My Take on MTB Access on City of Boulder OS

I give up on mountain bike access from downtown Boulder.  Why?  Because it is too ingrained in Boulder's culture, staff, and elected officials to think that mountain bikes are the enemy.

Recently, Boulder City Council rejected a proposal that would've created a loop trail on Anemone Hill - basically Settlers Park on Mapleton.  Tons of bike supporters called, wrote letters, and showed up for public comment at the city council meeting.  Didn't even make a dent.  What use is public comment at a meeting when city council people had prepared speeches and notes ready. Were they even prepared to hear what folks had to say?  No.  Like BMAs president Jason Vogel said, 99% of the people in that room had minds made up before they even got there.  It's time to move on and give up on access west of Boulder.  The time may come, but not until elected officials are voted out of office and city staffers move on.  This cultural shift won't happen  anytime soon.

In a recent Boulder Daily Camera Article read, "She [Boulder Mayor Susan Osborne] went on to say that she's "certainly sorry about the rancor" that the issue has caused, but she doesn't think the correct response is for the cycling community to leave the table. "We make tough decisions all the time, and it's really rare that the person or group on the losing side does a, 'I'm going to take my marbles home and I'm not going to play anymore,'" she said. "We have another vote on a mountain biking trail that at least to some people seems like another pretty good option. I don't get the strategy where you basically take no prisoners."

Really?  What does she want us to do, come back for another pounding after receiving continual poundings since being banned on city Open Space since 1984?  It think 27 years of being shot down warrants either not playing their game anymore, or a DRASTIC shift in how we, mountain bikers, policiticize.  


The more we beat our heads against the wall where policy makers obviously don't want us, the more we're going to hurt our chances when it comes to a place where they might actually give us some leeway, like Beech and N Boulder Valley Ranch.

I think it's time to take a step back take a look at what's actually been accomplished. the High Plains and Springbrook area TSAs had great outcomes, but the West TSA was set up for failure from the get go. City Council and OS Staff reconfigured the public process to achieve a desired outcome. Was anyone surprised when the bike ban in the west was upheld? In the ashes of West TSA, council threw it back to staff and said "explore Anenome Hill" in an attempt to immediately appease bike peeps. It wasn't to appease us long term with real access. This last meeting wasn't entirely about access on Anemone, it was about a specific loop trail on Anenome - something BMA asked for but OS staff was against.

Open Space Board of Trustees will convene on 11/2 to discuss a connector over Anenome to 4 mile. Even if Council approves that, once again, they are setting mountain bikers up for a predetermined outcome. An out and back trail in an already crowded area will do nothing but further anti mtb sentiment. Head on traffic, user conflict and too many users on one trail will be the result.

Focusing on mtb access out of Boulder is great, but I think it's unrealistic to see access out of downtown anytime soon, especially given current leadership. Let's focus more on southern and northern access on city property. There is a LOT of potential in Boulder County OS. Walker, Hall, and Rabbit Mt management plans will be up for discussion soon. Let's start refocusing on attainable goals.

Want more and better access from downtown? Call for Mike Patton's resignation and vote those idiots on Boulder city council out of office.

Rant off.  It's time to ride.  Somewhere that's not governed by Boulder City.

Consignment bikes 10/21/11

Here's our latest bikes on consignment!

Giant Allegre flat bar road bike, great townie!  $195/offer

Ibis Mojo SL, medium, $2900/offer

 Santa Cruz Nomad small, $2800/offer

Another trail done gone

I heard on Thursday that Boulder County, in conjunction with the USFS closed Bell Gulch.  Bummer.  I'm going to check it out soon.  I will report back.

Before:

After:

The State of the Lyons Bike Park

A few weeks back, Lyons played host to a really cool event called the Devil Dash.  A bunch of my friends ran it and said it was super fun and a great event all the way around.

BUT...  the race was held on our first crappy snow/sleet/muddy day of the year.  And they ran the course thru pretty much all of the jumps at the Lyons Bike Park.  Needless to say, 1600 people clawing their way up slick and muddy dirt jumps decimated the bike park.

