Snow Ride, Take it Easy

Another Tuesday snow ride on Nordic trails is in the books! Last year, we got the wild hair last year to check out Buchanan Pass in the snow. We assumed that a majority of it would be packed enough for riding we were right! We even had so much fun we went the following week as well.

With the warm temps we've been experiencing, we figured yesterday's Tuesday ride would be a prime opportunity to get in a little nordic style action. Peaceful Valley and Buchanan Pass were the ticket.

The trails had been packed in, warmed, then re frozen to form a perfect layer of bike on snow traction. Early on, the singletrack was in PRIME condition. No snow bike needed. The trail was smooth and flowy and faster than it ever is in the summer.
Once we got higher up onto Buchanan Pass, a snow bike would've been a little more useful. There was a very tight, packed line to follow. Once your front wheel wandered offline, it would sink. Fork tip deep snow in this pic. Experiencing an "off line" moment would stick your front wheel immediately and send you flying over the bars.
We rode up past the waterfall on BP. On second thought now, it may have been prudent to turn around at the falls since the snow above it proved to unruly for riding up or down. There was hiking involved.
The rest of the way down was spent flying over the bars higher up where the snow was deep. As we got closer to the bottom, though, we were ripping stellar conditions on packed snow. It got fast enough you could drift thru corners and hammer up the climbs. Friggin perfect I tell you.

Next week? We'll see...

Buchanan Pass was the goods

Thanks to everyone that came out for last Tuesday's ride. The cherry on top of the Peaceful Valley network. It's got it all.

Water
Views
creek crossings
alternate lines
and some techy stuff not pictured.

Oh, and some cool rocks over the river, too.
I can't wait to get back! Next week will be our annual point to point ride. Stay tuned.

Nordique

We went nordic style again for our last Tuesday ride of the non DST era. To say it was good would be a major understatement. It was fantastic. The freeze/thaw cycle has started at least a little bit on Buchanan Pass. That translates into harder, faster, and more packed in snow. Again, we made it up to the waterfall, but it was less hiking up and less endo-ing down. Seriously good stuff. Good enough that MT had to leaver her mark on dirtydoug's snow crusted back.

Watch out for that log.

Again, the singlespeed was the weapon of choice. And again, I probably could've handled a cog easier gear, but rigid was definitely the way to go. Stayed clean, too!

Going Nordic

This has been kinda stumping me lately. Nordic skiing means XC skiing on snow with poles and skinny skis. Nordic walking is basically walking anywhere anytime with poles. What do you call it if you take your bike out in the snow on Nordic trails? Is it Nordic biking even if we don't use poles? Or is it just mountain biking? Whatever it is, it's damn fun if conditions are good.

Being sick and tired of the lack of riding afforded to us this winter, we decided to go far, far out on a limb. The idea was to head to one of our favorite summer riding spots and keep our fingers crossed that enough traffic had packed the snow to a rideable state either on singletrack or jeep road. Surprisingly enough, and despite conflicting reports on how bad it was going to suck, we had 8 crazy/stoopid/ignorant/optimistic fun seeking mountain bikers show. We loaded up the vehicles and drove west to Peaceful Valley. We knew it was going to be good as soon as we got to Peaceful Valley. We almost got the big ol F250 stuck - "someone get out and help me lock the hubs." heh heh.

Then Chad was one gloveless. Good thing we were able to dig up a spare.



Things were definitely looking to get interesting. We pedaled off onto the first singletrack right before the bridge. Unbelievably, it was fantastic. There had been so much traffic on skis, snowshoes, and hiking boots that it was firm, packed and fast. Smooth, too, as the snow was deep enough to cover up all of the rocks and roots. The tread was 18-24" wide. Once you got outside of that window, the snow was soft and deep.

Thumbs up! We made it to the start of Buchanan Pass and conditions were top notch.
We pressed on and up Buchannan Pass. Not being a snow junkie, it was unlike any other time I'd been up there. It was peaceful, serene, and the trail was completely smooth. I liked. The rigid SS was a great choice for the terrain, but I could've used something easier than the 32x19 I was on. I know, I need to HTFU.

Our watter bottles and bladders froze pretty quickly. It's a good thing a few of us brought extra hydration supplies. It's always good to get a cold hand around a warm Chub.

We made it up to the waterfall. By then, it had gotten to be pretty slow going. The trail was steep enough, the snow was soft enough, and the tread was narrow enough that it was really, really difficult to make ground. Most of us ended up hiking the last part of the way.

After another, erm, snacktime at the waterfall, it was time to head back. We expected it to be difficult but we really had no idea. Most of the way up, even though there was definitely a "tread" we were blazing trail. Blazing back down was a challenge. The packed tread was only 8-10" at this point. Going off tread by even an inch or two meant instant endo. The snow on the side of the trail was deep. Deep as in I stepped in it and went in to my crotch. Lower down and it got better. Faster and a smidge wider.

