I knew it was a good day

Only part of today would've been good for a road ride. Later in the day, it looked kind of wet down there to me.




I chose to ride dirt instead. The days's snow, followed by a brief bit of sunshine left the trails tacky and good.

The clouds hung low in the hills. Those clouds had snow in them, too.

I had to hit some secret stash, too. I get a lot of folks asking, "Gee Dave, there has to be some choice singletrack stash around those parts, eh?" Well, it's time to blow the cover on it. Free tube to the first individual to identify this choice bit of tree covered singletrack ;)

Fall Collection

On a snowy Sunday Morning, no ride to the coffee shop, Graham decides to check out the Fall Collection instead.

This weeks Tuesday ride was sure a hoot. We started with a handful of guys, picked up more for a while, then lost a few at the end of the ride. It was a good mix of riders and bikes. We got an hour and a half in at Hall Ranch before we lost daylight. It was enough time to go up Antelope, get a lap in, and descend the frontside towards Hwy 7. Rockin' was showing good form and living up to his name. Definitely a shout out to Chris, too, for hanging on thru the rock garden on his full rigid On One singlespeed. Props to Keith, too, but he had a suspension fork on his SS :)
We managed to squeak out another 45 minutes or so around town on some of the local ghetto st and roads. As usual, Oskar's afterwards did not dissapoint, either. I had the taco salad. I need the salad because I'm on a diet ;)

Just got Aaron's new ride finished up today, too. What a beauty!

20mm thru axle DT 240 hubs

New Fox DHX Air 5.0, too

Tuesday's here, we're ridin!

Tuesday, 6pm at the bike shop. We'll ride what we can of Hall taking into account, of course, trail and daylight conditions. We'll then click on our lights (bring a light) and hit some of the ghetto goodness around town. Heck, last time we did it, we had a good time and ended up riding another hour or so.

Windy March Madness

Got the roadies out yesterday and proceeded to fight our way through the wind to Jim Town. Over old stage and up left hand. Coming down the backside of old stage a crosswind it so bad it almost took my wheels out from under me. Speed check was in order after that. Mark had the same experience so it was nice to turn left up to jim town and get a break from the wind. Once we got to town it was snowing, which explains the wind. Great ride all in all.

BMA Alert - help create more riding at Betasso!

March 18, 2008

Action Alert!
Betasso Management Plan
Comments Being Taken by BCPOS
Two Minutes Will Make a Huge Difference

Boulder County Parks and Open Space are in the process of revisting their management plan for Betasso Preserve. With the addition of the Benjamin property, this park has grown in size by almost 50%. This is Boulder County's opportunity to address the needs of City of Boulder residents who want a quality mountain bike ride without the use of a car.

BMA has assembled a group of members to attend the meetings, do the homework, and create recommendations that serves the cycling community.

We are asking you today to send comments on the plan. There are two ways you can do this

Option 1:

Copy the boilerplate below and send it to estrenge@bouldercounty.org Please feel free to add you own comments as you deem appropriate; making it personal does make a difference.

Subject Line: Betasso Management Plan - Comments

Don't forget to put your name at the end!

Greetings

I am contacting you today to comment on the revisit of the Betasso Preserve Management Plan. I am a Boulder County resident, taxpayer, registered voter and mountain biker that visits BCPOS lands.

I see this property as Boulder County's most significant opportunity to give City of Boulder residents a quality mountain bike experience without the use of a car. There are many actions BCPOS can take to address this opportunity:

BCPOS should maximize the recreation experience in the area deemed appropriate.
Build new sustainable singletrack trails to the North and West to the Benjamin property and connect Bettasso trails to these to create a greater experience (see Heil Valley Ranch for example); stacked loops are fun.
Create alternate access points. This gives users the opportunity to create a varied experience rather than one that is always the same. The "historic use" of the Benjamin property's social trails was part of a much greater trail system that included the use of county roads, old mining roads, forest service trails and roads, and others, that not only enabled riding from your house without the use of a car, but also allowed for a connection between Nederland and other ridding options to the West & North of Boulder. Alternate access points create differing usage patterns. These points of entry to the new sustainable trail system need to be designated as legal access points. We encourage BCPOS to eliminate parking at these points to relieve neighborhood concerns.
It is important to consider that users value connecting one trail system to another. (such as what is currently happening at Heil Valley Ranch with the Picture Rock Trail)
Shorten the gap between the Boulder Canyon Trail and current Betasso access. The section of canyon road (CO119) that cyclists have to travel is dangerous. The Pipeline Trail is unsustainable in its current configuration. Please investigate and develop an access point(s) that gets bikes off the highway and on to open space sooner.
We would like to encourage BCPOS to eliminate the day bike ban which closes the area to cyclists two days a week. Trail design does a better job of managing user conflict than restriction. We encourage BCPOS to disperse the users to reduce the conflict.
As a long term goal, BCPOS should pursue a ‘no parking’ access point from the top of Arkansas Mountain.

