nite

there are times that the only sound you can hear is nothing- and it sounds good!

late arrival at bc lastnight but it was good, lubes, mordecai, hirsch and myself out for some tour of bc. i hit the deck pretty hard on the flat road on some ice and hirsch took note and duplicated my exit from the bike. mordecai danced with a rock and his chainring lost - his ride was over. lance said it best "no chain"

lubes and i traded off the lead but in the end his diesel overpowered the little engine that could

the descent was more fun than i have had at work in a long time!

we'll see what the weekend brings- line changes on codys team- looking forward to that!

Steamboat

STEAMBOAT

Somehow this always feels like a welcome home sign.
I have never lived in steamboat. We have been coming here for years though. I was engaged here. Skied here, watched my son play baseball tournaments here, tubed with my family in the river. Rode bikes here. Watched in horror as my daughter came down from fish creek falls after falling from a rock with her head bleeding, not able to do anything because i was down below with our dog. This trip was no different. (except no blood this time)


This is jim gile, one of codys coaches those skis have been to the top of Everest and skied down.



- i was happy that i could hang with him. weather he was taking it easy or not. He is the "e" of climbing mtns.


Todd also skinned up the mtn. with us. Hauling his "piano's" as jim called them! Fat Ass Skis is what they are, but i would love to test them out in the deep powder!
There was an inversion on sunday when we met up at 6:45 for a second trip up the mtn- wow im skinning up two days in a row! that is more than all of last year. This year will be different.


Jim was not shy why switchback up the mtn when you can go straight up! IF there was 10" of new it may have been a different story. But 2230' straight up felt damn good on the legs! Different muscles- a whole different quiet- just the shuffle of the skins gliding up, and up.

Sat. we went over to howelsen hill to give cody a shot at boarding while the girls hit some shops and took photographs. There were some fast as shit skiers in the group with names from germany, austria, finland and a few from steamboat. these guys did not have fat skis. i am thinking i need some of these. been a long time since ive been on the skinny skis!

Time for more gear dad.

first time boarding and the only thing open on howelsen was a black run and the off camber poma that would lift you off the ground.

After my morning jaunt up the mtn. my legs were a bit noodly and my turns took a shit. As the us olympic telemark team ripped it up. 11 yr old kid dropping his knee like nobody ive seen!




Less i mention the reason for going to Steamboat- The Ski Town Classic Hockey Tournament-

Our boys won! Cody had the assist on the game winning goal! I was super proud! When this team passes the puck good things happen and that is all im going to say on this subject!!

Thursday afternoon delight!!

Trails to myself today! All myself- kind of an eery sort of alone-i forgot what solo rides can do for your mind. Not that i dont enjoy riding with folks. Just a different kind of joy.

dug in my pack for some summer sausage and found a flask that has been hiding in the bottom. just a sip of strannys to coat the throat and stomach with some of Colorados finest! fitted with a koozie to keep from getting scratched and jingling in my pack- thats why i forgot it was there! Not a huge accomplishment for some but descending 3 sis- i have a couple problem areas but not today! - cleaned that whole fucking thing! no dabs
did i say the trails were quiet
and free of snow - any snow
except for up high and even mt evans is looking pretty - not snowy- head down closed my eyes and thanked God for this day and opened my eyes and the sky was bluer and the trees greener.

was having a rip roaring descent down east side, really "feeling " the trail today - maybe cause i forgot a shammy- just me and a thin layer of camo. not very forgiving. Nice bull i found his partner scared the shit out of me as he ran right in front of me!



Ride details


Off to steamboat for hockey and maybe sneek in a run or two!

Watched a really cool show on PBS about ski history in Colorado you can see it in segments here.

Thankful Weekend

Great weekend for tree cutting, thanksgiving dinner with family and guests! Great day for a ride at BC as well! Didnt have the whole day so it was more of an exploratory ride. Up sandywash which is always good, just don't do it much. Up the BD trail to the lookout. That trail is really nice a couple hike a bike sections and it is wearing in real nicely.







Temps were just about perfect for a short-ish ride. IF i didnt have decorations to put up it easily could have been an all day affair.

heres the route

Hit the local dirt today

Actually loaded up the truck and was heading to bc- but could not commit to an all day affair. came home headed out and rode some of the local path up to dirt. the wind was pretty much howling to the point it made trying to catch my breath a major challenge! i hate this shittin wind! almost bagged it but trails were empty and dry. a good combination. chose music today mainly to drown out the wind and give me some sort of motivation. Warsaw was jammin in my ears and a perfect groove for dipping and rolling trails.

Jeremy gave me a killer deal on his garmin and today was a test run just to make sure i am somewhat technically inclined i uploaded the ride just for fun. nothing huge but did find some new to me trail that will make it that much quicker to get to dirt rather than path. Nite rides from the house may start here now that winter is slowly showing up.

todays pedal

and i am now a bigger fan of smartwool!

Piece O Crap- 1

This is sort of a rant post if you will- PC-1 chains just suck at least for me. Was jumping off the rear cog yesterday. I thought with the WI freewheel i would avoid this. nope ..

