Tuesday Night Ride @ 5:00 w/o DC

Hey all,
Dave is going to be out of town Tuesday so i figured we would get the ball rolling for the Tuesday night ride. Since he is out of town a few of us have decided to meet @ 5:00 instead of 6:00 this week to give us a bit more ride time. Since we have more time we're thinking of getting out on something other than Hall if we can. thoughts?

Thanks for making it out early this Tuesday, it was worth the effort. Hard to believe but I think the conditions were even better Tuesday than Sunday. I didn't think that was possible. Everything was perfect: the dirt tacky, the grass super green w/ only singletrack splitting it & the little stream crossings were a touch more wet than usual. The only downside was that not everyone was here, hope all is well. - cm

never gets old...

We once again made our way up the hill for a beutiful day of riding. Josh & his roomate Andrew made it up to get out with Chris & I. The trails, views & weather were certainly better than I on this day, but we had a great ride. Andy rolled up on this pimp ass machine, smooth.

This never gets old

Whats up with velonews?

I gotta say it, Velonews.com is so pathetic. If you go to their website, the first thing you see is a photo of Basso and a caption about how his life is in balance. Why isn't there a photo/story of Gerolsteiners back to back wins. It seems they would rather focus their stories on the troubles of cycling. I do want to hear about riders who are facing troubles but why can't it be a sub-story? They have absolutely no reports on recent racing. Cyclingnews on the other hand has found a way to do both (please don't use the excuse that one has a publication and the other doesn't), I won't wait to read about racing results a month after it happened. Velonews simply dwells on drama and not the positive side of cycling. I'm pissed. I guess I'll just accept the fact that Velonews is the National enquirer and not NPR. I think they should rename their publication from Velonews to Velo-bullshi*t.

Whats your vote? Cyclingnews.com or Velonews.com?

perfect dirt at Hall

Well, the Tuesday Night Ride rainout ride this Thurs was great. Not knowing what we'd find, and fully expecting to have to turn around, we rode the Antelope Trailhead at Hall Ranch to look it up.Well, we picked a great night for a rescheduled ride. The trails were in great shape. There were only a few puddles left and the rest offered perfect tracti0n. Here's some random photos.

Thursday Ride!

Um, do to the rainout, the Tuesday Night Ride for this week only will be the Thursday Night Ride. Thankfully, we can still call it TNR.

Bike shop at 6pm and we ride!

Happy Birthday Chris

Since the Tuesday night ride has been rained out I figured I would post some pictures from Chris's Sunday birthday ride. Due to some unfortunate logistical errors it turned out to be a "Where's Waldo" type event, with the birthday boy being the "Where?". We hit some great trails & a tiny bit of snow while trying to catch the views of the day. Upon return we were treated to some fantastic food & drink. Thanks man, we missed you on the ride. Cheers, CM

Tuesday nite Ride 4/24

Unless it's bitter cold an rainy, we'll ride from the shop at 6pm. See you there!

Cohutta 100 action Jackson

Still operating from the East Coast these days, my fellow Redstoners. But that did give me the chance to race a 100 miler in April. Which is early.

I went down to the NC, TN, GA state line and raced the Cohutta 100 on Sat. Oooooh, I suffered in a bad way. I was on pace to crack the 10 hour mark, but then around mile 70, I just came unglued. Couldn’t eat. Couldn’t drink. Hip flexors locked up. Just barely limped across the line in 10:48 or something. Which ain’t that good, but hey – it’s April. I’ll get there.

My brother, on the other hand, is a sick individual these days. He did it in 8:13, after being sick all week. The course had a lot of steep fire road climbing. 12,000 feet of up, total, and 90% of that was in the first 50 miles. Which fits Shawn well. He's a great climber, and twitchy. Very twitchy early. He actually was in the hunt for a while and finished not too far behind Tinker Juarez and Chris Eatough. Sick. I’m not sure where he ended up overall, maybe top 20 or so.
I can hardly walk today, but I think he's out training right now. He’s on a whole different level.

I talked some trash to Tinker at the registration table on Friday. Told him the line started behind me. Which was nice, because I never saw him after that until he was standing on the podium beside Eatough. Chris E. cranked this thing out in 6:40 or some such craziness.

Out early with the ringleader.

Dave and I got out early today for a nice little trip around Coulson. Most most excellent. Thought we'd see some other Lyon's peeps, but no sign of any other riders.

24 SOLO

A reminder 24 SOLO is playing tonight @ The Boulder Theater tonight @ 7:30. Jill's happy hour @ 5:30. See you there.

Spring Mancation

I haven't spent nearly enough time on the bike in the last few weeks, but I'm going to have a week without my ladies early next month, including an entire weekend all to myself. Spring Mancation it is. I can't afford any time off work, but I'll be leaving Friday after work and coming back late Sunday. So... the only bummer is that the Spring Mancation for me will land Mother's Day Weekend and that won't work for most folks.

Maybe Fruita, more likely Salida, and maybe somewhere completely different. Depends on who can make it!

Anyone?

