e's world

Copper En Fuego

2012-01-16T08:09:00.002-07:00

The first race of the Leadville winter bike race series was Saturday at Copper Mtn Resort and it was Badass. 162 riders showed up for a good time. I believe a few folks were in over their heads but overall the response was good. Two five mile laps around the resort with some fun and sketchy sections and plenty of running. Sterling and the rest of the cloud city wheelers, leadville's bicycle club, did an awesome job. Next race is Feb 4th at the Tennessee Pass Nordic Center. It's a super fun course with a super cool vibe. Until then, peace. Here's a quick clip, can you find me?

GO RIDE!!!

Hibernating!

2011-11-02T20:54:00.001-06:00

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

2011-10-19T10:53:00.001-06:00

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

2011-10-05T09:18:00.005-06:00

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

2011-09-26T08:10:00.001-06:00

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'

2011-09-12T08:57:00.001-06:00

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

GO RIDE!!!

New road bike

2011-09-02T10:07:00.001-06:00

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'

2011-08-05T13:10:00.001-06:00

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

2011-08-04T01:17:00.001-06:00

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

2011-07-30T06:36:00.002-06:00

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

2011-07-25T08:58:00.001-06:00

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

2011-07-22T15:58:00.001-06:00

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

2011-07-18T09:02:00.001-06:00

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

2011-07-11T17:24:00.001-06:00

and should be here Friday. Sooooooo badass!!!

It's gonna be rad!

photos courtesy of Fred

GO RIDE!!!

Spikefest

2011-07-10T21:59:00.001-06:00

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

2011-07-07T06:52:00.001-06:00

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

2011-07-01T17:55:00.001-06:00

to coming home!

GO RIDE!!!

The latest,

2011-06-27T11:47:00.001-06:00

a master painter at work!

GO RIDE!!!

I have a map!

2011-06-27T09:21:00.001-06:00

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,

2011-06-24T20:14:00.001-06:00

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

2011-06-20T07:29:00.001-06:00

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'

2011-06-12T18:07:00.001-06:00

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!!!

2011-05-20T07:04:00.001-06:00

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

2011-05-09T16:08:00.001-06:00

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!!!

Upcoming ride?

2011-05-06T05:44:00.000-06:00

So PMBAR is tomorrow! Stoked for a good fun day in the heart of Pisgah, it's why I came to town. Been taking it easy the last few days, working on trying to be fresh on Saturday, more like trying to be fresh for the drive back to CO directly following the ride. That's where the real endurance begins. 30 hours to do a 24 1/2 hour drive and to be treating patients in the clinic. Kinda silly, puts a 10 hr race in perspective. So again, been resting up to be prepared for all of it. Pretty dialed on what I will be needing for the day, I believe. The classic mantra for the ride is, in it to win it. Upon looking at the list of fast folks in it, it's no joke. Any time local fast guy Sam Koerber is involved, it raises the bar to a pretty silly level. Will be stoked for a top five finish, 105 teams are signed up. But again it's all about a good, long day in the heart of Pisgah just riding along. Next time I post, I will be back home in leadville. Can't wait for it! peace

Pisgah Goodness

2011-05-02T13:21:00.002-06:00

Rolled into Asheville the other day and stoked for the riding. People are asking why I came back, and I state the obvious........to ride Pisgah. Yeah, the riding here is that good. Spent 8 hours in the ranger district yesterday and it was superb. Just rolling along with Marshall. Legs were a little heavy from the previous week of going big, but they feel spectacular today. Hit the biggest climbs around, pushed a little more than I should have, but that'll change on Saturday. One of the best days on the bike for sure, partly because it was the only thing on my mind.

The vicious is definitely NOT the bike for here.....but there's nothing I can do about that. Put a big front tire on today, a 7" rotor up front and new pads in the back. That should help significantly. Plan on a little dusk ride this evening for a little shakedown.

A week of just hanging out and riding bikes, with PMBAR on Saturday. Definitely a good place to end my vacation.

GO RIDE!!!

18 & 18 ride

2011-04-28T13:56:00.001-06:00

Been getting the most of this wv trip, riding a little of this and a lot of that. Hit up a quick gravel grinder on the fixie on sunday followed by a sweet ride on monday. Hooked up with the biking viking and andy at ertc to hit up slatyfork expecting super wet conditions and lots of down trees. The beginning of single track was brutal with all of the trees blocking the trail, but a quarter of a mile in it opened up quite nice. Trails were the driest that I can remember them ever being.

Hopping over this and riding around that was the theme for the first hour or so of single track then it opened up to perfection. Tea creek mountain was superb, possibly in the best shape that I have seen it in. Railed the rock garden and the descent was phenomenal. Easy pedal up bannock where we saw this little guy...........

Then a long gravel road ride back to the cars. 6 hours of riding that ended right as the storm rolled in, a perfect day in the back country of wv........beautiful!

Wednesday is mike's vacation day, at least for the month I have been in town. A spruce ride was in the works but it was too much driving for a day trip so a sweet gravel grinder was laid out from the house in sutton up into Webster county.

The bikes of choice for the day! And yeah, coasting would have been nice and a brake may have been even nicer but what fun is that? A 5 mile road section starts us out, then the climbing began. If we weren't climbing then we were descending. No flat sections were had until the last section of trail (road) for the day. A few of the sections I had never ridden brakeless and I now know why. A beautiful day running from the rain clouds and spinning along. Definitely a great way to spend the day.

All said and done we rode for 7 1/2 hours and hit a little over 80 miles. About 15 of it was on paved roads the rest was gravel, dirt or four wheeler trails, perfect for a road bike! I call it the 18 and 18 ride, at least 18 solid climbs and at least 18 creek crossings. Another superb day.

For you ash-villains, I'll be in town Saturday afternoon!!! peace

GO RIDE!!!

Busy times

2011-04-24T19:43:00.001-06:00

Been too busy and out of service to write about what's been going on. Plenty of rides and runs have been happening as well as traveling around wv hanging out with friends, both new and old, while also hanging out with the family. Tired just thinking about what all has been going on.

Multiple 10+ mile runs and no rides under 3 hours. Throw in working around the house and farm along with repairing/painting my truck and most of my days are in the 14 hour range. Crazy busy, but has been a lot of fun.

Had a joint b-day party with my 8 y/o niece, many outdoor adventures with all of my nieces and nephews equals a lot of chaos, but a lot of fun.

Got a 100 mile MTB ride in fayetteville on 4-20 and a quick little spin the day before. I always try to disappear for a few days on and around my birthday. So it was nice to drag some others in as well. 6 brave folks headed out for an all day ride that had never been ridden. 100 miles, 8500' of climbing and plenty of good times. Out for 12 hours with 10 hours of ride time. BoYes has a nice write up and lots of pics at bikebfat.com, so check it out if you wish.

4/19 ride with the b&w and some old friends with the new river gorge. Bridge as the backdrop.

Got a nice little easter Sunday road ride in this am before riding with my niece, nephews, sister and brother in law at the local park. A beautiful day for sure.

The road bike after today's wv back roads road ride. Nice and moisty! Headed to slatyfork in the am. It should be ridiculously sloppy up that way. Should be fun!

GO RIDE!!!

Wet days

2011-04-14T05:34:00.001-06:00

So I left the high mountains of CO to hopefully miss part of mud season only to embrace WV during rainy season. Plenty of running and riding to be had, and being soaked to the core in just a few minutes is the norm. It's not totally ideal but at least it's warm enough for it to not really matter. Had a plan to go to Elkins with BoYes to meet up the riddles for a ride. The forecast of 40 degrees and rain was spot on. Nice and steady drizzle right out of the gate, it let up about 2 hours in to it, I believe. Nice and steady pace made for a most excellent day! Wasn't the route initially laid out, but still quite fun. Always enjoy pedaling with those from years gone by.

GO RIDE!!!

WV day 1

2011-04-07T20:45:00.001-06:00

Yep, it's official it's hot as f$ck in wv. 80 degrees and humid. I about died 5 times, at least. I'm used to 30 degrees for the high's. It was quite humbling. Mike was stoked to put it to me today. Out for about 4 1/2 hrs and it felt quite nice in a shitty kind of way. Not a bad intro to a sweet riding vacation. Kanawha state forest in the am should be sweet. Haven't ridden there in about 6-7 years. By the way, I hate how the vicious rides..........like poo. Ready for the new rig. I'm out. peace

GO RIDE!!!

Coming together

2011-04-03T07:38:00.001-06:00

Got out for some more lift assisted tele turns on Saturday. It's clicking, for sure! Three of us were out hacking it up and figuring out the dropped knee while digging the edges in. It's not the prettiest but is confidence inspiring. Still had plenty of powder left from the 3' of snow from the previous few days. Powder turns are dialed. To bad I waited until the last two weeks of the season to start working on the groomers. Oh well, next year's gonna be sweet!

Hit up buena vista yesterday for some single track miles. It's crazy, drop 17 miles from the house and the trails are bone dry, no snow in sight. Absolutely crazy! Summer time fun, 60-ish degrees, shorts and a t-shirt weather. Fun times rolling along. Getting me stoked for the biking season that officially starts this week.

After the ride, back to the winter wonderland I call home. Dumping snow right now with ~2' on the way. Gotta love the mountains of CO!

GO RIDE!!!

Fueling the fire?

2011-03-31T19:21:00.001-06:00

gettin' stoked to ride bikes, but the weather in the high country isn't too conducive to riding bikes at this moment in time. No real snow to speak of since early feb, until this week that is. 35" in the last few days, bringing our yearly total to around 420" with a solid 6-8' in the mountains and at least 2.5' in the yard. It's gonna be a while before all of this shit thaws out. We may be riding the high country by august, maybe. Plan on making some turns on the tele's tomorrow with some friends, then gettin' everything dialed for the trip east. 4 more days, then I'm out. Looking forward to 5 weeks of riding bikes on the tight and twisty trails of WV, VA and western NC. peace.

btw, I'm seeing something similar to this for myself in the very near future!

