Finally....

We've finally gotten a little bit of snow. Princeton looked great the other morning with the clouds and snow. I take 2 or 3 of these shots per year...one day, I'll get a great one. Haven't been up to Monarch yet, but I think the snow has finally been coming. Perhaps tomorrow or a 1/2 day next week before we head off for the holiday.

I got conned into joining the local gym. I don't have a problem with people who go to gyms, more just the gyms themselves. The one I've joined is pretty nice...I'm doing cycling specific lifting using resources found at this website:

www.fascatcoaching.com/cyclingresistancetraining.html

Its not a lot of fun, but after just a few weeks, I can tell that if I keep it up I'll be strong going into next season.

I don't usually hit the gym until after 8 at night. I've been riding my vintage performance fixie back and forth. The streets have been wet a bit, so when I was in Denver this past week I picked up a set of SKS race fenders. Super simple to set up and should work on the Trek roadie as well. I've also set up the handlebar with an incredibell and specialized light for the night ride. With the fenders, maybe I'll not use wet and rainy conditions as an excuse as much as in the past.

My Wheels are Bigger than Your Wheels!

29 vs. 26

While still basking in the glow of our VIP action from the night before...Matt and I got up on Sunday to go out for a ride along the foothills west of Ft. Collins. After some lounging around and riding into Old Towne for a burrito at Lulos, we loaded the bikes and headed for Lory State Park.

Blue Sky Trail Singletrack

I have some experience riding in Lory from my time living in Ft. Collins as well as some races back in the early 90's as part of the Rock Around the Parks series. These trails are super fun and have enough of everything to keep everyone interested.

Today our goal was to ride from Ft. Collins to Loveland via trails in Lory, the Blue Sky Trail, and the Devil's Backbone. At the start it seemed like a perfect day for a ride other than a chill in the air and a haze in my head from the night before.

Devil's Backbone in the Distance

Another amazing thing about this trail is that of the 32 or so miles on the route that we took, I'd guess that 30 of it is on single track. Not just any old hack single track, but awesome wanna ride it all the time single track.

We made decent time on our 16 miles to Loveland. A rider should always be skeptical of making decent time and not feeling any breeze, it surely means that the ride home is going to be a bitch.



Scoping the view of the Backbone

Sure enough we turned around and bore into some pretty significant winds. It definitely got to the point where the mental impact of the wind was at least as challenging as the muscle fatigue from the ride. Its one thing to power into a killer headwind...which we did miles and miles of...but to be also fighting killer crosswinds that are conspiring to run you off of the trail is another. Places along the Devil's Backbone trail require some concentration to pick a line and power along, the wind certainly compromised performance on this section.

Matt Climbing to the 'bone

Anyway, we railed along and enjoyed the ride as best we could. We were both cooked at the end. Usually wind isn't a huge factor on my mountain bike rides...at least not in the same way that it is on the road. Sunday was a different story...serious mental fatigue from the wind.

Matt is a great rider and I always have to work hard to keep up. He was also an instrumental part of my finishing the Leadville 100 this year (story still to come). He knows how and when to kick me in the ass and keep me going. I wish we could ride and share Skittles more often.

Last epic of the year....I keep saying so, but its not snowing yet. Ordered some warm baselayers planning on the possibility of riding all year. Over 30 miles, tough wind, plenty of vertical, most on single track...love it!

Shadow Riding v.2

Rubbing Elbows

WARNING: This is not a riding story...rather it is a story about riders. Those who be, and those who wannabe.

This weekend I drove down to the Front Range to hang with my friend Matt, take in a ride, and be a lookie loo at the Garmin Slipstream kick-off party in Boulder.

We weren't sure what to expect from the party, but we were pleasantly surprised. Over 800 fans like us and VIP's gathered at the Boulder Theater for an hour and a half cycling kick-off party. This must be what midnight madness is like at the beginning of the college basketball season.....alright it was Boulder, so all of that with a pretentious uppity feel to it!