But that snow can fool you. Still just an inch or two outside of the line and you're going down. It was slick, too. I can't remember how many times I crashed. Silly fun, I tell you.

Without a doubt, the finest section of trail was the connector between Peaceful Valley and Camp Dick. I'll go back again just to hit that!

Great ride last night, guys. This is definitely on our must do again list. Best ride of the year so far.

Another long one in the books. 7.5 hours today

The crew and I headed up to Peaceful Valley today for a ride I've been calling the "Peaceful Tour of the Dick." I've been looking at this particular route for quite some time. The riding between Brainard Lake Rd and Camp Dick/Peaceful Valley is some of my favorite riding anywhere and I've been trying to figure out a route that enabled us to ride it all. We about got it, too. With the exception of Waldrop Trail and Middle St Vrain Rd, we rode everything there.

We got some Dick, fo sho. It rained like crazy all day long on Sat and the forecast for Sunday looked about the same. Sun was starting to poke thru the clouds whilst were loaded up vehicles at the bike shop, though, so spirits were in good shape. We got pedalling right around 10:15 this am. Leaving from the Peaceful Valley CG heading south on Sourdough always guarantees a stiff climb out of the gate. No warm up at all. Today did not dissapoint. We made it up the climb and continued south on Sourdough all the way to Brainard Lake Rd. The climb out of the South St Vrain Drainage up to Brainard Rd is long and tough.

From Brainard Rd, we rode up the non technical but ever disheartening Left Hand Road up to Left Hand Reservoir. Beauty, Clark. Not only is LH Res a beautiful sight, but it also allowed us to pop out of the trees for a view. Always good to get a fix on what the weather is doing. It had been raining on and off for a few hours at this point, but no torrential downpours. Thunder was in the distance and the rain was light. No rainjacket yet and we could still see the divide. That's a good sign.


We retraced our steps down the road just a bit and hooked into the Little Raven freeride trail. Little Raven was constructed many, many moons ago by the Colorado Mountain Club (CMC) as a ski trail. Great in the winter, but it was barely traversible in the summers until BMA stepped in. They rerouted the bad sections, and added some wooden skinnies over a handful of bogs. While not what we think of when we think "freeride" this was the first project of its kind in the Boulder Ranger District of the USFS. The project accomplished 2 things. 1) we got a sweet trail out of the deal and 2)it introduced the term "freeride" to the USFS and created the association with man made, wooden structures. Things move slow in the USFS and we are gaining some ground!

Next up was the infamous South St Vrain Trail. The westernmost section of this trail goes thru the Indian Peaks Wilderness for about 1/2 mile. In another act of stewardship, BMA is in the process of rerouting the trail about 200 yards to the south so that we can legally ride it. Until then, though, we are good to go. SSV is a beast, especially when ridden in it's entirety from top to bottom. It's definitlely got some techy bits.



Fortunately, we rode with a crew that made it all look easy.


SSV dumped us out on the Peak to Peak highway. What to do now? More climbing, of course. We rode back up/west on Beaver Res Rd up to and past Beaver Res for the days last off road climb. Coney Creek Rd. The map shows that it's only a 6 or 800 foot elevation gain, over 4 miles. What it does not show, however, is all of the freaking little pebble rocks, baby heads and things that otherwise make your ass hurt after 5 hours in the saddle! It isn't easy, especially this late in the day. It does have it's saving graces, though.

At the top, near the wilderness boundary, there is some deep water. We all took the bridge ride/hike around but not Doug. Dirty Doug wanted some cleansing in the 29er tire deep water.

From there, it's a short but sweet descent to Middle St Vrain Rd and the Buchanan Pass junction.

Finally! Buchanan Pass. We were already pretty tired at this point. We had passed the 6.5 hour mark.
BP has a really cool scree field that you get to cross.

And finally at the bottom! We made it. Never did have to don my rainjacket either. I put the arm warmers on (it was chilly) but that's it. The weather gods smiled upon us once again.


Lucky for us, the beer gods smiled, too :)


All in all, we were about 7.5 hours car door to car door. 30.6 miles and 3800' of climbing. Not bad. We'll have to find another route to top that. Probably won't be able to top the rocks, though.

Tuesday at Buchanan Pass

Thanks all for a great Tuesday nighter this week. We rolled up the always rocky and always wet Middle St Vrain road and down Buchanan pass. As always, the ride took more time than it should and we squeaked 'er out right before dusk. Also, as always, BP did not dissapoint.