GO RIDE!!!

Newness

2011-03-29T14:28:00.001-06:00

Some pics I stole from fred's blog. From early march, but she's coming right along. Getting the stoke rolling, for sure. Known as the micro shredder by Fred. It's definitely gonna be rad!

GO RIDE!!!

Crazy Busy

2011-03-23T07:39:00.001-06:00

Lots have been going on, not all for fun but for the better. The frames coming along slowly, but surely (fred's words) and I can't wait. Trying to convert the vicious back to a coastie bike, but all of my good parts are in Oregon for the build. Needed some things asap and that's when Shanna of endless bikes hooked it up and sent me what I needed, new cog and a spacer kit.

This made me realize that a bunch of people have helped me out in the bike business and I thought I should give a big thanks to those folks. Shanna @ endless bikes for the best cogs and spacers, ever. They're the only cogs I ever run. Jeff @I-9 for the wheel hook up. Andy @ New River Bikes for all of the parts, that I always seem to need. Fred @ Wolfhound for building my dream ride. Black Sheep bikes for the sweet custom titanium fork and mountain mustache bars. Dug @ bandwagon racing for the hookup on the goods for the season, for making me want to ride fast again and for telling me that I had goals for this year.

All are amazing folks and make me smile when I ride my bicycle. If you need anything these guys are awesome and I highly recommend their products.

Just another 13 days in the high country, then headed east to ride bikes for 5 weeks. It's gonna be sweet. If you're in wv or western nc and wanna ride, hit me up. peace.

GO RIDE!!!

Sexiness!!!

2011-03-07T06:39:00.001-07:00

The specs and such of the new ride! Now just have to wait a bit to see the finished product.

GO RIDE!!!

2011-03-03T15:09:00.001-07:00

Went for a late night run last night. Planned on a moon and star lit night lighting the way while running on snowmobile tracks at around 11,000'. The only main deterrent was that their was no moon or star light and there was a sleety mix coming down. And like always, we had no lights. All was good if you could stay in the tracks, but venture too far to the left or right and you dropped into waist deep snow. Talk about a momentum killer. Couldn't see but maybe five feet in front of you. Ran straight into a six foot deep ditch, that came out of nowhere. Searching for trail later on and was trudging through waist deep snow when Jeff runs by me and instantly disappears. Fell off of a 10' wall of snow and was submerged up to his shoulders in the snow below. Bad cookie followed and was stuck. Decided it was time to turn around and find another route. An hour and a half of run time that was much needed. With all of the snow melt going on it seems like winter is almost over until you go out in the deep stuff and see that we still have a shit ton of snow. I'm out.

GO RIDE!!!

Location:Late night run

New Things

2011-03-01T19:12:00.001-07:00

Lots of working, some playing but definitely getting geared up or a few big things. First off, the new mtn rig. I needed 4wd and yeah there is a bigger purpose, but more on that at a later date.

Not a bad beater, with left over rack parts from the big blue dodge.

Got a new osprey bag, the raptor 6 and it is slick. The best laid out and fitting bag I have ever had. Thanks doug aka the leader of the bandwagon. It needs a few modifications due to the fact that I am a thin 115 pounds at the minute, but i'll take care of that. I thought you were supposed to gain weight in the winter?

The new clinic opened last week and it is absolutely awesome. Looking forward to the possibilities.

heading into the two treatment rooms

the community room with chairs for four people

and the view from the office window. One day maybe I will be able to take a decent picture, until then sorry for the sub par pics.

Then the best new thing of all isn't finished but the process has begun.
Parts being shipped out tomorrow, of what I have, and the rest have been ordered.

Have the sketch and dimensions for the wolfie and it is a go. I am unable to get the pic up as of now, but maybe later. Not sure of the build time, but I have already waited for over two years so what's another month or two. May possibly have it for PMBAR, but not sure.

BTW, went to copper mtn today for the first lift assisted turns of the year. All I have to say is that groomers are lame. Don't see myself doing that again anytime soon. The backcountry is sooooo much more enjoyable!

GO RIDE!!!

Just another Monday

2011-02-14T10:11:00.001-07:00

woke up to a nice warm morning and went for a sweet run with the dogs. It was zero degrees but the sun was out and it was absolutely beautiful!

Buddy is in there somewhere.

For those of you that don't know I'm riding for the wagon this year, as in bandwagonracing.com. Check it out! Just saw our bios on the osprey packs webpage. Pretty rad.

Leadville winter series race #2 is next Saturday. Tennessee pass night jam, such a fun course and definitely a good time. Not sure if I'm gonna make it yet as our open house for the new clinic is on that day as well! We'll see. Will post pics of the clinic when I actually take some.
peace

GO RIDE!!!

Much needed

2011-02-09T19:45:00.001-07:00

Had a much needed and greatly appreciated day in the mountains. Some tree trimming needed done due to the massive snow fall this year. That cat couldn't fit through the trees to groom so in I come. Had a few helpers and a couple saws. 8 hours in below zero temperature, riding on top of a snow cat cutting trees at around 11,000'. Not a bad way to spend the day, especially when you throw in a little snowmobile ride through he snowfields. Maddie hung out in the cat most of the day, enjoying the heat.

An awesome way to clear the mind. So blessed to have the opportunities presented to me in this place I call home.

Two of the dog teams getting ready to head out.

Then heard some good info from Marshall about our goal against the other teams and each other at pmbar! "One of us is going to make it to the top of Black Mtn. first. I say whoever it is gets the loot. And if that person bonks first, they give it up........In other words, I hope you are ready to win in May." I can't wait. One of my favorite places to ride and with one of my favorite riding partners. It's gonna be rad!

GO RIDE!!!

East Side Epic

2011-01-30T08:35:00.001-07:00

Last week I had mentioned the east side epic, the 1st race in the Leadville winter mountain bike series. Well it was Badass and truly epic. The course was perfect the night before the race, two groomers had the course absolutely perfect. Then more snow came, we had 10" of new snow by race time with blizzard like conditions. Around 12 degrees, dumping snow and the wind was howling. Did a little abbreviation of the course, so all in all it was now 11 miles.
The start was a nice mellow snow packed road, nice and quick until we got to the first groomed section. I was unable to ride the 10" of fresh over the groomers so the slog began, picking off several riders who aren't as down with the hike a bike. A mile and a half of this and then it headed down, super plush with snow blowing everywhere. A quick spin on the snow packed road and a tough but cleanable section over to 5th street. The climb up 5th was nice and steep and allowed me to pass a few others.
A quick push up and then one of the most amazing descents I have ever had. Hard groomed surface underneath with over a foot, by this time, of the fluffiest and lightest snow, ever! As fast as you could pedal with snow blowing all over your chest with pedals in the snow with each stroke. Absolutely fabulous!!! However, it went from awesome to awful in about ten feet. At the bottom of the descent to California gulch is when it got awful. Wind was whipping with 30-40 mph winds the drifts were over 2' deep, slogfest. The wind was brutal, lower your head and slog on. It was probably -15 to -20 degrees with wind chill. Absolutely brutal. By the time we got back to the road there was 5-7" of fresh snow on the road. Came across the finish line and had a blast!
Wasn't sure about the finish and still not sure. I thought Chad was overall winner on a ss fat bike, but he must have missed a turn or something. Anyway, saw in the paper the other day that I was 1st ss, but whatever. Just to show how tough it was, it took me 1hr and 50 min to go 11 miles, kinda crazy! It was an absolutely fabulous time. Hope to see some of you for the second race.

GO RIDE!!!

Winter wonderland

2011-01-21T12:02:00.001-07:00

The v-dub, finally running like it should!

Maddie and buddy on the xc ski this am. Maddie hooked it up and made tracks for the old man all morning. This was the road, later all you could see was the tip of buddies tail sticking up above the snow. Good times.

GO RIDE!!!

2011-01-20T23:00:00.001-07:00

The moon setting this am in Leadville, absolutely beautiful!

The sun setting this evening over Frisco

Neither of these pics do any justice to the amount of color that was in the sky.

The weather has been amazing as of late. Over 45" of snow over the last three days in summit county, kind of silly. Bluebird day today was superb.

Speaking of amazing conditions, rode the east side epic course tonight without lights and it is absolutely awesome. Pretty firmly packed and soooo much fun. If you have the opportunity to come to Leadville Saturday morning it would definitely be worth your time and effort. You have to love it when trails are groomed just for bicycles, so rad.

GO RIDE!!!

Freshies, on the bike

2011-01-18T13:46:00.001-07:00

A little pre-ride of parts of the east side epic this am, after fixing the v-dub. Conditions are shaping up nicely with a fresh foot of snow last night. The sun is out, the trails are currently being groomed and all is a go. Look forward to seeing some front range peeps this weekend. It's gonna be 12 miles of awesomeness.

and here's the latest family portrait, complete with the new addition.

black & white is opening up and buddy's fitting right in. You'd never know he's 10. He's cool!

GO RIDE!!!

HOME!!!

2011-01-10T07:42:00.001-07:00

Had a little free time before and after clinic on Saturday and was in need of some play time.

This is what the morning bike ride looked like as I watched the sun rise.

Hiked up some fluffy stuff

Transitioned to the fatties

And headed off the mountain. Was never further than ten miles from the house. I love this place.

Starting out right

2011-01-03T08:29:00.003-07:00

New year's eve was a wash. Car broke down on the way home in 10 below zero temps and had to hitch hike home, then catch a ride back to work on new year's day. So I took yesterday as my new year's day and broke out the fatties for my 1st run on them.

