5 Spot Love

Today was a great day for a ride. I was able to get out early to beat the weather. It was a beautiful morning.




I got out on the 5 Spot today. I'd been spending most of my time on the Flux lately so I thought it'd be good time for a change. It's a tad heavier than the Flux but that extra inch and the relaxed geometry are oh, so nice! Especially in the rocky stuff

If a bear's natural habitat is a Studebaker, what's the natural habitat for the 5 Spot?

I hope everyone was able to get out for a great ride today, too.

On a somewhate related note, the Lyons BBQ guy that sells fine dining out of his moble kitchen just set up shop across the street from me. It's a bad thing - I've already given him way too much money! Great stuff, check him out next time you're in Lyons. On the approach to the singletrack, I got hungry for some barbeque.

Great Tuesday Night Ride!  

Friday!

Another fantastic work week down the tubes, eh. Where do I start.

Well, most importantly, after cracking my helmet earlier this week, I finally got my new one today. Zoe and I went for a little bike ride after work and I tested out the new shell. Man, oh man, that has got to be the most comfortable helmet I've ever worn. It's a LAS Kripton. The fit system seems to be way beyond what Bell and Giro are doing. Plus, it's got a coolmax liner and bug netting. Very nice. I'm now a big fan of LAS helmets! I'll give the longer term review in a few days provided I don't manage to break it before then!

In other news, I recently got the latest update from the Forest Service on the Left Hand Canyon management plan. They are getting ready to roll this thing into action! What they are proposing is way too long to mention here, but here's the basic skinny:
*close Carnage Canyon to all
*open potential new 4WD rock crawler routes
*build one (yes only one) new singletrack trail that short and not a logical connector
*limit the area to day use with the specific exception of night riding (our only real victory)
*close off all the little spur singletracks in the area

If this plan gets finalized, I'd have to say that we didn't get much. In fact, I'd argue that we, as a mountain bike population, lost out on all of our opportunity. Not to say we didn't show, but it is definitely an OHV area and they need their place to play. Never hurts to ask, though, huh? Anyway,the process isn't over yet! I'll have more info up on the Redstone LHC OHV page soon.

One more thing! Save May 14 on your calendars for what promises to be a fantastic movie night at the Boulder Theater:
"hard-won victories, agonizing defeats and desperate attempts to gain coveted points were captured on film in "Off Road to Athens," a documentary about eight athletes - four women and four men - and their aspirations to become Olympians

May 14 (2 shows) Boulder, CO Boulder Theater $10 adv. $12 door"

yep. Racin'.

That's about all I've got to report today. Did I mention that the first batch of stickers are in? They're sweet, come on and get yours!

So the Tuesday Night Ride was fun. Well, at least most of it. We rode the tour de Hall. The crew was 4 strong. We climbed up the main trail, looped Nelson, then back to Hwy 7. Everything was fine except for one part. That would be the part where I sampled the dirt. You know, augered head first into the earth. We were descending from the loop. We'd just passed the rocky section with the tight right handers and just past the Prarie Dog Sign on the right side of the trail. 3 jumps right in a row. 1 jump fine, 2 jump fine, 3 jump, land on a gravelly off camber with my wheel cocked-not fine. I tried to ride it out but I could not correct my error. The front wheel slid on the sandy off camber and I augered head first into the dirt at full speed. Add to that the fact that there was a field of cactus just before where I laid. When I got up, I thought, "hmmm, good thing I didn't land in that cactus." As the adrenaline wore off, I felt a twitch in my left arm. I looked down and found that my arm, jacket, and glove were full of cactus needles.

It was an expensive fall. Not only did I break my helmet, I broke my sunglasses, too! As I type this, I still have (3) 1/8" needles stuck somewhere inside of my hand. They're buried so deep that I've tried to forget them. Hopefully, they will emerge someday!

Anway, thanks to Kirk, Jamie, and Chad for rolling with the 'stone. I had a great time and look forward to continuing the tradition next Tuesday!

what a week!

