go COMBA!

COMBA had a party last night to celebrate being one of the first IMBA affiliate clubs in the country. A few of us from the Redstone crew went down last night to help them celebrate by drinking their beer and eating their pizza. It was like a who's who of Denver/Jeffco area mountain biking. Developmentally, it seems that COMBA is a few years behind BMA but they are working their arses off down there.

It was great times and the fundraiser was a success. Here's a quick pic of COMBA president Terry tossing out some schwag. I even got some socks. Sweet!

Tuesday Nite Action!

I just got back from a tour de LGS and let me tell you it is muddy out there. I don't even think LHC is going to be dry by tomorrow for our Tuesday Ride. Well, when one door closes, another opens. This Tuesday, 11/17, is the day of COMBA's (Colorado Mountain Bike Association) year end fundraiser at Wrigley's Bar and Grill (18200 W Colfax in Golden). The fundraiser/party starts at 5:30 and is $5 at the door. Admission includes all you can eat pizza, mountain bike movies and some schwag giveaways. They are also auctioning off a bike to raise fundage.

I'll be closing the shop down at 5:30 to head down to Goldentown. I've got room for 3 more. Anyone want to go and/or caravan, let me know!

Sunday Snow Day

It was a slow-ish day in the bike shop today. That was good, though, as it let me get a few things finished around the shop. After a few regulars passed thru around closing time, I mustered up enough gumption to get out from behind the counter and outside for a bike ride. I can't say the weather was particularly tempting. It was gray outside, 30 degrees, wet, and just kinda miserable all around. But it was my afternoon to ride (tomorrow, too - woohoo) so I was going to make it happen. A lot of you have heard me say this plenty of times before, but it's plenty true. I think I've ridden more in crappy deplorable conditions more than I ever used to since having kids. When you have time, you have to take it. Sometimes a sanity break is just what the doctor ordered, regardless of what mother nature is up to.

Today was one of those days. I had spent all morning with a full mug so I was warm, caffieinated and ready to roll.

Feeling lazy about future bike maintanence and thinking ease of cleaning, I put pedals on the SS and got it ready to roll. After donning PI Amfib from head to toe, I was ready to head out. It was cold. The original plan was to roll around town on the LGS but I found myself drawn to Picture Rock. It was acceptably good. Conditions were snowpacked and partly cleared. The clear sections were few but actually tacky. Nice.
I had to at least pedal up to the BMA pic-a-nic table. I heard that the benches were a recent addition so I had to check them out. The snow on the table paints a pretty good picture of the snowfall, too. Apparently, all the other users of the trail in the snow (1 bike, couple of hikers) decided to turn around at the table as well.
There were no tracks past the pic-a-nic table, but I forged on.
I didn't make it very far past mile marker 2. Oh, by the way, Boulder County installed all of the mile markers to make it safer and easier for rescue efforts and trail work. nice. Past mm2, the snow was firm, wet, thick, and not easily travelled. This is as far as I made it.
The descent to Lyons was a fast slip slidery good time. I'm glad I got out.

Wonder where I'll go tomorrow?

Tales from the Laudramat/Wow is all I can say

With crappy weather impending, today was destined to be a slow day. Earlier today before the precip started, a man rolled up on a motorcycle with a bag full of clothes heading in next door to do some laundry. After he got his load started, he came into the bike shop to shoot the breeze. No biggie, happens all the time. As we started talking, he told me that he'd been spending the night up in the forest with some buddies. He left his duffel bag outside overnight and woke up with a couple inches of snow on the ground so he needed to do laundry. Pretty nondescript guy riding a 15 year old Kawasaki street bike. We got talking awhile and it sounded like this guy definitely knew his way around a bike. He said he'd been racing speedway, short track, and TT motorcycles his entire life and had made a living as a professional dirt track motorcycle racer. There's not too many folks that can earn a living like that so he was quite interesting to talk to. I didn't ask many questions, just listened. I started riding motorcycles when I was a kid and had many motorcycle heroes growing up. We talked about Malcolm Smith (Tomac owner Joel Smith's father), who was one of his peers from days gone by. As it turns out, this fellow was also in the movie "On Any Sunday" as well. He was very modest and only mentioned that he was in the movie as a bit part because he was part of that scene. He was a fascinating guy to talk to with lots of great stories. He kept popping in and out as he would go next door to check on his laundry. Before he left, he asked if he could hop on my internet. He brought up a web page and asked me if I could please look at it after he left. He was planning on heading to Boulder, riding up to Ned, then to Estes and back down 36. I told him that he would encounter crappy weather on the Peak to Peak, but he wasn't concerned - said he was prepared for anything. He was extremely modest and didn't even give me his name. He walked out, started up his bike and got his laundry loaded up. Then he then turned, helmet on, and walked back into the shop. He said he wanted to introduce himself but didn't want to create a scene because of his fame. He reached out his hand, shook mine, told me his name, and I think I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. The man - Jay Springsteen - one of the winningest motorcycle racers in US history.



