Summer riding at Eldora?

I just got this info from the BMA newsletter. Check it out!

Eldora Ski Area Master Planning Meeting

TONIGHT

Wednesday Feb 10th 4pm - 8pm
Boulder Library - Canyon Theater
1001 Arapahoe Ave

or

Tues Feb 16th 1pm - 6pm
Eldora Mountain Resort Main Lodge
2861 Eldora Road

Yesterday in the Daily Camera Eldora Mountain Resort ran a ad inviting the public to attend one of three open houses as they seek input on suggestions for facilities and upgrades at the resort. They are also updating their "Master Plan".

Summer programming at Eldora.... if that is something you would like to see develop at this ski area, NOW is the time to communicate that desire.

Unfortunately, summer programming does not seem to be on Eldora's radar at this time. Comments can be submitted online by clicking here, and there is opportunity to ask the ski resort for a summer program that includes cycling. If this is something you would like to see develop at this local ski area, NOW is the time to do it. Expressing that desire in person is likely more effective than submitting comments, but in either case, we suggest that you ask that you be kept up to date with this process and challenge Eldora to consider implementing summer program.

They will never know what we want until we tell them....

the cold is on

Well, there's lots of snow on the ground, it's cold, and all the trails at Boulder Valley Ranch are closed. Anyone up for ripping around Lyons tonight?

winter blues

Snow days aren't all that bad. Good for a lap or 3 around the pump track.

Good for a ride in winter conditions.

Great things really do happen.

A blue bike for a blue day. Perfect.

overhaulin

Sometimes, the best thing to do it take it all apart and start from scratch.

Ask and ye shall receive

Remember the cone zone at the bottom of Hall Ranch and how the trail had widened to an unacceptable and disgusting width? Boulder County OS staff has reworked the trail. They have fixed most of the damage and have given more visual cues of the trails character. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that recent changes at Hall Ranch are a direct result feedback from the mountainbike community.

I was out today. Here are a couple few before and after pics:

Boulder County Open Space doesn't exactly move at light speed on most projects, but I found this to be refreshing. From what I've seen, they ARE listening, it just takes a while usually to get things happening.

Official Tuesday Ride info for 2/2

Tuesday ride heads to the deep south this week. The trails are dry and rideable at Green Mountain in Lakewood so we're making the trek. Let's try to leave Lyons around 5:30 so we can be there by 6:30 and be pedaling soon after that. We WILL NOT be meeting at the Rooney Road parking lot. I've heard info about some break ins and what not so we'll try to avoid that. We'll be meeting some Denver crew down there as well. Meetup point will be:

Ironworks Brewery & Pub
12354 West Alameda Parkway
Lakewood, CO 80228

This way, we can follow it up with brew and food at Ironworks, :)

See you there! We should probably hook up a carpool from Lyons as well as one from Boulder if there's enough folks interested.

Let's plan ahead for next Tues

I hear that the southerners down in the Golden/Lakewood area received very little snow. I have some feelers out right now on trail conditions. Provided conditions are worth the trip, how about making the trek down to Lakewood for a Green Mountain night ride? We haven't done that in a loooooong time.

I think I'm going crazy because I haven't been out in over a week. Due to my addiction and needing a fix, I opened the shop late today so I could at least get 45 minutes on the bike. Well, I was out for 45 but the ride didn't pan out. Good reason, though, as I ran into County Open Space staff at Hall ranch.



Previous posters are right, Hall is a mess right now. It was frozen when I was there so conditions were prime. With the absence of added moisture, conditions should be soft but acceptable for the rock garden. It's a mess because there are sections where the trail is 10+ feet wide.


Antelope is a sheet of ice and will continue to be so for some time.

I talked with the county guy about maintenance and the new "reroute" at the bottom of the rock garden, more specifically, the positioning of the rocks. They are going to look at redoing some of the rocks to A) make them less prone to t-boning and B) help to imrove general flow.


They've also temporarily placed orange cones to keep folks on the trail. They will make it up in the next day or 2 with some equipment to regrade out the ruts on the lower part of the trail. They don't care if you ride when it's moderately soft and a little muddy, but they do care that you stay on trail. I didn't ride in very far. My estimates of trail conditions are based on feedback from county crew workers.

another descriptive pic

I was pretty surprised at the conditions. I haven't ridden off road in about a month. It was good to get out but sad to see what has transpired.

Tuesday Ride?

The south side LGS route is a frozen mess of ice. I missed out on LHC last week so can't speak to conditions. It looks like it'll probably be cold enough by 6 or 630 that Boulder Valley Ranch could be good, too.

Where do y'all want to go?

Weekly Update

Hope everyone out there in bloggerland is doing well. I hope some of you have been getting out to ride. Not on local trails, of course. They're muddier than sh!t. Please stay off of them for a while. Heck, it's only January after all. For that and other reasons, I haven't been riding much at all.

