Sorry for the late notice on this one...
In Lyons on Tuesday, July 26, 6:30pm, there will be an informational meeting to discuss possible trail alignments and alternatives for connecting Heil Ranch open space with the Town of Lyons. This is a HUGE deal. This will provide local access to Heil open space with no driving required. It would also open a great area for riding just south of Town. For those of you from Boulder and the south - how about riding Hall Ranch from Left Hand Canyon all on dirt?
Anyway, it's an informational meeting, but the NIMBYS, guaranteed, will be out in full force. If you can, please show up. If you have an opinion, please speak up. The time to get organized for this is right now. The Lyons NIMBYS have already joined forces and rounded up a petition to keep a trail out of their "back yard." They have a lot of money and they're very organized.
Please come out if you can. Thanks!
...the meeting is at Oddfellows Hall. Drive into town to the first stoplight at 4th ave. Take a right and Oddfellows Hall is immediately on your left. It is just behind the Lyons Soda Fountain.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Friday, July 22, 2005
Fat Tire Fest pics
Got a link to pictures from the Fat Tire Fest from Dug. Check 'em out.
http://www.chaserace.com/doug/20050528coloradotrip00.html
http://www.chaserace.com/doug/20050528coloradotrip00.html
Yeah, it's hot.
Well, I made it to Hall Ranch this week, and it hot. Energy sappingly hot. Brutal. I havn't been there in about 7 weeks, and man, it's brown all over. What a change from our wet Memorial Day ride.
It's hot. Drink water.
It's hot. Drink water.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Before I forget, I had to mention this. I just got done tearing down a bunch of cardboard for recycling. In doing so, I reached an interesting conclusion. Shimano is a master of box making origami. Man, they have cardboard boxes that convert from shipping boxes to display boxes and it's all still just one piece of cardboard. That's efficiency.
Hope everyone's Independence Day was great and that you got some good riding in. I was pretty happy, I got out three times on the mountain bike and once on the road bike. Late Friday afternoon, I snuck up to Miller Rock. I finally hiked to the top. man, oh, man what fantastic views. Best view on the front range, you could argue. Standing atop Miller Rock yields a superb 360 degree vista. It was so intoxicating that I had difficulty leaving my perch. I managed, though. Sweet singletrack awaited. I've played up in the Miller Rock area quite a bit lately but haven't hit Ceran St Vrain in a few years. I decided to have a refresher. Fantastic is all I have to say about that. The nice thing about riding this from the Raymond side is that you climb to the Ceran St Vrain trailhead, then get to descend on your return. Fun stuff.
Until this weekend, Miller Rock was about as high altitude as I'd got. I changed that on Sunday with a quick Baptist/Wapiti loop off of Sourdough. The Sunday group ride was small, so we bailed on the previously announced Lion's Gulch and headed to the Peaceful Valley. Good, it was. This was also the first time I had the 5" bike in that terrain. 5", my friends, is a good thing for the Sourdough universe. Travel aside, I was feeling a little worked after that so I squeaked out a road ride on Monday.
Although I'd driven on 36 plenty since the chip seal, I wanted to see how it was on skinny tires. First, though, I headed south thru Hygiene all the way to Niwot on a brand new, beautifully paved wide shoulder! So nice, I can see myself riding that loop a lot more. Well, until I got to the new chip seal, anyway. Even with 25c tires at 100#, it was a pretty rough ride. Looks like it'll be a few years before that one wears in. Enough with the road after that. Time for more dirt, and the big loop I've been wanting to do for a while...
I parked off the peak to peak where South St Vrain dumps out by the boy scout ranch. Here's the ride: I started up the county road until it split. I took a left and followed it as it morphed from a dirt road to a tame jeep road. Another few minutes on that and the road was crossed by trail 835, the Sourdough. I took a left on Sourdough and headed south to the juncion with SSV trail. This was the first 1/4 of a very big figure 8 loop. I crossed SSV and contiuned south on the 'dough to Brainard Lake Road. About 3/4 of a mile south of Brainard Lake road, I turned west on 802 up to Left Hand Res road. 802 would definitely be more enjoyable the other direction with a gravity assist, but climbing it was necessary to my loop. The trail changed drastically after the road crossing and the first real water crossing. I had to scramble through boulder gardens, muck through bogs, and bushwack my way thru thick, jungle like foliage. No kidding, really, but I did finally make it to Brainard Lake, one of the more scenic spots on the front range. From there, all there was left of the ride was the boulder strewn rocky beast known as South St Vrain. I was back at the car 3 hrs later and pretty worked. It was a good way to end a long 4th of July weekend!
Hope everyone's Independence Day was great and that you got some good riding in. I was pretty happy, I got out three times on the mountain bike and once on the road bike. Late Friday afternoon, I snuck up to Miller Rock. I finally hiked to the top. man, oh, man what fantastic views. Best view on the front range, you could argue. Standing atop Miller Rock yields a superb 360 degree vista. It was so intoxicating that I had difficulty leaving my perch. I managed, though. Sweet singletrack awaited. I've played up in the Miller Rock area quite a bit lately but haven't hit Ceran St Vrain in a few years. I decided to have a refresher. Fantastic is all I have to say about that. The nice thing about riding this from the Raymond side is that you climb to the Ceran St Vrain trailhead, then get to descend on your return. Fun stuff.
Until this weekend, Miller Rock was about as high altitude as I'd got. I changed that on Sunday with a quick Baptist/Wapiti loop off of Sourdough. The Sunday group ride was small, so we bailed on the previously announced Lion's Gulch and headed to the Peaceful Valley. Good, it was. This was also the first time I had the 5" bike in that terrain. 5", my friends, is a good thing for the Sourdough universe. Travel aside, I was feeling a little worked after that so I squeaked out a road ride on Monday.
