Big Fall Ride 5 recap

First, a little history. We started the Big Fall Ride several years ago. BFR was set to be the annual end of the season blowout ride/party. I'll never forget the first one. We were to meet up at the world's smallest bike shop, drive up to Peaceful Valley and engage in some epic riding. The day came and I rose early only to find temps in the 50s and constant rain. blech. Out of sense of duty only, I got my gear together and made it down to the bike shop expecting to see no one. Much to my surprise, a handful of hardcore showed up with big smiles ready to ride. Cold rain and all. Exactly my kind of people. Fortunately, the storm was entirely a low elevation event. We drove up and out of the rain to a bluebird day west of the peak to peak. We rode, cooked out, dranks some beverages and pretty much had a grand old time.



Since then, we've had one really disgustingly rainy and cold Big Fall Ride, but for the most part, we've been blessed with great weather. 3 BFRs ago, we found ourselves in a new situation with the creation of Picture Rock at Heil Ranch. I had been dreaming of a big ride that could start west of the Peak to Peak and finish up in Lyons. Big Fall Ride in its current state was born. Since BFR3, we've done some fine tuning and minor tweaks on the route, but it's pretty much stayed the same.

Enter 2010. Big Fall Ride 5. I can't say 5th Annual cause it's not. We skipped a year, 2007, I believe. 8am meetup time. Time to start getting the bikes into vehicles. Uh Oh. Main shuttle vehicle not hear yet. Better LOAD UP the truck!

Turned out to be a thing of real beauty. I love to see a vehicle utilized at maximum capacity.

After some minor delays, it turns out that meetup time really meant 8:45am and our main shuttle vehicle for the day arrived. We got everyone and all the bikes loaded and ready to rumble. Up to the Peak to Peak we went, destination Bunce School Road. Even got to do a little off roading with the shuttle vehicles before we could unload :)



And we were off. Finally pedaling around 9:45ish. And it felt great. Temps were absolutely perfect and the sky looked like something out of a Simpsons cartoon. The colors were going off as well.

Bunce School Road turned out to be a perfect warm up before hitting the technical climbing on Sourdough. Technically, Bunce is a county road, but it sure feels like a USFS jeep road. Someone told a story about witnessing a non Outback Subaru Legacy on Bunce. I would liked to have seen that one.

On thru Peaceful Valley and up Sourdough, which never dissapoints. All smiles.



But then again, there is hiking. It's a tough climb. I used to be able to clean it but it seems like a lifetime ago. I still think it's in me, at least one more time. One of these days. It's not mountain biking unless you're hiking, right?



And then, even though we're climbing, it's all smiles again. Love me some Sourdough.
Just a little bit more climbing...


Then snacktime.


I had received some last minute beta suggesting that the South St. Vrain trail would be closed for tree removal. Kip and I volunteered to scout ahead to check to see if SSV was closed or not. If it was closed, I had a good plan B worked out and wanted to save the rest of the riders the inconvenience of dropping down to SSV, then climbing back out and backtracking. Fortunately, SSV was open for bidness. And what good bidness it was.





Turns out, they had done quite a bit of deforesting but weren't working this day. And that's pretty much all I've got to say about South St. Vrain. Except for the fact that it smelled pretty darn good on account of all the fresh cut trees:)

From SSV, we connected some dirt county roads over to Gold Lake (what used to be a) Resort. I should've taken a picture. The current property owners of the Gold Lake property have put a big ass sign up right in the middle of the road saying no admittance, closed, etc. Don't worry about it. It's just another case of idiot property owners trying to exersise their own domain on public property typical of the BS you encounter around rural Boulder County. FYI, the road is closed (gated) but only to motorized. It's still completely open to non motorized pursuits. We ignored the signs, went around the gate and were on our way. It was time for lunch!

Onward we pressed with Jamestown as our next destination. Some good descending was in store.





I was starting to get a little tired by this point and we still had about 15 miles to go. A little road time first...

Followed by a tiny little scramble up a rock or two...


And it was time for a little more singletrack.

And it was good.


Then a little more time on the road. Despite the fact that it was on the road, at the very least, it was A)downhill, B)fast, C)scenic and well... I guess that pretty much sums up good road riding, right? Only a couple of miles and it was time for our last obstacle, one last park. Heil Ranch. Only about 13 miles to the bike shop! I've said it before. Normally, the climb up Wapiti at Heil is not a biggie, but when you've alreay got several hours, several thousand feet of climbing, and a crapload of miles behind you, it's tough. And it starts with a mile+ on a slightly deceivingly gravel uphill. Before you get to the climb.

Awesome.
But Heil is close. Good singletrack and good views.


And everytime I get to this point

I think, "ahhh, home." I rode on ahead to get the grill setup so the rest of the riders could have some food with their frosty beverages when they were done riding. But some riders were still out and relishing in a day well spent on the bike.

I believe "spent" is entirely a good word.


Big Fall Ride 5 is in the books. What's next? I don't know... Right now, I'm tired, have had too many beers and want to go to bed. All I know is that this was a long post and I think I killed about 50 flies in the bike shop during the time I took to write this. Oh, riding? don't know... Stay tuned!

