Boneshaker Bike

So I got first ride on a Boneshaker Bike otherwise known as the "Penny Farthing" today. A guy at work bought this off of ebay and brought it in to work today. I don't know if you guys have ever had a chance to ride one of these but its crazy. Its weird steering the same wheel you are pedaling. The first ride was sketchy but after a little bit it smoothed out. This thing is a wrist injury just waiting to happen though.

As always, wear a helmet. Didn't have mine but fortunately we had something comparable around the office.

sneek peek at Intense 2009

Here's a few photos of what Intense will be unveiling at this years Interbike. They will definitely be backed up on demand for a few of these beauties. Get your order in now.

First up, a brand new bike for 2009, is the Intense Tracer VP. The Tracer VP was inspired by the original Intense Tracer, arguably one of the best trail bikes ever in it's day. The new Tracer VP will have and shock linkage with adjustable 5.5" or 6" of travel, a 1.5" head tube, and zirk fittings at the linkage for easy bearing maintenance. The bike is designed to be ridden with either a 140mm or a 160mm fork. Build it up to suit your personality.

Here's a large in Stealth Black.

and a small in works red.

The 2009 Intense Tracer VP is already in production. The first batch will be hitting in just a couple of weeks. If you didn't already preorder your Tracer VP, better do it now. The next batch isn't until October or so.

The next new bike in the lineup is the Uzzi VP. They made a few tweaks to the outstanding Uzzi VPX. 6.75" or 7.25" adjustable travel. 1.5" headset and the new zirk fittings. In fact, all new Intenses for 2009 will have grease ports for easy bearing lubing. Here is a medium in works red.

And who can forget the Slopestyle. It's like a mini downhill bike based on the super popular 6.6. This chassis is perfect for park and slopestyle riding, but is just at home under a smooth and light downhiller. It's tough.
Next up is the Tazer DJ bike. What's that, an Intense hardtail? Yep. :)

I'll have more pics and info as I get it. Stay tuned!

Ride to Winter Park Via Rollins Pass Anyone ?

Dave was nice enough to let me post this open invitation to those who love the bike, Mt bike that is.

I will be riding to Winter Park from Eldora via Jenny Creek Trail-Rollins Pass Sunday - stay in WP Sunday night and return Monday. Anyone want to come ? Please email me (Peter Wayland)pwayland@weilandinc.com or call 303-518-2182 for specifics


Cheers

my Intense Spider 29er is up for sale

This sweet machine has been my ride for about a year. As the riding season draws to a close, it's time to say goodbye to a bike that has treated my extremely well - I'm putting the Spider 29 up for sale.

It started as a fairly standard Intense Spider 29er build with a Reba, xt and x9, etc. I spent a good deal of time on it that way before I made a few tweaks to make it feel a little more at home here in the foothills around Lyons.




The first modifcation I made to the original build was last summer, after only a month or so on the Reba. I swapped the fork out to a Maverick DUC 32, which also called for some cockpit rearranging. Fortunately, the Maverick 31.8mm stem is not only svelte, but functional. A reversible cam on the stem allowed me to run it at either a 75, 85, or 95mm length. The top tube is long, but I ran it at 95mm because of my monkey arms. The Maverick front end and Chris King comb made for a very smooth, light feeling, and stiff front end.

The DUC slackened the head angle just a tad and gave me a bit more cush at the same time. I played with the fork after I got it mounted up and eventually had it dialed in as a good mate to the rear end. The fork dove a little into the travel so I experimented with oil volume in the air chamber until I got the fork to settle into a smooth ramping stroke. The front end was stiff, predictable and allowed me to push into corners or set up tricky lines with confidence.

Unfortunately, I felt that the original RP23 that came on the other end of the bike ramped up a little to sharply for my taste towards the end of it's stroke. It was, after all, a race bike, but I was using it to stomp around the backcountry foothills around here and it's rocky as heck. I wanted plush. After a quick call to Fox, I had a large air cannister coming for the rear shock. With the larger can, the expanded air volume of the rear shock helped to flatten out it's rapidly rising rate.

It was just what the rear suspension was looking for in this terrain. It now felt super smooth and controlled on all the ledgy, rocky bits not far from town. Back to the fork oil volume again and I got this sucker dialed into a super smooth riding 4" travel 29er trailbike. I liked it so much I left it and rode it that way until the beginning of this summer. After a drive train replacement (crank/chain/cassette) a few weeks ago and a new Nevegal rear tire 1 ride ago, I made the tough decision to let one go.