Although I'd driven on 36 plenty since the chip seal, I wanted to see how it was on skinny tires. First, though, I headed south thru Hygiene all the way to Niwot on a brand new, beautifully paved wide shoulder! So nice, I can see myself riding that loop a lot more. Well, until I got to the new chip seal, anyway. Even with 25c tires at 100#, it was a pretty rough ride. Looks like it'll be a few years before that one wears in. Enough with the road after that. Time for more dirt, and the big loop I've been wanting to do for a while...
I parked off the peak to peak where South St Vrain dumps out by the boy scout ranch. Here's the ride: I started up the county road until it split. I took a left and followed it as it morphed from a dirt road to a tame jeep road. Another few minutes on that and the road was crossed by trail 835, the Sourdough. I took a left on Sourdough and headed south to the juncion with SSV trail. This was the first 1/4 of a very big figure 8 loop. I crossed SSV and contiuned south on the 'dough to Brainard Lake Road. About 3/4 of a mile south of Brainard Lake road, I turned west on 802 up to Left Hand Res road. 802 would definitely be more enjoyable the other direction with a gravity assist, but climbing it was necessary to my loop. The trail changed drastically after the road crossing and the first real water crossing. I had to scramble through boulder gardens, muck through bogs, and bushwack my way thru thick, jungle like foliage. No kidding, really, but I did finally make it to Brainard Lake, one of the more scenic spots on the front range. From there, all there was left of the ride was the boulder strewn rocky beast known as South St Vrain. I was back at the car 3 hrs later and pretty worked. It was a good way to end a long 4th of July weekend!
Friday, July 01, 2005
Here's to you Dale's Pale
Had to give a shout out to homeboy Dale tonight! Dale's Pale was the top pic American Pale Ale by the New York Times. Congrats Dale. Here's the article:
***********************************************************************
Ales of The Times
Crisp, Complex and Refreshing
By ERIC ASIMOV
Published: June 29, 2005 in The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/dining/29ales.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5070&en=846e31ab21e72a06&ex=1120795200 - Register to Read.
ON a hot summer night, a beer need only be cold and wet to satisfy. But consider if the standard were set a little higher. Imagine a beer that offered more than the internal equivalent of holding a cold, glistening bottle against a flushed and sweaty forehead. What if that beer did not merely satisfy, but inspired?
That leap from satisfaction to inspiration spans the gulf between the proverbial six-pack of suds in the American refrigerator and a good American pale ale. With the suds, you quench a thirst. It's a quick and specific act, the way an animal laps from a water hole. But with a pale ale, you can discover a host of aromas and flavors - more complex than a lager's - that can fascinate as well as quench. The physical sensation in each swallow is not simply of cold and wet. It's paradoxically dry and bitter and brisk and refreshing. It stimulates the palate rather than numbing it.
That might be enough in a beer, but there's more. In each glass of good, frothy American pale ale there's the story of an American revolution. No, not that Revolution, although once again the British show up on the other end of things. This is the Craft Beer Revolution, in which young American brewers, tired of the insipid hegemony of the big beer industry, decided to make their own beers, influenced largely by the traditional brewing styles of England, Germany and Belgium.
Two of the earliest and most successful of these craft brewers were the Anchor Brewing Company and the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.
Both Anchor's Liberty Ale and Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale were American versions of English pale ale, a pure, mineral-y style with a dry, cleansing bitterness that is very refreshing. The English ales tend to be subtle, earthy and understated, reflecting the characters of the hops, that mysterious ingredient derived from the cones of flowering plants related to the nettle. Hops play no role in the fermentation, which is the province of water, grain and yeast. Instead, the hops, which are added at varying times in the brewing process, infuse the beer with bitterness and aromatics. There are innumerable varieties of hops, each with different qualities to contribute.
In the 1970's and 1980's, American brewers, while indebted to their English forebears, declared their independence by using American hops in their pale ales instead of English hops. Far from the restrained aromas and flavors of English hops, American hops are a regular brass band, giving American pale ales their signature raucous aromas of grapefruit, flowers and pine. It's like redesigning a proper English sedan with tail fins and chrome. The Anchor and Sierra Nevada pale ales inspired another generation of craft brewers in the United States, many of whom make their own versions of pale ale today.
In a sampling of 24 American pale ales, the Dining section's tasting panel found an unexpectedly wide range of styles. Some were relatively sedate in the British manner, though the aromatics were American. Others showed the American tendency to want to make things bigger, louder, faster and more extreme: souped-up pale ales. Yet they stopped short of crossing over into another style, that of India pale ale, characterized by alcohol levels beyond the 4.5 to 6.5 percent of these ales and by even more pronounced hop bitterness.
Joe Carroll, the owner of Spuyten Duyvil, a beer bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who joined Florence Fabricant and me for the tasting, took a dim view of some of the more assertive versions, suggesting that brewers confronted with problems were taking an easy way out.
"It's more difficult to brew a more simple style," he said. "Some rely too much on big, in-your-face American hops to mask faults."
Our second guest, Paul Sullivan, a beer writer and home brewer, had a more charitable interpretation of the bigger style, though he did say he preferred the subtler, more balanced examples, as did Ms. Fabricant. I did too, though I felt that, no matter the style, these ales were all linked by a brisk, bracingly bitter quality that is not only wonderfully refreshing in hot weather, but also a great complement to spicy food of all sorts.