I passed this info along to Park and Rec, hoping they would seek some action from the Devil Dash promotors.  Having not heard anything back from P&R and getting frustrated every time I so much as rode by the park, I decided to email the promoters directly.  Here is my email and their response.  Let us hope for a quick turnaround.
***********************************************
MY EMAIL:

Hi Devil Dash folks.  First off, thanks for bringing such a cool event to Lyons.  Sounds like it went well, was well attended, and lots of folks had fun.

I run a bike shop here in Lyons and have to admit I was a little dismayed to see that you chose to run your course thru our bike park in muddy conditions.  The bike park has been rendered unrideable and is completely decimated.  Literally hundreds of man hours went into perfecting and sculpting all of the jumps in the park.  The bike park has been a great asset for local riders and kids in the area and has also been valuable for bringing in visitors to the town.  It is sad to see this resource in its current condition.  To get the park to the condition it was in before the Devil Dash is going to take a lot of time, a lot of effort, and some heavy equipment rental.

What are your plans to repair the bike park to its state before Devil Dash?

I have copied Dave Cosgrove, head of Parks and Rec on this email.

THEIR REPLY:

We apologize for the condition of the track after our race. We started the day thinking we would be OK with the weather. We had waves of racers every 30 minutes and the weather held out for the first several waves, but then the rain came, and we already had racers out by that time. 

We have been working with Dave Cosgrove on the track and the best way to proceed in order to get it repaired. We certainly will make sure that we can get it back into the condition it was before the race, and will follow Dave Cosgrov's lead on the best way to proceed.

 ***********************************************

I will try to keep everyone updated of the progress.

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!

Transition Trans Am 29er

Check this beauty out! Price will be right in with Transitions 26" Trans Am frame - it's a super smokin' deal on a good all mountain 29er hardtail frame. Want one? They're due in Jan and we're taking preorders now.

Tuesday Ride

Sorry for being so horrible about updating the blog! I've got some stuff to put up, I promise, just been a little behind.

Anyway, tonight, 10/4, we'll be heading to Jamestown! Make sure your lights are charged. Meeting at the shop at 5:30pm and rolling over to Jtown as soon-ish as we can get it together.

Need people on the 24th and 25th to help area cycling!

Boulder County, Colo. – The Boulder County Transportation Department is seeking volunteers to take bicycle counts at locations around the county.

Volunteers will be rewarded with a one-year Boulder B-cycle membership and a custom thermos.

When: Saturday and/or Sunday, Sept. 24 and 25, 9-11 a.m.

Where: Throughout Boulder County. A map will be provided with assigned location.

The deadline to volunteer is Sept. 22. Contact Brandon Smith at 720-564-2667 or bcsmith@bouldercounty.org to register and for more information.

A location map and a simple spreadsheet will be provided to volunteers to hand-write the counts as they happen.

The bicycle counts will provide the Boulder County with useful information in five areas of study:

1. Conditions and trend analysis – documents the number of people currently bicycling, how this number is changing over time, and characteristics of the cyclists.
2. Network planning – helps prioritize improvements and find locations needing attention.
3. Demand forecasting – allows for improvements to be ready before they are needed.
4. Safety – pinpoints areas of concern between cyclists, motorists and pedestrians
5. Usage – identifies shifts in seasonality or times-of-day

RMNP night ride this Tuesday!

Our annual Rocky Mountain National Park night ride will be this Tuesday. Make sure to bring lots of extra clothing. We top out around 12000 feet and it can get cold up there. Cross bike, lights, food, clothing. It's going to be good. Estimated time of arrival back down to Lyons is probably midnight or so.

Big Fall Ride VI, Sunday 9/25

We had so much fun last year (and the several years before that) that we're doing it again.

Big

Fall

Ride

VI

Meet at the bike shop at 7:30am on Sunday 9/25. We'll shuttle folks up to the Peak to Peak and make everyone ride back to Lyons on as much dirt as possible. It's about 55 miles, lots of climbing, lots of technical singletrack, some jeep roads, some county roads, and a little bit of pavement.

