Tuesday Ride Schedule

Tuesday 8/16 - I can't lead the ride but I'm sure others will want to ride at 5:30. If any parents of school age kids want to ride after the back to school meeting, charge up your lights so we can still ride!

Tuesday 8/23 - anyone have suggestions? We haven't been to Ned in a while, or maybe we could do Lion Gulch?

Tuesday 8/30 - Trail work on Picture Rock. Ride in around 5 and we'll work til dark. We'll be working near the quarry.

Tuesday 9/6- open to suggestions

Tuesday 9/13 - This will be our annual RMNP cross bike ride. Up Fall River Road and down Trail Ridge Road. In the dark with a full moon. Should be sweet.

That's the calendar as far as we've got it figured out. Try to make it for one or all of the rides!

News is news

Longmont bike night is this week, with movies both on Thursday and Friday!

http://longmontbikenight.blogspot.com/

They'll be showing Ride the Divide at the Dickens Opera House on Thurs. Bicycle Dreams will be shown Friday at the Vance Brand auditorium. Dickens Opera house is a pub and Vance Brand is a school, so you can, uh, guess what that means. Help these boys out, proceeds go to Bicycle Longmont goodness.

How's this sound like for a fun race, Crusher in the Tushar. Damn that looks fun. And hard. Could be good preperations for Gravel Worlds 2011, if you're into that kind of gravel grinding pain.

Tuesday ride is coming up. How about a little of this?

Bike shop at 5:30 and we'll drive from there. Bring lights, it's going to get dark.

Tuesday Ride 3/1

This will be our Happy March Day ride. After this Tues, we'll only have 2 more Tuesday rides at 6pm. DST starts on 3/13, so after that, we'll be meeting up at 5:30 to make use of more daylight.

How about this week we head down south of Boulder-town to check out the Dirty Bismark loop? Sounds like it's a mix of singletrack and wide bike path but we haven't been down that direction in a while. Who's in?

Or would you rather go to Left Hand?

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...

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday!

Boulder Mountainbike Alliance is a great organzation. We like BMA and think you should, too.

BMA is our regions mountain bike trail advocacy effort. BMA offers a united voice of mountain bikers for municipalities and land managers to hear, their trail work efforts have dedicated hundreds upon hundreds of community service, and they promote social rides for riders of all abilities. The management of BMA comes from a group of extremely dedicated mountainbikers and some of them have been at it for 20+ years.

Redstone would like to offer our thanks to BMA as well as our full support. In light of that, we will be supplanting our normally scheduled Tuesday Ride next week (1/11) with BMA's party to launch their new logo, new website, and membership drive.

Details for the party are here.

Hopefully we'll see some of next Tuesday at Avery's Brewery in Boulder!

We're not in Summer anymore, Toto

A few pics from last nights Tuesday ride. Slush and snow above 8500' or so and perfect dirt down lower. Winter's coming.

Tuesday Nite Smoke Recap

Last night, hoping to escape the fire smog belched forth from the Boulder/Fourmile Fire, we headed west and up to Miller Rock. It didn't help. We parked by Raymond only to see the smoke haze settling down into the canyons surrounding us. Despite the risk to our lungs, we opted to ride to the top of Miller Rock to see if we could see any fire activity from there. Miller Rock is one of the best views in this part of the front rage. 100 degree panoram from the Front Range to the Continental Divide. I was looking forward to the view.

It's a long technical jeep road climb up. Chad was rockin' on the ss, as usual.



Long and steep. And sorta technical. And long and steep.

The view from the top of the rock.
At the time, I thought the view was kind of a bust. No flames, no orange, nothing. That's a good thing, though. The smoke settling provides a far off serene sense compared to the raging blaze below. It was definitely a unique experience.

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.

Solstice Ride

Thanks everyone for coming out on our annual Sourdough Solstice ride! What a great turnout, too. We found some narrow techy stuff.


And we found some dark.
South St Vrain trail at night is a force to be reckoned with. Great stuff, though.