Although we all said we preferred the subtler style, our top selection, Dale's Pale Ale, made by Oskar Blues Brewery of Lyons, Colo., was one of the more aggressive ales in the tasting, with assertive floral and citrus aromas. But the ale was so well balanced, so lively and dry, that its extroversion simply did not matter. The same was true of our No. 3 beer, the Flying Dog Classic Pale Ale, which was clean and precise, yet with great personality. By contrast, our No. 2 pale ale, from Otter Creek, was subtle and complex, though also with that distinctive bitter signature.
As in every tasting of beer and ale, the biggest problem we encountered was with freshness. Mr. Carroll expressed shock at the number of ales that showed signs of damage from exposure to high heat or direct light. For all the he-man, macho attributes foisted on beer by marketing, it is surprisingly fragile and needs to be handled delicately. That means it needs to be refrigerated as much as possible and protected from direct light. Mr. Sullivan suggested that if you are selecting beer from one of those perpetually lighted coolers, choose bottles from the back, where they are at least partly protected.
In our tasting, ales from well-regarded brewers like Stoudt's, Dogfish Head, Bear Republic and even some that made our list showed signs of poor handling. One possible solution to the light problem, at least, was staring us in the face right after the tasting, when the identities of all the brews were revealed. Our No. 1, Dale's Pale Ale, came in a can.
A can! Not long ago, cans represented all that was wrong with the assembly-line American beer industry. No craft brewer worth a copper brew kettle would even consider putting his precious ale in a can. But times have changed, and some brewers say that cans are lighter and easier to recycle than bottles, and offer complete protection against light.
It might not be easy to find a can of Dale's for a while in the New York area. Oskar Blues is negotiating for a New York distributor and only recently became available in New Jersey. But if not Dale's, certainly others in our Top 10, like Saranac and Brooklyn, are widely sold. And then there are Anchor and Sierra Nevada, the pioneers, which have moved far beyond their microbrewery origins. Today these beers are sold all over the country. In New York you can find them in seemingly every deli and supermarket. And if some of the newer, smaller brewers have surpassed them in terms of distinctiveness, they both still make lively, top-quality brews.
So if, on this holiday weekend, you open a bottle or two of American pale ale, raise a toast to these two brewers, who helped to start the other American Revolution, the one that went off not with a shot but with a pop, a pour, a swallow and a smile.
Bottoms Up: Beer Doesn't Have to Be Boring
What the Stars Mean:
(None) Pass It By
* Passable
** Very Good
*** Excellent
**** Extraordinary
Ratings reflect the panel's reaction to American ales, which were tasted with names concealed. The panelists this week are Eric Asimov; Florence Fabricant; Joe Carroll, the owner of the bar Spuyten Duyvil in Brooklyn; and Paul Sullivan, a writer and home brewer. The tasted ales represent a selection generally available in retail shops and restaurants. Prices are those paid in the New York region.
Tasting Coordinator: Bernard Kirsch
Oskar Blues Brewery Dale's (Lyons, Colo.)
$1.30, 12 oz.
*** ½
Assertive floral and grapefruit hops aromas, clean, dry, lively and balanced.
Otter Creek (Middlebury, Vt.)
$1.55, 12 oz.
***
Subtle, complex hops aromas of pine and citrus; delicious bitter flavors that linger.
Flying Dog Classic (Denver)
$1.50, 12. oz.
***
Benchmark American pale ale, with potent citrus and floral hops aromas, and brisk, refreshing flavors.
Southampton (N.Y.)
$4, 22 oz.
***
Balanced and harmonious; crisp, clean and refreshing.
Yards (Philadelphia)
$1.20,12 oz.
***
Lively, with very assertive hops aromas balanced by malt flavors.
Saranac (Utica, N.Y.)
$1.30, 12 oz.
** ½
Grapefruit and caramel aromas, with bitter, lingering flavors.
Anchor Liberty Ale (San Francisco)
$1.60, 12 oz.
**
Dry, clean, crisp and refreshing.
Sierra Nevada (Chico, Calif.)
$1.50, 12 oz.
**
Mild hops aromas; nice balance of fruity and bitter flavors.
Brooklyn Ale
$1.60, 12 oz.
**
Grapefruit and caramel aromas, with a pleasing bitterness.
Smuttynose Shoals (Portsmouth, N.H.)
$1.75, 12 oz.
**
Citrus and caramel aromas; full-bodied and pleasing.
***********************************************************************
Ales of The Times
Crisp, Complex and Refreshing
By ERIC ASIMOV
Published: June 29, 2005 in The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/dining/29ales.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5070&en=846e31ab21e72a06&ex=1120795200 - Register to Read.
ON a hot summer night, a beer need only be cold and wet to satisfy. But consider if the standard were set a little higher. Imagine a beer that offered more than the internal equivalent of holding a cold, glistening bottle against a flushed and sweaty forehead. What if that beer did not merely satisfy, but inspired?
That leap from satisfaction to inspiration spans the gulf between the proverbial six-pack of suds in the American refrigerator and a good American pale ale. With the suds, you quench a thirst. It's a quick and specific act, the way an animal laps from a water hole. But with a pale ale, you can discover a host of aromas and flavors - more complex than a lager's - that can fascinate as well as quench. The physical sensation in each swallow is not simply of cold and wet. It's paradoxically dry and bitter and brisk and refreshing. It stimulates the palate rather than numbing it.
That might be enough in a beer, but there's more. In each glass of good, frothy American pale ale there's the story of an American revolution. No, not that Revolution, although once again the British show up on the other end of things. This is the Craft Beer Revolution, in which young American brewers, tired of the insipid hegemony of the big beer industry, decided to make their own beers, influenced largely by the traditional brewing styles of England, Germany and Belgium.