I am in agreement with the goals BCPOS has for this property and I thank you for considering my opinion. Please keep me informed of future developments regarding this management plan.

Sincerely,
your name goes here

Option 2:

Create your own comments and send to estrenge@bouldercounty.org

BCPOS, to their credit, has amassed a significant amount of information on this subject.

The information displays that were at the open houses can be viewed here

The Planning area map, and links to all other relevant information can be found here



Tired of seeing trails closed to mountain bikes in Boulder County? Then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!! Join the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance and join the fight to open trails. Send a $25 check to BMA, PO Box 4954, Boulder, CO 80306, or join by using our online Paypal webpage by clicking here

Third World Girls Gone Wild

Just kidding, this is much better.


Army Holds Annual 'Bring Your Daughter To War' Day

Tuesday Night Ride, ya think?

3.18.08 - 10:55 a.m. Anyone interested in just rolling around town? Might be a road ride on the fruit loops or maybe the Lyons ghetto singletrack if it dries out a bit. I'll give an update around 4:30 to see what it's been like all day here in lyons.

I would have loved to get out for more than a couple of hours today but it wasn't to happen. I had stayed tuned to the weather reports, which all consistently said that moisture would come today late afternoon. Just my luck, as late afternoons on Sunday are about the only weekend time I get to ride. I was rolling by 3:30pm, complete with the big backpack with extra clothes (which I anticipated fully to wear). What I did not anticipate, though, was how early this storm would roll in. It was precipitating pretty good by the time I got into the back meadows of Hall Ranch.
I originally wanted to ride Hall Ranch, then spin down the road to Rabbit Mountain. I had 3+ hours to ride so I wanted to make the most of it. I steered towards Hall first to make sure that I got some quality singletrack in right off the bat. It's a good thing I did, too, as it was snowing big, fat, wet, floofy snowflakes on top of the loop.

By the time I got back to town, it was a rainy and wet mess. The snow hadn't made it down to town yet, but it was only a matter of time. Fortunately, I had some coffee left in my thermos to warm me up with. Lucky me again. Sure beats sitting on the couch, though.

Now, I type this and we have big snow accumulating outside. We probably already have a couple of inches. With wet weather and everything else that's going on, I'm going to bag on the Tuesday ride. I'll be doing some work in the new space. Feel free to come on by.

Yucca

I thought this was a great picture of my favorite yucca.

Jackie Moon Old Spice Commercials *All 8*

This is Hilarious

the Tuesday Report

I took this one the other day and have been meaning to put this up. I think the car belongs to an Oskar's brewery employee.

Nate finished up his downhill singlespeed and brought it by. It's a few year old Lenzsport Pro Descender. Looks like fun, although it would not be my first choice to SS Hall Ranch on.

Paul stopped in a few weeks ago. He was riding a beautifully restored 60s vintage Viking track bike. It didn't take much to realize that Paul was a collector of post war British bikes. He came back around today with this georgeous 1951 Bates BAR. BAR is Best All around Rider. This bike was meant to do it all well.

From it's ornate lugwork and detail art To it's beautifully crafted fork (looks comfy)
It's hand turn front shifter. This thing is sweet, too. All you have to do is grab the knob and turn it so it faces back to the rear wheel. Also, note the detail of the pedal cages in this photo.
The front shifter was a bit clubby, but designed very nicely
The rear derailleur was really cool. It's a pretty simple mechanism designed to shift those 4 cogs.
After Paul left, it was time to get ready for our 1st daylight savings Tuesday Night Ride of 2008! We had 11 guys show up on time and ready to pedal. We rode from town up the rock garden at Hall Ranch, to the loop, then back down Antelope. We ran into the Hall Ranch hero, too. He gave us an earful about having lights at Hall, and that Hall was off limits to bikes at night. Yep. It was daylight and we planned to be back on pavement by the time we clicked our lights on. We barely made it. It would've been easy if not for my flat. It was a good Hall Ranch ride all the same. After we made it down, we managed to work in another hour or so of in town ghetto singletrack and side roads. All in all, it made for a 2.5 hour ride.

Get ready - now that we can ride after work, summer is here!

Tuesday Ride

Hall Ranch baby! It's about time that we can ride after work unencumbered by dark. Well, sort of. Plan to be pedaling from the shop at 6 so we can maximize our daylight hours. Be prepared for a quick pace, too - we'll have to make it up and down by dark, which is about 7:20 for safety purposes. Bring a light, too, though, as we'll hit some area roads and ghetto singletrack after dark.

Daylight savings = good stuff!

Soma Double Cross

Once I started riding a cross bike, I couldn't believe I'd lived without one. They're a jack of all trades, master of fun!