We got the last two seats in the balcony (thanks Matt) and settled in for some video presentations and speeches from the Mayor of Boulder, CEO's of primary sponsor companies, and a representative of the Children's Hospital. I give the team big props for donating all proceeds to the Hospital.

My goal for the evening was to capture a picture of team manager Jonathan Vaughters in his trademark turtleneck for my wife....he wasn't wearing one that evening, but I got this one for you sweetie....

After all of the presentations, JV introduced the team and had them come on stage for brief bios and a short audience Q&A. It was impressive to see the whole team on stage. It was also fun to listen to the trash talking and the promises of performance, we'll see.

After the show appeared to be breaking up, I made a break for it. I dragged Matt with me and made a bee line for the VIP area. On the way we ran into time trailing stud David Millar....

David has won three stages of the Tour and is the only Brit to have worn all three Jerseys at the Tour.

This only further fueled my desire to crack the secret VIP zone. We tried and were denied, but waited patiently. I saw another opportunity and we made a run for it. This is what waited on the other side!

Drew with Magnus Backstedt 2004 Paris Roubaix champion

With Mike Friedman, multiple time and discipline national champion on the track.

With Bradley Wiggins four time Olympic Gold medalist, multiple time world track champion, and flamboyant Brit about town!

David Towle the "Voice of American Racing" was the emcee

Slipstream Director Sportif Jonathan Vaughters (sans turtleneck)

Drew with 2008 Tour de France 4th place, Christian Vandevelde

I was really glad that we got down into the "pits." The guys were all really nice and I hope that they do great this coming season....I could add to the list of TDF champions who I've been photographed with....

Matt and I cruised back home and hit the bars in Fort Collins to tell all of the ladies about our evening. Actually we had some wings, fries, and PBR's and went back home to bed.

Part two of the weekend called for an early rise to hit about 30 miles of single track the next day. More to come.

Lunch Ride...

The weather has been so great lately, that I thought I'd take advantage and get out for a quick lunch ride. I've been working in Salida a lot lately and don't know much about the trails from town. This ride I'd done as a night ride before Moab so I knew I could knock it out in an hour or less.





This view looks west down "F" Street in Salida. This ride goes up to just below the "S" on the hill and then rolls (steeply at times) south through several drainages before coming back down into town. The ride is characterized by great single track, steep climbs, and some sketchy descents. Great for a quick lunch ride.





This is a shot of some of the single track that you find when you get off the dirt road climb to the top. Salida Mountain Trails is doing great work down here on a network of killer riding. I stuck to what I knew because I was on the 1x. I didn't want to spend any more time than I had to walking!




A shot of the valley below as seen through the frame of the Rig. I'm really enjoying learning to ride this bike. I had a 20 put on the back yesterday and I think that I can tell the diference. I'm working on not getting so stressed out about walking, etc. on this bike!


Anyway, if we have a winter like last year, I'll be savoring these rides in a few weeks. Fighting the peer preasure to skate ski this winter...time will tell. For now 7 miles and 1200 vert. makes for a nice quick lunch!

32 X 18....

Dana got home from her long run around noon today and I thought I'd take the 1x out for a quick spin around one of our new standard loops. The ride is only about 7 miles, but its mostly singletrack, with a nice variety of technical challenge.

I tell you what...this isn't a bad way to begin each ride. This is the view from my driveway back to Mt. Princeton, 14,197, in the background. Sporting the new 29 & Single jersey courtesy of Mr. Sunderlage (http://www.ride29.blogspot.com/).

Main Street Buena Vista, Colorado, USA!!! The Midland area is the western most portion of the Fourmile area, east of town. Its amazing in this valley....desert on one side and high alpine on the other. This ride goes between 1/4 to 1/2 way up the hill.

This bridge crosses the Arkansas River and is the beginning of the Whipple Trail. Great singletrack with several options. Unlimited BLM access to miles and miles of trails (including some great singletrack) can be accessed from here.

