rockin the crossbah

Got out on the crosser today. What a georgeous day for it, too. Man, there's a bunch of snow out there still. I'd figured I'd see more pavement than I did. I guess you could say I was pleasantly surprised. This shot is of the barren and frozen tundra of Dowe Flats. The wind blowing hard across the snowpacked road created really icey conditions. Perfect for 32c knobbies.

Even got a tad bit of a climb in, too. This is actually a pass called Dowe Pass at 5780'. Guess that's at least a couple hundred feet climb.

And at the top, a good place to take a breather...

It's nice to have a fun guardrailed descent so close, even if it's only a couple hundred feet down. Great descent, though. Especially when the snow is hardpacked and frozen.

Then, it was back to the flats for some more snow flattrackin' action. Totally flat 90 degree corners at speed in packed snow is a delightfull expereince on a cross bike. The views on the way back aren't too bad, either.All in all, it was a great ride. I put off riding because of the cold and ended up being one of those days you only do a couple of times a year. You know, the routes that you only hit those couple of times a year when the snow is packed and temps are cold. The kind that isn't much fun on a sunny summer day but absolutely hits the spot on a cold and wintery one. Today was one of those days.

Indoor racing

And its a dead heat in a zeppelin race.

Yes Virginia, there is a Tuesday ride

The Tuesday ride is on! Meet at the shop at 6pm with lights on your bikes and beer in your backpack. We'll do some ghetto singletrack around town and whatever else is rideable. Who knows, we may ride straight to Oskars. I think SS is appropriate for that challenge.

We got one

Thanks for all your help over the years Dave.

Redstone Represent! It was a great time yesterday.

Great day for racing

That was a mighty damn good time.

I don't think I've seen anyone pass as many people as Melis did today. Damn!

State Cyclocross Championships, Lyons!

Pics now, story later.

Scenery

Mike D

Big Daddy Dale

Whisky Dave, freshly arrived. He took the bus from Denver to Boulder and rode from Boulder. Stud.

Yours truly, er, suffering before the run up.

Melis, on his way to the SS win.

Whisky Dave

Cyclocross. It takes all types.

Pro Women thru the run up and playground gravel pit

Pro men rocking thru one of the fast and fun sections.

Cyclocross Weather is Here!

Conditions in Lyons as of 1:30pm. Currently 3:15 and still coming down hard, too.
We'll be out in full force tomorrow, too, for the 2007 Cyclocross State Championships. Bohn Park. Lyons, CO. Make sure to swing by the Redstone tent and say hello.

41 mpg

Studies show the average American walks about 900 miles per year and drinks about 22 gallons of beer. That’s 41 MPG.

Cool things

Today was a good day. I love when UPS delivers. First box, a little something from Turner to say thanks for '07. I like mud.

Then, just as I started opening the next bike, a couple of cats from DT Swiss walked in. They new I did a lot with DT, so they stopped by to say hey and to say thanks. I asked for a few stickers for my bench, but they schwagged out some socks instead. Nice ones, too. I was in need for some thicker tall boy socks for winter!

Then back to the package at hand. I hadn't had a chance to play with one of these yet...

Cane Creek partnered with suspensi0n legend Ohlins and they have come up with something very sweet indeed. The Cane Creek Double Barrel. If you are the type that really likes to infinitely fiddle with your eqiupment to get that excruciating perfect feel, this is the shock for you.

It doesn't get much more adjustable than this. Fully seperate adjustable slow speed rebound and compression damping as well as high speed compression and rebound damping. Want to tune out pedal bob? OK. Want it to also feel just right on big drops? No problem. Pretty amazing stuff.
Pretty, too :)

New potential colors from Intense

Check the new colors from Intense. These are more or less in a market test stage at this point. These 2 medium 5.5 FROs are the only bikes in these clothes right now (they're for sale with no color upcharge). If folks like the colors, they'll stick, otherwise, they will probably go away. Anyway, check them out.

works black


works blue

Couple more from Tuesdays Debacle

Although the events were definitely not in standard order, we got done all that we needed to get done. beer, food, beer, beer, ride, beer, ride, beer, ride, good views, beer, ride. That pretty much sums it up!