No skins for them yet, so used the snowshoes for an awesome hike up

Everyday I love this place more and more.

Transitioning from snowshoes to the fatties.

Where we headed. A great day and the best turns I have ever made on the tele's. The icelantic's are badass. Can't wait for some more.

Snow day

2010-12-18T17:51:00.001-07:00

Supposed to be snowing for the next 8 days or so. I think it may be time to pull out the fatties. The xc ski's are unable to stay afloat. The high country and steeps are ready for some exploring.

Maddie earning it. The dogs are about to have to stick to the groomers. Getting too deep for them.

Bad cookie!!!

Jefe getting a little crossed up. Good times!

2010-12-16T16:43:00.002-07:00

A view from up high, where the cabin sits.

Something like this needs to be my own. More on this later.........

even maddie thinks the views are amazing. These pics are kinda old and snow is much deeper than these pics show. New pics sometime soon, maybe tomorrow, maybe.

Days gone by

2010-12-14T07:15:00.002-07:00

The mornings off have been pretty spectacular. A little ski time in the woods with the b&w puts the mind at ease. Such a great way to start the day.

The Sunday sessions are starting to put it all together. Got the first bit of color started a couple of days ago. But yeah, still a long way to go.

The winter season

2010-12-13T07:17:00.002-07:00

Lots of fun and exciting things have been going on. Finally built the vicious up as a wintry weather commuting machine. 34-15 fixed with flat pedals and fenders. Perfect for riding though the sloppiness of the winter season and I can actually leave the car parked for days at a time. Made the first xc ski runs from the house this weekend, the groomed trails around town are in stellar shape and quite fun. The high stuff is opening up, time to beak out the tele's and earn some good ole turns. Been sitting for a couple hours every Sunday working on the back piece, it's coming together quite nicely! The new clinic buildout is looking awesome, not too far away from opening it up. And many exciting things getting me stoked for the summer season. I am unable to upload any pics currently so have been quite the slacker on this little bloggie thing. One day I'll figure it out, maybe. Get outside and enjoy this day. peace

Good for the soul

2010-12-03T16:11:00.002-07:00

Riding bikes is awesome.The bike has been in hibernation........for months.That all changed this week. The tree gig ended for the year so some free time has opened up, add that to the front range being crazy ass warm and it was time to ride bikes. Two days of riding the techie goodness is all it takes to refresh the soul. Skiing is rad but riding bikes is the best thing.....ever. Good times. Thanks to lubes and mordecai for pedaling with me.
More to come, soon.

a painful bliss

2010-11-23T07:56:00.002-07:00

The buzz of the needle
The pain it signifies
But the beauty it beholds
With the finished product

Hours under the gun followed by
The solitude and bliss of making tracks on the skis

Stoked for the possibilities
Once the real snow accumulates
The out and backs are nice
But you are almost certain to see others
Sometimes it's just about me
The solitude, the quiet of the
World and the mind
Doesn't get much better than this

To the woods, I go
peace

Coming together

2010-10-25T09:23:00.001-06:00

Something about colder weather and shitty conditions makes me really want to run! Not sure what it is but I love running in the cold, snow, rain or just plain sloppy weather. Well it's getting colder, the snow is falling and the running shoes are getting used.

Short and quick 5-ish mile run in the snow saturday morning and a nice solid 12-ish mile run to start the day Sunday. Nothing like waking up, throwing on some kicks and heading out the door. It's a beautiful thing.

Been getting everything together for the winter, mainly sporting gear, and can barely wait to test out the new skis. It's gonna be rad!

On a side note, started working on a new tattoo last week with Kris. It's gonna take a few months to get it completed, but I absolutely love the design. Here's the stencil, the outline and the initial product a week later. Lots more to come. Sorry if you didn't want to see my ass but.............

btw, it's snowing like crazy here @ 10,000'. I do believe winter has arrived.

BeanfeSSt

2010-10-11T09:56:00.003-06:00

Had planned on hitting up buffalo creek early Saturday for a little pedal then camping followed by the annual beginning of winter ride aka beanfeSSt. Well the problems with my plans are that they seldom happen. Ended up working all day Saturday but decided to head to bc to meet up with spike and PBR for some camping. Well it was just spike and I for the evening, PBR showed up at some point but I was already crashed. In case you were wondering, it sucks camping with friends in the cold during a fire ban, esp. when it's dark by 7:30. At least we had several dogs to keep us entertained along with a nice hike in the dark for a bit.

These critters were kicking up soooo much dust, it was silly. As you may be able to see that two of them were supposed to be white, but had layers of dust covering them.

So the morning arrives 10/10/10! and a great day was to be had. 20+ riders came out to enjoy the day and that is exactly what we did. Good pace followed by nice re-groups was exactly what was needed for this non-riding cyclist.

my favorite part of riding these days, sitting in the grass relaxing in the middle of the ride. Luvin' it!!!

all is good until you have this guy, who actually rides his bike and rides it pretty fast, up your ass on the climbs. Thanks Fred for making me work WAY harder than I wanted on this casual ride! However, I would have been disappointed if you weren't there to make me hurt.

Spikes fuel for the day; whiskey, beer and sugar!

No riding pictures, as who wants to interrupt the flow? Not me!

Followed by a killer Mexican spread brought together by all of the riders. Thanks Pablo for putting it together again.

Drove home to a light snow shower and snow capped peaks. Hit up Quincy's for a killer steak dinner and propped the feet up for the evening! What a beautiful ending to a fabulous weekend. peace.

Motorized toys!

2010-10-04T09:33:00.001-06:00

I've been craving some riding of the motorized variety and got out for several hours yesterday and had a blast. It's been a minute since I've spent much time on a dirt bike but it all came back pretty quick. A few solid days and it would be on.

Rocked this rig, initially I thought it would be more bike than I needed, but it felt awesome once I got used to the suspension. I had thought I wanted a 250 but the 450 felt oh so good and it wasn't nearly as tall as I thought it was gonna be. Good times!

I didn't have a helmet so had to borrow one and of course the only one that fit was a woman's helmet. It's cool and I dig pink anyway.

Lane rockin' the Big old Grizzly, glad she let me ride the dirtbike!

Someone had a bad day.

Resolution pass with infinite views.

Kickin' it with miss Lane! A beautiful way to spend a Sunday. Caught a gorgeous sunset to end a magnificent day. Another wonderful day in paradise!

Lazy Days

2010-10-02T17:26:00.001-06:00

Not a lot of riding been going on but plenty of good times to be had. Been enjoying this crazy extended late summer that has been going on. Lots of work going on in the trees and with the clinic so not much physical activity going on. At least not the kind of physical activity you would call fun. Finally got out today with the fat black and white for a 22+ mile pedal, the longest ride since my last post, kind of silly but whatever. Anyway, the leaves are gone and the new trails are rippin'. Sometimes it's easy to forget how much fun riding bikes is.

This was last weekend before the leaves were all gone!

Lots of time has been spent on the long board and all the gear is in place for what is going to be an amazing winter. Just living every day to the fullest and trying not to take anything too seriously.

Been craving a motorized toy or toys as this is the time of year to relax and still be able to get out and enjoy everything this amazing place has to offer. Soon, is all I have to say on that one. And there is some new ink to becoming soon, it's gonna be sick. peace

A little bump for bean feSSt next weekend. Good times.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Oh yeah, 2!!

2010-08-24T10:27:00.000-06:00

So I had the opportunity to go ride some sections of the CT that I have never been on. So of course I jumped at the chance. Marshall pass to Durango was the plan with a Friday am departure and a Monday-ish arrival. Met up with Jon and Michael in Salida Thursday night in preparation for an early start the next morning. Pedaling by 6am and it was on. Nice and brisk from the sun not wanting to come out. Just cruising along at a steady pace for the first few sections, until the only navigational error of the trip took place. 3 1/2 hours and 20-ish miles of back and forth riding looking for the route. All while being In the hottest portion of the ride on shitty dirt roads. We saw three vehicles and none of them knew where we were either. Took us a bit but figured it out and proceeded to climb to Los Pinos Pass where we crashed for the night. 16 hours of riding and 100+ miles for day 1.

On the bikes before sunrise the next am for a brisk descent off of the pass. Only to be followed by a 15 mile climb up to slumgullion, which was a fitting name as I was definitely slumming on that climb. Hit pavement for another 7 miles to the top of spring creek pass where the fun was about to begin. Fueled up and headed out for the coney and cataract ridge sections that we have heard so much about. The 1st 15 miles was sweet, bumpy but sweet. Took plenty of pictures through here 'til we hit the high point of the ct and the camera was put away.

Once we got to the cataract ridge section is where the going got really tough. 15 miles all at over 12000' was no joke. The views were big and absolutely amazing. I do believe it wad the prettiest area I have ever been in and some of the toughest riding I have ever done. Lots of trail that was just going from cairn to cairn with no visible path. Definitely more hiking than biking, but amazing none the less. Absorbing the sunset in the middle of nowhere was phenomenal. Had planned to be in Silverton by 6 pm for dinner but that didn't happen. Got off of the ct a little after 9 pm for a LONG descent into town. Nothing was open except for the bar, where we went in and drank some coca-cola and had some snacks of our own. Found the town hostel unattended and totally vacant so we took it over for the night. A shower and good night's sleep and we were ready for another day. This section of trail was absolutely surreal and I recommend it to anyone who is down for a day in the pain cave. It took us 9 1/2 hours to go 30 miles, but the views are indescribable. 70 miles and 15 hours of riding for day 2.

