Monday, January 31, 2005

not much riding last weekend, eh?

Well, the Sunday 4pm ride was a bust. With the wet and cold weather, no one showed, and I wasn't too motivated to get out. I went home and rode the couch. It was equally satisfying.

In other news, the Turner Flux demo is built up. It's ready for test rides (as is the 5 Spot). Both are size large, but I've got a few different stems to play with and both frames have a ton of standover. They will definitely give you an accurate representation of legendary Turner handling and ride quality. Heck, come on in even if you just want to look. They are 100% pure bicycle art.

For a snowy January, last weekend's business was brisk. If you stopped in or brought your bike in or if you bought something, thanks! I very much appreciate the business. I've received a ton of feedback from the Lyons community that everyone is glad to have Redstone around. Not only is it great to have a bike resource in Lyons, they tell me, but I'm also hearing that folks are happy to support a bike shop that is locally owned and operated. I'm happy to have the support!

Hall Ranch will be a mess for a while, but the roads are just dandy right now. If you're reading this and you haven't checked out the shop yet, stop on in! I'd love to meet you.

shop owner dave

Friday, January 28, 2005

Thursday Night's Evening Ride

What a ride! We met up at Redstone HQ at 7:30pm. It was a small but capable crew - myself, Migz, and JL. Being 3 diehard and probably foolish mountain bikers, we transported ourselves 10 miles south to the OHV playground of Left Hand Canyon. It turned out to be a great choice.

We started at the main entrance to Carnage Canyon and climbed up the easy way to 5 Points. From there, we continued climbing on the main road. Our goal was to hit the top, the boundary of the Overland Fire closure. A massive acreage up there is closed for another year or two to assist in revegation, but I digress... From the 5 Points intersection, the road really changes character. The further we climbed, the steeper and rockier it got. I also should mention that it was 100% dry up to this point. We didn't run into mud, but we did see a substantial amount of ice. There were a couple of sections where we were nearly on our hands and knees trying to pick our way up thru the ice. Once we got thru iceville, it wasn't too far until we were at the top.

We stopped for a bit to enjoy the view (which, by the way, was fantastic, especially at night) and we headed back down the jeep road to the East. I hadn't been up there in years, but I remembered it being pretty darn steep. It was. We picked our way down the jeep road. It got progressively steeper and more technical the closer we go to our junction. We made it to a little singletrack that was our ticket back to the car. Fantastic, it was. I'm glad we rode it at night, because I probably would've thought twice on a couple sections had I been able to see farther than 40 feet down the trail. We made it back to Carnage Canyon, then back to the car. Big smiles all the way around.

Total stats were something like this;
Gone from the car 2 hours
Distance 5.7 miles
Ride Time 1.25 hours
Total Elevation Gain - app 1700 feet.

It was steep and hard but the fun-o-meter was pegged! I need to get back to LHC to explore further. It definitely warrants the expedition.

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Shop Rides for this week

We'll be night riding on Thursday night. Bring lights, warm clothes and probably a vehicle for travelling. Also, be prepared for any conditions - terrain, ice/snow, weather, cold, etc. Don't know where we're going, but meet up at the shop at 7:30.

Sunday, we'll be riding Hall Ranch from the shop at 4pm. It may be a good idea to bring a light, as we'll be squeaking this one out just before sunset.

Hope to see you out there!

Lyons Fat Tire Rally - Memorial Day 2005

Mark you calendars for the 5th Annual Lyons Fat Tire Rally! This years event, as always, will be held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. We'll ride epic terrain on Friday and Saturday and we'll follow it up with our annual Saturday night bash.

Friday will be an early afternoon ride, as many people will be arriving from out of town. We'll head to the hills for a quick 2-3 hour ride that features some of the most amazing terrain and beautiful vistas that Boulder County has to offer. It is truly an undiscovered gem. Expect between 2000 and 3000 feet of climbing with descents to match.

Saturday will be the top secret all day epic - another unknown local gem. We'll hit some extra fine singletrack, some steep and rocky terrain, and some old jeep roads that have been eons since seeing tire tracks. Of course, to make it a "real" mountain bike epic, we'll throw in some hike-a-bikes and stream crossings just to keep it interesting. The mileage of this ride will be relatively low, but we'll make up for it with sadistic terrain.