I suppose its time for quick review: I built this Soma Double Cross on New Year's eve, and have had a few choice rides on it over the last couple months. It's steel, got a Ritchey carbon fork and WCS bits, and a bunch of Ultegra 9-speed parts. My previous crosser was a Jamis Nova, steel as well, with a cheaper parts pick.

When I ride a cross bike it's for one of two things: either commuting, or the local loops. After riding a bit of both, I couldn't be happier. It's super comfy and stable on road, but it comes alive when in the dirt. It's long, low, and stable: in short, it's confidence inspiring for the riding I'm doing on it. Only potential concern is the low bb and pedal strikes offroad - but I'll take it for the super good handling.

Oh, and the paint is nice too.

Thanks Dave!

Got a little Hall and check out my Rocket

Parent/Teacher conferences were Tuesday, mid afternoon. After school is a perfect time to ride, right? Melis, Rockin Ron, Keith and myself all snuck out for a little late afternoon Hall Rancher. The dirt was grippy.
Rockin' shows why we call him Rockin.'

It was just a quickie, a small sampling. We were running out of daylight by the time we hit the bench so we turned around to enjoy the descent. We only ran in to one other trail user the entire time. No surprise that it was another yokal and friend of the Stone, DougM, on his Redline Monocog singlespeed. Melis was riding his onie as well. I, on the other hand, opted for gears and suspension both. Guess I was feeling lazy? :)


Sorry, but the pic doesn't do justice to this sweet powder blue Transition Bottle Rocket. Jason's going to be stoked on this one.

'What, no decals?" you say? Transition has been really cool with stickers lately. Not only do they send them seperate in the box for you to put on yourself, but they give a couple of color options, too. The little touches go a long way. Transition may not build their bikes in house, but they definitely have an eye for detail and what folks are really looking for.

Cheers!

I just wanted to give a big hell yeah to all the redstone folks that got in 2 seperate rides, made it to the new shop to TCB & then finished off the evening all proper like with food & beer at Oskar Blues. Stone Pile Represent!
by the way, the Budos Band rips & the video is sweet!

On Again, Off Again, Tuesday Night Ride, On Again

It seems the rockpile will be rolling in different directions during the early hours of the evening, don't worry we'll come back to full strength over beers. Dave's timetable today is a bit rough so we are going try to get in a short Hall Ranch ride during the light hours & then head down to the new location to get some work done. Chris is meeting at the shop at 6:00 then heading to BOULDER VALLEY RANCH around 6:30 to meet Jason & others. Jump on either bandwagon or join us for beers after...

No Tues Ride This Week

I've got too much going on so I'm going to have to duck out on the ride. I may, however, still be up for Oskars. I'll be at the new place working (painting) so feel free to come over there for a beer or give me a shout.

Another Great March Day

Warm temps and dry trails this early in the season, coupled with the fact that virtually all of the USFS riding is snowed in gauranteed busy trails at all the open space parks. I guess I was fortunate enough that I didn't have to deal with the crowds on the trail. I was able to get in a half hour with our youngest in the kiddie seat on the bike. She'll be 2 next week and she loved it. Perhaps we'll yet have another bike junkie in the house? It was a great way to wind down a fantastic Spring type of day.
What happened last night?! I heard snow was coming, but wasn't prepared for the almost 4" we had by 9 in the morning. Oh well, Sunday is my day to ride, so I had to make the best of it. By the time 3 rolled around and I closed up the shop, the roads were all dry. I saddled up the Sultan on a gamble that Hall Ranch would be dry, too.

It was. I almost couldn't believe it, but the warm ground temps and previously dry trail opened up like a sponge. I rode up thru the rock garden. The dirt was perfectly tacky and even sandy in spots.

Snowfields and great dirt near the top. From the upper bench down to Antelope was definitely greasy. The bike got sprayed pretty good by the time I made it thru

From there, I rode up to the loop. The beginning of the loop was pretty good, too, so I continued on, clockwise. I rode until the snow got to be too drifted and slick. This is where I turned around. The Sultan was sweet, too.

I returned the same way I came, fearing that I'd potentially have to hike it back to the top by the bench. Despite how greasy it was, I was surprised to see that I had barely made a track in the mud. The hardpack underneath held well. The descent back thru the rock garden was so sweet and the tacky dirt gripped like nobodies business.

2 days into March so far and we've seen the whole spectrum - 2 fantastic Colorado Spring days. Bring it on!

70 degrees in March?

Yeah, I rode for a few hours up in the forest. Headed up to Lefthand OHV to get away from the masses that were certainly taking over every other place. Felt good to get up the top and look back down on the world for a few minutes!

New wheels kicking on the 5.5 today. I felt like a hero climbing, and couldn't manage to knock 'em out of true. I did however manage to scratch 'em. New parts are only new for so long...