It was a real pleasure Jay. Thanks for spending your day in the shop and be careful out there.

brrr. Or is that burr?

Brought to you by our weekly Tuesday night ride. Every Tuesday at 6 :)

Intense Tracer 29!

Here's some shots of Intense's latest creation, the Tracer VP 29. Jeff Steber, headman at Intense has been riding this prototype for a bit. Looking at April availability and pricing will be the same as the 26" Tracer VP.

Here's the highlights from Intense...
• Tapered head tube 1.5” lower & 1.125” integrated top.
• 135mm spacing.
• Adjustable travel from 5” to 5.5”. 7.875” x 2.25” shock. Travel has no effect on geometry.



• 73mm BB width, ISCG-05 tabs are machined with the BB shell (1 pc).
• Easton EA-6X tube set. Monocoque top tube.



• Weight @ 7 lbs w/ rp23 (Md size).
• Front der. compatible. Cable guides for dropper style seat post
• Accepts full-length seat post. Next generation VPP linkages for even better pedaling efficiency. Angular contact bearings and zerk fittings on lower link.



*Setting forward into our latest 29” wheeled bike, the Tracer 29 gives all the benefits of big wheels and VPP with the benefit of long travel. This bike has a more relaxed geometry over the Spider 29. Perfect for an Epic ride or a local trail.
Settings:
• Optimal sag @ 30%. Travel change does affect leverage ratio, so sag will need to be adjusted accordingly. Top hole 5.5”, bottom hole 5”.
Options:



• Color ways; Intense Red, Stealth Black, Works/Raw, Apple Green

good day to ride

Mondays are always good days. Today was no exception. I found myself short on time so I rode up the frontside of Hall and back. The rock garden was in great shape. Seriously - it was almost perfect.


All was good until I got up almost to the top. WTF was this?

I wonder who built this line? I'm guessing it's a line that the county built because equestrians bitched that they couldn't ride up the rock. Just a guess, though. I'll find out more so I can bitch about it later with solid facts under my belt. But I won't complain for now :)

Can't wait for downtown Lyons to get repaved!

See all of you for this Tuesday nite's ride. LHC, can't wait. heh heh.

Tuesday Ride 11/3

Now that DST is over, we'll be meeting up at 6pm. No sense trying to chase the daylinght now that there's not any. Needless to say, all rides will be lights mandatory until, we'll, Spring.

This week we're hitting Left Hand OHV. It'll be steep and icy and a total crapshot but we're going to hit it anyway. Uber steep jeep road climbs that will make you hate life, followed by steep fast descents that make you forget at least just a little bit of the climbs :) But not all.

USFS Open House for Motorized Use next Wed

OK, listen up here. The Boulder Ranger District of Roosevelt National Forest is holding a Motor Vehicle Use Management Open House next Wed at the BRD head office on 28th and Yarmouth. The open house will run from 3-7pm.

There will be no decision making or policy deciding at this meeting. What this meeting seeks to achieve and why you should go:

This meeting will be a factual/technical open house featuring the off road opportunities around Jamestown and Left Hand Canyon. They will be presenting a map of all off road/OHV opportunities both legit and social. The open house is strictly for verification purposes only, ie is this road or trail really there? From that point, USFS will use this base map for future management. Bottom line is that we should be in tune with what's going on up there.

I'll keep you posted as I know more. Go to Open House and get a map. We'll go from there.

2009 GT blowouts

We just got an overstock list from GT and thought we'd post a few up here. If anyone is interested, these are 2009 closeouts and turnaround time is about 1 week...



Chucker 1.0 Matte Blk/Matte Gold...$611
Chucker 2.0 Matte Blk/Matte Grn...$525
Chucker 3.0 Matte Blk/Matte Tan ...$435
Force 1.0 S, M, L Matte Black...$2,038
Force 2.0 M, L Gloss Pearl White...$1,563
Force 3.0 XS, S, M, L, XL Jet Silver....$1,090
Force Carbon Expert S, M, L, XL Sil/Carbon...$3,150
Force Carbon Pro M,L Blue/Carbon...$4,450
Marathon Carbon Expert XS, S, M, L, XL Black Red...$2,395
Marathon Carbon Pro S, M, L Black Yellow...$3,215
Marathon Carbon Team S, M, L Team White...$4,490
Marathon Elite S, M, L, XL Pearl Black...$1,450
Marathon Sport XS, S, M, L, XL Matte Silver...$965
Marathon 9r M, L, XL DkBlue...$1,625
Peace 9r S, M, L Matte Green...$550
Peace 9r S, M, L Blue Tri Tone...$550
Peace 9r Multi S, M, L Matte Tan...$650
Peace 9r Multi S, M, L Red/Yel/Grn...$650
Sanction 1.0 M, L Matte Silver...$2,990
Sanction 2.0 S, M, L, XL Matte Purple...$2,000
Zaskar Carbon Expert XS, S, M, L, XL Black Red...$1,875
Zaskar Carbon Pro S, L, XL Black Yellow...$2,620
Zaskar Carbon Team M, L Team White...$4,040
W Zaskar Expert XS, S, M Gloss Black...$1,385
Zaskar Expert XS, S, M, L, XL Gloss White...$1,385

Lion Gulch on a dark snowy night.

