Fat Tire Fest 11 this Saturday!

Wow, 10 years have already gone by and we're ready for another. What started as our housewarming party with friends and bike rides has turned into an annual event. An event that I really look forward to every year, an event that, to me, really signifies the start of the Spring/Summer season. Lyons Fat Tire Fest 11 is upon us.

I also look forward to the recon missions every year. That's when I get to ride a lot of the route at my pace, by myself. This year, though, I had my trusty companion, Bella, along for the ride. She says you're going to love it.

Fortunately, on our big Saturday ride, you'll get to avoid this road.
And you'll miss this view.

But you'll get this. You'll come up thru it. This gate is about 1/2 way on a 45 minute long hike a bike. You heard that correctly. 45 minute rock scramble. It's not mountain biking unless you're hiking, right?

Same route as last year, too. That means we'll have at least one more mandatory hike a bike. I'm still tossing around ideas to make it harder, too. Because of this:

The USFS has graded the shit out of the road. It used to be a relatively modest novice+ jeep road, but it's been graded enough for a logging truck to pass. That's ok, though, it'll be a good long rest section.

Oh, and don't forget, we're going to throw in quite a bit of singletrack, too. Stuff that most folks don't know about or haven't ridden. Not because it's super secret or anything, it's just out there. Way out there.

Couple of last disclaimers:
We'll be doing a lot of hiking.
Probably hiking thru some snow.
We'll probably get rained on.
The absolute steepest and most technical riding is at the very end. When you're tired.
Pretty much everyone blew sky high last year 90% into the ride.
If at least a couple people aren't using my name in vain by the end of the ride, the ride wasn't hard enough.

We'll have a B ride option for those of you wise enough not to partake in an all day sufferfest. Both rides meet at the shop at 8:30am on Saturday. The B ride option will be a point to point, so it'd help quite a bit if a few folks could bring vehicles that'll make shuttling easier. thanks!

Yep, that about covers it.

Lyons Fat Tire Fest 11!

This year is going to be pretty low key. Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. 8:30 at the bike shop. We'll be doing the same 2 rides we did last year. Big ol ride and a not so big ol ride.

Last year, our big ride was a giant loop, about 35-40 miles and around 7000' of climbing. Lots of hike a bike and lots of technical descending. The shorter ride gets almost all of the good descending and is mostly hike free. It's a point to point that'll be around 3-4 hours.

Here's more info and a signup on Facebook. Hope to see you out!
http://www.facebook.com/redstonecyclery#!/event.php?eid=211159215584707

Tuneup ride

Got a ride in today. A good one at that. I was doing a little preriding for our 10th Annual Lyons Fat Tire Fest this weekend. Had to make sure everything was at least moderately dry, right?

Skies were ominous. Seeing this at the trailhead as you're just heading out is not always a great sign.

Hit some connector singletrack
Saw some good views.
Did a little road riding. It was pretty windy and I got snowed on a couple of times. Cold, brrr.
It's not a mountain bike ride unless you're hiking, right?

Bacon makes a good trail snack.
Saw some really good singletrack.
Did I mention really good singletrack?
Ahhhh, singletrack.
5 hours later back at the team vehicle.

something for Friday - shots from this years Fat Tire Fest

So, the 9th annual Lyons Fat Tire Fest is dead and gone. And good times it was. Here's a few random shots, mostly from the Deathmarch on Crosier Mt.

great tuesday nighter

Thanks everyone for coming out. I think that ride, to this day, was the least carnage or mechanical filled Tuesday Nighter at Lion's Gulch yet. Only 1 minor mechanical and 2 flats and we were even out by dark. dang. We'll have to try harder next time.

The climbing was tough



There was a good, not oft ridden meadow


and some fun desceding


Jen G takes one of the hard sections and makes it look easy.

What I like Best about the Fest

I know everyone is checking in for photos of this weekends festivities and they'll be up soon. Although it is centered around the riding, this weekend's fest was also about the riders and the people. The people that made the riding great, the people that make the town great and everyone else that came out or helped out. Thanks for another kickass Fest!

9th Annual Lyons Fat Tire Fest is next weekend

Well, the title says it all. Get ready to have some fun next weekend. Friday after work bike polo, Saturday group rides, Sunday poker run.

We've got camping lined up, too so email lyonsfattirefest@gmail.com for details.

Check the site at
www.lyonsfattirefest.blogspot.com

B(eeeeeer) Ride

Yeah, it's late, but here it is:



Dave entrusted me to lead the B-ride for the fest this weekend - I royally screwed it all up. Noone got lost. Noone blew up. Noone was cursing me. I forgot a cooler of beer for the end of the trail (at least someone else remembered, thanks Tree)

At least we had fun, and first dibs at the keg, which was empty by 10pm.

Sweet singletrack.



Climbing and enjoying the view.



Racing through the meadows to the top of Lion's Gulch



A shockingly good time.



There's more pictures over here.

Lyons Fat Tire Festival 2008 Video

Thanks Dave. May we have another!

Fat Tire Fest 08 "A" recap

Jesper starteed the day off with a new bike. A magic bike. Pretty much as soon as our feet hit the pedals, we started climbing. 6 miles on the road followed up with as many more on jeep road climb. Some steep and technical, and other parts looong and gradual.

Everyone was feeling pretty good and riding well at this point, roughly 1.5 hours in. Still climbing.

The road rolled up and down before spitting us out to the western reaches.

Where we found some more climbing.

The day started wearing down on us, breaking us. It's not a mountainbike ride unless your hiking.


We did manage to find a beauty of a spot for lunch. Georgeous meadow, fantastic views, and full sun. The snowflakes had quit blowing around mysteriously by this point.

Ah, snacktime. Gotta celebrate Lyons proper, now :)

After lunch, there was some descending, and a bit more descending. Loooong steep and fast sections of rock, rut, and root covered double track descent. Snow and water crossings, too. Too fun to stop for pictures. And then there was a flat. First one of the day, too. Not too shabby.

At least it was a good place to stop, take in the scenery, and snap a pic or two.

Then there was more climbing. It's not mountain biking unless you're hiking.



Finally, the singletrack. An all too brief descent followed up with some more climbing.

Hot damn, that last singletrack climb was followed up with one of the most well rounded, fantastic descents on the northern front range. Again, too fun to stop for pics except at the bottom. Not the foundation. This was our first homestead stop on the tour.

We had a few bail out at this point. One with a destroyed bicycle (it really was a fun descent), one with fuel reserves almost tapped, and one wanting to have enough energy to really enjoy the final descent. We took a brief tour of a few more homesteads. It was then that I heard my first and only disparaging comment. "More climbing? sheesh." Or something like that. It was worth it for the final descent, a trail that makes men of men and can bring other riders and bikes to crumble.

Rocks

and steeps

and water crossing
But we all made it out alive. Another 2.5 miles back down the paved road and we were back at the car. Stats were something to the effect of 6,000 feet of climbing in just shy of 32 miles. Good stuff! Smiles were seen all the way around as folks loaded back up to head back down the hill towards Lyons. After all, the day wasn't over. We had grills to stoke and a keg of Dale's Pale Ale to look forward.

Thanks all for coming out the 8th Annual. We'll do it again next year. Stay tuned :)