We decided to bail on the rest of the route into Durango, so called Joey and he came, picked us up and drove us to the top of Molas pass. We ditched our camping gear and just went for a ride over to Bolam pass. Just a beautiful section of high mountain single track. 30 miles and the day was over, just like that. Got to Durango and had some of the best pizza, ever. Then went and played bike polo until it was too dark to see the ball. What a wonderful way to finish an awesome three day ride. 200 miles and around 35 hours of riding. Thanks Jon and Michael for an awesome trip. 'Til next time, peace.

ps. Had written a much better write up, but my electronic device crashed right as I wax finishing it up and had to start over with much less motivation.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Oh yeah!

2010-08-23T18:28:00.000-06:00

New Camera

2010-08-16T20:57:00.000-06:00

Finally picked up a new camera. It's been a while. Anyway here is a sweet sunset pic from the house, with Turquoise Lake in there as well. Not a bad view at all.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fuck the Leadville 100

2010-08-14T14:28:00.002-06:00

Lifetime Fitness and everyone else associated with the race. Almost get hit by a car twice on my way to watch the start of the BIKE race which was a whole mile away from my house. Then to beat that you go out to get a bite to eat and all of the prices of been hugely marked up. Anyway, all was good despite the fact. Go to clinic for a few hours and on the way home I figured I would ride up 6th street and watch some finishers come in as I pedaled the few blocks up. This is where shit got stupid. Pedaling up the course, which is a two lane road by the way and i start getting yelled out for being on the course. Seriously, I can't ride on the road? Go to turn around while on my bike and continue to get screamed at to get off of the course when a cop on a bike is yelling and trying to get me off of my bike. What the fuck? Fuck it, I'm going to the house and refuse to go back to town today. Absolutely absurd.

Never been a fan of the race, but figured I would do the leadman series since I live in town. Not now. I've never been so disrespected on a bicycle, ever. Fuck the Leadville 100 and all the douche bags putting it on!

Day of the passes!

2010-08-13T20:02:00.002-06:00

Six of them to be exact. A day during the week popped up free and with no rain in the forecast I thought it was time for a nice big-ish loop. Had thought I would leave before sunrise from the house and head towards the CT for a jaunt to Copper than back to pb via the main road.

It didn't take long for the schedule to change. Decided to sleep in so didn't leave the house 'till a little after 7. Wasn't hungry so I skipped b-fast, grabbed a handful of mike-n-ices and a handful of peanut m&m's and threw them in the bag. Was only planning on a 50-ish mile ride so that should be plenty of food, right.

Hit 24 over to waltz ditch road and picked up the ct.for the trek over to copper Mtn. Smooth and fast until the climb out of camp hale up to kokamo pass. Four miles and a little over 3000' of climbing. It finally got easy once I got above tree line. A little after the pass I hit the high point of the day, around 12200' then easy sailing over to searle pass, the dropped down towards copper. Saw a few female riders rocking it so struck up a conversation and I said I wasn't looking forward to the road ride back to pb, when they chimed in you should do this loop of up the bike path to right below vail pass, hit a trail on the left, then up to ptarmigan road, over the pass and back down to camp hale. This was definitely more than I had anticipated but I liked the idea of lots more trail and no main road. We parted ways and away I went. The riding was fairly easy until I got to ptarmigan road and had to walk a bit. The down side was long and fast and did I say long. Was feeling good until I started climbing back up to Tennessee pass. Stopped and ate the rest of my snacks and knew as long as I could make it to the top the trail fairies had a tote full of goodies waiting for me. Slow movig until I hit the food cache where I had a nice cold coca-cola. Five minutes later I was rolling on at a nice little clip. Quick spin down the road and back at the house in 9 hours after 70 miles and somewhere between 8000 and 9000' of climbing and crossing six Mtn passes. All on about 500 calories, maybe 50 mike-n-ices and 20 m&m's. The biggest ride I have had in quite a while and it felt awesome. Can't wAit to get out and do it again.

Such a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky for any of it. Started out around 37 degrees when I left the house and got hot. Probably in the mid 60's when I got home. One of the most beautiful days we have had in weeks. So glad I got to pedal my bicycle all day in it.

Oh yeah, the Leadville 100 is tomorrow and it's cool and all, but doesn't have anything compared to what I did today. peace

Fall is in the air

2010-08-10T12:51:00.002-06:00

and I am luvin' it. High's in the 50's for the last several days. Absolutely beautiful! I recently found out that if you don't ride your bike you get slow. Not crazy slow but slower than I can remember being, in quite a while. Arms all healed up, pedaling as much as I feel like and enjoying the coastie bits of my shiny I-9's. No real plan, just coasting along and enjoying every minute of it.

Gonna meet up with csakany in two weeks to do the last few miles of the CT. Will start outside of Salida and finish in Durango. Should take us 4-ish days and should be a blast. Been on very little of the trail in that part of the state, the views and riding are supposed to be phenomenal!

Postponed the build date on the wolfie, had some unexpected expenses come up so put it on hold. The cool thing about that is Fred, of wolfhound, told me to give him a shout when I am ready and will be next in line. So rad!!! That should allow me to get some winter gear, ski stuff, before the white stuff starts falling and have a bike ready to roll for the spring time. This should help with the timing associated with the seasonal changes.

The Leadville 100 is Saturday, so plan on watching lots of people at the start line take off and maybe head to to power line for the climb or may just go for a sweet ride instead. Oh yeah, Lance bailed on it this year according to velo news, but there should still be a pretty strong group of riders showing up. Good times. Peace

Officially On Deck!

2010-07-23T20:30:00.003-06:00

Got a good after work pedal in today and the arm felt fantastic. Rippin' it on the old Vicious, felt so good. It feels good to just pedal as fast as you can. Sometimes I forget how nice and soothing it really is. Should be able to get in a few more rides in over the next few days. Lookin' forward to it.

Got home to some good news, Fred, of Wolfhound Cycles, let me know that the dude in front of me is dragging his feet and I may be able to take his spot in the build line. May be starting on the new wolfie in about two weeks. Can't wait. I suppose that is my reason to pedal, knowing that I WILL have a new bike before the riding season is over. Will find out for sure in the next week. My new I-9's should be here the first of the week. It's about time..

Summer Daze!!!

2010-07-19T10:56:00.002-06:00

All kinds of shit has been going on, with emphasis on shit. Only had 3 BIG rides planned for the summer and I missed all of them. Good times, for sure. Weather knocked one out, fatigue curtailed the second and a broken radius took out the third. Broke my left arm the day before spikefesst, but 11 days out and the arm is doing awesome. Daily acu tx's and lots of herbs and I am back at it. Been on the bike the last few days with no real discomfort, just have to wear a brace when doing any activity. Been doing lots of stuff that doesn't involve the bike. It's been pretty nice.

Finally got a coastie device on the vicious and just got the word that my new wheels are finally ready to ship, three months after ordering them. Better late than never I suppose. Hopefully next week those sexy bits will be on the vicious and rolling smoothely.

The wolfie's build time should be coming up in August or September and I just had the last freakout about how she'll be built up. Had switched from the original plan, rigid, to go with a 5" fork option, but just found out the fork I wanted doesn't really exist, yet. So back to the original plan of a non-suspension adjusted rigid front end. Light, fast and bombproof will be the name of the game. And yes, she's gonna be sexy. Sorry to bring this subject back up, it's just that the time is getting near and I am ready.

My new i-pad should be here today so post will be more frequent again and I may even have a camera soon. Crazy, I know. But it's time to share some of the sights that I have been experiencing. Until next time, peace.

Slackin'

2010-07-05T12:11:00.003-06:00

The last month kicked my ass! Worked almost the whole month without a day off between doing fire mitigation in Evergreen and rocking the clinic here at home creates one tired little man. Yesterday was my first day off in almost 30 days and I had plans to head to Salida for Don's ride. Been trying to get down there for this ride for the last few years, but alas I did not make it, again! After getting out for a spin at dusk on sat., I realized that my legs were not up to a fast 100 miles. So I opted to stay in town, go for a hike and relax for most of the day. Hiked up to 13,000'+ and enjoyed the views. No trails, just walking through the forest 'til topping out well above treeline. Sitting there enjoying the morning sun when along the ridge comes a runner. Again, no trails and no easy way to get where I was and a dude is just running along. I love this aspect of Leadville. People are always out and about, no matter where you are. So sweet.

Spikefest! is coming along this weekend. Had planned on doing the 110 miler, but that's not gonna happen. May do the 85 miler or may not. I may not even ride, just camp for friday night then head back home to dig some trail. I love riding bikes, it's just that my body is beat down and I'm not real motivated to pedal when I could spend my free time sleeping.

All will work itself out, riding wise. Still riding strong, just ready to be riding the new steed. Hopefully one day that will happen and preferably sooner rather than later. peace

Spring has Sprung

2010-06-07T14:00:00.003-06:00

in the high country! The aspens are blooming, the trails are dry and the days are long. I absolutely love this time of year. Cool in the morning and getting up in the upper 60's during the day. Great days for playing in the mountains. Another week or so and everything will be green and summer will have arrived. Good times! Now, go ride and enjoy the sunshine. peace.

ridin' bikes!

2010-05-30T10:21:00.003-06:00

Got several trail rides in during the past week, so good to ride with some of the front range folk. Ended up realizing that I am not in as bad as shape as I had thought, actually was still somewhat fast on the trail. Glad to see and feel it, gives a HUGE boost to the psychie.

Was working in Evergreen for a few days so made some calls and set up some ride times. Bergen Peak on wed. eve and 3 Sisters on thurs. eve. I believe it was the first time riding 3 sisters on a coastie bike and man was it a hoot. Raging down from the top with mGe and Lubes right on my tail. Hitting close to 30 mph on the 1-track felt soooo good. Got back to Leadville yesterday, did a 25-ish mile jaunt and then a quick spin this morning. It's all coming together. Trails are opening up daily and I'm constantly finding some new (to me) hidden gems. What wasn't rideable last week due to snow pack is now part of the loop. Good times!