Wow what a week. Real Spring weather early in the week, followed up by real Spring weather at the weeks end. Last Tuesday was the first shop ride of the year. We had a couple of riders and conditions were fantastic. Later in the week, I was lucky enough to squeak out for a recon snow ride. I took to the high hills and was quite surprised at what I found:

There was still a bit of snow, but less than I had suspected:


good views, too:


Then we got some moisture. That's ok. I was still able to get a quick ride in. Come on out and ride Tuesday at 6. Conditions will be great!

mmm fruita

Fruita was good. Check back - I'll have more pics up in a bit. For now, though, here's a couple of my favorite pics:

Pablo dropping into Horsethief Bench. Yep, he rode it


Mic on the moto trail that took us to heaven


We all know that Matty likes to jump

Yep, the desert was good. Our main blogger powering out of a corner on the Western Rim.  

Spring

What great Spring weather! I just came in from outside and my hands are so fozen it's hard to type! Oh well, as long as the desert has good weather next week, I'll be fine. Seems like everytime this year, it's nice to escape from the daily routine and the just-past-winter doldrums into a fresher, warmer atmosphere. Fresher not in the sense of better, more along the lines of "ahead." That's one of the reasons I like Fruita this time of year. Seems like they're just a little ahead of us with weather and Spring blossoms and all of those nice smells and sights associated with Spring. I am a bit apprehensive about going, though, as I haven't ridden my bike in 2 weeks. Alas, the life of a shop owner!

Tonight was a fun night at the shop. All of the tune-ups, upgrades, and repairs have already been made for the week so I finally had some time to spend on the shop itself. It felt like things were getting more cluttered all the time. Fairly easy given the massive square footage, I know. Anyway, I received a bunch of cool inventory tonight and somewhat re-merchandised the shop.

Among some of the cool things I got in this week were a Gravity Dropper seatpost, Answer Pro Taper Carbon bar, a complete build kit for Scott's bike, the new 29" WTB Epic Wolf tires and a smattering of Latitude 40's maps. Those are the best maps in the business when it comes to Colorado. Latitude 40 doesn' just make maps, they are works of art.

Speaking of art, the town of Lyons wants me to remove the bike from the roof. Here's the rub, though: You need a sign permit to put up a sign. "Art" is specifically exempt from permit requirements. There are other types of signs exempt from permit as well. Regardless of permit requirements, Town code specifically states that "no sign" must be mounted above the roofline of the building. It says nothing about art. Therefore, if no sign permit is required to display art, and art is not a sign, the bike on the roof stays. I'll keep you posted.

And speaking of bikes, we've got a handful of GTs and Schwinn's in now. I even brought down my own new PeaPicker for display.

There are lots of things going on with the shop right now. So much that I'll have to write more later. Until then...

Desert Dessert

So, it's time for Redstone to officially kick off the season. Spring is here and what better way to roll in the ridin' season than a trip to the western slope deserts of Colorado. I have been looking forward to this trip for a long time. The Redstone Crew will be meeting up with the gang from Monkey Wrench Cycles in Lincoln, NE for a hell of a good time frolicking on Fruita's superb singletrack. It will be a motley crew of racers, ex racers and homeboys that live to ride, have a great bike ethic.

The plan is to leave Thursday after 5 to drive to our campspot. We'll ride all day Friday, camp, ride all day Sunday, camp, ride 1/2 day Sunday and drive home.

If you're interested, shoot me an email at dave@redstonecyclery.com for more details.

the fun awaits.

Thursday Night Ride, 3/24

Let's meet up at 6:45pm at the shop. It's likely that we'll head to the Eagle Trail trailhead just east of 36 on Neva Road.

Tuesday night rides start at the shop on April 5, just after Daylight Savings!

Dirt is Good! 

Full Moon Ride next Thursday

Looks like the moon will be full next week. Is anyone up for a full moon ride on Thursday night? Last full moon, I rode from Neva Road, all the way around the Res, and into Boulder on the Foothills trail without lights. Hopefully, next week will be another bright one.