Tuesday Night Ride was a bust, well sort of. Hall Ranch was a bust. 15 min or so up the trail and we ran into some sticky mud. We turned around and opted for a grunt of a climb up Jasper off of Red Gulch. It did the trick. So did Oskar's...

Anyone up for a REAL deathmarch this summer? Read on...

"Hey,Just wanted to let you all know, the 2007 Vapor Trail 125 is a go. Itwill happen September 8-9, and it will be a no-fee ride. It will berun on the same course as the '06 event, and pretty much the same way. We will be limiting the field to 30. The limit has never been an issuebefore, but who knows?A couple of you have semi-officially notified me that you'll be doingit. I have started a list. If you want to be on that list, let me know. If you do count yourself in but then your plans change pleaselet me know about that too.Looking forward to a killer event in September!Tom Purvis, Salida, CO - http://tom-purvis.com/tom.purvis@gmail.com or tpurvis@arkansasvalley.net"

Let's ride bikes

6pm at Redstone for the Tuesday Night Ride. We'll hit Hall Ranch. Seems like the days are a gettin' longer now, too. Perhaps we should think about what other rides we want to get in over the course of the next few weeks. If we're organized enough, we could even make up a schedule. Here's a few I've been thinking of that are clear of snow and rideable now:

Marshal Mesa SS ride
Walker Ranch
Left Hand Canyon OHV
Boulder to Betasso and back
Heil (this would have to be a super multi lapper)

Blue Sky

A handfull of us made it north to check out the new Blue Sky Trail. We rode it from the Devil's Backbone Open Space to Horsetooth Mountain Park. The new trail is a nice change of pace, buttery smooth & flowing with very little climbing.

It's time for the 6.6 to move on. It's been an absolutely fantastic bike and I'm not looking to part with it, but alas, it needs to find a new home. I'll consider all options (frame or complete or any combinatin there of. email me at dave@redstonecyclery.com if you think you could provide it a safe and loving home :)

Oh, and don't forget the Tues Ride. Let's do at least one more week at Hall Ranch. We'll start changing up the starting locations after another week or so. Hope everyones weekend was fantastic!

Trail update

North Sheep Mountain and Coulson Gulch are good to go.

24 SOLO - Reminder

Don't forget to get your tickets, it might sell out.

Covert Details

I've had a lot of requests for more detailed shots of the 2007 Transition Covert. Ask and ye shall receive!

Friday's Foaming Rant by By Patrick O’Grady

BIKES, BIKES, BIKES!

Solo Mission

Got the greenlight on Sunday night to make a jaunt to the border so off I went early Monday morning. Rolled into Fruita at about 400pm, set up camp and got the bike gear on.

So I was on Kessel Run right at 6pm.




After Kessel I did Zippety Doo Dah. Riding along that beautiful singletrack and then up to the ridge while the sun is going down is something that just has to been seen for yourself. I'm speechless.





Then of course the sweet and crazy drops that make it so epic.




Then night fell and the 90 schilling and the campfire were in order



Monday night the winds blew so hard that it knocked my tent over and at 3am I found myself tying the tent to the nearest stable object.



The next night I made sure that wouldn't happen again and as you would have it, no wind.



Going on a solo mountain bike trip to the desert is good for the soul. However, now I am right back to two kids and reality. Its all worth it though. Tuesday I stuck around the 18 road area all day and did just about every trail there is around there. The wind was brutal but it was like being at a ski resort. Down Chutes and ladders, up Prime Cut, down Zippety, up the road, down Prime cut etc etc. And it didn't require a lift ticket. Pure bliss.

Finally, there seems to be a problem in Palisade.

Kemmelberg @ Ghent-Wevelgem

Good ride last night with the heady guys at Redstone. Going up Antelope to stay out of the wind, yep!

A little video of today's Semi-Classic Ghent-Wevelgem;
More than a dozen riders crashed in two harrowing descents off the narrow, twisting road. Among the victims in the spectacular, high-speed spills were American Tyler Farrar (Cofidis), who broke his kneecap, and Frenchman Jimmy Casper (Unibet.com), who suffered major cuts to his face and nose and was in hospital awaiting surgery.

Keep The Rubber Side Down - CM

Tuesday Ride is on, bike shop at 6pm

Tuesday ride is on, but I doubt Hall will be in perfect shape anymore. I bet most of it will be back to it's usual dry self, especially if it's windy. 6pm at the shop!

In other news, I just got this from Intense:

"We have dramatically ramped up production over the last few months inorder to meet the demand for our frames. ... We are now shipping the5.5 FRO frames and the Large Spider 29ers are in production! XL to follow right behind. Both larger sizes of the 29er feature a new curved downtube to clear any fork crowns. This change will gradually find its way into the medium sized frames as well.The 5.5 FRO has been getting some great press and Richard Cunningham from Mountain Bike Action recently asked to keep their test bike for his own personal ride. He liked it that much!"

Always good to hear that type of news!