This is one of the fun technical sections on the north fork of the Whipple system. I've never cleaned the portion right after the big rock on the left. Close on the geared bike, no where near on the 1x.



This is a view to the south from the Broken Boyfriend trail. This trail has some gnarly parts to it if ridden north to south...not sure why I didn't take pictures of those parts! Anyway also a nice variety of buff and fast singletrack. It used to be a pirate trail, our local bike club Ark Valley Velo was able to work with the BLM to get it opened to all non-motorized users this spring.


I'd say this ride is 80% singletrack. Its all really fun, but a bit of a beast in parts on my Rig. I may be going to a 32x20 for a while to see how that goes for me. I really enjoy the current set up on the rollers and flats, but the hills are killing me. This ride has about 800 vertical in its 7 miles...when it goes up, it goes up. The Rig is mostly stock right now, I'll upgrade as I wear stuff out.


Fun day on the bike after over a week off. I'm going to get myself in mental mode for this length of ride through the winter. If I can bang one or two of these loops between 7 & 13 miles and do a roller night during the winter, I'll be alright.

The Journey....

I set out this summer to accomplish A goal. While I didn't achieve my goal, I learned a lot, especially about setting goals.

My goal this summer was to ride the Leadville 100 bike race in under 9 hours. You know...big buckle, elite level time, hot chicks on both arms, etc.

Along the way I met tons of new friends, networked into the "on-line" cycling scene, and got into as good of shape as I've been in a decade. I still have many blogs to write about my experiences this year....running into cool folks on the Leadville course while pre-riding which turned into lifelong friendships, doing rides which have been on my life checklist forever (Leadville, Triple Bypass, etc.), and revisiting a great race from my past and sharing it with others (Moab).

I'll try to get caught up as we head into the winter. I think what got me thinking about all of this was the arrival of a new jersey in the mail today. I've been lurking about on many web blogs this summer...the enjoyment of this voyeristic pursuit is what inspired me to get this one going again. Its really interesting to read about others adventures and be reminded about the community that we belong to as cyclists.

The jersey is sweet...even my wife likes it. Its from Rick in Utah. 29 and single...my wife pointed out to me tonight that I'm not single and I had to bring her up to speed...so to speak! I found Rick's blog through Fatty's and even though I've never met any of these folks, I know that we'll get along when we finally get a chance to ride. You can check his blog out at... http://www.ride29er.blogspot.com/. I've also been to the Twin6 Website to order some Fatty arm warmers to help out Elden and his situation. It'll be my Utah tribute attire for my 1x rides.

If you aren't familiar with Elden's situation, I won't try and explain, get over to his blog to catch up. Seems like a great guy and there is no doubt that his mission is just. Check his story out at http://www.fatcyclist.com/.

Anyway, lots of fun events this summer, and posts to describe on the way....for now, I'm savoring the abstract of the journey.

Ride in the Park....

Shadow Riding!!

Well there isn't really a park, but after my deathmarch on Sunday it seemed like a ride in the park today.

The weather here was perfect. You know what I'm talking about....mid-60's, NO clouds, no wind. The sort of weather where if you could find somewhere that it was like this year round, you'd move.

I decided to take a break from work in the afternoon and head out for a quick spin on my road bike. The ride goes south on 24 to Nathrop and then past the hot springs and up the hill to the Frontier Ranch turn off and into BV on Rodeo Road. I jog back to the west before heading home for about 26 straight forward miles.

The ride was very uneventful...a great relief after the pain of Sunday. I just cruised along and enjoyed the weather and views. It won't be long before the weather won't allow for these rides.

View of Princeton from the chip seal!!

On the climb up to the top of Rodeo Road, I met a local fast roadie guy, Doug. We talked the rest of the way into town and it made the job enjoyable. Doug rides for a local road team...thoughts of skinny tires floating through my head!

6 - 9 = -3!?

Sooooo....