The singletrack is as good as the views.
Chad on the waterfall drop.
World famous Breck Epic solo woman gold medalist Jen G came out to sample the technical front range backwoods.
You know it's a good one when Chad has to take an on trail bag inventory. Jen says "yardsale."
See you next week as we line up a shuttle and attempt to recreate the most carnage filled Tuesday Ride ever. Lights mandatory!

Great Tuesday nighter, Y'all

Thanks everyone for coming out. This one was particularly muddy, technical, and good. Thanks for the parking lot refreshments, too, Chad. Here's the recap in photos:

finally got a big ride in

Lots of pictures today. I finally was able to get in a quantifiably large ride today. The only rule was home by 1pm. I could leave as early as I liked. Seeing as how I'm normally not a morning person, I was pretty happy to make it to Peaceful Valley and be pedaling by 7:15 am. I know, I know - all this about PV? I guess I can't get enough. I wanted to get my fill today, though. The addiction to PV is costing me bucks when gas is $4 a gallon!

So I pedaled off with neither coffee nor warmup. It was a rough start to the day. I was all over the place, dabbing and floundering in sections that I normally do not. It is a tough climb right out of the gate, though, full of all the good stuff like roots, rocks, steeps and babyheads. Guess I'd have to warm up first.

The plan was to head south on Sourdough, past Brainard Lake Road and up to the Little Raven Trail. I had tried a few weeks ago but got denied. Too much snow up high relegated me to a mostly out and back on Sourdough. I had received recent information that indicated Little Raven was finally dry. It took me about 2 hours of climbing to get there, but I made it. Good views abound at the start of the singletrack.

The trail was wet at first, but it didn't take long to turn into sweet, sweet singletrack.

I don't think too many people ride Little Raven. That's ok with me.

The Forest Service even let BMA get creative on some bog sections.
Don't think of Little Raven as much of a descent. It's a tough traverse with a descent that is oh, too short. It's a shorty but a goody, and definitely worth the effort it took to get there. Another reason I hit the Raven was to dump out at Brainard Lake. Ever wonder exactly which peaks are the "Indian Peaks?"

Another beautiful thing about Brainard Lake is that it's also the highest elevation start of the South St Vrain Trail. SSV is almost too good for words. It's hard. Lots of natural rock gardens, funky lines, and other sorts of punishment. To make it down the upper SSV without breaking something is good news. I was feeling good, but not that good. A few dabs and I was back down to SSV's intersection with Sourdough. It was about 10am by this time. I really still wanted to ride Buchannan Pass today, too, but made a mental note that I had to be back to Beaver Res Road by 10:30 for that to happen. Otherwise, I wouldn't have time to climb to the Wilderness Boundary and back again. I made it to the road by 10:37 so I figured what the hell.

I think it's also important to note that I had been riding with my Ipod so far that day. As I approached Beaver Res, I had Willie on the jukebox singing "Uncloudy Day." Just as the song ended, the potd quit on me. It'd been a while since the battery recharge so I stuck it in my pocket. I think this was an omen. Just then, it started to rain. heh, heh. Thanks Willie.

I knew I could make it back to the car by 12:30 but I had to boogie. I had my sights set on Coney Creek Road. Let me tell you that all of those babyheads that make up that road don't do anything to make you feel more fresh at the end of along day either.

Finally, the boundary of Indian Peaks Wilderness. From here, a quick descent would bring me to the Buchannan Pass Trail. There's lots of water up there, too. Good thing for all of the foot bridges. To ford the water crossings on the jeep road entails sloshing thru a 20 yard water bog that's about 3' deep. I was happy for the board walks. I was tired so I walked them, too.




Buchannan Pass was sweet and suculent. Definitely worth waiting for. I had to flintstone it thru all of the rocky mazes at the top. I had nothing more to give and was feeling pretty tapped out at that time. Good thing it looked like this.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Buchannan Pass is also one of the wetest trails we ever ride. It doesn't matter what time of year you hit it either, it's always wet. This season seems even wetter so far.

By now it had been raining on and off since Willie left me down on Beaver Res Rd, about 45 minutes. I had never ridden Buchannan Pass in the rain, though, so I guess it was about time. It was good. I managed to make it down to the upper trailhead by the time the thunder got too loud. A few more minutes and I was back to the car.

I got a little muddy on that one.

I felt pretty wiped out but not as much as I thought. I was also happy with how I rode. When I was adding up the ride last night, I figured it would take me about 6 hours. My late start meant I had to bust it to get the ride done. I kept the snackin' and the breaks to a minimum and rolled in at 12:15 on the nose. 5 hours! I was pretty stoked to beat my forecast.

If anyone has read this far, remember the Big Fall Ride that I try to do every year? It's coming up and it's going to be bigger this year. 5 hours just isn't long enough :)