We've had a lot of good Tuesday Niters this year and it's sad to see the prime riding season drawing to a close. Clinging to the thought that it's not near over yet, our crew hit South St Vrain last week. We left the shop with no precip, but by the time we were 4 miles out of town, the fog was so thick we had to use the wipers. It was snowing pretty good at SSV. We normally do it as a loop - up the road, S on Sourdough, then down SSV. Anticipating a wet slog on a dirt road and not looking forward to it, we opted to ride South St Vrain as an out and back. Despite the fresh snow and moisture it ended up being a great ride. Great enough that it would be difficult to top...

We made plans that night at Oskar's to hit Lion Gulch the following week. Lion Gulch is tough enough during the day and we had yet to hit it as a night ride. The date was set. Enter yesterday. The forecast called for big, big snow but we held firm on our plans. Estes web cams showed good skies, etc. As the 5:30 meetup time drew near, though, the rain started coming down pretty good. Not ones to back down to a challenge, we gathered the troops for a wet conditions ride.

Fortunately, we got started off on the good foot. Eric, the Lyons brewer at Oskars, dropped off a fresh uncarbed growler of double dry hopped Gordon's.


It was just the ticket.


Since it was raining in Lyons, we decided to keep driving west up 36 until the rain turned to snow. Fortunately, that was just below Lion Gulch. There were a few wet inches at the trailhead already and the wet snow was coming down hard.


It was more rideable than we presumed. At first anyway.

Some of the rocks were not covered in snow and there was good enough traction under the snowpack. The creek crossings were all rideable.



I love night riding in the snow. You don't need as much light power as the snow amplifies the brightness. After the big staircase, it took a lot of pushing to get up towards the meadows area but it was worth it. Snowy bikes are heavy and hard to push up steep fields of snow covered baby heads.

Those of you that have ridden Lion Gulch may understand our apprehension at turning around and going back down. The snow in the gulch was getting to be 6+ inches and you absolutely could not discern the rocks underneath. Turned out to be a good thing I guess. We all dropped our saddles and played pinball on the wet rocks on the way down. There were a few spills but no major carnage. Some of the big rock sections were *almost* doable. Dirtydoug makes the slickness look easy.


I think the drive back down 36 was more sketchy than the ride.

I also think we'll not be riding trails for the near foreseeable future. Hope everyone got their riding fix in!

Transition TR450 downhill bike

Transition just today released pricing and a timeframe on their eagerly anticipated TR450 downhill machine. Preorders are being accepted now for a mid to late December time frame. MSRP on the frame with a Fox RC4 shock is $2399. Colors options are classic white/black as show above,

racing stripe red,

or racing stripe yellow.


Transitions own words on their new TR450 downhiller...

"The TR450 is our dedicated downhill racing machine. Heavily researched and selected with direct input from pro rider Lars Sternberg, this is an aggressive geo built for speed and stability. With a careful ratio between chainstay length and head angle, the frame has a neutral feel in corners with good rider weight balance between the front and rear wheels. The TR450 gets 8.25” of travel from a 9.5” x 3” shock placed low in the front triangle. The linkage was tuned to provide a gradual change from beginning to ending leverage rate. The suspension ramps up very evenly through the travel to give the bike a supple top stroke and good bottom out control without excessive sag or mid stroke wallow. This result is a consistent progressive suspension feel that is predictable and yields a high amount of tunability.

There are large cartridge bearings at all pivot locations, with an absolute monster of a bearing used at the main pivot for durability and frame stiffness. All bearings are pressed directly against post welding machined bearing seats inside the linkages, eliminating misalignment that can occur when bearings placed at outer edges are “pinched” together. The overall suspension design was selected to keep the shock low in the frame, while still protecting the rear shock from tire roost. The pivot points have been laid out to triangulate loads and keep the rear end stiff, which helps keep the bearings turning smoothly, and your wheels tracking straight.

