasn't bad, the 2nd one up the Colorado trail crushed me. Couldn't turn over my gear and pushed for miles and miles. Normally sweet singletrack descents make you forget the climbs, not this one! Lost several places on this lap, but came around by the end. Rolled in, somehow still in 7th ss feeling a little refreshed.

Out for lap 3, the only part of the course I knew feeling good. Just sustain and maybe grab a place or two. Felt really good over boreas pass and down gold dust trail to Como. Hit the gravel road and imploded. No pedal power and it was like this back to the top of the pass. Barely turning over the pedals. Wanted to walk but refused to, mainly due to the fact that it was barely a climb. Hit the top and hang out at the aid station grubbing for at least 10 minutes. Down to bakers tank where the last ss-er came up on me. We had been back and forth all day and I gave Him the line and the spot. Rolled across the finish in 11hr and 4 min. 10th place ss, 48th overall. Didn't do as well as planned but still feel good about the finish.

Had planned on not using the aid stations, but the two I used were needed beyond explanation. Awesome event and killer course. I will be back next year with some seriously high expectations. I have done a lot of 100 mile rides and this was definitely the hardest! Thanks Jerry, for the hook up with the entry.

So the wolfhound is AMAZING. A few things needed tweaked but had to wait until after race. 1st ran too big of a gear, 32x18 crushed me. That probably cost me 2-3 places. 2nd tried different grips and my hands felt it, and 3rd did some serious saddle adjustments. So I swapped out to a 32x20, back to my oury's and perfect saddle placement for Sunday's ride, and yeah, that made a huge difference.

Got out for a 65 mile ride yesterday. Felt good. Did some of the Leadville course combined with some buttery sweet sections of the Colorado trail and a gravel road recon mission back to Leadville. 7 hours of rolling along. Ran out of water about an hour and a half before the end but made it home. Full review and spec list of the wolfhound in a bit. I'm out!











GO RIDE!!!

It's on it's way

and should be here Friday. Sooooooo badass!!!























It's gonna be rad!



photos courtesy of Fred



GO RIDE!!!

Spikefest

Been trying to make this since the inception. 1st year unable, last year broke my arm the day before, contemplated it, but bailed. This year broke the vicious and was bike less. Spike hooked it up by letting me ride his winter bike, the voodoo.

Met up in Como, then shuttled to the top of Kenosha pass where I made some adjustments to the bike. Then off we went, 9 of us climbing to Georgia pass. Felt good on the first climb turning the 32x19 rather easily so away I went. It was the easiest that climb has ever felt. Hung out at the top, ate some snacks and got a good nap in while waiting on the others.

After the regroup it was new to me trails until breckenridge. So much fun, Brian and I rolled out front pushing the pace. Stopped at the breckenridge brewery for some snacks, then up boreas pass. The sprinkles started at the bottom, subsided and then was full on by the time we were On the gold dust trail. Rolled in the rain on the last chunk of trail, just enjoying the bliss of the moment.

Finished up and rolled back to Leadville. Another beautiful day on the bike. Super chill pace and no flats for me. The first time in weeks that has happened. Thanks for the bike and good times.

The wolfie may be here Friday, just in time for the 100 on Saturday. If not, the voodoo is ready to roll, new gearing, new rear tire and fully charged.




GO RIDE!!!

the vicious is dead

to me. Got out for a several hour night ride the other night, with the majority of it being over 12,000'. Out under the stars, messing around with my light set up. All for a little ride that is coming up pretty soon. Am I ready? Sure, I suppose. Quick tour mode is the plan for that, fast, not at all. Well, maybe slightly.

Headed to salida for the don ride on the 4th. Had been wanting to do this ride since I first moved to CO, but it never worked out. I shut down the clinic and headed that way on Sunday night. Woke up and rolled over with Joey, Kevin, John and Doug for the 4:20 meet up at don's house. Joey, Doug and John were fresh off the durango dirty century which Joey and Doug happened to win, so Badass. 50-60 other folks met up and we were rolling by 4:30.

60 deep rolling in the dark is pretty sweet. What roads we hit I dunno, but we meandered through this and that for a few hours, rarely on pvmt once out of town, to the top of the pass for the beginning of the monarch crest trail. Pretty chill pace, but the group still split apart leaving us with about 15 in our group.

Hit the crest trail and yeah, it was sweet. High country riding with minimal snow. A beautiful section of trail for sure. Hit some high speed double track where the flat monster attacked, double flatted and got spit off the tail end of the group. Since I didn't really know the route I took off and luckily passed a few riders and rolled into the regroup area at the top of silver creek. Dropped off the mountain just rolling along when, what happens, another flat. Fix it and roll on, only to have my tensioner break. Since I run a quick release, my wheel was all over the place. Disconnected the rear brake and rolled on. Did 9 miles on the rainbow trail with just a front brake and ginger pedal strokes to the lunch spot. Since there was still quite a bit of single track and descending left, I opted out and rolled back to town via pavement. So lame. Still got in around 8 hours of riding with good folks.

