Friday, July 31, 2009

t.i.t.s. no shows

Not sure what it is lately, the weather scares people off-- thurs. ride report

i was not surprised when i got to conifer and was totally socked in. Hit kings valley and sun was out and it was lookin good! Rolled up to the ranger station and found spikes car there and no spike. Guess he rolled earlier. So everybody bailed on a sweet night again at bc. How many times have i said don't let the weather scare you away. Climbing gashouse tonite was awesome. Couple low clouds temps perfect and tacky trail.

Just climbed gashouse and headed to charlies and down sandy wash and back to the truck was going to be content with a 15 mile ride but rolled up and found spike putting his light on. So out we went round two to meet up with nick. Found him almost at top of shinglemill. Down morrison creek i came in a little hot and found myself flying headed for a log. Missed it but hit pretty hard tweaked my thumb and knee pretty good!









ended the night with 26 ish miles and +2440' - jackd thumb and wrecked knee! But a huge grin from a stolen thurs. night ride !!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Bc with spike and nick




Sun am ride:
7:30 start meant getting up a little earlier. I was running a tad late but still made the ranger station at 7:35 geared up and headed out. Clouds looked to threaten but never did!
I think i found one of my new favorite climbs in the BC area one of the best for scenery that is for sure. I came up with a new loop for a tits ride on the way up this climb this morning. Hope to try it out this week. Spike on the climb up Gashouse.

Low fog was hanging around and very humid this morning.

Haven't seen it this green up in BC this late in the summer in a long time!
Spike took us on some super secret connectors!


No pics on the CT sections as i was doing my best to stay ahead of spike glad he did a big ride the day before only way i had a chance of staying ahead. I climbed fast today legs felt good and lungs kept up, stopped once and it hurt more to stop so kept up the pace till i ran into Schnauzers on a patrol route so i talked to him for a bit. We regrouped and headed to shinglemill for a fast descent and kept spike within one switchback ahead of me. Nick was about the same behind me, all grins today. Beautiful day in buffalo creek. Thought about a high country ride but this was perfect good company and good pace! Still got home in time to go to the rockies game. barely....

Rode some 31 odd miles with +3660'

Saturday, July 25, 2009

t.i.t.s. / comba social ride

lubes and i met up early thursday eve. about 5:00 and headed out for a few miles before the 6:00 meet up time. top of hidden fawn we start up the trail and lubes says i'm done. "what?" i go back to find this.......

Good thing it happened here and not on his big ride last weekend! So i rolled up to the upper lot where people were gathering. Pretty good turnout for the group. I was dubbed leader for the ride with some opting for an easier route other than down sisters. But i guess everybody decided to give it a go. I was carrying about 5 pbrs in my pack so every tight corner my upper body was trying to dive over the bars. But i hung in there and only put a foot on a rock to let an uphill rider by, so i'm calling it a clean run down sisters! We re-grouped and headed over to Evergreen Mtn. opted for the east side climb up. Not bad, group spread out here and met up at the top. I grabbed the 24oz. pbr out of the truck so had a total of 7 beers in my pack and folks enjoyed the fruit of my labors. First come first serve on those!





Not sure of mileage or gain but was a good ride then nic, spike and i left the lot with lights and headed back to the lower lot with a jaunt up to brothers lookout. Beautiful night!

Monday, July 20, 2009

A little work on the CT


Terry from COMBA emailed me about helping out on sec. 1 of the Colorado Trail on sat. eve. Unfortunately we were done with the baseball tournament. So i told him i would join him. Since it was only him and it is a 2 man saw and nice to give back when you can. So we met at Waterton at 8:30 about 2 hrs. later than i would have liked but with his new baby schedule. I understood. Packed up saws and gear. I filled up camelback to 2 liters and had a bottle of mix. I just didnt eat anything except 1/2 a pbj.
We made short work of the road and climbed up to lennys and made our way to the first tree pictured above. One previous tree had been cut but this behemouth remained. I'm sure it would be fun to leave it for the technical aspect but it is the CT and equestrians and hikers use this trail as well. The CT race is headed out of here on aug. 2nd. and with all those bikes packed it would be hard enough to lift them over. So our work began, we cut through this tree with all the gusto! Then we dropped the chain to the bottom and then back on top almost through the tree bound our chain and it was stuck. With the two of us wrestiling it for a good hour. Greg came along who had ridden with us a time or two at BC. He Joined in and we worked like mad to seperate the cut. Finally two more guys came but scurried on by with a "thanks for doing this". Then two more guys dropped their bikes and did not mess around we all took a turn at the sawing and heaving finally we had this section cleared. They were running short on time so headed back. We rode up the trail a bit further and found the other down tree. THis one not as big. Ate a quick bite and started in. My water was just about out and mix was as well. Not good.