Two of the earliest and most successful of these craft brewers were the Anchor Brewing Company and the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.
Both Anchor's Liberty Ale and Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale were American versions of English pale ale, a pure, mineral-y style with a dry, cleansing bitterness that is very refreshing. The English ales tend to be subtle, earthy and understated, reflecting the characters of the hops, that mysterious ingredient derived from the cones of flowering plants related to the nettle. Hops play no role in the fermentation, which is the province of water, grain and yeast. Instead, the hops, which are added at varying times in the brewing process, infuse the beer with bitterness and aromatics. There are innumerable varieties of hops, each with different qualities to contribute.
In the 1970's and 1980's, American brewers, while indebted to their English forebears, declared their independence by using American hops in their pale ales instead of English hops. Far from the restrained aromas and flavors of English hops, American hops are a regular brass band, giving American pale ales their signature raucous aromas of grapefruit, flowers and pine. It's like redesigning a proper English sedan with tail fins and chrome. The Anchor and Sierra Nevada pale ales inspired another generation of craft brewers in the United States, many of whom make their own versions of pale ale today.
In a sampling of 24 American pale ales, the Dining section's tasting panel found an unexpectedly wide range of styles. Some were relatively sedate in the British manner, though the aromatics were American. Others showed the American tendency to want to make things bigger, louder, faster and more extreme: souped-up pale ales. Yet they stopped short of crossing over into another style, that of India pale ale, characterized by alcohol levels beyond the 4.5 to 6.5 percent of these ales and by even more pronounced hop bitterness.
Joe Carroll, the owner of Spuyten Duyvil, a beer bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who joined Florence Fabricant and me for the tasting, took a dim view of some of the more assertive versions, suggesting that brewers confronted with problems were taking an easy way out.
"It's more difficult to brew a more simple style," he said. "Some rely too much on big, in-your-face American hops to mask faults."
Our second guest, Paul Sullivan, a beer writer and home brewer, had a more charitable interpretation of the bigger style, though he did say he preferred the subtler, more balanced examples, as did Ms. Fabricant. I did too, though I felt that, no matter the style, these ales were all linked by a brisk, bracingly bitter quality that is not only wonderfully refreshing in hot weather, but also a great complement to spicy food of all sorts.
Although we all said we preferred the subtler style, our top selection, Dale's Pale Ale, made by Oskar Blues Brewery of Lyons, Colo., was one of the more aggressive ales in the tasting, with assertive floral and citrus aromas. But the ale was so well balanced, so lively and dry, that its extroversion simply did not matter. The same was true of our No. 3 beer, the Flying Dog Classic Pale Ale, which was clean and precise, yet with great personality. By contrast, our No. 2 pale ale, from Otter Creek, was subtle and complex, though also with that distinctive bitter signature.
As in every tasting of beer and ale, the biggest problem we encountered was with freshness. Mr. Carroll expressed shock at the number of ales that showed signs of damage from exposure to high heat or direct light. For all the he-man, macho attributes foisted on beer by marketing, it is surprisingly fragile and needs to be handled delicately. That means it needs to be refrigerated as much as possible and protected from direct light. Mr. Sullivan suggested that if you are selecting beer from one of those perpetually lighted coolers, choose bottles from the back, where they are at least partly protected.
In our tasting, ales from well-regarded brewers like Stoudt's, Dogfish Head, Bear Republic and even some that made our list showed signs of poor handling. One possible solution to the light problem, at least, was staring us in the face right after the tasting, when the identities of all the brews were revealed. Our No. 1, Dale's Pale Ale, came in a can.
A can! Not long ago, cans represented all that was wrong with the assembly-line American beer industry. No craft brewer worth a copper brew kettle would even consider putting his precious ale in a can. But times have changed, and some brewers say that cans are lighter and easier to recycle than bottles, and offer complete protection against light.
It might not be easy to find a can of Dale's for a while in the New York area. Oskar Blues is negotiating for a New York distributor and only recently became available in New Jersey. But if not Dale's, certainly others in our Top 10, like Saranac and Brooklyn, are widely sold. And then there are Anchor and Sierra Nevada, the pioneers, which have moved far beyond their microbrewery origins. Today these beers are sold all over the country. In New York you can find them in seemingly every deli and supermarket. And if some of the newer, smaller brewers have surpassed them in terms of distinctiveness, they both still make lively, top-quality brews.
So if, on this holiday weekend, you open a bottle or two of American pale ale, raise a toast to these two brewers, who helped to start the other American Revolution, the one that went off not with a shot but with a pop, a pour, a swallow and a smile.
Bottoms Up: Beer Doesn't Have to Be Boring
What the Stars Mean:
(None) Pass It By
* Passable
** Very Good
*** Excellent
**** Extraordinary
Ratings reflect the panel's reaction to American ales, which were tasted with names concealed. The panelists this week are Eric Asimov; Florence Fabricant; Joe Carroll, the owner of the bar Spuyten Duyvil in Brooklyn; and Paul Sullivan, a writer and home brewer. The tasted ales represent a selection generally available in retail shops and restaurants. Prices are those paid in the New York region.
Tasting Coordinator: Bernard Kirsch
Oskar Blues Brewery Dale's (Lyons, Colo.)
$1.30, 12 oz.
*** ½
Assertive floral and grapefruit hops aromas, clean, dry, lively and balanced.
Otter Creek (Middlebury, Vt.)
$1.55, 12 oz.
***
Subtle, complex hops aromas of pine and citrus; delicious bitter flavors that linger.
Flying Dog Classic (Denver)
$1.50, 12. oz.
***
Benchmark American pale ale, with potent citrus and floral hops aromas, and brisk, refreshing flavors.