Us Open Cycling

I don't know if you guys got a chance to catch live coverage on NBC of the US open but what a great race. The eventual winner who threw down on a super strong field and is on somewhat of a small domestic pro team named Svein Tuft came out on top. I have to say this race really was a blast to watch and the winner apparently won enough prize money to cover his teams spnosorship for this year and all of next year. Pretty cool story. Talk about a team hero.

Here is the canadien who stomped the state of Virginia.

Icy

Got out for a jaunt around town today: Cold and Icy. Sure felt good to get out regardless!

Hall Ranch Conditions 4/8

I never did get out to ride today. Lots of fat snow flakes and 30 degree temps motivated me to get a few things done around the house. I did, however, find myself without beer on a Sunday so a trip to the bike shop fridge was in order. I wondered what the dirt was looking like with all this on/off moisture so I drove up Hwy 7 to Hall Ranch.

To be honest, I only walked a handfull of feet up the trail, but I've seen these conditions before. I felt as if I had just rolled into town the evening before a big race and gone to the course to check conditions. I was happy to find perfectly tacky dirt. Looking up the hill, I could still see some snow high up, but it looked like it would only take a small amount of sun to burn off.

Tuesday ride is ON! Bike shop at 6pm for a tour de Hall. Should be great conditions.

new stickers are in

come and get 'em!

Mountain Bike Magazine

In case you missed it....this write up was in an issue of Mountain bike Magazine last summer...of course you would hit Redstone Cyclery instead of U-bikes....

Take this trip after university students' summer evacuation to fully appreciate its getaway vibe
By Joe Lindsey

WHY HERE, WHY NOW: Students have gone home for the summer, leaving Boulder with a relaxed getaway vibe.

DIRT: Get up early (to beat the crowds this trail can collect) and make the 20-minute drive to Lyons for the 10-mile Hall Ranch Trail, one of Boulder County's best. A long out-and-back on the Bitterbrush Trail ascends a moderately technical rock garden with plenty of fun challenges and opens up to the warp-speed Nelson Loop singletrack, with expansive views of 14,255-foot Long's Peak just to the west. More Info: trailcentral.com Trailhead: From Boulder, take Broadway (S.H. 93) south through Golden. Take the on-ramp for C-470 south to S.H. 121/Wadsworth Blvd. Go south for 4.5 miles until the road ends, then turn left onto a side road marked Waterton Canyon. The parking lot is less than a half-mile away.

SHOP: University Bicycles (839 Pearl St.; 303/444-4196), a Boulder institution, caters as much to hard-core freeriders as college cuties buying a townie. They'll also fix anything you can break.

GRUB: In Lyons, head to Oskar Blues (303 Main, Lyons; 303/823-6685) for classic brewpub fare and its unique line of canned (yes, canned) microbrews. In Boulder, Spruce Confections (767 Pearl St.; 303/449-6773) offers eye-opening java; buttery, crumbly, decadent scones; and a sun-drenched patio. The Mediterranean Restaurant (1002 Walnut; 303/444-5335) has a huge interior patio seating area and one of Boulder's most varied and affordable tapas menus with offerings from Spain (patatas bravas), Italy (bistecca genovese) and Greece (spanakopita). Hit The Foundry (1109 Walnut; 303/447-1803) for drinks on the rooftop deck and watch the sun go down behind Boulder's famous Flatirons.

CRASH: The newest hotel in Boulder, the gorgeous Saint Julien (900 Walnut; 877/303-0900) offers luxurious rooms, a superior downtown location and none of that snooty "You can't bring that bike in here" attitude ($225/ night). A less-pricey option is the Golden Buff Lodge (1725 28th St.; 303/442-7450), which is a short bike ride away from Pearl Street. ($99/ night).

Maysa Noor

Here she is: Maysa Noor. Born yesterday 4/3/7 at 12:29, 7lbs 13 ozs, 21 inches. She had a bit of a rough start, but she's doing fantastic now, as is Zana. We're so happy!

Did I mention that we went to Fruita, too? I'll have that update soon. Sorry for the delay, it's been pretty hectic around here (as always, right?).

In other news, we had a ragin' Tuesday Night Ride last night. Thanks to all who showed up. It was a 2 lapper event at Hall and we made it back to down just as it was getting dark. I did make one fatal mistake, though... Chris L is out of town so I rode his Intense Spider 29er. Loved it. Really. I am completely smitten. Anyone want to buy an Intense 6.6? :)

The Lyons Board of Trustees meeting on Monday didn't go so well for cyclists. As it turns out, a big, organized, Century type of ride will be cruising thru town this summer. Great, except that it will be rolling thru the same weekend as Rocky Grass. 5000 dirty hippies and 2000 roadies all converging upon Lyons. I can't wait. Anyway, back to the BOT meeting. In trying to figure out the logistics of such a feat, Town Trustee Dave Goransan replied with much bicycling love that the best way to take care of all those cyclists is with a 2x4 that he'll be carrying around especially for that occasion. I have yet to hear an audio clip of that particular event, but it's on the way. I'll have a transcription here soon.

Tuesday Night Ride

What is the plan this evening fella's? I just got back into town & have not heard. Bike shop @ 6:00?