It's been a great trail ride, Spider. thanks.

email me (dave@redstonecyclery.com) if you're interested. It's in great shape and has been treated with much love and kindness. :)

Trail Work and Night Ride

Good work on the trail. Good times. The ride out in the dark was a blast!

What a night last night. Instead of our normal Tuesday ride frivolities, a small group of 10 of us rode to Hall Ranch's Nelson Loop to performa little trail maintenance. The Redstone crew left the shop early to meet the Hall Ranch resident caretaker and Park Ranger, Denny M. Under his guidance, we cleaned out a couple of water bars and did some trail rerouting to help with the on trail flow. It was good.

Here's Lee cleaning out a water drain.


We spent most of our time working on this corner. It had a water bar at it's entrance and an abrupt apex that pitched you off line and into a rock on the outset of the corner. We reworked the corner's apex so that you can ride it faster and more safely.

Then we hopped on our bikes to get to another problem spot at the loop.

Here, the "old" line was inside to the left. This particular corner had been victim to trail creep over the years. You can see that the line migrated to the right and really widened the trail. We moved a huge boulder into position to close off the original inside line. We then "closed" the original line with sticks, tree limbs, and rocks. It'll take a long time to reveg with all that rock, but it's worth a shot.
Up next was the best part. Since we worked until dark (and signed waivers), Denny said we were good to go as far as riding out in the dark. We strapped our helmets and lights on and were off. It's not often (ie never) that you get the county's and law enforcement's blessing to ride Hall Ranch at night (it officially closes at dusk). We made sure to get our dollars worth so we rode 2 laps at the top and came down the rock garden to Hwy 7. As much as we ride that trail in the day, it sure is different in the dark. Here's a glimpse of the action.

Thanks a TON to all of you guys that came out to help work. We got some great work done, showed the county that the Redstone crew is a good partner, and had a good time riding. Doesn't get much better than that.

Tuesday Ride reminder - trailwork!

Just a reminder. We're leaving the shop around 5pm and heading to the Nelson Loop at Hall Ranch to do some trail maintanence. If you can't make it by 5, come out and show up at the loop when you can. Bring some comfortable working shoes/boots, gloves and a headlight. We'll need lights to get back home safely, since we'll be working until dark ;)

Riding Observations

I got out for some riding yesterday and today. Needless to say, it was good. I mean, really, isn't it pretty muchalways good when you're riding. It's like the bumper sticker about a bad day fishin' is better than a good day working. Yep. Here's some shots from the last few days o riding.

Twin Peaks looking good as always

The forest is full of all sorts of good things. Like trails...

And archeological artifacts of a time long since passed. Sort of.

I was able, also, to answer an age old question. I still don't know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop, but I do know that a loose fitting 2.4 will pop a bead on a 28mm rim at about 25lbs. :)

Some of those trails are growing in. I like the ancient unmaintained middle of nowhere stuff.

Yep. Riding. It's good. Get some.

Did I mention that Picture Rock will open on 9/22? Can anyone tell I'm excited?

Tues Ride, Sept 23 Mark your Calendars!!!!

We'll be riding the Picture Rock Trail. Legally. Come on out and join us. Picture Rock, the new connector to Heil Valley Ranch from Lyons will be open to the public on Monday 9/22. You heard it here first.

update - here's the details.

The ribbon cutting ceremony will be Monday 9/22 at 4pm. You won't be able to get on the trail until after the ribbon cutting. Everyone will be meeting at the Planet Bluegrass grounds to stage. We (us, BMA, commissioners) will ride to the trail and go from there. After the ribbon is cut, it's all fair game. Meet back at Planet Bluegrass ready to get your party on. Make sure to say thanks to BMA, Oskar Blues, Redstone :) and everyone else involved in making this dream a reality.

Can I get a hell yeah? HELL YEAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!

Now that's a bike ride

ssv/sourdough/little raven/dalesatbrainard/ssv.

Satisfying.

Mens Olympic Mtb (Spoiler)

Pretty cool slow motion video highlights of the Mens XC race in Beijing. Even though Adam Craig got his ass handed to him, he still showed how cool he is on a bike by riding a killer one handed wheelie across the finish line. I still can't get over how fast these guys are.

bikes time

I've been neglecting to put up some bikes we've done recently. Enjoy.

Mike's Turner RFX turned out great. It was the perfect build for a big travel all arounder mountain bike.

XC bikes don't get to be much sweeter than Andy's full XTR Turner Flux.

Pam's small Turner 5 Spot was a fun one. I wanted to take it to the dirt jumps when I was done building it. Compared to my large, it rode like a bmx bike.