Coasting

2010-05-24T11:20:00.002-06:00

is so sweet! Resurrected something from the past to get the off road venture going again. What is it you say, come ride with me and you shall see! Hit up the first bit of DRY singletrack in town yesterday and it was such a nice little introduction. The possibilities that are about to open up is kind of silly. Two rides in yesterday and still had most of the day free to lounge around.

It has been so long since I lived at the trails without having to drive for an hour, at least, or commute for an hour through town to get to the goodies, I was kind of confused. It takes me back to the Slatyfork days of living in the Heckler house, where we were across the street from 900,000 acres of nat'l forest. Oh it feels so nice to walk out my door and within 5' ft I'm on a trail headed out of town. It's snowing today but supposed to be in the 60's for most of the week which should dry out some more sweetness. Lookin' forward to it!

Ordered some new bling for the Vicious so I can coast on that bike as well. I will post some pics of the sexiness when it is all together. I'm out.

It's been a while,

2010-05-09T09:31:00.002-06:00

since I have done an update. so here is a quick hit:

moved from Denver on April 1st

hit up Moab for 5 days of squish squish riding

4 days in Fruita that ended with a severely bruised and battered left hand which started the running season

Moved to Leadville to get the ground work laid for the new clinic

running and riding as weather has permitted

4 days of riding in BC to keep the riding legs moving

Opened Leadville Community Acupuncture May 1st

Running almost everyday, getting ready to start throwing down some big-ish style runs

Completely over the fixie on trails and can't wait to get a coastie mtb again with A LOT of squish up front

No desire to leave this little mountain heaven for a while and glad to have someplace to call home!!!!!!!

Life is pretty amazing and looking forward to see what happens next.

There's a quick rundown of the last month. No pictures as I broke my camera and computer. One day I will get around to posting something, but until then it's all about the process of exploring on my own with my little black and white friend. Go ride...or run. peace.

I'm outtie!

2010-03-30T09:06:00.002-06:00

Headed out of Denver in a minute. Gonna head west to Moab then hit Fruita & Grand Junction on the way back. Gotta be in Leadville on the 7th. So if you're in my neck of the woods look me up. My computer completely died the other day so no posts for a while. later on.

Movin' on up

2010-03-24T09:28:00.005-06:00

I was supposed to move today, but that's not happening. The plan was to put everything in a storage unit in Evergreen for a month or two, just 'til I get the living situation figured out in Leadville. I plan on winging it 'til I find my new digs. Anyway, since we got over a foot of snow and are expecting some more I decided maybe I should wait a couple days. I will be out of Denver no later than March 31st!

So here I am, bored outta my mind! Heavy, wet, sloppy-ass snow that I want no part of. It's crazy how spoiled you get when conditions are generally so amazing out here. Whatever, it is what it is.

So here's the plan for the new town. I am partnering up with an existing/established chinese medicine clinic, Balance Healing. The plan is to integrate a community style approach, Leadville Community Acupuncture, to better accommodate the working class individuals who live there. We are in an existing building a mile from town. The plan is to be in a new downtown location within the first year, one that we own. It's actually quite exciting.

There are may unknown's about the future, but it sure is going to be fun!

The mountains are why I came to CO, but since finishing school was my priority the mountain lifestyle got pushed aside, somewhat. I can think of no city that would have been a better fit to live in for a few years while finishing school. Denver is a super cool town that feels WAY smaller than what it actually is. I enjoyed my time here, but it is time to move on.

The small town, nestled in the mtns is what I desire. I am from a small town in central WV and prefer the simplest way of life. So away I go. Moving forward to live the life that I desire all the while helping as many people as possible along the way.

I am also looking forward to the side effect of living at 10,000', getting in amazing shape!

So now, as Dr. Samples always told me, to FOCUS on the task at hand. Establishing an amazing and highly sought after clinic that focuses on treating people the way they should be treated at a price that is easily affordable by all.

I'm going to end with my quote of the day: Live your life and be happy, if you're not happy with your current situation, I hope you have the courage to stop what you're doing and start over. Remember you are in control of your own situation. peace

tired dog

2010-03-17T16:32:00.002-06:00

A lot has been going on in the past week or so, at least in my mind. So, what better way to let the mind go, than to ride bikes. There isn't much better in this world. Was in Leadville for the weekend taking care of some business..........more to come on this subject shortly. Got a note from Spike about BC being good to go, or at least better than before. So I headed that direction with my b&w friend, to meet up with Spike and Avion. The plan was for an evening into dusk ride and since I had nothing going on today I figured I would camp out and then hit it again this a.m. Good times for sure. Conditions last night were sweet, except the fact that I forgot my light. Still some snow here and there but overall it was mostly rideable. That is until we pushed, literally, our way to the gashouse/baldy intersection. Turned around and rocked it back down sandy. The descent was feeling good and the fixie was rolling. It's always good having spike make me push the envelope when going down hills. Good times.

Kicked it in la hotel v-dub for the night in the trailhead parking lot. Dipped down in the low 20's but wasn't bad at all. Woke up with the warmth of the sun and decided to do the same ride as last night. Moisty was the theme of the day. BC is awesome of an evening, but stay away from the before noon hours, as the melt from the nightly freeze is on. Actually got muddy today. What a nice climb when your tires sink in about an inch with each pedal stroke. The easier gear made it spinnable and worth it. Got to the turnaround point and raced the dog back down. She tried to snake me in a few corners, that she would shortcut, but was unable to make a sustained pass.

SO much fun to be riding on dirt. About to see how long the weather holds out. Gonna hit up the T.I.T.S. ride tomorrow evening and call it 3 days in a row, on dirt. b&w has been sleeping all afternoon, I guess 40ish miles in a 15hr time period can do that to a rad little dog.

Leadville update coming...............................................

Sunshine!!!

2010-03-12T15:13:00.004-07:00

I LOVE sunny days! I guess you can say CO has spoiled me in regards to weather. This week has been so nice. Going out and riding bikes in the sunshine on dry trails. Craziness. It's coming around. Legs are feeling good and I am enjoying the spinning along. Got out on the bike everyday this week. A few trail days, a few skatepark days and some commuting miles. But the trail days are what seems to make my days complete. Just getting into the flow and letting it roll. Can't wait for some trails outside the city to open up so this dog of mine can hit the trail as well, but that's gonna be a while. It's calling for 50 degree days and sunshine for the next week. It's on, 'til the snow comes back. Go ride!

Dug e Dug just sent me this link, from the 1st Leadville winter race this year. Representin', bitches!

Sunny in CO!

2010-03-07T19:42:00.005-07:00

Hit up BC today with Brian and the black and white critter. We were anticipating some snow and a little slop. Ended up with some snow but mostly slop. Slogged our way up Strawberry then over to Charlie's cutoff. Did a little bushwacking so that we could actually ride where the snow was untracked. Then down sandy wash. Got to the bottom then turned around and headed back. Huge difference in the trail conditions from the way down to the way back. The melt is officially on. A few more good days and it'll be golden, esp. if we get some of the rain that is in the forecast for the week. For those who didn't make it out on this ride, all you missed was a slogfest that was full of slummin' by this guy! Big gears and very moisty trails are crazy hard. However, where the trails were dry was a nice reminder of what is about to open up.

Yesterday a group of us headed to Pueblo. It's a long ass haul to get there but worth the jaunt. I had never been, so I latched on to the group headed that way. Here's a video with the theme of the day. We stop for a flat, I lay down right on top of a cactus. Gavin has to pull all of the stickers out of my back while I pull them out of my hand and arm all the while the Chad get's a flat while his bike is sitting on the side of the trail. Classic.

There were a total of (5) flats with (3) of them belonging to the Chad. I had one more encounter where Chad yelled out left then changed it to right and I brushed a 5 ft tall cactus with my leg. Filled my knee full of those stupid little stickers. We don't have that shit where I'm from. So not used to looking out for cacti while riding in the desert.

Other than those little mishaps the day was solid. 60+ degree day, good company, Chad making me keep the pace at a borderline uncomfortable state and dry trails. The bikes were dusty by the end of the ride. Just under 30 miles. It was a stellar weekend on the bike. Didn't realize that it would be ok to bring the dog to Pueblo, next time she'll lay down the roost for sure.

Consecutive days on the trail. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. peace.

Soooo,

2010-03-05T14:36:00.005-07:00

my computer is all jacked up, so posts will be very sporadic over the next month-ish. Riding as much as is possible in this crazy CO weather. Gonna hit up Pueblo in the am with a crew for some riding on dirt. It's gonna be a mad house down there as every one is jonesin' for some trail riding. Should be worth the effort. 6 rides in the last week so something is working right. Minimal trail rides = one crazy ass dog! If anyone wants to borrow an exercise deprived jrt, let me know. peace.

Oh yeah, saw this online the other day and think I need it! So rad!

Doin' what I can

2010-02-28T13:12:00.005-07:00

to ride bikes! Hit up BC the other day with a crew for a snow filled hike with the bike. The climbs were tough to say the least but the descent was some of the best downhill action I have been involved with in a while. Here's a picture of Spike, you like the women's pink jacket with the matching shorts to get the onsey look? This is what we have to look forward to when we get old and a little senile. You show up to gatherings wearing your wife's clothes and looking for something to put in your mouth. WAS he already into the whiskey before the ride? I believe so, and the trail is all downhill from here, guaranteed!
It was a nice jaunt and it felt super nice to actually be in the woods, even if trails are still limited. You take what you can get when you can get it, right?!
Yesterday went out for a fat tire road bike ride. Was hoping to hit some singletrack along the way, but it was way to moisty for that. Ended up with a 50-ish mile jaunt just rolling around. Saw this dude rolling around when we came down from red rocks, and yeah that's a schnauzer just chillin' in the trailer with a blanket on. Good times!Met another fixie dude, Mike from Baltimore, the other day. We've thrown down for a few rides and the dude is strong! Makin' me earn my miles, to say the least.