Southampton (N.Y.)
$4, 22 oz.
***
Balanced and harmonious; crisp, clean and refreshing.
Yards (Philadelphia)
$1.20,12 oz.
***
Lively, with very assertive hops aromas balanced by malt flavors.
Saranac (Utica, N.Y.)
$1.30, 12 oz.
** ½
Grapefruit and caramel aromas, with bitter, lingering flavors.
Anchor Liberty Ale (San Francisco)
$1.60, 12 oz.
**
Dry, clean, crisp and refreshing.
Sierra Nevada (Chico, Calif.)
$1.50, 12 oz.
**
Mild hops aromas; nice balance of fruity and bitter flavors.
Brooklyn Ale
$1.60, 12 oz.
**
Grapefruit and caramel aromas, with a pleasing bitterness.
Smuttynose Shoals (Portsmouth, N.H.)
$1.75, 12 oz.
**
Citrus and caramel aromas; full-bodied and pleasing.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
long one tonight
I don't have any cool pics from this week but the week isn't over yet. Here's one from the vault, just for the heck of it.
This has been a pretty fun week so far. Some very cool bikes have visited the shop lately and the riding has been very good. We even had Lyons Good Old Days happening to boot. Good Old days is the big annual carnival/beertent/cultural thing we have every year. It's a hoot. Lots to do and fun for everyone. This was also the first year for a boating event at Good Old Days. The Kayak scene is really starting to happen out here. Anyway, fun times were had by all, or at least that's the way it looked spectating from the deck of the shop.
Last Friday's ride was fun. We made it spinning just in time to enjoy what was to be the last of the sun. After about 30 minutes, blue skies were replaced with a nice rain. The lightening did not happen so we kept on riding - the rain was helping cool off a hot muggy afternoon and it felt great. It rained on and off for a bit, but it was just enough to make the dirt perfect and the rocks a little slick. The narrow forest riding was top notch. Sunday's ride was equally as good. Carl came up to demo the Flux so we took him into Roosevelt for a good time in the woods. Sunny skies were the call for the day. The singletrack was good and the smiles were large. It was a quick ride, only 2 hours or so, but it felt like we were only out for a few minutes. I wanted to play longer but duty called.
That brings us to last night's ride, the Tuesday Night Death March. The plan was to head into the forest for a quick evening ride. Because of daylight, though, we were going to have to be quick. On Tuesday afternoon, I received the following email:
*********************************************************************************
To:
>Subject: FW: Barking Dog Trail problems
>Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 10:20:48 -0600
>
>Dave - FYI for anybody you know heading up there. Maybe hang this on
>the bulletin board in your shop.
>
>I've traded emails with Mark over the years to keep relations and to
>help him out if I can. He owns a piece of property that the barking
>dog goes through. He's in a constant battle with the 4x4 folks over
>the years on whether thats a road or not a road, but he's been cool to
>mountain biking as long as people follow some etiquette.
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Mark Boslough >Sent: Monday, June 27, 2005 10:43 PM
>Subject: Barking Dog Trail problems
>
>
>____, maybe you can help me get the word out about this, because if
>the problem persists we will be closing our trail to mountain bikes.
>
>We've been having problems with mountain bikers. On
>Friday we replaced some log barriers that we keep across
>the trail to keep out motorized trespassers. The timbers
>have been repeatedly removed over the past several years
>and in at least one instance a trespasser took a chain saw
>up there to remove them.
>
>Yesterday I caught a couple of mountain bikers riding up a private road
>(marked "private road - keep out") on our property. They claimed to
>have come from the Jamestown side and wanted to go down to the St.
>Vrain. I told them to go ahead but to leave the barriers in place. I
>walked down the trail later to find that most of the barriers had
>been removed again (I can't prove it was by these guys,
>but they were the only people who had been up there
>besides us).
>
>Here's the problem: If the logs aren't there, the
>motorcycles and ATVs invade. If the mountain bikers want
>to keep using that trail, they need to leave them across
>the trail. Sorry if that makes the trail less fun, but
>it's private property. If the logs have been moved, they
>need to be put back to ensure the trail stays open.
>
>I plan to take more drastic measures to shut things down
>for good if I have to keep putting those logs back myself.
>
>Please spread the word.
>
>Mark Boslough
***************************************************
Barking Dog sounded like a group ride delight, let's go! A few logs to keep out motos won't be a big deal at all, right? Wrong. It sucked. There were logs down everywhere. Interesting enough, especially considering that the landowner's main beef against motos is that they are insensitive in such a fragile ecosystem as a narrow drainage. There were enough trees down that, had it been NFS land, this guy would've been in major felony trouble. How's that for ecologically freindly? It took us quite a bit to bushwack thru the wreckage, but sweet singletrack awaited so we pressed on. We were able to connect the loop,including the oh, so sweet dowhnill and make it back to the carnage before it got really dark. That thing was dark coming down! Despite what daylight remained, thick foliage and a narrow gulch don't let much light in. Not fun when you're carrying bikes thru rocky terrain laden with felled timber. We made it out safely, though, although one of our crew had a sorely sprained thumb. A tragedy, indeed, but nothing compared to Sylvia's Last Ride. Thats a real tragedy, and our hearts are out to Sylvia's family. That's all for now.