I had been thinking that after a great summer of riding it would be nice to cap it off with one last epic adventure. A week ago blew in some snow and I thought that my window had closed for my desired journey...if only that had been the case.

After completing the Aspen Ridge Loop BV to BV (on my blog backlog), I had my eye on another Valley loop that I wanted to give a shot. Something like BV to Chubb Park to Basam to Nathrop to Princeton to BV. The way I had things figured (roughly) the ride would be between 50 and 60 miles and I could work it out in around 6 hours or so.

So after over a week off the bike since I jacked up my ankle on the Dakota Ridge trail in Denver...another story, and after a few brews at a Halloween party, I set my alarm for 6:30 this last Sunday morning ready to give 'er.

I woke up slowly and watched the sun rise color the Sawach mystical shades of pink as I ate my breakfast of 4 scrambled eggs and two pieces of buttered toast. I found myself lacking motivation and worked HARD to resist the urge to curl back into bed. I suited up and headed into the still 28 degree morning to hit the trail.

I was disappointed to find my front tire flat when I went to take it out of the shed. Resisting the additional urge to bag on the ride, I took the bike into the garage and changed the flat....finally I was rolling down the road at around 7:15.

The bike knew how to find the way for the first 15 miles or so....up the familiar south branch of the Whipple trail on single track out of town and then the long climb to the top of the Lenhardy Cut-Off. I've ridden these trails since I moved to town and, despite the grunt of a climb, made steady progress.

There were a lot of hunters out that morning....it caused me to recall a ride outside of Ft. Collins years ago. We were riding down a road and encountered some crabby hunters. Once down the road Dana's cousin, newly enlisted and with a bit of a puffed chest informed us that "those guys would be in a lot of trouble if they shot me, its against the law to shoot a member of the military" I can't recall if at the time anyone mentioned to him that it is against the law to shoot ANYONE.

Once to the top of Lenhardy I began the descent into Chubb Park. I really like this descent because of the speed (over 30 in places) combined with the technical aspect. I was disappointed to come around the first corner and find that the road had been graded and the rocks pushed to the side, government spending at its best. I was relieved around the next corner to see that some of the rocks must have been too big to move as the trail was just as I remembered.

View looking back up the descent from the Lenhardy Cut-Off into Chubb Park.

Once down and into Chubb Park I headed south towards Hwy. 285 which I crossed to gain continued access towards Bassam Park. This part of the ride was fairly uneventful other than the incredible ice-cream headache that I developed rolling along at 20 miles an hour in near freezing temperatures. Maybe an hour and a half into the ride...enjoying the views and a bit of water.

Vew of Mt. Princeton from top of Arnold Gulch. My goal was just below the sub-peak to the left of Princeton.

My next turn was down Forest Road 300 which heads west and rolls along in a generally downhill fashion with short steep uphill sections littered in for interest sake. By this time...over 2 hours into the ride I had seen no one since the hunters I encountered in the first 5 miles of the ride. Just the sort of adventure I was looking for. The views of my goal across the valley were of only a slight concern at this point.

Sign at the top of Chinaman's Gulch...Let the fun begin!!

Forest Road 300 provides access to a little ridden, but gem of a trail called Chinaman's Gulch. The trail is maintained as a 4-Wheel Drive trail and must be for those types of vehicles that are modified for such a task. It is a blast of a trail that I'd only been down once before. I enjoyed the flow of the technical challenge....until I found myself flowing over the handlebars. On a not especially tricky section, I jammed my rear wheel while pedaling forward and wound up about 2 feet downhill of my bike. My ankle and knee hurt and my immediate thought was that I had given the ride a good effort, but today wasn't meant to be the day.

The view from the landing zone...

I continued down the trail with that thought in mind, but by the time I hit the road and a decision on whether or not to bail home, decided to head south on 285 towards Nathrop where I called to check-in with home and eat a bar. I was 30 miles in and was just under four hours of ride time...I'll be home within 7 hours of my departure....HA!!!!