Here's a last years effort. It's an all day thing. We'll end up back at the bike shop where we will have beers and grillin fixins waiting. Hope to see some of you out!

2011 Tomac Diplomat 29er Large for sale

It's that time of year when it comes for the shop to pare down its fleet of bikes. This Tomac Diplomat 29er has been very sweet, but it's time to move on.




This bike has maybe 300 miles on it. The only thing not new when we built this up was the crank and bb but we installed new chainrings to go with the rest of the new drivetrain.

Tomac Diplomat, $3100
*Large frame with a Fox RP23 rear shock
*SRAM X9 3x9
*Formula RX brakes
*handbuilt wheels on Mavic TN719 rims (Hope Pro2 Evo front, Am Classic rear)
*120mm Rock Shox Reba with 20mm thru axle
*Thomson post
*Race Face carbon Next bar and Deus stem
*Even the tires are in near new condition. This bike has been immaculately maintained during its short life span.

Shipping is included in the price as long as you are lower 48 states.

We can take credit cards or paypal. Call the shop if you have any questions 303.823.5810

Tnr 8/6

Get those lights a charging!   We're going high and riding late!    5:30pm at the bike shop.

Transition Bandit!

We just finished up this small green Transition Bandit. Full SRAM X9 2x10 with a little bit of blingy gold bits.

We put a Race Face Atlas bar on it and Sun Ringle Black Flag Pro wheels for that little bit of bling.

26.25lbs as pictured. And the grips won't add that much weight when we throw them on ;)

Heil Ranch Trailwork

Last Tuesday, we supplanted our normal Tuesday Nite Ride with trailwork on Picture Rock. We took out a couple things, added a couple things, and generally managed the flow of the trail to keep people on the line. We worked on a section directly above the old quarry where the line was getting blown out and folks were riding off trail around trees.


I revisited the area this morning and it seems to be shaping up nicely.



We are planning another workday for this fall, probably a Saturday affair so we can get more people and work a little bit more. We are definitely open for feedback on what Picture Rock could use and could not use as far as trailwork and maintenance goes. We would definitely love some feedback!

Tour of Colorado Jerseys are in!

I know, I know, it's the USA Pro Challenge, but I prefer to call it the Tour of Colorado. Cause that's what it is. Anyway, we have a few of these sweet commemorative Pearl Izumi jerseys left.

Mondays Pain

We rode Buchanan Pass a few weeks back.  It was late in the day and a little muddy but all in all a good day.  We went up Middle St Vrain and down BP, a good and efficient way to do the loop.

I was once again feeling the call of the Indian Peak and BP.  Fueled by a stressful weekend and a need to hurt more than normal, I took my REEB Cycles singlespeed up to the peak to peak for a little Buchanan Pass lovin.   It did not dissapoint. The skies and temps were perfect and the trail was in fantastic shape.  The loop proved to be quite good on a 29er SS, although I walked more than I care to admit on Coney Flats.

A great day in the high country today.  Better get some yourself,  too, cause our time will be limited before you know it!

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!

Current Consignment Bikes

Take a look at what we've currently (as of 8/11/11) got in stock for used bikes. Of course, all prices are negotiable :)


Maverick Durance, medium. Comes with Thomson post, Saint crank, headset and front der. $675.


Santa Cruz Nomad, small. This baby is tricked out, too. $2800

2010 Ibis Mojo SL, medium. Full XT, Fox fork with 15qr and Easton Havoc wheels. Oh yes - $2900

Giant NRS, large. An oldie but a goodie. This'll make a fantastic starter bike. $525

8/9 tuesday ride

Lights mandatory for this Tuesdays ride.  Technical terrain and dark - its going to be good.

homemade, handmade, carbon, and internal gearing

Check this sweet machine out! A good customer of ours loved his Intense Uzzi, but was looking for something a little different. Hence, the homemade, handmade carbon fiber interal gearbox modeled after the Uzzi. Check the Shimano Alfine rear hub internal gearbox. Now THAT is a cool bike.