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Saturday, June 25, 2005
short but sweet
On Friday afternoon, LC and I were able to make it out for a quick little jaunt around the woods before the skies turned to water. It's a short technical romp and it hit the spot. Or the Flux rather. The Spot would've been a little more capable ride for the technical bits, but that Flux is quite the climber. I wasn't prepared, however, for the quick handling of the Flux, as I've been spending time on the 5Spot lately. Just a hair overturn on a fast twisting descent made me clip a tree with my bars. I thought I had pulled it off, but the tree I clipped aimed me right into another, larger tree, which I hit squarely with my right shoulder, knee, and shin. Luckily, the shock to my body was enough that the endorphins running thru me kep the pain away until we were well on our way back down the hill. By this time, the occasionally spitting skies had turned to full on rain. The dry sandy climb on the way up kept getting better as it got more saturated. The timing ended up just right - we rolled back to the car just as the rocks were getting slick and the skies were really dumping. It wasn't quite as bad as Tuesday night's Hall Ranch ride.
Prepared to ride fully enjoy the Solstice by riding til dark, we, instead, got stuck in the rain on top of Hall. Rain is a pretty common occurence, but we decided it best to remove ourselves from the premises when the lightening started to come. Not lightening that you see on the horizon, but more like, blinding flash of white light followed by a crack of thunder milliseconds later. Not good. Good thing the Antelope trail was close by, and we were quickly down from the mountain.
A couple of major lightening flashes (one that temporarily killed all the electricity in town) later and we were back at the bike shop, dripping wet and cold. That ride was cut a little short, but it was a still a great ride, though. The only thing missing was the hike a bike, but we'll make sure to work that in next time.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
A little write-up
A little write-up of the weekend's festivities. I had a great time. I imagine a lot of other people did too.
Thanks Dave!
Thanks Dave!
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Well, just one more day of preperation and work around the house for the fest. Everything is in motion now, we'll just have to wait and see how it all shakes down. We still have a lot of work to do around the house (still have to make the 'shoe pit). This will be a fun weekend.
Friday - leave, absolutely the latest, by 3pm to drive into the forest. Meet up at 2:30. If we leave any after 3, our loop may turn into an out and back. Lots of folks won't be rolling into town until then, so we'll see!
Saturday, we'll meet at the bike shop (NE corner of 4th & Broadway) at 8:30am. Plan to be gone all day. We'll get back just in time for more fun.
I'm going to bed now. I need some rest:)
Friday - leave, absolutely the latest, by 3pm to drive into the forest. Meet up at 2:30. If we leave any after 3, our loop may turn into an out and back. Lots of folks won't be rolling into town until then, so we'll see!
Saturday, we'll meet at the bike shop (NE corner of 4th & Broadway) at 8:30am. Plan to be gone all day. We'll get back just in time for more fun.
I'm going to bed now. I need some rest:)
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
final fest recon mission
I was up at the crack of dawn on Sunday to preride the big loop for Fat Tire Fest Five. Well, sort of anyway. As I drove into the forest, I hatched a brilliant scheme - ride the same loop, but backwards. Just to double check the preferred direction. No matter how you do it, though, the ride starts with a stiff, stiff rocky jeep road climb in. If you can clean it, your are definitely the man. I didn't, so I stopped to enjoy the scenery.
I topped out on the climb a mere 30 minutes in - I was making good time. At this point, I diverged from the beaten path and headed off on the grand loop. I rode through old forest road and trail and crested a hill. Not stopping for the views this time, I started to descend. As I descended, the road got rougher, steeper, and narrower. At one point not too long ago, it was narrow singletrack. Unfortunately, last summer some ATVs were through here. Now, it's a combination of singletrack and ATV trail. Not bad, though, by any means. By this time, I was happy to be riding this 'backwards,' as this section was turning out to be a heck of a downhill.
The descent ends in the bottom of a very deep (1000' deep) river canyon. The goal was to cross the river, climb out and loop around back to the river about 3 miles upstream where I'd cross it again. What's this, though - a new trail next to the river?
Yeah, I know it's hard to see, but it really was there. I followed the trail, upstream, secretly hoping that something would pan out. The realistic part of me, though, was telling me to get back on course while I still could. Thankfully, in situations like this, I rarely listen to the my realistic side. I decided to press on. After riding and bushwacking a bit, I came to some narrows in the canyon. Rocks were blocking my way and I could go no further. But wait - I think I see a trail on the other side of the river...
Let's just say that, despite how it looks, that thing was moving swiftly and the water was nut deep. Did I also mention that it's over 8000' feet and it was only 9 in the morning and the water is all snow runoff? Yes - it was cold!
Of course, as soon as I crossed the river, I saw that the trail on this new side was only 30 yards long before it crossed back over. Argggghhh! I crossed it again, picked up the trail, and kept going until I found a place to go if I never wanted to be found. Not that I'll need to, but don't tell anyone about this, just in case!
After that, I played the same damn game of crossing the river back and forth. By the time all was said and done, I'd crossed it 5 times. Also, by the time all was said and done, I was almost a mile upstream and the trail dissapeared, just as the realist in me had predicted. There's a trail on top of the ridge to the east, though, so I opted to hike out. Heck, I could see the top of the ridge. The hike out of the Canyon couldn't be too bad, eh? It was. the top of the ridge I saw was really only a false summit about 20% of the way up to the very top. Arrrghhh again!
So, by now I'm almost a mile up the canyon on the water, and I'm 20% of the way climbed out. The walls were super duper steep and covered in deadfall everywhere I looked. Combining that combo with a 30 pound bike does not generally equal fun. I did find something to indicate to me that I was not the first to have done this
After 30 minutes or so of hiking and monkeying aroud thru the deadfall, I made it to the top of the ridge and back to a familiar jeep road. Finally, I was back on track. I stopped again to check out the scenerey
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. The descent back to the river was sweet, though, but the climb out was hard - especially at this point in a long ride. The rocks and drops didn't do much to energize me so I stopped for the view again. View of the trail this time, though.