Tuesday ride and other stuff

So, what does everyone think of the recent trailwork on Picture Rock?
I think it turned out pretty good. All told, we donated approximately 50 labor hours! Thanks everyone that came out. We'll have another Tuesday nighter trailwork in July and probably one in August, too.

This Tuesday, 6/22 will be our annual Summer Solstice Tuesday Ride. Bring lights that are charged and ready to ride for a couple hours, food and beer. It's not likely that we'll make OB in time. Tell the wife and kids you'll see them in the AM - it's going to be a late one. We'll be driving up to Camp Dick and doing 3 to 4 hours up there. Get ready - we're going to hit some tech. SSV at night?

You want more LHC, I give you more LHC!

To start off, here's a few shots of last weeks pain and suffering, before the fun parts started.

And then the fun started. Dropped right into the main funnel of all the big drainages at LHC. Wet and rocky. And steep.

Figuring we'd head to Left Hand one more week before heading a little farther up, I went out to do a little more recon today. Ended up hiking quite a bit. Good views for sure. Gives perspective on the steepness.
weeeeee!
Open and legal baby.

Tuesday. Ride. 5:30 at the shop to caravan or 6pm (ish) at the LHC OHV entrance, lower parking lot. Hopefully the last LHC ride we'll have for a while. :)

Tuesday is on!

(clicky on pic)

This Tuesday will be the last time we meet up at 6pm for a while. Next week, 3/14 is Daylight Savings Time so we'll be starting at 5:30 after that so as to maximize daylight. I know it's a pain for some of you but we'll need to make use of all the daylight we can until the fall :)

Anyways, thinking of either Left Hand or riding some snowpack west of the Peak to Peak again. Thoughts?

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.

Tuesday ride/adventure

Call me crazy and tired of this winter weather. In complete denial of reality, let us plan to head to the peak to peak area and cross our fingers for packed snow. Somewhere. Bunce? Sourdough? I don't know what all well find, but adventure will be guaranteed.

Tuesday Ride Recap

Last night on our weekly Tuesday niter, we realized that it's still possible to get over 1800' of climbing without leaving town! Up and down some neighborhood county roads a couple of town roads and the Lyons Ghetto Singletrack yeilded about 1900' of climbing in an hour and a half. I'm whoopeed from doing it on the singlespeed. Great rides are still possible even in suboptimal conditions, eh?



Also doubles as a tow rope for when it breaks! Thanks for the photo Keith. It was quite a tow up to Chad's house. I ran out of gas and only made it about 1/2way up the last hill. Maybe that's why my legs are tired?

Tuesday was on

Even with Dave out on vacation 4 of us still managed to get out tonite. Chad, chris l, bstiff, and I hit the locally famous Lyons ghetto singletrack. Chad "Blaze" Melis led up the crew and took us on a ride that covered the old town, northside, and southside. We all rode our singlespeeds except for bstiff on his wannabe singlespeed rohloff dos niner. Liked the way we linked up the ghetto- it was different. We also did things differently at OB's and ordered shots of maker's. Warmed that belly up quick.
No pics from tonight- but I did double dip today. I headed down to Pueblo South Shore where the trails are dry. Digging the Pueblo trails, especially during this snow spell. Trails were pretty much bone dry except for the north facing canyon innards. I liked the set-up; good mix of beginner, intermediate and advanced trails in this 30+ mile stacked loop network. Spreads folks out. Diverse too- ranged from short steep rocky technical to buff fruita like singletrack. Could bring any bike from your quiver and be content. Great for singlespeed rigids too. Definitely would go back to master some of the technical lines. The turner sultan did well today. I recently replaced the pads on my formula oro biancos with the formula brand sintered pads (this is what came with biancos originally). Nice to be back on an awesome pad again. Previously went with a cheaper brand-ceramic pad, and the difference in feel and stopping power is significant.