I'll be in the shop until about noon on Tuesday then I'll be out most of the week. I'll be back with normal hours (including the happy one) on Friday. Sorry for the inconvenience - I have to be out of town for a few days with the family. I'll see you when I return.

Feel free to ride on Tues. I'll be there in spirit!

bikes!

Got a couple of very, very sweet bikes that have rolled out the door lately. Check them out.

Brian's Lynskey. Sweet!

check those dropouts, too.

And can't forget about Cory's Intense Tracer VP. Beautiful.

random things

Tuesday ride sighting. Dinosaur tracks?


New Shimano skewer

Paperwork to accompany said skewer. I think it weighed more than the skewer.

Salsa Dos Niner for sale

Got another consignment bike here, a pretty sweet Salsa Dos Niner.

Reba Sl fork
American Classic wheels
Avid BB7 discs
XT and X9 derailleurs
LX crank and shifters.
approximately 25lbs complete. Pretty good for a 29er with a little squish in the rear. Looking for $1600 out of this one. Get in touch with me if you're interested!

Tuesday Ride?

I'm thinking it'll probably be pretty sloppy. Where's do you alls wants to go? 6pm at the bike shop! :)

attention to detail

It matters to me.

2009 Photos

Here's an assortment of my favorite photos of 2009 in no particular order. It's not entirely comprehensive, but I hope you enjoy anyway :)

fundraiser, yo

Kirk Williams suffered a major spinal cord injury at Hall Ranch a month or two ago. He's made progress but, unfortunately, has not recovered from his fall and his insurance isn't covering it all.

From the Full Cycle crew, "On January 20, 2010 at 7:00p.m. at Hapa Sushi on Pearl Street in downtown Boulder, friends of Kirk, Full Cycle, and Hapa Sushi will be hosting a fundraiser in honor of our dear friend, fellow Full Cycle co-worker and mountain biker, Kirk Williams."

If you can make it, that'd be great. Bike peeps, sushi and a good cause. You can check in here to make a donation as well.

You can also check his progress on his blog here.

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?

Great things coming up in ought Ten!

Hope you've got your riding legs under you for 2010. In addition to our weekly Tuesday Rides, we'll be reinstating our Big Summer Rides for this year, too. Only instead of riding June thru October like we did last year, we're going to start in March or April, depending on what's rideable. We'll redo the big ones from last season, including Peaceful Tour of the Dick and the 5th edition of the Big Fall Ride. I've got some good ones in the hopper as well.

The Lyons Fat Tire Fest will be 10 years old this year, too. Woohoo! We'll do something special to celebrate that one. This year will be a little different than last year, but we'll still have lots of good rides and a big ol party lined up for Saturday. The previous 8 years, we did this event on Memorial Day and switched it to the weekend after Memorial Day last year. Any preferences?

Stay tuned. I'll have a tentative ride schedule out shortly!

First Ride of 2010

I had the opportunity to ride on New Years day but I opted out. JRog threw a hell of a party the night before and, even though I spent the evening completely sober ish mostly, I was tired from staying up so late ringing in the new year. I had a chance to ride the bike but I ended up riding the couch instead. And it was good - so good. I can't remember the last time I snuck in a mid day nap and it was quite the luxury. My next opportunity to ride was today and I seized it. My first ride of the new year, 2010.

The day was sunny and in the thirties all morning and early afternoon. On Sundays the shop closes at 3 so I usually roll out around 3:30. Just as the clouds rolled in and started an immensely thick snow shower, the phone rang. It was Chris. "You riding?" "Yep." It was on.

Trail reports suggested that Picture Rock was rideable up to the silo if you stayed on the line of packed snow so we pedaled in that direction. Chris on his On One Inbred singlespeed and I on my GT Peace 9er SS. It turned out to be quite a departure to the riding I had done in Phoenix just a week prior. The rideable line was narrow.



If you strayed, you were in 5-6" deep sticky snow and were out of bounds, the flag was thrown, and you'd have to put a foot down. Sometimes it was harder to get started and we'd end up Flintstoning on a sidehill for a bit. I'm not sure if riding a singlespeed is better or worse in these conditions. They definitely have their plusses and minuses. Only one gear ensures simplicity of thought and reliability of drive train in adverse conditions but it becomes more of a balance and weight dispersion issue when you can't change your mechanical advantage on slick and soft terrain. But they're simple and it makes focus even more necessary.

Big things to ponder now that it is 2010. I was reminded of just how much I loved this trail as a winter wonderland last year. The worn in singletrack is tight. The trails slick and soft conditions mandated maintaining a tight line while riding very loose. It's a good workout for this kind of weather, too. Just enough to keep you warm. We made it up to the Silo before trail conditions deteriorated to an unrideable state.


The descent back was great. Despite the snow and ice, the descent felt criminally fast. Or maybe it was just the bumpy trail and the rigid fork.


Returning to Lyons always feels like home regardless of the approach.


The ride was invigorating and refreshing. And fun. It was just the ride to start off the new year with. Heck, the day's are getting longer. That means it's summer riding season now, right?