Saturday Evening Post

Today was a good day. Temps were trying to break into the 60s at times, the sun came out a bit, and lots of folks were out on their bikes. Hall Ranch is even drying out. Sounds good to me.

The shop was busy, too. Service was rocking today and I sold a bike, too. To top all of that off, we finally got the sign mounted. You know, the big, 200# rock sign. Whew. Debaser came up to help out with that. It wasn't as big of an undertaking as I originally estimated, but it was a fair size time consumer. Hmmm. Come to think of it, the project was a fair size beer consumer as well! Anyway, the shop is looking top notch finally, but we still have a ways to go.

new bikes!

This has been a good week for Redstone. Come on by and check out the new bikes. We've got a silver Turner 5 Spot frame hanging up and we just got in some Schwinns and GTs.

I got the GT ID XC4.0 and the Schwinn Cruiser SS built tonight. Building the Cruiser SS was a good feeling. Having been an ex Schwinn employee, it felt like a homecoming of sorts. I know a lot of folks have mixed emotions about the Schwinn brand now (I do, too), but having spent so much time with Schwinn in the past, it just felt good.

Then there's the GT. This is the first ID XC I've seen outside of a trade show format. I have to say that I am really impressed. For only $1000, it's a really nicely spec'd full suspension bike. About the only thing missing are disc brakes, but hey, it's only $1k. It's not 100% done yet, but I'm eager to give it the ol' parking lot test. I really like the new I Drive design over past versions. It's much cleaner looking and lighter, too.

Hopefully by this weekend I'll have the other bikes built.

Tonights Town Hall Meeting on Hall/Heil Ranch

Tonight was the big town hall meeting about Lyons connecting to Hall Ranch and to Heil Ranch. Originally, this was intended to be a pretty low key event between Boulder County and some folks around town, but the crowd ended up being over 100 people. If you've ever been to Lyons Town Hall, you know that building was waaaay over capacity!

Anyway, this was the first meeting of hopefully several more. We (the mtb community) walked away from the meeting with hopes of working positively with Boulder County in the near future. Boulder County has 2 brand new and one pretty new Commissioners. That's the position in the drivers seat with regard to County Open Space. In the past, the Commissioners have contiunally favored preservation over recreation to a fault. Despite the fact that the counties residents have clammored for more outdoor recreation, the County has roped it off from the people.

Tonight could mark a turning point. Boulder County came to Lyons to present folks the idea of a trail going from Lyons to Hall Ranch and a trail going from Lyons to Heil Ranch. Most of the folks there were very opinionated and some groups (the local NIMBYS) were coordinated and well represented. Lots of bikers were present as well. It was mostly an informative session and nothing "real" came of it.

Perhaps the best thing, though, is that Boulder County officials realized that they were overwhelmed with folks sick of the County not listening to it's constituents. Hopefully, this will lead to a more progressive era in County politicking with regards to land management and recreation. I've got my fingers crossed.

we've been riding...

Time flies - I can't believe it's been over a week since I last posted an update. I was looking at the page and I think it needs some more pictures. Here's some pics from our last few rides. We've been riding Left Hand Canyon lately. It's super steep, very technical and most importantly, it's dry! Enjoy the pics. Also, keep Tuesday evenings open. Group rides will start soon at 6pm from the shop!

Enjoy the pics!

migz and bg climbing a faint singletrack


bg rockin' the ONLY smooth section of singletrack on the entire downhill.


smooth,LHC style


the views aren't half bad either. don't fall...

Thursday night ride

We're riding this Thursday, 3/3. Wow, hard to believe it's March already... Anyway, we meet up at the shop at 7:30pm and decide where to ride from there. Last week, I was solo, so I headed down to the reservoir for some full moon cruising. The moonlight was so bright, I didn't even use my light for half of the ride. Not the case this week, but we'll ride something fun anyhow. Hope to see some of you there!

mountain bike advocacy news

Well, first off, not really Lyons, but those of you registered to vote in Boulder may find this interesting. Since former Councilman Will Toor had to leave his post to hold up the status quo that Ron Stewart is leaving behind as county commissioner, his council seat is up for grabs. There will be a special election in April to decide who the new council person will be.