Yeah we were rocking the matching orange fat tire road bike setups. Sometimes it just happens like that. Rolled into down town and hit up Salvagetti for their shop party. Such a good time with some super cool people. Hopefully the snow stays away for a bit so we can throw down a couple more rides this week. I'm so ready for some trails to open up!

Gonna hit up a hike with the black & white to enjoy some full moon action tonight. Get out and enjoy this day. peace.

A little spin

2010-02-21T22:01:00.005-07:00

in the snow on the big green hill. Ran by Lubes' house on the way and he was just finishing up work, so the timing was perfect.

The plan was to do a stroll around the middle loop, up BOR,, down the spine and back on the lower loop. Yeah, that didn't happen. The snow was deeper than expected and was not packed down at all. Some riding and a little pushing was to be had. Definitely a harder effort than was expected.
wondering why it's so hard to ride up this little incline?

Lubes being all happy and stuff.
Ran in to MGE, as he was finishing up his 5+ hr ride and he snapped this pic.

Good times, for sure. the 2nd winter race in Leadville was this weekend, but decided to stay local instead of driving up. Kind of bummed as it is the most fun event of the winter series, by far. Gonna get out and pedal for a bit tomorrow, before the snow melts and makes for no riding for a week or so. Just taking advantage of what we are being presented with. I'm out.

My little wolfie!

2010-02-18T23:15:00.002-07:00

So I just got my build date-ish for the Wolfhound. It's still about a 6 month wait, but is gonna be so worth it. It's already been almost 13 months so what's a couple more? Fred sent me some pics of his newest creation. The one that he's gonna show off at the San Diego custom bike show in April. All I have to say is wow! It's pretty flippin' amazing. He asked me not to show it off and I shall honor that. It has me worked up so much that I would be stoked if I still had to wait another year!

Anyway, the Giant is pretty much finished due to the LARGE groove through the carbon fiber on the chainstay. So the vicious is the ride of the year, unless someone has an extra rig they want me to ride. Just have to make it 'til around August and will then hopefully have a new steed to rip it on! So excited I can hardly stand it. peace.

Back again,

2010-02-15T21:28:00.007-07:00

but without much to say. Haven't been on the dirt in a while and definitely jonesin' for some dirty mc dirt. I have always been a huge fan of winter, but I am over this freeze-thaw bullshit cycle we have had going on for what seems like forever. It would be different if the snow in the mountains was spectacular 'cause then it would be worth my time to drive to the them there hills. But it is fairly lame that way as well. Call me spoiled, but I have very high standards and expectations.

So anyway, I have been pulling this bike out about every day or so. Many days it's just over to the parking garage at DU with the dog for some hot laps and manual session. 'Cause I need all the practice I can get.

So I have been working out everyday in the non-cycling fashion with plans on being strong at some random point in time. I'll have to see how that works out for me. I'm thinking exceptionally well will be the outcome. I have been having the urge to run quite often, so some new running kicks are in order for the week and looking forward to some 30-ish mile runs very soon. Want to join in? Hit me up!

By the way, I got a skype account the other day, so I now have the ability to talk to people verbally, if'n you're interested.

Oh, and here's the new painting on the side of Qi athletic club, of which Happy Mantas Wellness Tree is a part of. It's pretty rad except for the dumpster sitting in front of it.

We have a really sweet tag inside where you walk into the bathroom and the door that walks into the treatment area. It's hard to get a good picture as you can't step far away back to get the whole thing in the pic., but you get the idea.
peace. I'm out.

Stupid flat tire!

2010-02-05T18:14:00.005-07:00

So I had some free time today so figured I would go pedal my bike on some dirt. First time on my mountain bike in the dirt since early November. It was much needed. Pulled out the Vicious as I am over the Giant coastie bullshit after riding it in Leadville. Just not feeling it.

Headed over to the big green hill for a spin. Felt good on the climb to the top, the descent blazed by even though I was wishing for a bit bigger gear. Then over to Dakota Ridge. Cleaned Zorro up to the stairs easily so I tried to clean a big chunk of the stairs in a big and sketchy move.

Psssss is all I hear. Fuck! No tube, no pump, not even a wrench to take off the wheel if someone were to offer me a tube, which not a sole did. Rolled down zorro on the flat like I normally do no big deal. Get to the bottom and the tire came off of the rim and was all over the place. So I wrapped the tube and tire around the frame and continued pedaling along on the rim.

Then the tube gets wrapped around the non-drive side crank arm and stops me in my tracks. Unwind that mess and then proceed to tie my tire to the frame with existing tube as my tie down, now that it's ripped in half. Pedal the next 2ish miles on the rim in an uneventful manner.

Roll to Lubes' house to borrow his chainwhip so I can change my rear cog. I also borrowed some files and filed down all of the burrs on the rim from thrashing it on the trail. Cog would not budge.

To the house I went, put a new tube and newer tire on the rear. Normally have to run a 2.1 due to clearance issues, but tried for a 2.3 instead. Holy shit was it a hassle. Tried to break the cog loose by doing skids and track stands and generally trying to knock it off. Not happening. Broke Lubes' whip, I'll get you a new one btw.

Headed to the shop where it took two guys and a 4ft cheater bar to break it loose. I wish I had a 17t to put on, but had to settle for the 18t. It's gotta feel better then that easy gear I have been running.

Now all I have to do is bolt on the rear wheel, right. Well that 2.3 turns out to be a bitch. Have to run the rear wheel all the way out in the drops Now the chainstay length is like 20", retarded long. Then the rear triangle is soooo tight that there is about 1.5mm clearance. I hate this bike. I don't know what it was designed for, but straight up mountain biking it was not. I suppose it would be a perfect monstercross bike with the minimal clearance it has. All I have to say is I hope I don't get a flat on the trail, 'cause that rear end with that tire is a pain in the ass. I guess I forgot how bad it was since I haven't changed anything on that bike in over a year and a half. All I know is that was the most pissed off and frustrated I have been in a long time. Anyway, now she's ready to roll and I'm over it.

Can't wait for the Wolfhound. Another year and I may have it. I'm out.

It will resemble this but be even more badass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No pedaling

2010-02-03T18:13:00.003-07:00

to be had for over a week, other than commuting to and fro. Full moon tele ski jam over Berthoud Pass on Saturday was so rad. The moon was super bright and the snow was surprisingly good. Put a mediocre skier, at best, in the trees at night and you're sure to get a good laugh. Actually my gut hurt I was laughing so hard at myself. Would definitely do it again. Followed that up with three days of snowboarding at Winter Park. Had some of the hardest charging days I have ever had on the mountain. So much fun and totally worked. Jiggety James and Sunny gave me the locals tour of the hill and definitely showed me where the hidden goods were. Any time your hiking a bit in bounds, it's gotta be good.

The rest of the week will be bicycle related unless we get some of the white powdery stuff. We shall see. Peace.

Slummin'

2010-01-25T17:42:00.005-07:00

Headed to Leadville for the weekend for the 1st race in their winter mtb series. Headed out friday with my bike and ski's with the notion to make some turns on the drive up. Stopped at Copper Mountain and hacked it up. Haven't been on the tele's in about two years and even then I was pretty atrocious. Needless to say I got worked. Made turns for about 3 hours before I realized I was absolutely beat. I actually made a few runs without busting my ass, but it was NOT pretty at all.

So rolled on to the 'Ville to hang out with my friend Molly and her family. They have a camper in their yard that they use as their guest house. Right down town and it was perfect. Went hiking on the cross country ski trails at the college with b&w. Then all of a sudden I hear an explosion and see the sky full of black smoke. The old coca-cola plant went up in flames. It burned all the way down. Crazy.

Woke up saturday and pedaled to town for the race. It was about 15 degrees when I rolled through town. The snow would come and go and the conditions were solid. It was all about the adventure. The race course got re-routed due to the previous night's snow. I thought I may have little bit of 'go' in my legs, but I was wrong. Between two weeks of high intensity work outs combined with the previous day on the tele's, my legs were shot. The course ended up being about 8 miles and it took me almost an hour, ridiculous. I ended up jogging for over half the course which was on the mineral belt trail, groomed cross country ski trails, which was loose and deep snow that was over my ankles. Slogfest! All I know is that by April-ish I plan on being pretty flippin' strong on the bicycle. 'Til then I just have to push through the slumfest.

Just kicked it on Sunday then headed out of town this am. Stopped at Copper and made some more turns. Today was probably the best I have ever felt on a set of ski's. Made mostly alpine turns but they felt good. It was the first time I have ever been on ski's for fresh tracks, it was sweet. Another couple days and I'll be linking my turns in a more efficient matter. Looking forward to it.

Sooooooooooooooooooo,

2010-01-20T10:19:00.002-07:00

there's been a lot of pedaling going on since arriving back in CO. For those that say there isn't anything to ride, open your eyes. Lots of spinning miles and few running miles to go along with my daily workout. Nothing to complain about when all you do is ride. Had my buddy Jason in town for the week, it sure is nice to have a training partner in the same house. Would be stoked for a little snow fall to make some turns but whatever. Gonna pull out the tele's this weekend then hit up the first race in the leadville winter mtb series. Maybe I'll find some work while I'm there. peace

Home Sweet Home!!