And talk about mac daddy. Rich's Intense 6.6 Slopestyle turned out crazy good beyond all belief. I really liked the blue bits, down to the Goodridge brake hose and the Nokon cable housing.

real bike passion

This has to be one of the best stories of love, devotion, and bike passion that I've seen. Maybe ever. Maybe.

First, check this, then this. Then add this blog to the ones you check regularly. Seriously.

to quote the fast boy - "Those of you who ride bikes, try doing your commute entirely out of the saddle today! My brother tried it the other day.. a little way in he said “f- this..” and sat back down. I’m definitely going to need to raise the gear ratio."

Ned at Night

Sooo, any Tuesday ride from here out that's not at Hall Ranch will be lights mandatory. It's getting dark out there, folks.

BMA Sufferfest 2008

BMA's got a new event dialed up for next month. Registration (free!) is going on now and is limited.

What is it? A ride from Nederland, up through Caribou, across the entire Sourdough trail, up Buchanon Pass trail, and back to camp. There's 4 or 5 afternoons of good riding - all compiled into one day. Check it out:


Quote:
SufferFest 2008 is a fully supported epic mountain bike ride to tour the best (singletrack) and the worst (roads) that Boulder County has to offer. But the goal here is universal – to suffer through an epic ride at the hands of Boulder County's rocky, technical trails and jeep roads. The ride will occur September 6th with a campout at Beaver Reservoir. Food (by Chef Jason of the St. Julien) and drink (courtesy of the Oskar Blues Bus) will be provided – as will shuttles back to Boulder or Nederland the morning of the 7th after we camp out (but wouldn't you rather ride down?). If you have the legs to conquer the mountains, this is a ride you do not want to miss. If you can't ride all day and love the hurt, best sit this one out till you've trained up.



More info and registration here:

http://www.bma-mtb.org/events/sufferfest2008.php

Crash!

I got out today to do a little more exploring. I got up to about 10,200' elevation and found no evidence that it had even snowed. The big mountains had snow way up high, but the only result of the snow lower was perfect dirt.

I chased down a dead end that I'd been meaning to for a while. It's not mountain biking unless you're hiking, right?
After I concluded that it really was a dead end, I went in search of another destination that I'd not been to for a long, long time. On 6/27/65, Air Force Major Jay Currie and 1st Lieutenant Donald Darby were flying a T-33 jet Airforce Trainer north of Denver. Major Currie was showing off some property he had recently purchased to Lt. Darby. Details of the crash aren't really known. Only that he was last reported flying at 13k feet and was told to climb to 17k feet. Air Traffic Control lost communication with the plane in bad weather.



Apparently, he was flying lower than 13,000 feet...

It's an awesome/upsetting/mind boggling crash. There are parts of airplane spread out for 1/4 mile or so. On the road up, you see parts of sheet metal from the fuselage before you even get close to the main wreckage site. Once you get to the site, there are bits of plane wreckage spotting the landscape all over like tiny rocks. Then there are the big pieces.

bits of wing

This looked like a door or something.

Main tail fin assembly

The view from the wreckage. He must've been flying pretty low. Looking to the East, it's clear skies. This mountain was obviously the tallest thing out there on his path.

Rest in peace, Gentlemen.

bust?

I've been looking forward to this past weekend for a bit. The family and I were heading to Grand Lake to stay with some family and friends. We hadn't decided, though, whether to go up Friday eve or Sat eve. As time went on, we decided to stay Friday night in Lyons, open the shop on Sat, and go to Grand Lake for dinner on Sat. We'd stay the night and come back the next day. We had to be back by early afternoon, though, as Nana (gramma) was flying in that afternoon. No problem, I had a plan hatched already.

The plan was to leave Grand Lake around 10 or 11 am and drive back to Lyons via Trail Ridge Rd. in Rocky Mt National Park. I was going to take my road bike with and the family could drop me off at the top of Trail Ridge. From there, I'd have a 50ish mile ride home - predominantly downhill on some of the best roads in the Front Range.

Actuality... We left Sat afternoon in pouring rain. Trail Ridge was closed due to weather so we were forced to duck south to take the I70/Berthoud Pass/Winter Park route and back up north to Grand Lake. It was relatively uneventful, but we did pas thru rain, sleet and snow going up over Berthoud. The Fraser Valley was starting to see some blue skies as we headed north to Grand Lake. Once at Grand Lake, the weather was cool but fine. It was cloudy with patches of blue and no rain. I kept my fingers crossed. As pulled our covers up in bed, I could hear the raindrops starting again.