before:


after:

Tuesday Night Ride: Plan C

11 of us arrived in south Boulder to fantastic winds which turned the parking lot into a gravel sand blaster. After taking shelter from the wind behind cars we quickly came to plan B: Southern Sun over some brew & food while we waited for the remainder of the evening to play out. A gooney bird & some Nitro Kind later we loaded the car & headed back to Lyons. Plan C: We stopped at Boulder Valley Ranch to check the wind one more time. Upon further review we decided we would trek back to Lyons & hit the ghetto single track loops that become a staple of winter riding here. What a good time, some small loops through the parks, roads, hiking & some group beer "tasting" sessions. The 4 of us had a good time & were surprised as we rolled into Redstone @ 11:45. Thanks for the good times fella's, sometimes mileage isn't the best measurement. Cheers!

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Cynthia, this one's for you!

http://redstonecyclery.blogspot.com/2007/11/transition-syren-preorder-time-is-now.html

http://www.transitionbikes.com/2007/Syren.cfm

State Cross Championships in Lyons this Sunday!

Hey everone! What are you all doing this Sunday, 12/9? State Cyclocross Championships? yep. Lyons, Colorado? Yep. After finding out a month ago that there was no venue yet to hold State CyclocrossChampionships, the Redstone Crew started a hard rockin' lobbying effort to bring it to Lyons. To say we are stoked would be an understatement. Come out to Lyons this Sunday for some excellent Cyclocross action! Looks like the shop will be closed Sun...

We'll also be looking for some volunteers for Sunday's event. The ball gets rolling at 7am for setup and concludes with tear down that will happen right around dark. If you can help out, shoot me an email (dave@redstonecyclery.com) and I'll help get it coordinated. Let's help make this thing as kickass as we can so we can get it on the regular schedule for seasons to come!

Tuesday Ride, 12/4

We're going way down south this Tues. Well, not WAY down south, but south of Boulder that is. To the HighPlainsMarshallMesaDoudyDrawCowdreyDraw area. Beer consumption will happen at the Southern Sun. This is one for all you southern folk that can't make it up to the North County to ride. Come spin with us. I think the 29er SS is in order.

How about a meetup time of 6:30pm? Where's the best trailhead to meet? We'll shoot for the Lyons Caravan to depart approximately 5:45pm.

wheels new, old, and blue.

The age of the 29er UST is upon us. Say hello to Mavic's new C29ssmax wheelset.
On the official Redstone scale, the front weighed 830g and the rear a very nice 940g. Completely respectufl for big wheels. They appear to be growing on trees at a bike shop near you ;)
Notice the round spokes? A general shop consensus was reached and we already prefer the round over the bladed spokes of the 26" Crossmax.
I got a real beauty in on a trade, too. I have half a mind to keep it but I know I must let it go. It's a great riding little bike, but 46c is too small for me.
Instead, I've got another project to work on this winter. Anybody seen the new ads for Shimano pimping the 25th Anniversary of XT? Here's generation uno, the one and only Deerhead XT. I'll have updates on it's progress over the next couple of weeks.

Pedal Lightly

I love this time of year. Anyone that follows the blog also knows that I love to night ride this time of year. Check this baby out - the new Niterider TriNewt LED. It's brighter and less expensive than Niteriders current crop of HID lights. I've been running a Flight HID for the last few years and the TriNewt blows it away.


Padded zip up carrying case:

Battery, fast charger, light, bar mount, helmet mount, and extension cord

It's hard to believe something so tiny could be so bright.

I also had to put up a pic of the new XTR pedals. This is the latest generation of a long, rich heritage of excellent pedals. Super smooth and easily rebuildable bearings. Adjustable spring tension and excellent wet weather performance. These pedals are as good as it gets.