Extra huge, big, major special thanks to Oskar Blues restaurant and brewery for providing beer and shuttle service. Da' Blues Bus never dissapoints and neither does the beer! You guys are awesome!!!!!

Time to check out Sourdough and SSV

Monday Monday. Good day. Morning spent hanging out and running errands with the kiddos followed by a 3 hour romp in the forest is the recipe for a good Monday.

I'd heard from a few folks that Sourdough was pretty good as long as you weren't near Brainard Lake Road. Same sources also mentioned how absolutely perfectly good lower South St Vrain was. I had to check it out

The bike shop is closed on Mondays which means that's the only day that I can get out for a quality, substantial ride. Another Monday down the drain and today did not dissapoint.

I haven't been on the Sourdough trail since last fall. Like a friend that you may not see often, but is your best bud once you do.


Even though the climbing hurt right out of the gate.

More climbing. I used to call this the burn zone, but I think now I'll call it the new Aspen grove. 10 years ago the area was recovering from a fire and the aspen were only a foot or so tall.



A little descending, a little more climbing, then the view. You know, THE view.


Followed by more climbing. Like a baby's butt, it is.



more baby butt smoove singletrack

The only snow I saw today.


Then it was on to the South St Vrain trail for some quality descending. The SSV creek was freaking raging. Most water I've ever seen in there. It was so deafening it was scary.

Don't be fooled. Not all SSV is like this. But some parts are :)


It's more like this

and this

and this


but it is ALL great. Due to where I parked, I had to follow up all of that nice descending with a 20 minute grunt up a looooong and dusty dirt road. blah.

>And being a Monday, I had the whole place to myself. Saw 2 people the whole day.

Dirty and tired, great way to spend another Monday. Mondays. Excellent.

BMA Sufferfest Recap

Yesterday was the 2nd Annual BMA Sufferfest. A few good peeps from BMA started this ride last year and this year was the same route. Riders would start in Nederland, take a quick tour of the West Mag trails, then back up to Eldora townsite, up 505 road to Caribou, down Rainbow Lakes Road, then north on Sourdough. BMA set up camp at Beaver Res road, but riders had the extra option of doing the Middle St Vrain road and Buchanan Pass trail. I wasn't camping, so I parked at Camp Dick/Peaceful Valley. I planned on riding the 19 miles or so on the road to Ned where I would start the ride. The forecast was for highs in the 50s with a 60% chance of rain. Sufferfest.

Skies were cold and grey, but no precip when I started pedaling at 6:45am. I made it about 5 or 6 miles down the road when Debaser, good friend and Sufferfest volunteer, pulled over on his way to Ned. I hopped in for a ride. I was hesitant at first, but was glad I hopped in 2 miles later when the vehicle started to get rained on! Finally made it to Ned with time for coffee and a breakfast burrito at Happy Trails.

Despite the chilly and damp weather, there was a strong turnout. By this time, the rain had let up and the skies were cloudy and gray.

The initial tour de West Mag was great. The trails were in great shape and the dirt was perfectly tacky. We rolled out of West Mag and up the road to Eldora townsite. I had never been on 505 and was eager to get up to Caribou. Skies were holding. The view was great. You can see Eldora ski resort at the top hiding in the clouds.



The climb up 505 was a tolerable 2000' gain on a pretty good jeep road. We rode thru a little rain here and there and a little snow here and there.


So far, conditions were good. We rolled out of Caribou and down to the southern Sourdough trailhead.

After starting the climb on Sourdough things started to get bad. It started with a light drizzle, but quickly turned to wet snow. I was happy to have left my Swobo woolie on. I had a shortsleeve baselayer on underneath. So far that combo was great. I love the natural ability of wool and I especially love my Swobo wool top. I was still relatively comfortable on my upper body. My gloves and shoes were totally soaked though, and I was starting to get chilly.


Further up the climb on Sourdough and conditions were getting more miserable. Sufferfest.


I quit taking pics at this point. My gloves were completely saturated, my shoes and socks completely saturated and I was starting to loose feeling in my extremeties. For the remainder of the ride, I was relegated to taking turns between running and riding. It's a good trick. Running helps get your circulation going. After 5 minutes or so of running, I could start to feel my toes. By now the weather was full on in suckville. Thunder, lightning, and snow dumping down. Sufferfest. Finally made it to Beaver Res road where BMA had officially called the ride. I don't think anyone was up for Buchanan Pass at this point. I stopped for just a bit, just enough to down a mug of hot cocoa. My feet and hands warmed up nicely. From here, I still had to go north to the car but it was all downhill. That was the worst part, as it turned out. By now the snow had turned to grapple and light hail. The trail down to the car was the most technical of the day. I couldn't feel my extremeties again because the trail was 1-2" deep water wherever the trail could hold it. The water was cold, too. It was just about ready to freeze over by the time I'd ride thru it.

Well, I guess that's about it. I was mildly hypothermic by the time I got to the car. Took me about 5 minutes struggling with the clips to get my backpack off. Even longer to take my shoes off. Good stuff. This ride was definitely a character builder, one that I'll look back on fondly after I've forgotten the pain. That ought to take a couple of years. Sufferfest. I'll be back next year.

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.