3 days in Keystone Day 1

Thanks to my awesome wife, we were able to stay in Keystone for 2 nights and 3 days this past weekend!  Ride plans?  Definitely.  Day one was Saturday, which was "my day."  All day.  Yes.  Bike of choice?  My Intense Carbine.  Carbon, light, stiff, super responsive, and 6" of buttery suspension in the back.  And a great climber.  The Carbine is probably my favorite bike of all time and an excellent all arounder.  I couldn't think of a better companion on a journey of this magnitude.  Epic trails and epic adventure were calling my name.

REEBin' it up in the desert down south

Having heard so many great things about the Pueblo Reservoir and having never been there, the powers that be decided it was time for a REEB Cycles road trip to the south!  Thursday pm, 4 of us loaded the car with REEBs, several cases of beer, good attitudes, and a serious desire for some Colorado desert riding.

Given that, it should probably go without saying that we all woke up early Friday with thundering headaches and a lot of empty Dales Pale Ale cans.

Been a long time update part uno

Things are starting to take a seasonal turn towards the not super busy (but also not super awesome) months.  argh.  I guess that means I'll have a bit more time for blogging, be that better or worse.  I was just reading the Redstone Underground blog and saw that it didn't cover a LOT of the fun stuff we did this summer. How about some highlights?

Montana road trip was great.

Later in the summer, we rode from Eldora Ski Resort outside of Nederland to Winter Park,

had beers and lunch in WP, took a lap on the ski lift to get a downhill run in.

 and then rode back to Eldora.

 On the same day.

Now THAT was a good ride.  I think we were good for 11 or so hours after all was said and done.  When we say "long day in the saddle," that's generally the kind of ride we're looking for.

Got in a road trip to Nebraska to see some family.  And some uber sweet awesome dirt tight and twisty lovin kind of singletrack.

Believe it or not, those pics were taken about 1/2 mile from where I grew up.  It's 9 miles of singletrack bliss surrounded by suburbiaville.  The locals say, "ah, it's ok, it's all we got."  I say, "it's buttery top notch singletrack."





Oh, can't forget BMA's sufferfest.  That was a killer day in the saddle, too.  Big ride with lots of climbing and other fun stuff.

 That ride had lots of hard climbing.

 But it was worth it.  What a great day.

Hmm, let see what else?  Got a doggie in March, Bella the Heagle.  Part Heeler, part Beagle, all awesome.  And awesome trail dog, too.  Bella and I got more than a few hours in.  Couple of loooong ones too.  She'll go longer than I will, that's for sure.  Yo Bella!

That's all I got for now.  I'm going to finish this beer and head to bed.  Part II will be coming soon.  Really!

mother of god I found me a gnarly trail

If you've been following this blog, or if you've ridden with any of the Redstone crew, you'd know that I like difficult trails. I'm not talking about the double black diamond wooden structure "freeride" stuff you find at the resorts, I'm talking about anything you'd normally find in the USFS backcountry. Heck, no problem if you can't ride them - no shame in hiking up or down. Tough trails are generally more fun. I generally don't discriminate against steep trails. Steep trails are fun.
With that knowledge, I went to one of my semi regular riding spots to check out some new riding I've been hearing about. I didn't know what I'd find, but I knew that on the map, those contour lines were pretty darn close to each other on the descent as well as the climb out. To add to that, they were past the "top" and down the other side. It could (and probably would) mean a long hike out with no other bailout options.

Climbing up, I pretty much always stop for this view.

Finally at the top, I see that a trail/road that's been around a while has been recently signed. Good. This would be my way out. I had the feeling that I was descending into a hole and climbing back out.

After some more climbing, I found my turn off. It was marked well. Very well.

The views were amazing from the get go. I lowered my saddle and was off. The pic doesn't do it justice, but it was, in places, frighteningly steep.

With more than a few precipitous sections. Super slack angled dh bikes rejoice.

Other parts of the descent were narrow and fun.