After the ride, we'll get back just in time to throw something on the grill and drink some of Dale's fine beer (provided). All you need to bring is your bike and something for the flames. We have a little singletrack on the homefront, so you never know what could be in store - crits, bike rodeo, whatever.

Sunday is still up in the air. Last year, no one had any motivation to ride so we played horseshoes and drank beer all day.

If this is you're idea of a real Fest, come out and play.

Here's a link to the offical website. More info will be posted there as it becomes available.

Friday, January 21, 2005

Rides this Weekend 1/22 & 1/23

OK - Tomorrow (Saturday)will be an early one. Meet at the shop at 7:30. We'll ride Hall Ranch from there. Hall's in good shape at least up to the bench. It'll be a little muddy just over the top, but will be good all the way up to the loop. I don't know how that'll be, but we'll find out!

Sunday- we'll meet at the shop at 8am for a ride. I was thinking of riding Rabbit Mt from town or heading out on the road bike for a couple of hours. Any opinions on that?

Thursday, January 20, 2005

An Introduction, and man is it warm!

Howdy!

I'm Bryan, a longtime riding buddy of Dave of Redstone.

(A longish entry, so I'm going to put it in the first comment!)

ride tonight

Meet up at Redstone ready to roll at 7:30. Location is still yet to be determined. Have a vehicle for possible travel.

Prepare for fun!

The Sunday ride is off the table now, unfortunately. Sat will now more than likely be early, early Hall Ranch (ie 7:30am).

I did say tentative...

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

1/18 update

Wow, has it been warm lately. I've really been jonesing to get out on the bike lately, but time hasn't permitted. I did go for a run today, though. Only about 1/2 hour, as I was still tired from Sunday's run. Running isn't near as much fun, but it beats not getting out at all. I am really looking forward to this weekend to ride. Hopefully, the warm weather won't dissapear entirely!

I talked to Turner today. The new Flux will ship tomorrow. They were a little short handed today. Apparently, everyone went to lunch together on Monday and went home sick with a case of the bad Mexican food blues. I hoped to have the Flux by this weekend, but it's looking like it won't show up until Monday or Tuesday of next week. I'll keep you posted.

The shop's been pretty busy lately. I've especially enjoyed working on some high end bikes. Recent cool bikes include a Lenzsport Fat Jack, a Specialized FSR Pro, a Ventana El Saltomontes, an Eddy Merckx Race/Chorus, and the recent sale of a custom Dean Torreys ti cross bike. Those have all been fun bikes and I consider it an honor to work on such nice machines. If one of these bikes was yours, thanks!

In more exciting news, the official Redstone Cyclery corner sign will be ready soon. A fellow cyclist and stone artisan has the rock and will start etching this week. It's a really good looking piece of flagstone, straight out of a local quarry. It'll have the Redstone logo on it to display to anyone that passes thru town on Broadway. The rock is about 3'high and 3' wide. I can't wait to get it mounted up!

That's all for now. Check back soon!

Monday, January 17, 2005

upcoming rides

Here's the weeks tentative ride schedule.

Thursday - night ride, mtb, location not yet determined. Be at the shop by 7:30pm ready to ride. We'll probably drive somewhere relatively close. It will be a late night.
Saturday - this isn't firmed up, but probably a quick tour de Hall at 4pm ish. It'll probably be a good idea to at least have a light with you.
Sunday Sunday will be an am ride, probably on the road bike.

make a comment on this post if you're interested!

new Turner Flux to arrive soon!

I'm pretty excited. Redstone will be taking delivery this week of its first Turner Flux! We've already got a 5 Spot built up for demo purposes so it will be nice to have 2 bikes to compare. The Flux will be in brand spankin' new condition hanging inside the shop for a couple of weekends before it gets built for demo duty. Come by and check out the Turners!

We also have, in stock, Turner derailleur hangers and a bushing rebuild kit for anyone that needs.

Welcome

Thanks for checking out the Redstone Cyclery blog! This is a way for Redstone riders and customers to stay connected and to see what's happening at the shop. Anyone can post comments to existing posts here - let me know what you think! I'll update soon. In the meantime, check out the shop, Redstone Cyclery