I got this email from BOA today:
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BOA endorses Suzy Ageton for City Council

Will Toor resigned his City Council seat in November to take on his new job with the Boulder County Commissioners. There is a special election underway to fill his City Council position. The biggest issue that this Council person will face is the Open Space and Mountain Parks Visitor Master Plan (VMP). Of the six candidates running only Suzy Ageton or Lisa Morzel have a realistic chance of being elected. For more trails and better access to OSMP properties the mountain biking community should support Suzy.

If you are registered to vote in this election, you should have received your ballot in the mail by now. We ask that you consider this election to be a turning point in City politics, one where we can open a new chapter of collaboration and positi ve progress with OSMP.



After six years of stops and starts and over one million dollars spent, the City Boulder Open Space &Mountain Parks (OSMP) has released its Final Draft. It's due for submission to the City Council in April. BOA was an active participant throughout the six year process and worked to represent mountain biking access in this plan. During this period, BOA, along with dog owners, runners, rock climbers, equestrians, hang gliders and paragliders became involved politically like never before. We interviewed City Council candidates in 2004 to voice our concerns with the VMP. The current City Council now understands our issues and our desire to create a plan that both provides access while protecting the lands.

What does the plan look like?

For starters, we encourage everyone who enjoys Boulder's fine open space s to look for themselves at the OSMP website: http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/openspace/plan.htm

We are happy to report that this plan is a good one. The tone of the plan places the user experience as a valued goal for OSMP. There are specific goals laid out, there are metrics to see how they are doing, and there is a feedback process to help with an adaptive management approach. And yes, mountain biking access is in there as well.

Is it perfect? Of course not. There are still several issues regarding "on-trail only" use in certain areas and nighttime visitation. But taken as a whole, this plan is a guide that will enhance the user experience AND protect the natural resources.

Are we done? Is there anything you can do about it?

Yes! Vote in the spe cial election and support Suzy Ageton. The VMP is scheduled to go before the City Council for approval on April 5, 2005. We need Suzy on the City Council.

Suzy acknowledges the problems we've had with OSMP and the Board of Trustees. She seeks a more balanced representation on the Board of Trustees. Ms. Morzel represents the more reactionary facets of Boulder politics, the type of approach that we have seen throughout the 1990's, where preservation trumped recreation at every turn.

There are candidates that are more pro-recreation to be sure. But we feel every vote for someone other than Suzy Ageton is really a vote for Liza Morzel, who has been endorsed by PLAN-Boulder and the Sierra Club.

Getting to this point in the process has indeed been a long, strange trip. Please consider our points and then go vote
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Thanks for reading this far. In other news, although it's a couple weeks old, check out this press release from IMBA regarding mountain biking and Wilderness. It's good to have a little backing in this area. A little more background info his here. Interesting, to say the least.

Thanks, more as I hear it!

upcoming rides

Thurs night at the shop at 7:30pm. We usually bs for a bit then decide where to ride. We usually end up driving. Bring good lights.

Also, how about a Sunday morning tour of Left Hand Canyon, given all of the recent fuss about the place. We can meet up at LHC at 7:30am. Plenty of time to ride before the shop opens!

The Sunday ride is subject to a time change. I'll repost here later with more firm details.

Weekday Group Rides to Start Soon

Howdy. In a couple more weeks, it will be light enough to start after work rides. I'm hoping that by mid March, we can start gathering once a week at 6pm at the shop to ride Hall or elsewhere. For now, we'll have to bring lights, but we'll use them less as the days get longer. Last year group rides were every Thursday.

The bad thing about Thurs is that Lyons has concerts in the park on Thursdays in the summer. Lots of folks like to stick around town and jam to some free music so we're rescheduling the night to ride.

I'll take a vote - is there any preference for Tuesdays or Wednesdays? If I don't hear from anyone, it'll be Tuesday. Post here or email.

dave
dave@redstonecyclery.com

thanks!