Even found grippy dirt in a couple of spots. Unfortunately, the sweet spots were very shortly lived. Too shortly lived. After the fun and swoop, another churned up super ass steep switchback awaited.

As it turns out, I did have to hike out. Pretty much 95% was a hike. About 900' vertical. Here's a shot looking back at the switchback I just climbed out of. One section was so steep hiking out that I had to use my knee for traction up. sheesh.

I finally made it out and back tot he top just as it was time to click on my light. Whew. I don't think I wanted to go poking around exploration style on a badass hike a bike in the dark.

Night riding is good, isn't it?

Just to give perspective, here's the Google Earth shot of that crazy descent. Did I mention that it was also on the top/side of a cliff. Yep, pretty steep. I ended up walking a whole bunch of it. It was super hard, super steep, and I value my life.

It's the type of trail that I normally would still ride if it was worth getting to the bottom of, but it just wasn't. Get to the bottom turn around and hike 900' back out. No thanks. Now here's the part that really gets me.

The Forest Service gets their panties in a bunch if they find an illegal/social trail, despite how well made the trail is. They could come across a beautifully built chunk of singletrack and immediately want to close it strictly because it wasn't their idea. I understand due process and all and I'm not disagree-ing. There is, however, a reason for that due process. It's so that the public can have input on the trail, hopefully insuring that it will be a well built trail that will see a lot of use. 836 and 837, on the other hand, are completely the opposite. We sat in on several USFS meetings regarding this particular area and we lobbied for the expansion of new and sustainable singletrack. After the public process was done, the USFS agreed to build 1 new trail in an area that didn't make sense. After all of that public process, we get these 2 new trails. A) they weren't on the original agenda (not that big of a deal) and B) they have to be the crappiest built trails I've been on in a long time. How about ripping a moto straight down and back up the fall line? Sure, hyuck, hyuck. I've got a throttle, make that shit steep. See the sign? The one that says if motos can't stay on the trail, it'll get closed? Guess what? It's so steep and piss poorly built, that it's only been around less than a year and it's already starting to get really braided in spots. It's not irresponsible users, it's that no mind was paid when it was laid out. I'll be surprised if it doesn't get closed to motos sooner than later. I'm all about sharing the trails, but we've got to use our brains here. Moto folk, that means you, too. At the very least, when it gets closed to motos, we can show Ed how to reroute the trail to make it sustainable and we can take it over then.

All in all, it wouldn't be a bad DH bike trail, but hiking out with a 29lb bikewas bad enough. I can only imagine how painful hiking out with a 40lb bike would be. I probably won't hit it again. Well, er, not the same direction anyway. I'm a slow learner, and as such, I'll have to ride it backwards to make sure it still sucks. I'm already thinking about that ride. And, no, I won't be featuring this one on a Tuesday nighter.

Tuesday nigher, hey, that's tomorrow! See everyone at 6...

Another fall trip to the desert

Getting around is a lot easier when there's a custom Tomac bike hauler at our beck and call. That's Matt's Soulcraft Monster cross in the foreground. Big wheels, drop bars, usually fixed but just single this time around. Road everything with it.








Cutting the ribbon on Saturday's long ride. Climbing Petakis in GJ. We went up to the very tip top, and I left my camera in my bag pretty much the whole day.









18 Road goodness. Camped there, so rode it a lot. Always fun.

Big fall ride, wussy route.

Nice work again, Dave. I can't remember the last time I've covered that much ground in a day. I took next to no pictures yesterday, but I did manage to salvage a few.



Chad - in a rare moment when he's not passing out beers.










And Todd, on the rim trail in lefthand. I'm super glad they've shut down the shooters, as its an excellent little trail.










This is how it looked on the GPS. Even skipping the Gold Lake area and making a beeline for Jamestown, we managed 38+ miles of smiles. The end of the day was my first time on Picture Rock, and its a treat in itself.