So went back with the trusty 8spd. Found a new one in the tool box. no more pc1 for me. That was lesson one, second lesson: pearl izumi base layers suck- i dug out my old pi base layer as it was a chilly day and all it did was trap all the sweat and keep it stuck to my skin. The wool on top was warm but with all that moisture and the cold temps made my upper torso pretty miserable. Will be finding a good wool base layer very soon!

now on to better things:

pint 2 pint III

Second pint 2 pint i have rode in, this time starting at IW
Pretty kick ass turnout around 95-100 folks came out.
I think this made Mike owner of Ironworks happy! He is a good dude who likes our biking community.
Not quite a police escort out of the parking lot but we sure were a spectacle. Everything from ladies riding singlespeeds in bathrobes to guys in wigs and the like.
The train up green mtn trail was full on!
I had a minor chain break which turned into a long process of removing more links and fumbling with replacing them. ugh! Skirting the red rocks on a day like today was awesome. It was pretty hot at this point.
Then a midway gathering took over the lower apex lot, which a mid ride beverage may have been consumed. Those that chose to just hop on the fire road and bomb the other side- missed the point of the pint 2 pint. The route was clearly posted and even mapped by mGe. But i guess for some people arriving "first" was the objective. I was in it for the ride.
Turned to my extra gear for a few sections that was my feet pushing the bike.

all in all a very cool day to be riding bikes. I want to thank my daughter katelyn for taking a whole evening and making up the awards for this event. She put alot of time into them and they went over very well! The ipa at GCB was going down smooth after the finish and a growler to take home which is still full at this point. May have wasted it.


Snow is trickling down today, no t.i.t.s. ride planned tonight but may just have to get out on some local stuff just to pedal.

this weekend is looking like some cold weather riding and the time to start hardening up the soul and getting out. 70-80 degree temps were not going to last forever!

Beans- G-spots- and nite rides!

7th annual beanfeSSt proved to be good times as usual! Had some smaller beans ride this year one a 12yr old and a 13yr old and both kids really kicked ass all day.

Not the usual nite ride followed by campfire and beer swilling. I got up to camp about 10:30 after codys later game. pulled in and it was eerily quiet. Only one dog running around and checking out who i was. We sort of made friends and i secured my cocoon in the back of the truck with one less beer in my growler of GCB red.
Pretty good sized group and a pretty mellow one. The usual suspects were out in front all morning. I was comfortable mid pack. Not in top shape but really havent been all summer.
Baldy just works me. I only stopped here for a quick photo opp of spike!

The new wool i think this will become a favorite piece of gear! (pic stolen without even thinking twice from spike!)

I brought out some mexican corn and some kool-aid for a break.
The trail trash talkin was flowin full bore at the top. All down hill from here, doh! We started at the top of shinglemill one more climb gang. ok with me.

-Whats this G- spot i speak of? not this one, but when in gunny this is the spot!

Im talkin about this one and you can only find this one here. Jay is the man and will take good care of you. If you find the urge to go nite riding do yourself a favor and try one of these!
I am a truly happy camper! thanks jay!






gspots and t.i.t.s. rides (who comes up with this shit) just our thursday nite crew making our rounds up and down green mtn. and i thought my route kicked ass and its been a while since i rode jeremy's traverse in the dark and watching 10-12 folks head down and i mean straight down was a hoot!



I have to admit since e headed to leadville kind of took some pressure off to try and keep up but not to worry mordecai made it out with us and he's rockin a fixed as well. Missed his otb but heard it was a good one! miss riding with ya e! I enjoy the extra energy and challenge when we ride.
Pretty stellar nite on the big green hill! being in the forest and tight twisty lush singletrack becons my soul, but these simple rides this close to town and riding with friends and grabbing a beer after is rewarding in its own way! I always feel whooped after green mtn rides and there is plenty to keep on busy. Those that say green mtn is easy arent riding it right or arent riding with us!


Try and keep these posts more regular.........

Sunsets, Smiles, Slapshots and Singletrack!

Looking west from the top of Green Mtn. on a thursday night t.i.t.s. ride!
Trusty Amoeba's lighting the way with the eastern skyline in the background


Trips For Kids , COMBA and IMBA all paired up for Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day! This was the first year i was able to help out and what a great time! Everything was organized and all the kids showed up smiling and ready to ride! After 4 brief workshops it was time to ride i was leading team Santa Cruz and was assigned a small loop of flat wide trails and i knew right away my group was ready for more, so we made quick work of this loop with one small hill to climb at the end and on to another loop that was more singletrack. I had a girl that rode on my wheel the whole way and she would not let me stop to take many pictures as this was about them riding!
One small creek crossing was a huge hit and almost everybody made it across! But everybody got a little wet!
Oh yeah that felt good on this warm morning! (photo credit Jake7)
This was my group and as ive said before kids rock!
Jonathan here missed the group shot, but this guy had some real spirit! And that is a kid who enjoyed his ride!

Then it was off for my sons game which he scored a hat trick in. won 7-1

Took one of our dads on the team up to 3 sisters for some afternoon singletrack. Seeing these trails from a new perspective is always a good time! John did great and was diggin it!

Fall is hanging on but soon the leaves will be gone and the season will change for a while. But memories of this weekend will likely hang on for quite a while!

Thanks for checking in. Looking forward to beanfeSSt this coming weekend!