The next day, Sunday came early (that's kids for you). To the south and west there was party cloudy blue skies. To the north and east, though, the direction we were to head, skies were foggy, cloudy, and gray. It was a bust. Trail Ridge was still closed. To add to that, we got stuck in stop and go traffic from Tabernash all the way thru Winter Park because of Hawg Fest, a Harley Rally that had most of the roads either shut down or narrowed down to 2 lanes. We were running late and still had to pick up Nana at the airport. Grrr. At least Mary drove home from the Airport so I could nap.

We got home about 5:30 and immediately got started on dinner. I was able to bust out a quick abbreviated Hall Ranch ride after dinner. After all the rain, the trails were almost perfect, just a few puddles here and there and back to too dry in a couple of spots. Good ride, though. Back home, kids to bed and we were still able to catch the last act at Folk Fest sans children.

What a weekend. Was the weekend a bust? Maybe for riding, but I got to spend time with family and friends, got to ride on the dirt, and got to see some live music pretty much in the backyard. I'll take it. What's on deck for next weekend? :)

Tuesday ride is coming up, too. This Tues will be lights mandatory. Meet up at the bike shop at 5:30 and we're heading to Ned. Nederland that is. It's a 45 minute/1 hour drive. None of us know the area very well so prepare to get very lost. We'll have fun. See you Tues.

pancakes and beer

My Grandpa had a 4240. One of these guys Grandpa must've had a 4020. I like their take on country music. http://www.fortytwenty.com/

“I’m not going to miss their business, I’m not going to miss their company, I’m
not going to miss their bike,”

Wow. Strong words for a company that recently announced that it is done with the Independent Bicycle Dealer (IBD) channel. Well, er, except for the company owner's son... Goodbye bicycle dealer, hello Sports Authority.

Triathalon ride

A couple months ago, the wife decided that she wanted to complete the Tri for the Cure. Since she was riding a several years old super cheap Giant, it seemed time for an upgrade. Talked to Dave, and in July her new Schwinn Fastback showed up. It's a great bike for her, 9 speed Tiagra, carbon this and that, and all of a sudden she's got the nicest road bike in the garage! She's been riding it a ton, and loves it.

She placed in the top half at the tri - here's a picture:




Thanks, Dave!

Finally...

... found someone to help out with the bike work around here.

Recon mission today

I got out today to to a little exploring today with Chad. It was good. We road fast, we rode slow. We hiked. We actually did quite a bit of hiking. We lost our way a few times. There was a comment regarding the fact that we can still get lost in unknown terrain this close to home. I like the variety.

Sometimes it wasn't so good


And sometimes it just rocked.

The ride also left me with a feeling that I need to go back for more pain and more discovery.

Tuesday ride? Let's try to leave at 5:30 so we can maximize daylight. I moved my light mount onto my new helmet, too. :) See y'alls in Jtown.

Wyoming

2 hours up the highway gets you this:




Big trails.





Big views.





Camping is plentiful. And remote. And easily accessed.

Heading back this fall. You should come along.

Boulder Valmont Bike Park!

Boulder's Valmont Bike Park is finally almost to fruition but they need more help. Buy a brick or donate time or money to this amazing municipal project.

Bobby Noyes, Pete Webber, and Chris Grealish have been instrumental in this happening. They've been working on this for over 10 years. Here's aht Rocky Mounts' Bobby Noyes has to say about the project, regarding an email that Pete Webber had sent out:

On Aug 7, 2008, at 9:06 PM, "Bobby Noyes" wrote:

Pete's email hit the nail on the head, but we need to make the community more aware of some of the history. Valmont has been in the works for a long time.....

It all started out in 1996 when Chris Grealish, Lou Patterson and I got together. The city had just purchased Valmont, and had a public input meeting to decide the future of the park. We decided to do a mailing to every licensed bike racer in the city of Boulder. We sent out 500 letters (pre-internet), and at the first meeting, there were 68 citizens present, 65 of which were riders like us. From this point, the project took on a life of its own. Chris and I had about $18 between us (no joke), and Lou Patterson from Pearl Izumi offered to pay the postage, it's good to have friends. At this meeting, I met Pete and he showed similar conviction.

Besides the obvious benefits to us, the users of the park and the next generation, we have an opportunity to pay Pete Webber and Chris Grealish back for their years of tireless work.

Pete has worked for IMBA for years, putting together the world's best trails for us to ride. Boulder is Pete's backyard, and he wants to implement these in our community. The canvas is blank, he is totally fired up to get to work, and we need to let him paint his picture. I don't know if he is more excited to design the place, or put the screws to guys half his age, history will answer that.