2010-01-11T17:10:00.003-07:00

Rolled into Denver this am and glad to be home. Just wanted to give a heads up that I no longer have a phone so if you need to get in touch, send me an e-mail or something. 50ish miler tomorrow and maybe some snowboarding action as well. A good week of playing in CO then I guess I should work for a bit.

Had been working on a wool quilt while in WV. My 90 year old grandma has been collecting old wool garments for me for a bit. So I cut it all into 5" squares and then sewed it all together with the help from my momma. She had to fix the corners I messed up. Here she is temporarily attaching the 'e' to the main quilt. Looking forward to the finished product.
You always need to be learning something new. No matter what it is or what it is going to be used for. Just trying is all that it takes to succeed!

Snowy Day

2010-01-07T07:47:00.005-07:00

in WV again. It's snowed every day for a week with highs hovering around 22 degrees. Needed a good somewhat long ride for the soul. Pedaling by 11 am for some dirt road stoke.
Sweet views

and even sweeter conditions. Most roads had one set of tracks that made the going pretty good, but it was still quite slippery with a good pucker factor involved on the descents. And the climbs worked me!

When the wheels are frozen solid and you have to dig out the ice, you know it's brisk. Lots of creek crossing which made for no sitting around time or your bike would turn into a big block of ice.

Pedaled for 5 hours but at the last turn off my folks came by in the truck. We were trying to thaw out a water bottle for the last 6 miles to the car. It was gonna be the biggest and sketchiest descent of the day. We bailed, threw the bikes in the back and got dropped off at the car. An absolutely great day on the bike. Plan on being back in CO on Monday. Just have to wait and see. peace!

oh yeah, finally got this set up.

Spinning

2010-01-03T19:22:00.006-07:00

along in the New Year. Still in WV, so headed to Snowshoe for 5 days in a cabin with some good folks. It's always enjoyable to see people's expressions when you roll up to a ski area in sub 20 degree weather wearing shorts and riding a road bike. Some waves, but lots of blank stares.

Got to the cabin wed. eve. and went for a spin. Up 66 to the backside of snowshoe (in the dark) and down the front side of the mountain. Nice little spin. Just had Lasik done the previous Monday so a mellow few days was in order.

Headed out the next morning with J-bird for a 30-ish mile spin. Had big plans but stopped short due to working harder than I wanted. We split directions and met up later. Started with a little snow but turned into a sloppy rain. Then the third day's ride (New Year's day) was stellar. 40 plus miles, snowed all day, sketchiness was all around. Up 66 then down into Cass and here and there for a bit. Eventually found a side road that brought us back up 66. Such a nice little climb, especially when paired with the climb to the top of Snowshoe.

Not too cold, but a little brisk when we arrived back to the cabin. I'm not gonna lie a 39x16 on back-to-back-to-back days in Pocohontas County is no joke, esp. brakeless and in the snow! Only had to push 1 car out of the ditch on these rides, so not too bad.

Got home and realized a sledding session was in order. Here's the drop in for the chute into the golf course. Silliness.

Loaded the bikes up this morning and headed down the road. It was 1 degree when we loaded up. Another excellent little side trip on my extended vacation of sorts. Looking forward to getting back to CO and getting into some silliness.

Holidaze!

2009-12-29T18:21:00.008-07:00

This was what it looked like at the house in WV. Not much to be done in this wet-ass snow.....

so I headed south to the NC. Hung out in Raleigh for a week or so with my sister's family and just rode here and there a bit. Crazy wet so not much singletrack, but it was still good.

And yeah, Maddie is the jam! Hit up a few playgrounds and she rocked it on the slides. Agility baby!

Just riding along with the black and white!

Headed to snowshoe mtn for the new year with some good folks. Full moon, some snow and probably lots of ice. Should be a great place to ride bikes or at least try to ride. I'm out.

wow!

2009-12-22T09:26:00.002-07:00

Last Minutes with ODEN from phos pictures on Vimeo.

Pets, so much more than just a little critter!

No worries

2009-12-14T20:19:00.002-07:00

has been my theme for about a month. We actually had a day without rain and it was 60 degrees. So sweet! The only plan I had was to pedal for most of the day. The day started out with some thick fog so hung around long enough to watch the fog lift away. Riding by 10:30 with a tentative loop. Started out with some roads up and out of town to some nice gravel. Climbed up to High Knob only to descend some true sketchiness. Steep and packed dirt with a nice layer of moisty goodness on top only to run into 50 yard sections of 3 inch thick loose gravel. Just hold on and try to stay upright. Would be a way better climb due to a HUGE sketch factor. Stopped by a house my buddy Dann-o is building and help set a few large windows then away I went.
Hit up a road I haven't been on in years and missed a major turn. 12 miles later I had to ask the state road workers where I was. Ended up being in the wrong county and had to backtrack. Whatever, made it home 5 1/2 hours after starting and a solid 70 miles was thrown down. Will try for a few more biggies the latter part of the week and weekend. I'm out. peace.

The Gorge

2009-12-09T06:00:00.004-07:00

road ride was pretty flippin' sweet. Met up at New River Bikes in Fayetteville, WV. The weather was less than stellar but the riding partners were of rock star status. Diesel, Andy, J-bird and myself. Andy hooked Jason up with his old Bianchi 1x9 cross bike.
Started with a little road section down into the gorge and yeah the bridge is BIG.
Hit the first trail section and it was moist. Trails and old railroad grades and some pavement was the way of the day. Rode down to the New River along an old railroad grade
that had some pretty sweet views. The weather was perfect until we stopped for lunch. That's when the rain started at the not quite half way point. The camera got put away at this time. We ended up bailing on a big climb as there was no way we could pull it off and still get back to the shop by dark. There was only one light and it was going to be a dark night.

We decided to do an out and back on another old road, then headed up a rail trail to Ace. Then from Ace we went up to a main-ish road for a few miles to the trailhead of some super fast and flowy trails. These trails dropped us right into downtown. How sweet is that? Ended up with around 60 miles and pedaled for several hours. Nice and moisty, another day in the saddle in WV.

Hit up a meeting for two stacked loop systems in the gorge along with an eventual plan to do a park through trail. One of these stacked loops will join in with the existing trails in downtown. Creating 25-ish miles right out the door of the shop. A lot of good things in the cycling world are going on in Fayetteville. If you're going through Fayetteville stop by New River Bikes and Touring and hit up Andy. He'll give you a heads up on what to ride and may even take you out for a sweet ass lunch time loop. Peace.

So Moisty

2009-12-06T18:31:00.005-07:00

yet oh so good! J-bird, the craziest and toughest person I know along with being one of my favorite people, was in the WV from MT. So something good was in order. Had a run or two already thrown down, his forte, so it was time for a bike ride, my forte. Less than a mile into the ride was the initial foot soaker. It's normally not bad but 30 degrees and moisty within the first few minutes definitely sets the tone for the day.

This dude hadn't been on a bike in over 3 years and hadn't done one of my road rides, but rocked it anyway.

There were only about 12 creek crossings, but there was LOTS of mud. Just a day of shooting the shit and pedaling some bikes with great company.

A casual day enjoying the leftover snow. Stopped by another buddies house and had a foot warming session in front of the wood stove. Warmth never felt so good. It made the last 10 miles rather enjoyable and quite cozy.
The Merckx loves the dirt road goodness, no matter how shitty the road is.

The v-dub has been getting thrashed. Very little traffic, wet and sloppy roads along with a fun little rally-ish car is killer. Commuting by car hasn't been this much fun in a while. Headed to the gorge for an all day sketch session on tuesday. I'm out!

Just being

2009-12-04T10:44:00.003-07:00

Here's some sweet dog stoke. Maddie's ready, are you? Just been doing solo night rides on the Merckx around central WV. In case you were curious, big gravel road descents brakeless are............. sketchy. But I don't like to back away from 'em and there are lots of 'em around here. Thinking the punk bike enduro in the 'burg is in the werks for this weekend, should be sweet.

Pedal,

2009-11-15T17:33:00.004-07:00

that's all you have to do! Another stellar weekend in CO!

Hit up Lubes on thursday for a quick what's up ride. Out came the fat tire road bikes and away we went. Hit up everything that is dirt on our side of town. Just riding along was the theme of the day.

Friday hit up BC for the T.I.T.S. ride. The weather was nasty in Denver but was beautiful in BC. Several came up to brave the weather. Just as the ride started, the snow began to fall. Perfect temps and excellent company. Did a little of this and that and just pedaled. There was a bobcat sighting and possibly a Jason sighting as it was friday the 13th. Got back to the car and I decided to camp there for the night since the Hut ride was taking place saturday am.

The Hut ride was badass! Finally met the infamous Ed and Jenny and ridin' bikes is what we did. 9 brave souls showed up for a 5ish hour ride. Definitely a VERY casual pace with a lot of stops. The weather was nice and brisk as it snowed, quite heavily at times, most of the day. Hit up chair rocks and then back to the cars.

Maddie rocked it as usual, throwing down for 23ish miles friday night and then back for 30 more saturday morning. Such a killer little black and white.

Then to the hut we went. An absolute killer dinner spread was there for our enjoyment along with the coziness of the hut and some excellent company. A wonderful way to spend the day. It continued snowing so it was obviously time for the pump track on spikes sketchy-ass bike, in some fresh fluff. Headed home with about 9 inches of snow on the road and had a blast. The little v-dub is rock solid. Lettin' loose in all the turns with some sweet drifting action, so sweet. And it is true, most people in CO have no idea how to drive in snow. Ridiculous. Another amazing weekend.

I'll hit you up with a link to Ed's photos whenever he posts them and want to say sorry to everyone for their muddy Maddie prints in all of their cars. It's what she does, explore!

