I've been getting out a bit lately on different bikes. I've found that Fall is a good time of year to start to cycle thru the bikes in the stable. You know - it's been a season of good riding, but there's still a handful of trails that you've ridden a lot. A lot. When you get that vibe from the ride, it's time to but out an oldie but a goodie. I recently sold thru all of my bikes/demo bikes and have been without a FS bike. Oh well. It was time anyway. It had been a while but I recently dusted off my 12 year old Croll custom hardtail after a 1.5 year haitus where it lived in the garage and gathered cobwebs. I dusted if off for our Nebraska journey and it was spot on after a short tuneup.

Since 24 hrs of Moab, though, I've been riding nothing but the Croll. It's been to Hall Ranch again (another oldie but a goodie :) ) as well as Picture Rock and other parts of the forest. I forgot how quick and fun this old cross country hardtail was. It's funny that folks react differently on trail to seein this bike than they did the Spot. I get a lot of people pulling out in front of me when I'm on this bike. It's like they've been taking a break and, once they see the guy on the hardtail coming, they have to hop on the trail to get in front of me. It's even funnier when they get passed by the guy on the hardtail. Argh! Folks should be courteous regardless of what's coming up the trail. Enough of the rant. I even did bike patrol on it the other day.
On Picture Rock. I think I'm becoming addicted to Rock. Conveniantly, Picture Rock opened up about the same time that bigger driving riding opportunities were starting to shut down for me. With days getting shorter and limited available time to ride, I've been opting to ride from home so as not to incur any driving time to and from trailheads. Needless to say, I've been hitting this trail a ton. Not only is it a change from the day to day Hall Ranch that I've been riding for years, but this new trail is good. I mean really good. It's got some fun swoopy sections (that become even more fun and swoopy after you learn the trail) and it's got some good rocky sections closer to it's highest elevation. Good stuff.

I rode it again today, too. It was a long day that started early. Up at 6 to get out to Longmont. Winter hours also means winter job opportunity :). I started helping out Dale and Co. in the Longmont brewery location a few days a week. I went in this am, but was able to get a short ride in later in the day. I'd been jonesing for another bike again. This time it was the cross bike. I was itching to get out and hit some rural Boulder County gravel roads. I hopped on and rode off. I don't know exactly what it was, but I felt the pull of Picture Rock. After riding 1/2way thru town, I had already dealt with more cars than I wanted to tolerate so I steered it towards the dirt. It was good. It hit the spot. I rode about 80% of the way to the Silo and just sat there to take in the view. Wish I had a camera, but I was running lean. It was a good sitting rock, though, so I'm sure I'll get a few pics soon.

I have a feeling that I'll be riding there some more this winter. I'll be riding it on a few Tuesday nighters, too. Speaking of, how about we ride tomorrow/Tuesday at 6pm? Bring lights and a vehicle. We'll go somewhere fun, ride around in the dark, then go to Oskar's and listen to Bluegrass. Any ride suggestions?