This was the last climb of my day. Kind of bittersweet, though..
You know - you're tired from riding all day and want to get back for a nap or something, but you're also bummed the ride is over. Just one more descent and it's back to the car. Luckily the descent was fantastic, as usual. Just too quick.
Overall, the day was great. Was out for 3+ hours, beautiful blue skies, no flats or mechanicals, and zero people encounters. I couldn't have asked for more.
I topped out on the climb a mere 30 minutes in - I was making good time. At this point, I diverged from the beaten path and headed off on the grand loop. I rode through old forest road and trail and crested a hill. Not stopping for the views this time, I started to descend. As I descended, the road got rougher, steeper, and narrower. At one point not too long ago, it was narrow singletrack. Unfortunately, last summer some ATVs were through here. Now, it's a combination of singletrack and ATV trail. Not bad, though, by any means. By this time, I was happy to be riding this 'backwards,' as this section was turning out to be a heck of a downhill.
The descent ends in the bottom of a very deep (1000' deep) river canyon. The goal was to cross the river, climb out and loop around back to the river about 3 miles upstream where I'd cross it again. What's this, though - a new trail next to the river?
Yeah, I know it's hard to see, but it really was there. I followed the trail, upstream, secretly hoping that something would pan out. The realistic part of me, though, was telling me to get back on course while I still could. Thankfully, in situations like this, I rarely listen to the my realistic side. I decided to press on. After riding and bushwacking a bit, I came to some narrows in the canyon. Rocks were blocking my way and I could go no further. But wait - I think I see a trail on the other side of the river...
Let's just say that, despite how it looks, that thing was moving swiftly and the water was nut deep. Did I also mention that it's over 8000' feet and it was only 9 in the morning and the water is all snow runoff? Yes - it was cold!
Of course, as soon as I crossed the river, I saw that the trail on this new side was only 30 yards long before it crossed back over. Argggghhh! I crossed it again, picked up the trail, and kept going until I found a place to go if I never wanted to be found. Not that I'll need to, but don't tell anyone about this, just in case!
After that, I played the same damn game of crossing the river back and forth. By the time all was said and done, I'd crossed it 5 times. Also, by the time all was said and done, I was almost a mile upstream and the trail dissapeared, just as the realist in me had predicted. There's a trail on top of the ridge to the east, though, so I opted to hike out. Heck, I could see the top of the ridge. The hike out of the Canyon couldn't be too bad, eh? It was. the top of the ridge I saw was really only a false summit about 20% of the way up to the very top. Arrrghhh again!
So, by now I'm almost a mile up the canyon on the water, and I'm 20% of the way climbed out. The walls were super duper steep and covered in deadfall everywhere I looked. Combining that combo with a 30 pound bike does not generally equal fun. I did find something to indicate to me that I was not the first to have done this
After 30 minutes or so of hiking and monkeying aroud thru the deadfall, I made it to the top of the ridge and back to a familiar jeep road. Finally, I was back on track. I stopped again to check out the scenerey
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. The descent back to the river was sweet, though, but the climb out was hard - especially at this point in a long ride. The rocks and drops didn't do much to energize me so I stopped for the view again. View of the trail this time, though.
This was the last climb of my day. Kind of bittersweet, though.. You know - you're tired from riding all day and want to get back for a nap or something, but you're also bummed the ride is over. Just one more descent and it's back to the car. Luckily the descent was fantastic, as usual. Just too quick.
Overall, the day was great. Was out for 3+ hours, beautiful blue skies, no flats or mechanicals, and zero people encounters. I couldn't have asked for more.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Despite the rainy weather of late, I was able to perform some recon for the upcoming Lyons Fat Tire Fest Five. My goal was to analyze the proposed big loop near the mid section of the ride to check for extra trails. I had heard there was more to be found. I was eager to search.
It was raining when I set out, but it was a calm and misty rain. I hadn't heard any thunder all day so I wasn't too worried. The fog was lifting, too. Just another beautiful Spring day. Climbing in the way I did puts put me at about the 60% mark of where we'll likely ride in the fest. It was nice 'shortcut.' The climb is rocky and moderately steep with a few technical sections and a couple of long rock gardens. The trail also follow an old dry streambed for a couple of bits. This was no ordinary dry streambed, though! For some strange reason (perhaps all of the rain), this dry streambed had a solid 8" of water rapidly crashing over the rocks and down the hill. It made the rock gardens pretty interesting, being under water and all...
smooth part of the ride
I made it to the top of my climb, where I connected with my proposed Memorial Day route. After passing a singletrack that dumps onto the main road from way up high,
I vcntured into new terrain. New terrain. One of my favorite things about mountain biking. Sometimes new terrain yeilds fantastic riding. Sometimes new terrain is a bust and doesn't pan out. Doesn't matter. Finding out is half the fun!
Anyway, the rain was still coming down. Gentle but steady. I stopped a couple of times to take in the view. Normally, you can see tall peaks far off in the distance. Today wasn't one of those days. That didn't diminish the veiw, though. The fog was brilliant.
I continued to climb on an ancient jeep road. Thankfully, this road was quite rocky. The rocky road and trail surface of the day kept the mud away.
one of the non rock smooth parts
I climbed up the jeep road for another few minutes. It didn't take me long to get to the end. The end was a closed gate, proclaiming that I had ventured out of the forest and onto a local county road. I had heard whisperings of possible trails existing further up this road so I had to press on. So far I hadn't seen anything. Unfortunately, as I pressed on, two things happened. It started raining harder and I realized that I was running out of time. I called the ride and turned around. I was miles away from the car, but luckily, it was 100% downhill. About the time I made it back to the gate and the start of the jeep road, all hell broke loose in the skies. Thunder started booming overhead and I could see lightning way off in the distance. I wasn't too worried, as I was about to enter a pretty narrow gulch, but you can never be too sure. Just to make things on my downhill more interesting, about half way down (where the trail is in that dry creekbed) it started to hail. Nothing big, mind you, just lots of it! By this time, my fingers were starting to go numb (I was on my 2nd pair of gloves).