So everything on the vicious is clapped out and/or broken and I don't want to fix anything associated with it. We have ridden many spectacular miles together over the last 8 years, however, I do not believe I will ever take her for another pedal, ever. I thought I would make her back into a fixie, but that would mean I would have to ride fixed again, doubtful. So I believe a cross bike is gonna take her place fairly soon.









On a side note, the wolfie may be here next friday, the day before the Breck 100, but I am assuming she will actually show up the following Monday. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but the reality is I am probably going to have to use a borrowed bike for the race. If I would have known I may not have a bike, I definitely would not have signed up for it.

Spike fest in the am, borrowing spike's winter bike for the short loop 50-ish miles. Hopefully it rides well and I can keep it as a reserve for the 100.

I'm out.


GO RIDE!!!

Getting closer

to coming home!




GO RIDE!!!

The latest,

a master painter at work!


GO RIDE!!!

I have a map!

two days of riding in the high country means lots of hikes with your bike and lots of snow fields.



Got in a 5 hour ride Saturday with a 3000' climb right off the bat. Nice push to the top of mosquito pass, then back down followed by most of the trails right in town.

On Sunday, the plan was for a little exploration on the trails in breckenridge. Was to meet Jeff there and John, 1st ride together, was down. I've ridden here once, no one else had and John said " I have a map, let's get lost in e woods." The only area I know is out of the ice rink parking lot. So that's where we started, some nice town single track followed by a grunt up to the trailhead for baker's tank, then to the top of boreas pass. Figured we may as well ride down gold dust, or whatever it's called, and go from there. About 2/3 of the way down I flatted and John was like "let's just ride back to Leadville, I hate out and backs.".
So the plan was set. Rolled off the trail, through Como, through Fairplay and towards mosquito pass. The first 5 or so miles was a nice and rideable grade, then it got steep and snow covered. The last couple of miles was trudging through large snow fields, but it was absolutely amazing despite the tough effort.









Get to the top and nothing but rolling off the pass and into town.



Just another day in the high rockies.


GO RIDE!!!

Coming soon,

to the trails near you..................




1st pic of the painted frame. Keith Anderson hooked it up in the paint department. So many subtleties that you can't see in the pic. Another week of riding the clapped out old vicious and then this will be my machine.

On a side note got hooked up with an entry for the Breck 100 on July 16th. Thanks Jerry, for the awesome deal. Plan on representing the wagon in a strong fashion. Should be fun.



GO RIDE!!!

Ring the Peak 2

Got a text from the boy's in the springs about a rtp (ring the peak) outing. So headed there for a little spin. A 5:30 am departure with 6 other folks and the day was on. A nice pace with good friends, you know it's gonna be a good day with those ingredients. pedal for a bit, push your bike for a bit, flow through some sweet 1-track was the theme of the day. The weather was spot on, got a nice snow shower up high and got to ride some new to me trail. Too much fun. The stats from a previous ride there was something like 82 miles and 11,000' of climbing. Good day on the bicycle. took a pretty big digger around the half way point and still quite sore from it. Guess i was due for a good crash.




GO RIDE!!!

Groovin'

Pedal, coast, flat! The theme of my last ride. 7 or so flats makes for a great day. I call it interval training, hammer it until you have to stop to fix the tire. Always the front, tire's shot. So I finally threw some new rubber at the tired old vicious. we'll see how it rolls, knobbier than I like for the front but it should get me through another couple of weeks.

When my days get full and I get in my groove, the blogging slacks and yeah i am definitely getting in my groove. Some big rides are about to start falling into place and the high country riding season is getting close. Camping out half of every week and riding bikes is what keeps me rolling. Bunch of newness coming about and moving forward. peace.



GO RIDE!!!

Oh My!!!

The time is getting near and I can hardly wait. Many many months, or a few years of waiting and she is almost ready. Need to come up with my paint scheme and then she'll be ready to come home.











Stoked!!!

GO RIDE!!!

PMBAR

Saturday was the ride, if you haven't heard of it check it out. Definitely a good time. 5 checkpoints, need 4 of them any order to get a finish time. Lots of new rules and was told by the head honcho do NOT leave the parking lot until you have read all directions. We got all of the instructions, except one, and yeah it bit us on the ass! Rolled into checkpoint 1 right ahead of Sam Koerber, local fast guy and the dude that wins it every year. He then caught back up to us at checkpoint 2, we had a better route. Then checkpoint 3 is where reality set in, had gone out of out way to hike up pilot only to be informed near the top that you couldn't do it as an out and back, which was our plan, so instead of a 7 mile up and down it turned into a 16 mile chunk with a 5 mile backtrack. Through us for a loop and kicked us out of contention. Got the other 2 points in a grand total of 11 1/2 hours, 85 miles and 17,000' of climbing.
Had planned on a top 5 finish, preferring 3rd but ended up 13th out of 105 teams. Not bad, but definitely the worst showing we have ever had there. Had an absolutely wonderful day in the woods riding with Marshall and seeing friends from all over. An absolutely beautiful day for sure.
Slept for a few hours then drove the 1600 miles home. It took me 28 hours to do the 25 hour drive. Glad to be home!



representing the wagon!


Poppin' wheelies all day.


GO RIDE!!!