Trail conditions- this trail had the most snow about 1/2" of packed powder
Shot of Hooter's-

Rolling singletrack, unfettered vista of the mountains in the west

Last Tuesday ride of '09 this Tuesday!

Tuesday, 12/22, 6pm at Redstone Cyclery. 1st ever White Elephant 6 pack exchange and bike ride. The name says it all. Start at 6pm and bike ride follows. Then Oskar Blues follows that.

Rules are - 6 Pack absolutely REQUIRED for attendance. There must be 6 beers - good, bad, mixed, whatever. Make sure the 6 pack is wrapped up, too. Um, that's the rules so far. I reserve the right to alter/create rules at my own will.

Bike ride will be ghetto singletrack around Lyons. Lights required for bike ride!

Last Tuesday Ride of the Year 12/22

Prior obligations have me out of Tuesday rides this Tues (12/15) and maybe out on 12/29 so the Tuesday of next (22nd) week is going to be our last Tuesday Nite Ride of the year. We're riding regardless of conditions so stay tuned for our destination.

We're also going to have a gift exchange that nite , but this one's actually going to be fun. Get ready for the first ever Redstone Cyclery White Elephant 6 Pack Exchange! Here's the rules:

Bring a 6 pack of beer to the bike shop before the ride - they don't even have to match, it just has to be 6. Good beer, crappy beer, whatever. I'm sure we'll have a good variety. That's the only rules I have so far. Maybe we can make up more as we go along. Be prepared - it's going to be huge.

brr

I love Tuesdays. They're one of my favorite days of the week. Especially on days like this one. It was cold, but it was also time to ride. Tuesday Night Ride was on point!

Paul was bundled up for the .1 degree weather.

Some of the riding was good snow.
Some was packed and snowed upon foot prints and tough to ride thru.
And I had no idea that some would be 6"+ deep. But it was fun. And it made you work hard enough to stay warm. Sort of.

Speaking of warm, beards are good.
Kind of like a sweater for your face. But insulated with an igloo. A form fitting face beard sweater igloo. Cozy. We managed to actually get in about an hour and a half. Some folks were freezing by then and some weren't. I was toasty warm with my Pearl Izumi Amfib gloves and my GTX Barrier boots. There's a lot of great apparel companies out there, but it's tough to beat Pearl for winter gear. Even though Chris and I were still good, we caved to the demands of our frozen brothers, called the ride, and headed back to the shop.

But wait! The fun didn't end there. Bstiff met up with the crew (cause he's smart enough to not ride in sub zero temps) and we headed to Oskars. Everything was fine and dandy until the manager started bringing out dishes of ice cream. First was Mama's Yella Pils caramel. Pretty good but not enough pils and too much carme. Then there was Old Chub, Velvet Elvis, and Ten Fidy ice cream. Last was some vanilla/oreo ice cream with wort from Dale's mixed in.

Yummy. We decided that our favorite was the Fidy ice cream. Vanilla with overtones of coffee and chocolate with a touch of beer taste. Yummy.

But wait, that's not all. Eat the ice cream now and you get a plate full of caramel apples. Oh yeah! We'll be back!

Night Riding is Good Riding

Glad we got out right before the snow hit! There were flurries here and there on the trail last night, but that's it. The ride ended up being another darn near perfect conditions night ride at Left Hand OHV. 14 riders represented and toughed out the steep and tech terrain. We did our normal 2 lapper. Lap one was up to 5 points and beyond to hit the new singletrack, 845. Troyboy's first time down and he loved it.
Thanks to all the riders that have been getting on 845 recently. It's getting worn in and turning into a heckuva fun trail.

Back up to 5 points for lap #2 after that. It was nice to see some OHV educational signage on the kiosk at 5 points. Keep those roads narrow!
Loop #2 up Fireman Hill and down 842/841 did not dissapoint, as usual. And noone fell off any cliffs last night, too, which was good.

Oskars never dissapoints either :)
Thanks for the ride everyone. We'll figure something out for next week. Might be LGS on the SS.