I was fortunate enough to be invited on a hike with Boulder County Open Space tonight. Our mission was to check out 1/2 of the proposed trail corridor that will take us from Heil Ranch to Lyons. We drove in to the northernmost part of the blue dashed line on the map. From there, we hiked up to the trail's junction with the Wild Turkey trail.

There were wide open meadows with beautiful views.

We encountered several old rock quarries (this is the biggest one, but they are everywhere in Heil. Most of the CU Campus was quarried in Heil).

There were some nice flowy lines and some switchbacks. I like this shot - it looks like they are doing a good job with the contour.

I had been wondering what the county was going to do with the marshy areas on the Wild Turkey Trail. Also, Wild Turkey will open either on Friday 9/14 or Sat 9/15! Of 2007!!!!!

We will walk the northern 1/2 of the connector in a few weeks. I will do my best to keep everone informed. The southern 1/2 looks great. There were a few minor things here and there, but we gave the thumbs up at the end of the day. Boulder County agreed and is ready to proceed. They start work on it as soon as Wild Turkey opens. The trail crew and administrators would like us to be riding from Heil to Lyons on the connector by Fall of 2008, but a lot of that depends on how severe our upcoming winter is. I can't wait to see it complete!

Tribe Gathering

This past weekend we were invited to join Yeti's tribe gathering in Crested Butte. With a whole lotta beer & food we headed out in the OB RV & DPA van. There's very little in Crested Butte that's not breathtaking, we found the weekend to be on par. It was good to see Rockin' Ron hanging amongst his Yeti brethren. Saturday we hit the 401 trail from town, nice little climb up & then super smooth & flowing descents. From there Dave Weins took us on a quick loop of Snodgrass before we headed back down to the campsite. Dave was super cool, talking about Leadville, hanging & rippin' singletrack. He came over to the RV a bit later to have an Old Chub with the boys, good stuff. Sunday we shuttled over to Cement Creek for the Reno/Flag/Bear/Rosebud(optional)/Deadman loop. WOW, it didn't disappoint. I left Crested Butte with that same old feelin' as always, tired & ready to come back. A few more pictures & details are here on the Oskar Blues Brews & Bikes blog.

February's Mud

Well, erm, it seems that it's been a while since I was on the cross bike. Today I washed off some of February's mud. I spend a ton of time on the cross bike in the fall and winter, but I hardly touch it after the dirt thaws out. It's about time to get it ready! I've got some Redline's on the way, too, if anyone else is itching.

Marley says, "looks like you rode 'er hard and put 'er away wet!"

Much better!

Tuesday Ride, 8/28

Still planning on the big road/cross ride, but we need perfect skies to pull it off. If it looks like we'll get rained on, we'll head out on mtb. Lights a good idea either way.

6pm, as usual!

Oh, the shop will open a little late tomorrow - I've got to run some errands.

it was a good ride tonight

I closed up around 4:30 and took off for a ride. I saw no one, only beautiful skies and tacky dirt. Oh, pretty good.

Tuesday ride underground stylee

******EDIT ---It appears that the weather may not cooperate. Bring a mountainbike and a light for plan B... :)*******

Tuesday will be a full moon and the ride will be big (really). Here's the details - meeting up at 6pm at the bike shop. Driving app 45 minutes to our start. Bring a cross bike or a bike that can handle lots of dirt road and paved road time (there will be zero trail or jeep road riding). Make sure your bike has good brakes. The ride will be 3+ hours long and will have a 9 mile, 3000'+ climb. Bring extra food and a change of clothing because it'll be freakin' cold on the way down. Above timberline? Yep. Make sure your lights are charged!

bike porn

A lot of folks ask "what's new at the shop?" I tell them that new bike day is always a good day.

Tuesday Ride & it looks like you ride bikes

Local legend has it that Tuesday we meet at the shop at 6 and we'll drive to Camp Dick. Lights mandatory ladies & gentlemen.

After the latest & lamest of shoulder separations I made my way to an orthopedic to make sure I will still be able to grab dishes out of the cupboard when I'm 50. All good news, minor separation in the left shoulder & the pictured "trick" shoulder is pretty stable & free of arthritis so far. A little rehab & I should be back to good strength. I just thought it looked cool so I wanted to share.

Steamboat Day II

Daybreak at camp. Big thanks to Chef Chris for all the fixins.

It sprinkled a bit in the am. We hoped it would keep down the dust on the trail but it didn't.

Was this a precursor of things to come?

We all pretty much agreed that this was a nice and informative sign.

Nope, no good vistas on this ride.

Let's see some water crossings. This is what I love about the forest, too. The Sunday ride was definitely more remote. We only saw a handful of folks out.

toothpicks


MK makes the big stairs drop look easy.

Chad makes it look easy, too.

Gotta stop and smell the flowers, too.

steamboat Day 1

Steamboat Springs, CO last weekend was a blast. LOTS of riding in a short amount of time. Most of it was nice forest singletrack, too. I want to go back.
Here's Chad on one of the days many water crossings

Jenamin rides the flowy singletrack.


MK and Jason B hustling out of the trees


The forest was so lush. Much unlike the front range.


Sitting here in limbo... Not a bad place for a sittin' rock.

Almost to the backside top of Mt Werner...

Ah, the top. Rewarded with a cooler of PBR and one thirsty dog.

MK looks like he's enjoying one of the fast and fun descents at the resort.

What, climbing again?

It is time to celebrate! I wonder if 20 dirty mountain bikers sitting in the creek drinking Dales Pale Ale is a common site in Steamboat?