I'd been paying attention to the views of my next destination for most of the ride. From Nathrop I headed, on county roads, towards the Young Life Frontier Ranch Mount Princeton Trail head. Once there, I shed a layer and ate a Hammer Gel. My goal was the Chalet on the flanks of Tigger Peak...a sub peak of Mount Princeton. I had never been, but the location was sort of understood and it seemed like a reasonable goal when I was planning the ride....which was again starting to seem like a poor judgement.

Anyway, being a man, I continued despite tired legs and a waining enthusiasm for the effort ahead. As I started up the road I was passed by a friends wife...who was jogging. We exchanged chit chat for a hundred yards of so and then she pulled away....argh. For the next couple of hours I exchanged walking and riding as I trudged up the slopes...first to the radio towers (where I had ridden to before) and then up a continuously agonizing push, on and off the bike, upwards.

When I reached the section of road that cuts across the prominent colouir on the peak, visible in the pictures, I knew I must be getting close. I had been passed earlier by a Landcruiser creeping its way up and now it was on its way back. I had only had breakfast, a bar, and a hammer gel all day and was starting to feel it as I rose to over 12,000 feet....4,000 over the valley floor below me.

Buena Vista on the left along the hills in the background. The ride went behind the ridege and came back out on the right. This was the view from near where I had my PB&J!

I made the last bit and found the chalet where I had assumed it might be at around 12,200 feet. I let myself in and enjoyed the PB&J and a pear that I had packed. I was hurting VERY bad and still had a long way to go. I put on all that I had brought and steeled myself for the long downhill.

I would normally have been super pumped for a long, high-speed downhill, but my exhaustion negated that joy. The trip down was gratefully uneventful. I did find some interest in the fact that despite stopping for 20 minutes or so to eat, I still caught the Landrover about a mile down the trail as it crept down the hill! They may have been pitying me on the way up, but I'm sure they wished they had my speed down!

My favorite piece of singletrack...hurt bad today!!!

I got most of the way down and reached the Colorado Trail intersection for my last big effort towards home. All that lay between me and home was about 8 miles of Colorado Trail bliss. I suffered badly on this section and found myself pushing on sections I have never even gotten out of my middle ring for in the past. I picked my way through, enjoying myself despite the pain and exhaustion and turned right to ride the dirt road down from Bald Hill into BV.

I made the mistake of relaxing and thinking I was literally and figuratively out of the woods. Three quarters of the way down the hill and at about 25 miles per hour, a doe came shooting out of the brush and crossed the road, in a panic, about 10 feet ahead of me....I nearly shit my pants. The adrenaline kick did help me get the rest of the way out to the paved county road. As I left the dirt, I passed a friend who was staining the trim on his house. It was nice to see another familiar face.

I enjoyed the slightly downhill spin back home. I made it back and collapsed into a heap on the deck for about 10 minutes. The rest of the night was spent on daddy duty, gingerly moving from task to task! Just under 9 hours of trail time for right at (just) 60 miles, and over 9,000 vertical feet of climbing for the day.


I love the new ways that I've learned to push through on my bike this year, but I've definitely slacked at the end of the year. I'd lost quite a bit of fitness prior to this ride and it proved to be a bit more than I was ready for. One of my other real problems continues the be making a priority of eating while I ride. For this ride I ate:

Breakfast @ 6:45: 4 eggs and 2 pieces of toast
Fluid: 1/2 large H20 Bottle and 50 Ounces from my Camelback
Food: 1 400 Calorie Hammer Bottle, 1 energy bar, 1 hammer gel, 1 PB&J, 1 pear


That's it...I really need to be eating more and with more frequency. I had the same problem at Leadville and if I don't get this figured out, I'm going to continue to not enjoy these rides as well as I should.

Anyway, great views and tremendous solitude provided for much soul searching. The journey is always unique and I'm always appreciative for the opportunity to struggle through. I'm already over the pain and ready for the next epic....next year!