Good Times

2009-11-06T18:23:00.006-07:00

Absolute stellar weekend of riding. It all started on Thursday afternoon. Met up with Lubes for an around town cross ride. I just did get some cross tires on the old Merckx and she is a ripper. Had wanted to do a trail ride but they just weren't ready. Ended up riding all of the trails at Bear Creek then met up with the t.i.t.s. crew for the night ride. Wet trails pushed us off of Green Mountain, so back to Bear Creek for the evening. The ranger politely kicked us out and then we split off. My sag wagon had bailed and within two minutes of seperating from the group I had a rear flat. Since I never carry anything it was a nine mile pedal home in the dark on a flat tire. A great way to end a killer ride. Ended up with 50-ish miles and around 25 of those on trail.

Saturday was supposed to be the pint-2-pint but most of us bailed on it due to probable shitty trail conditions. Headed to BC instead and had an awesome day on the bicycle. Seven of us rode and it was one of the first times that no one was on a time schedule. Just ridin' and chillin'. Then up to Mateo's for a reworking of the pumptrack. Finally put in some of the adjustments Ben recommended upon his inspection.

Then Sunday headed to Lyons with Spike, Lubes, the Chad and Gavin. Heil-picture-Hall and back with a little pump track acton in the middle. I was definitely that guy on this ride. Numerous mechanicals with no tools. Two flats, my grips kept coming off, broken spoke with significant frame rubbage due to said broken spoke. Glad my sag wagon always has what I need. Ended up with 35-ish miles of some nice and rocky goodness. Rode the last mile on a flat front tire.

The weather couldn't have been any better and the riding partners kept it interesting. Miss Maddie threw down for a solid showing on Saturday, but isn't allowed to ride in Boulder County. Boulder and all of their rules. It's not a place for me. Several rides should be going on this week. May even break out the fixie for a ride or two. I'm out, peace,

Something

2009-11-02T11:43:00.004-07:00

The snow is almost gone and the trails should be ready, soon. The last few days have just been riding the merckx around town and seeing what I see. Not gonna lie, been jonesin for a trail ride, and missing the cross bike. Working on something new and badass!
my little bike and Lube's big bike

The pint to pint got reschedules for this weekend. The light is charged and ready, let's ride!

Yep!

2009-10-30T08:58:00.004-06:00

For those that aren't in the front range area you missed some snow. Ended up with about 2 ft here at the house. All I know is that I have a little black and white dog that is in need of some serious exercise. 3-4 hours a day of walking through a couple feet of snow did nothing for this critter.

Maddie digs the snow and loves to bury her head in it, but she definitely needs a 30 mile ride, soon. I think I may need a few of 'em as well!

Had to dig the car out last night. Had to use the snow shovel to get all of that shit off of her. Then the old v-dub powered right through all of that other shit.

This weekend is the bicycle film festival and since all of the rides that were going on this weekend kind of got shelved, that's where I'll be. Come on out and enjoy some bicycle films. The melt is on, so hopefully in a few days we will ride again. peace!

Snow Day!

2009-10-28T17:04:00.002-06:00

A little bit of snow at the house. Supposed to stop tomorrow sometime. Gotta love a snow day.
Happy Dog, she loves the white stuff!

Bean FeSSt VI

2009-10-25T18:49:00.006-06:00

This weekend was the annual Bean FeSSt in BC. Two days of riding with a mexican food potluck on sunday after the ride. What wasn't expected was the carry over shittieness (snow) from last week's storm.

Woke early on saturday to drive up to BC, set up camp and be pedaling by 10:30. The plan was to ride to Lenny's Rest, possibly Indian Creek and meet up with John and Doug who were riding in from Colorado Springs. The idea was to meet up and then pedal in together to BC.

As soon as I got on trail I ran into snow. Completely rideable, just very moist. The further I went the more snow I encountered. The only snow free areas were the south facing sides through the Buffalo burn. After dropping down to the South Platte is where is the trails conditions got shittie!

Once the climbing began, the snow gradually got deeper. What started as a killer day, deteriorated very fast. I ended up pushing up to the highest point where I decided I was NOT going to make it to Lenny's Rest. I was hoping the other guys had chosen an alternate route.

So I started descending back to the river. A lot of the descent was unrideable as well, stupid snow. Had to stop half way down and ring out my soaking wet socks, eat some snacks and warm up. Once I got to the switchbacks the snow had melted and created a small river down the midle of the trail. This created a sloppy mess. 2 miles of this and then the real climb began.

90% of the snow had melted on the climb and thus very moist. Once I finally got to the trailhead/camp site, 5 1/2 hours later, Doug and John rolled in right behind me. They had run into significant snow and sketchiness and thus bailed on their original plan. What should have been a 65 mile ride turned into a 95 mile ride with the last 15 miles into a 20 mph headwind. In their words, "it was one of those rides where you didn't want to talk to anyone or look at anything, just put your head down and get it finished!"

The after party turned out to be super fun. Eight of us built a big fire, ate some grub and everyone else hit the bottle. Just kicked it for the night and enjoyed the tomfoolery.

Woke up to the sound of frozen rain drops on the tarp, which turned into snow pretty quickly. It snowed all day and the temperature was dropping steadily. The low for the day was supposed to be 30 degrees. It didn't get close to that.

We built a fire and the procrastination began. 4 of those who camped bailed on the ride, and all of those who camped bailed on the longer ride. 13 started the ride and at the first intersection 7 of us opted for the shorter route and 2 picked the shortest route possible. The trail was fairly wet with snow covering the wooded sections and just wet in the burn. It was one of those rides that you did just because you were already there and you may as well ride.

Threw down for a sweet session of eating and burnt the rest of the wood. Just kicked it 'til the fire was out and headed back to town. Another beautiful day in CO! It's still snowing, no work tomorrow due to snow, so may head to Loveland for a day on the slopes.

more pics. here

Diversify!

2009-10-17T20:05:00.003-06:00

Thursday ended up being a full day on the bike. Started out at the skatepark on the new dirt jumper. Spent a few hours figuring shit out. Then headed to Buffalo Creek for a quick 30 miler! Ended up a little shorter than anticipated but was super fast and flowy. Left there and headed to Mateo's for a quick session on the pumptrack. An hour later I was beat. I have to say it was a good day.

Was supposed to meet up with the t.i.t.s. crew for a night ride but I didn't want to pull a late night and I was stoked with the day I was able to pull off.

Maddie has been a bit down as she ran a stick through her chest the other day. She's full of antibiotics and spunky as ever, just doesn't have the capacity for her normal rides. She was beat after 30 miles when normally she is just a little tired. Give her a few days off and she'll be ready for next week.

On a lighter note, I do know that the new ride feels, oh so good!

BRRR!!!!!

2009-10-10T15:59:00.004-06:00

All I know is that a cold front was coming in today and I was gonna ride in it no matter what. No bitching out due to the cold, snow, rain or whatever else we me get. Hit up Spike friday night and he was game. Packed every cold weather item that I may possibly need. A 9am ride time in BC was sure to be cold. They were calling for 15 degrees but was gonna feel like 8 degrees.

Woke at 7 and out the door at 7:30. A brisk morning to say the least. Hit the highway and it was an ice rink. Lots and lots of wrecks, just coast through it and don't hit your brakes. Was definitely wishing I had put on my studded tires on yesterday. Whatever, made it with only a little sketchiness. They ended up closing 285 right after I got through, due to extremely icy roads

Ready to roll by 9 am and it was brisk. 14 degrees and felt like it was about zero. Up sandywash we went and we both realized that we were over dressed. Stopped to shed a layer, on the new section of trail, when we ran into another dude riding bikes. Got moving again, down hill-ish and wished we hadn't shed a layer.

At the top of Baldy I decided I need to put my highly visible and well marked vest back on. Dropped baldy and about froze to death. I went as fast as I could while still having functional extremities. Brain freeze like crazy, my forehead was too cold. Hit the road and climbed Morrison, it wasn't quite steep or long enough to warm us up. Got to the top and had to descend shinglemill. It was the slowest either of us had ever gone down that trail. Just trying not to freeze.

Got to the cars and decided to go to Mateo's house and get the hut warmed up and to hit the pump track for a bit. I have to admit it's a great way to spend the afternoon after a good bike ride. The hut was toasty warm and the pump track was sweet.

Doing it again tomorrow with a few more folks and it's supposed to be around 30 degrees, nice and warm.

btw, I finally built up a street ride, dirt jumping bike. With two squishy gadgets. I've been looking forward to this one for a while.

Casual Weekend

2009-10-04T18:47:00.002-06:00

Have been riding bikes just to ride. Thursday was the board meeting for the APEX ordeal. Met up with Spike, Pbrme and Lubes for a ride at Apex before the meeting. Pedaled up, up and away in a meandering fashion. The first time I've ever really ridden there. Normally I just descend enchanted forest on my 60+ mile loop around the front range. It's actually quite enjoyable.

There ended up being over 400 mtbers that showed up to support the cause. If you're not a member you need to join COMBA, they're doing a hell of a job.

Was supposed to work on saturday but that didn't happen. So headed up to Evergreen for a pancake breakfast then on to Bergen Peak. What a stellar little climb. And yes, the coastie feels awesome! THen back to town and threw in a sweet full moon hike for shits and giggles.

Today headed up to BC with Laura and the black and white for Laura's virgin run of the flowyness we call Buffalo Creek. Giggly fun was the way of the day.

So I have had four rides on the new titanium mountain mustache bars and all I have to say is, WOW! They are everything I thought they would be and more. They flex ~2in. which is crazy. When combined with the ti fork and 2.55 front tires you get a soft and compliant front end. If you want the best feeling bars ever and are willing to throw down $270 for them, these are what you want. Absolutely amazing.