BFR3 recap and pics. Lots of pics

Big Fall Ride III. BFR3. This was our 3rd big Fall get together in 4 years. I've been tweaking the course over the last few years to maximize enjoyment and pain. With the Picture Rock trail opening up just a couple of weeks ago, I decided to make real a dream I've had for years. That dream was to start west of the Peak to Peak highway and ride back to Lyons via Heil Ranch on as much dirt as possible.

After lots of routeplanning idea sessions and some good old exploring in the woods, the route was finalized. We'd be west of the Peak to Peak highway for the first few hours then, start ducking down towards Lyons.

As the day crept up, the weather forecast became more shaky. On the eve of the ride, the forecast called for temps in the 50's and scattered showers throughout the day. We were prepared for the worst.

The morning dawned and there was even a bit of sunshine at the bike shop. Spirits were up as we loaded up the shuttle vehicles. At our dropoff destination, though, it was very brisk and windy. Fall felt definitely underfoot. It was as if the first fall weather came along for the ride.

In true DMD fashion, we started right off with the days most demanding climb. Chad nails switchback #1 with perfect form.

The riding was fun after we regrouped. Everyone was itching to get the climb over with and we were riding in a good group.
It didn't take long to get people strung out, though. Especially with features like this. It's not mountain biking unless you're hiking.

But the payoff would come soon enough. Jen's happy to ride across the swamp bridge that BMA built a few years ago.
More forest boardwalks as we got into the days first real descent.
And what a descent it was. You name it, we rode it. Rocky and technical, fast and swoopy, with aspen color galore. Jen was sure happy about it.
And then Shawn found something that wasn't exactly what he planned. Broken shifter. Well, at least it was the left side. Brian came to the rescue with zip ties. Zip ties are the modern equivalent to duct tape. A quick fix and we were on our way.

More descending still. Keith was ripping it up. Notice the smile.

After the descent and requisite rest/meetup break, I noticed that I had popped the bead on my tire. I, of course, didn't notice this until we mounted to ride again, so Keith was kind enough to hang back. Despite the county road, it was typical Colorado Fall beautiful.

Almost to the 1/2way point!
Ah, almost half done. I could think of worse places for a lunch break.
The views were outstanding (thanks E!).

And the sky was looking ominous to the south. We basked in the sun but it wouldn't take more than a small shift in the winds for rain and clouds to blow in. I kept my fingers crossed. So far, the forecast hadn't materialized. It was still 60 and mostly sunny.

We came from the flanks of that baby right there.
There was still more climbing to go. There's alwasy more climbing.
And since we seemed to be staying ahead of our anticipated rains, we even went out of our way to hit the bonus climb. Bonus in the sense that it also made available some bonus singletrack, too.

In a rare photo of himself, Photo Eddie shows how it's done.
Mike shows us that there is still some narrow singletrack on the front range.

And Nate shows that there are still water crossings in October.

We had been descending for quite a while now. Doug flies by us as we stop to fix a pinch flat.
And then it was time to hit the road, Jack. It had just started to rain. We were eager to outrun the weather on the road. We actually, did, too.
But there was still a taste of singletrack before we got to our final dirt.
Not too bad. Jason is showing no sign of wear after 5 hours in the saddle.


Finally. Our final destination and the 6 hour mark. A few souls have peeled off the group by now. We were becoming a shell of the ride group that we started with.

There was pain, but no using my name in vain yet by the top of the last climb. I was a bit dissapointed. But only a bit.
Almost home. Only about 7 miles left to go.
Doug is sure enjoying the new singletrack just minutes from home.
By the end of the ride, Matt was all smiles. Matt's drove 8 hours for this one.
7 hrs and 40 minutes later, we rolled into the bike shop, where we proceeded to scarf brats and Dale's Pale Ale. Almost immediately after we rolled into the shop and fired up the grill, the skies opened up and dumped upon us. Thank you for listening, Rain Gods :) Hope it was worth it, Matt.

Thanks for coming out everyone. I think I have a couple of ideas for next year. heh heh. Be prepared to start a little earlier for an even longer ride!