Town Hall Facelift

Within the last month or so, an amazing opportunity has come before the town of Lyons. A couple of local developers (local as in Lyons area residents) have proposed to build the town a new town hall, new sherriff's office, and new library in exchange for some land. The land in question is where the current skatepark, RTD lot, library, and town hall currently reside. It seemed like a no brainer to the current town board, but since it involves the sale of publicly owned land, state law mandates that it must be up to a vote of the people. Mail ballots were distributed to Lyons residents and are due in by December 11. A vote in favor of this project DOES NOT necessarily mean that the project will proceed. All that a "YES" vote means is that this project can continue on with the public process. Even if voters approve, both the town and the developers can walk at any time. It's a good deal. I don't like to use the expression "win-win", but to put it in other terms, a vote "NO" would be akin to kicking yourself hard in the balls. Here's some pics of what our new town center could look like.

Town Hall:


A new town center/park:

The overhead view. To orient yourself, the new Town Hall would be where the current RTD lot is:

Now just think. Do we want the possibility for town hall to not be the piece of shit that it currently is, or do we want to kick ourselves in the balls? Do we want a library that we can actually take our kids to to enjoy and not feel cramped? Or would we rather kick ourselve in the balls? Would we rather have a new town center at no taxpayer cost now, or would we rather kick ourselves in the balls when we have no choice but to upgrade 10 years down the road at great taxpayer expense?

Plus, one of the 2 developers is a bike rider that averages thousands of miles every year. He's fast, too. And his wife is an ex pro mountainbiker.

Check this for more info - http://www.lyonsnewtowncenter.com/. Be educated and vote to not kick yourself in the balls.

bambi is dead

Thankfully, Bambi was the only casualty this week. No other broken hands or bruised ribs.

Conditions were sweet, too. Thanks to the other restless souls for coming out for a little carnage! :)

Initially, there was enough snow that our options were limited. Everything fun due west of here had too much snow. Today's temps in the high 50s were bound to make mud and ice everywhere if we headed up the hill. Boulder Valley Ranch was very close to being given the nod as the go to spot, but it was so damned windy today, that something out in the open like BVR was out of the question. We decided to try out luck out going west. We also, in what seemed like a wise decision at the time, decided that SS would be the weapon of choice since conditions were bound to suck anyway.

Well, the wind quit blowing around 5:30 and folks started to show up. We took a vote and decided that, while BVR is fun on a SS, it's best saved when it's the absolute only place to go if everywhere else is snowed out. The BVR ride is not entirely boring but, yes, it's pretty much not exhilarating. Anyway, at the last minute, plans were changed and we decided to head south into the heinously steep terrain of Left Hand Canyon OHV. Sprits were mixed as we drove up LHC and saw nothing but piles of snow everywhere. The piles were getting deeper as we headed up the canyon. We found our parking spot and were set.

The spot had snow and frozen puddles all over the place. It was cold, too. Doubt began entering our minds regarding the logic of this decision. Pushing the doubt as far out of the way as possible, the crew headed up the hill and into the forest. The initial singletrack ascent was good but tricky. It demanded dismounts from all riders - the dirt was in prime condition, but the rocks were not! After the singletrack dumped into the main Jeep road, we climbed up the easy road to the first main intersection, at which point we found ourselves ready to climb even more.

We rode a little on singletrack and a little on jeep rd/double track. It was most excellent. After climbing a bit more, we descended Upper Carnage. Did someone come in and rehab/rework this area? There was fencing to keep the 4x4s under control and about half of the really chunky rock stuff was gone. It was still fun but not near as much death defying fun as it used to be. After that, we hiked up Fireman Hill for the last singletrack descent. A real breathtaker, it was, and it only took out 3 of the 8 riders. Extra fun.

Dinner and beers at Oskars were top notch as usual. And they had a few of the specials left :)

This last part I had to share. I started typing this post after getting home from the ride and Oskars. I fell asleep at the computer. Here's what I saw after getting back in to finish this post. heh heh:

'''th 4ht==th l=element has dogs]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

Tuesday Night Ride 11-26

The location of the ride has yet to be determined but it's ON like DONKEY KONG. I made it up the hill today & there was a good amount of snow. We'll have to decide how much we want to hike before the destination is set in Redstone.

If I lived here

I'd likely want a small navy of boats: a sea kayak, a canoe, a skiboat, and certainly a few sailboats for good measure.




It's good to be home. Last thing I need is another hobby.