Custom tube shapes were developed and the downtube has a tooled reinforcement rather than a traditional weld on gusset. This thicker section reinforces the underside of the downtube/headtube junction without the stress riser created at the edge of a weld on gusset. The front triangle features double welding, which creates a thick but smooth weld and yeilds a significant increase in strength for high stress areas. The TR450 has a tapered headtube with an integrated Cane Creek size top bearing and standard 1.5” bottom intended to run a zero stack cup. The shape of the headtube better matches the toptube and downtube size and shape, and leaves plenty of clearance for fork crowns. The short headtube length gives riders lots of room for handlebar height adjustment and an aggressive low stance.

Mud shedding was a key concern in the design of the frame. Excessive pockets were avoided and many parts, like the dropouts and rear triangle yokes, are hollowed from the inside and smooth on the outside so mud won’t collect in hard to reach places. The smooth aesthetic carries over into the lines of the frame. When viewed from the side, the linkage stays hidden from view right up to the sag point. This is a clean frame, any way you look at it. In the End, the TR450 was designed to be a bike that could be ridden hard and put away wet while being a dependable top level race bike you can trust race after race."

beautiful day for a bike ride

Today's ride was fantastic. Conditions were a little greasy here and there going up Antelope but the views were outta sight.

Up top, between the rock garden and Antelope, things were a little too muddy(I walked) but going down the rock garden was fantastic as always. I got a bit sloppy from the standing water but impact on resource was minimal.

A brief spin down the road and I found myself at Heil Ranch. Conditions were stellar. I couldn't believe how velcro like grippy the tacky dirt was on Picture Rock. Mmmm, Picture Rock. Anyone else notice the new mileage markers at Hall and Heil?

I rode up to the quarry and back. Bout time I got to the quarry, the skies had really clouded back over and started dumping snow. Excellent.

View from the pic-a-nic table on the way up

Same view on the way down.

By the return trip, it was really dumping. I was glad to have some waterproof gear on for the return trip.

It's new stuff Friday

Got a few new things in today that I'm pretty excited about. First off, we finally got our first assortment of North Face goodies in today. Going relatively conservative, we pulled in a couple of mens and women's winter tops. Mens and womens Velocitee LS 1/4 zip tops make great all arounders or baseylaers and the mens and womens Borealis 1/4 zip fleeces are perfect for a cool day outside or a homey evening chilling out. Come check them out.

Being the map nerd that I am, I was especially stoked when Farid from Singletrack Maps came by later in the day with his brand spankin' new maps of the Colorado Trail/Buffalo Creek/Indian Creek area. It's evident that these babies were put together with lots of love. Pick one up for your next journey SW of Denver.

Intense Tracer VP sale

Special order Intense Tracer VPs on sale with full XT build kit and Fox Talas 150 forks - get yours now for $3975! That includes CRC blue or black chrome colors, too :)

What are you hungry for?

I like Mondays. Get my office work done on time and I can sneak a bike ride in before soccer practice. I had a decent window today so I was able to sneak out of town. Most of my Monday rides lately have been Lyons/no car based, so it felt extra good to get out today.

I love the forest. I keep my eyes peeled for things out of the ordinary. Today, I saw no critters, but I saw a lot of evidence. The cycle of nature.

First thing I noticed was bits of honeycomb all over the ground. Honeycomb's great, yeah, yeah, yeah.

The bees were confused and didn't know what was going on. Fresh claw marks on trees and dug up ground indicates that Mr. Bear was hungry for some honey. Maybe it was Pooh.

Next, I came across this freshly gnawed bone. And I mean gnawed. There was absolutely nothing left. It had to have been picked clean by anything that likes fresh flesh off the bone and finished up by our 6 legged exoskeletal friends. And later on, I found this. Evidence of mountain biker.

Yep, I love the forest. Chock full of good stuff, it is.

Tuesday Ride 10/20

Hopefully the weather will not be too wet :) Bike shop at 5:30. Bring your best lights with full charge. If the weather gods don't frown too much, we'll tackle SSV for one last time this year. We'll come up with a plan B in the meantime otherwise.

bikes update

Originally, the Intense Tracer VP was released with just 4 colors: raw/works, white, red, and stealth black. Intense produced a couple of super sweet limited edition colors for complete bikes -crc blue and black chrome. Due to popular demand, both of those colors are now legit color options!


In Transition news, Bottle Rockets are now 20% off for the holidays. If you're hankering for a burly slopestyle bike, the time is now :)

Help!

Saw this on our night ride at Left Hand OHV on Tuesday. I was witness to the carnage 1 week ago Monday. New truck, gotta go off roading, right? The guy swung way wide right to make a tigh left hander and started sliding downhill in the soft sandy soil. Good thing a tree was there to stop him from rolling his rig but now it's stuck real good like? Looks like a job for the BSF recovery team.

Tues Nite Ride 530p

Keep your fingers crossed that the sun stays out for a bit. We're going to Left Hand OHV. Expect soft conditions and probably a little mud. I'm not washing my bike yet...