Chris Grealish is a rock star, setting up courses, hanging banners, marshalling corners, sporting the orange vest, and dealing with various agencies in the name of hosting bike races (all under marginal and temporary conditions). Valmont will be Chris's dream, a permanent cyclocross facility, befitting the finest events in the world. One day at Valmont, Chris will be handing a rainbow jersey to a guy like Verveken or Nys, and I will be in the crowd with a big smile on my face.

Bobby

Tales from the Laundromat

Many of you that have been in the shop have noted that our next door (across the corner) neighbor is the Lyons laundromat. Looking up from the counter thru the windows and over to the laundromat over the last 6 months or so has yielded some good spectating. Good enough that I've wanted to blog "Tales from the Laundromat." I've been able to hold off until just now.

Just now as in I just witnessed this. It's 10:06pm and the laundromat is closed. A woman and a crew that appeared to be her husband, son, and mother have been going in and out of the laundromat doing the wash over the last hour or so. All smokers. What I just witnessed has got to be one of the cheapest, grossest, and most dangerous things I've seen at the laundromat. Here goes. Several minutes ago, the "crew" loaded their 4 bad selves and all of their laundry into a mid eighties Cavalier. Zip, they back out of the yellow flagged off area marked "no parking" and they're gone. 10 minutes go by and they are back. Apparently, Grandma, who was riding shotgun, had left her half smoked cigarette on the outdoor windowsill whilst folding her britches. Grandma gets out of the Cav machine and walks over to the windowsill to retrieve her smoke. What the f*ck? Seriously? Not only did grandma come back for a half smoked cig that she left outside (which has got to be one of the cheapest and most desperate things I've ever seen), she left the damn thing burning while it was on the sill! Again, what the...?

Seriously!

cool new things

We've got quite a few neat bits in lately. I wanted to put some pics of them up, along with why they are so sweet. Check 'em out:


First up, the Chris King 1.5 Nothreadset. This headset is not just a thing of beauty because all Chris King items are things of beauty and it's bigger. It goes beyond that. Solving 2 problems out there (heavy abuse seen on freeride bikes and lack of a good 1.5" starnut setter), Chris King has come up with what is probably the coolest headset thru bolt retention out there. This is more than a long, long bolt with a cap on the end that goes with the bike. The Pre Loader is adjustable to fit about any head tube length and is milled out to retain strengh and shed weight. It's an impressive piece that screams efficiency in design. And 1.5" is cool. :)


Next up. 29er suspension peeps will appreciate this one. Fox has been making arguably one of the best 29er suspension forks out there, but it was limited to 100mm of travel. Enter the 120mm Fox F29 RLC. This is also a good piece for folks out there with 100mm 29ers that want to slow the steering down a bit. Unnofficial eyeball reports say that it's "much" taller than the Reba, thus slowing steering geometry by about a degree.

Last but not least, we're finally stocked on 26" and 29" Maxxis Ardent tires. Lots of folks have been waiting patiently for these morsels. They're high on volume and low on knob height so these will be fast rolling and good hooking up treads.

That's all I've got for now. How 'bout that Tuesday nighter this week. Anyone else still feeling bruised from the wet rocks of SSV?

Tuesday Ride Schedule for August.

Wow. In many ways I feel like the summer's almost over as my oldest daughter starts school on Aug 18. Then again, summer really only ends when daylight is too short to ride after work, so we have a while on that one :)

That said, here's the Tuesday ride schedule for August.

Aug 5 - meet at the shop and bring a light. We'll head to somewhere in the Sourdough Universe. How about trying to fit in Little Raven and upper S St Vrain on a Tues? That'd be unprecedented. Try to bring a vehicle suitable for shuttling. I have a good idea that we can vote on at the shop before we ride.

Aug 12 - Jamestown

Aug 19 - How about a lights mandatory Nederland excursion? We've been talking about it, let's do it! Chris will be healed up by then, too.

Aug 26 - Another one we've been talking about and now it is official. Hall Ranch trail work day. Details will come as we gather them but the date has been nailed down. I believe we'll be narrowing trail on some blown out corners on the Nelson Loop.

WP.

A quick day trip up to Winter Park to ride with a buddy who's been lost in MN for the last year. Who cares about Crankworxx when there's singletrack to be had! Got a solid several hours in with a mix of known and unknown trails. Seems there's always something new each time I head up there.



The future of Colorado is orange and dead.



A rare picture of Debaser



I could use one of these. 29'er, ti, not insanely expensive.