Had a better system and had this one out in no time. We opted to head back after this one. I was feeling the effects of running low on water and conserved what i had to get back on. It was shittin hot now! We ran into Josh and his crew headin out on the CT route. All riding the Nancy built up by DWF nice setups!! Weren't even painted up yet. Would love to have one of those in the ss version. Back up to lennys- ahh all down hill. Except for the fukin head wind coming out of waterton.
All in all not a big ride but worked my ass off. I am sore all over!




Got in a short little spin with mark on sat. wanted to check out a connector through ken caryl to get to morrison.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

t.i.t.s. ride 3 sisters! part 3?


Thursday's night ride: OF course the view from the top of evergreen mtn. is stellar but tonight it was even more stellar. I received a little care package from Amoeba 4 lights to offer up as demos! Of course they were all snatched up and put to use. Along with those 4 my good man Jay hooked me up with a spot for my helmet and it rocks! No more cable. Way cool of you!
Kinda was the theme of the evening.

Had to double back a ways and track down mike as he took a wrong turn and ended up away from us. extra miles and climbing for me!

Monday, July 13, 2009

weekend riding

Took cody and his friend austen up to fying j for a little spin. amber ran with moots. Was austens first time on any type of singletrack and he tore it up. He's rockin his new bike he got. Cody rolled along on his bike that is a bit battered and used. The brakes drag a bit but that only makes his hockey legs get stronger. So i don't try real hard to fix em! :)


Nothing like gettin your new bike out on a trail!
Cody just crusin along

Hey geared bike got ridden today, just not by me!

Text ColorYeah, he had it buckled while we rode.
Good afternoon of riding for sure!! Time for some blue cow in morrison!



Made it by Scotts house for the bbq. good food and met some nice folks!




Sun. am met up with lubes and barker for a little waterton canyon and roxy loop. Just a mellow weekend of riding.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Night of color!




Thursday our t.i.t.s. ride was back to bc, this is becoming our staple ride with mGe laying down his creation of a route. Little E was back with us and i knew the pace would be up with he and spike taking charge up the first little climb of 543, then back to 543 to shinglemill. Spike and e take off and i hung for a bit, then just tried to keep them within sight. But i tend to wander on the climbs and take in scenery. Never pulled the camera out but did manage to find a rock on the way up or Katelyns collection i have started. Why do i stop to add rocks to my pack?? The climb up shinglemill revealed green like i have not seen up there. Cary showed for this ride and was good to meet bob also from tennessee! Guy's an animal! After a longish rest we are on our way with the pace right back where it left off. Fast! That is e's only speed. Here is where the fun begins! Loose gravel and speed are a sketchy mix. Few riders went down with Jeremy's not looking good!


Knee has been a bit sore lately but felt really good tonite. Just need to ride more i guess! Jeremy likes to draw blood and taste the goodness the trail has to offer! I was descending fast but not crazy fast. I was not far behind the duo but wanted to capture some columbine shots.
Always fun to ride with miss maddie! She is fun to ride behind. She is crazy fast! On the way down Green Mountain i found Cary standing next to his bike with a puzzled look, his eyes were looking at me but somehow around me. He went down hard! After he sorted out his surroundings, we were rolling again. More bc goodness found us climbing baldy. With the lights on and riding my own pace found me just back from e and spike, after the top of baldy the evening just clicked for me, with every pedal stroke under my lights brought small explosions of color! Purple, yellow, red, orange, green then repeating. Looking up revealed a clear night with stars as bright as could be! Quiet and peaceful. I forgot i was climbing and almost felt like i was floating in the night.
Maddie just being maddie! The last descent of charlies, sandywash was loose but fast. Rolled back to the truck and chatted a bit had a cold Dale's! And the night was complete! Good ride gentleman and maddie.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Happy Fourth of July!!

Friday my daughter and i got a chance to sneak out for a ride. I was in search of some columbine's and was thinking of meyer ranch but she was insistent on the hr trails. She wanted to ride so i wasn't going to complain. Clouds looked threatening but never produced. We wound our way up the climb to the entrance where only HR residents are allowed, i think that is silly but i guess to keep it managed is ok.


There are some really cool sections of the trail that you wouldn't think of when you think highlands ranch.

She was finding an line option and rode it a couple times but my photo skils never got a good shot. WE had a great time and even though it was pretty hot we managed to get about a 10 mile spin in. Got up to the lookout point and could see the foothills getting pounded with rain. The lighting and thunder was off in the distance, but we decided it was a good time to head back. Good news was no rattlesnakes as they are prevelant in this area.



Till the next one.