Ah the irony of it all... Just when it was hailing the worst, and about when my fingers were ready to fall off, the skies started to clear and the sun peeked out. It's amazing the warmth that the sun brings when it smiles. Feeling it's warm rays on my back was an enlightening experience. To finally top it all off, coming around the last corner, I saw a rainbow. My car was parked just beneath! Coincidence?
the light at the end of the tunnel.
It was raining when I set out, but it was a calm and misty rain. I hadn't heard any thunder all day so I wasn't too worried. The fog was lifting, too. Just another beautiful Spring day. Climbing in the way I did puts put me at about the 60% mark of where we'll likely ride in the fest. It was nice 'shortcut.' The climb is rocky and moderately steep with a few technical sections and a couple of long rock gardens. The trail also follow an old dry streambed for a couple of bits. This was no ordinary dry streambed, though! For some strange reason (perhaps all of the rain), this dry streambed had a solid 8" of water rapidly crashing over the rocks and down the hill. It made the rock gardens pretty interesting, being under water and all...
smooth part of the ride
I made it to the top of my climb, where I connected with my proposed Memorial Day route. After passing a singletrack that dumps onto the main road from way up high,
I vcntured into new terrain. New terrain. One of my favorite things about mountain biking. Sometimes new terrain yeilds fantastic riding. Sometimes new terrain is a bust and doesn't pan out. Doesn't matter. Finding out is half the fun!
Anyway, the rain was still coming down. Gentle but steady. I stopped a couple of times to take in the view. Normally, you can see tall peaks far off in the distance. Today wasn't one of those days. That didn't diminish the veiw, though. The fog was brilliant.
I continued to climb on an ancient jeep road. Thankfully, this road was quite rocky. The rocky road and trail surface of the day kept the mud away.
one of the non rock smooth parts
I climbed up the jeep road for another few minutes. It didn't take me long to get to the end. The end was a closed gate, proclaiming that I had ventured out of the forest and onto a local county road. I had heard whisperings of possible trails existing further up this road so I had to press on. So far I hadn't seen anything. Unfortunately, as I pressed on, two things happened. It started raining harder and I realized that I was running out of time. I called the ride and turned around. I was miles away from the car, but luckily, it was 100% downhill. About the time I made it back to the gate and the start of the jeep road, all hell broke loose in the skies. Thunder started booming overhead and I could see lightning way off in the distance. I wasn't too worried, as I was about to enter a pretty narrow gulch, but you can never be too sure. Just to make things on my downhill more interesting, about half way down (where the trail is in that dry creekbed) it started to hail. Nothing big, mind you, just lots of it! By this time, my fingers were starting to go numb (I was on my 2nd pair of gloves).
Ah the irony of it all... Just when it was hailing the worst, and about when my fingers were ready to fall off, the skies started to clear and the sun peeked out. It's amazing the warmth that the sun brings when it smiles. Feeling it's warm rays on my back was an enlightening experience. To finally top it all off, coming around the last corner, I saw a rainbow. My car was parked just beneath! Coincidence?
the light at the end of the tunnel.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Tonights group ride was sure a good one. Heading to the shop coming north on 36, I drove through torrential downpour and grape sized hail to get to Lyons. By the time I got to town, I could see dark skies to the SW and blue skies the NW. Always being the optimast, I banked on no more rain and got ready to ride. We had a crew of 6 strong tonight. A few of the usuals plus the addition of Mr W. himself! He was in from Winter Park for the next couple of days and decided to ride with the crew.
The skies had calmed and the roads were drying up. We decided, despite the mad rains that had just hammered town, that we'd head to Hall Ranch. Heck, it's usually about perfect after a rain so what the hey. We climbed through the rock garden successfully. There were bits of sloppy section, but the rocks were dry and the trailbed was, for the most part, firm, so we carried on. We made a quick break at the top bench. Rolling onward, we only made it a few hundred yards before the trail turned into an ultra quagmire of sticky mud. Yuck. At this point, we realized that our better judgement had failed us so we turned around. The descent back to Hwy7 was a blast though. The rocks were dry and the dirt offered more traction than it ever does when it's dry. We didn't see a single soul on the way back down, so that was good.
After the Hall fiasco, we rolled around town for a bit, including connecting all the ghetto singletracks around town. Fun stuff .
The ride was top notch, even though conditions weren't.
The skies had calmed and the roads were drying up. We decided, despite the mad rains that had just hammered town, that we'd head to Hall Ranch. Heck, it's usually about perfect after a rain so what the hey. We climbed through the rock garden successfully. There were bits of sloppy section, but the rocks were dry and the trailbed was, for the most part, firm, so we carried on. We made a quick break at the top bench. Rolling onward, we only made it a few hundred yards before the trail turned into an ultra quagmire of sticky mud. Yuck. At this point, we realized that our better judgement had failed us so we turned around. The descent back to Hwy7 was a blast though. The rocks were dry and the dirt offered more traction than it ever does when it's dry. We didn't see a single soul on the way back down, so that was good.
After the Hall fiasco, we rolled around town for a bit, including connecting all the ghetto singletracks around town. Fun stuff .
The ride was top notch, even though conditions weren't.
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