Fallin' for my 1X

View looking south across Twin Lakes. Gotta check out the Flume sometime.

About a month ago a friend from here in town and I went for a killer Fall ride just north of town. Living where we do, we often get spoiled by the fact that we can hit miles and miles of top notch trails from our doorstep. One of the issues that I had when I was in Denver was that it was a 45 minute drive to even get to dirt.

Our proximity to excellence often allows us to forget that but a short drive away are tons of additional killer rides. I convinced Dave to load up the car and head north to Lost Canyon Road, just above Granite for a Sunday afternoon ride.

Dave is a quick one and is dedicated to single-speed only off-road riding. Since I got my new 1x late this summer, I've felt compelled to ride it when going out with him. This causes many pre-ride feelings inside of me...primarily nausea.

Killer singletrack, my new Rig, Dave, and spectacular colors

Anyway, we had a great ride...great chunks of it Colorado Trail singletrack and the Interlocken trail around Twin Lakes. A manageable 23 miles made for a good workout while chasing Dave on the 1X.

The Interlocken trail goes through the old ghost resort of Interlocken...very cool.

Nothing epic about the ride other than good company and great fall views...a great Sunday ride. If you haven't done this ride, regardless of time of year, you should make it a priority. Mostly intermidiate singletrack with a few sprinkles of technical interludes.

Everest Camp III

2008- Drew and Matt cheking out the launch pad on the Peak in CB

Well at least that's what it felt like for a couple of hours at home last night. The wind was whipping around and our first snow of the year delivered a different kind of stoke in my belly.

I've not ever been to Everest, but its how I imagine it MUST be. Spent an afternoon on top of Wheeler Peak in New Mexico like that...another story.

The wind was driving the snow from the north and east and while taking the garbage to the garage, I had to look to the ground in order to find my way. This morning we woke to a 1/2 inch or so of snow...the mountains look amazing.

Last summer we rode without interuption through Thanksgiving and then just got slammed with winter. Really....slammed. One of those winters where you have to work to get through. Its not supposed to be that way here....banana belt my ass!

I'm not done riding for the year by a long shot...I've got about 500 miles left to meet my goal for the year...but the snow got me thinking about the turns.

My goal each year is to get at least 30 days of skiing in...not bad for a working stiff (that's what she said!)...and though I fell short last year on days, it was long on fun...

Hitting the goods from the Peak in CB - 2008





Dana, working the breakable with grace...Diamond Peak, CO Memorial Day 2008

Last ski tracks of the season...thinking about the first of the next...Diamond Peak, CO Memorial Day 2008

A Smokin' Summer

What a Great Summer!

In the early 1990's a bicycle saved my life....its not important that the bike was blue and pink...

After graduating from college and accepting a real job in Denver, my bike time productivity was cut in dramatic fashion. I went from 8 years of sponsored grassroots level racing to 8 years of mostly sedentary lifestyle resulting in a ballooning from 175 to 220 pounds. The joy of the cubicle.

Our family relocated to a high mountain valley in Colorado about three years ago and I reconnected with the bicycle. The move, in many ways, has been another life saver. I have lost over 20 pounds (around 197 at last weigh in) and reconnected with a deep love for the bicycle.

Now, instead of riding short and fast for podium space, I find myself enjoying the physical pain and mental challenge of distance/endurance riding. This summer I rode longer and harder than I ever have...competing and completing my first 100, my first 12 Hour solo, and making a return trip to Moab for the 24 Hours to name a few.

I'll try and catch up on all of my fun activities from this summer and a preview of goals and events for 2009 in the coming weeks. After that I'll try and keep more up to date on all activities closer to when they happen.

For now, enjoy these two pictures. The one on the top of the post is from the 2008 24 Hours of Moab (me on the left with a new friend from Grand Junction) and the one on the bottom is from the 2008 Triple Bypass (me on the right with a new friend from Minnesota...and a found PBR can!). I found a package of cigarettes at the very beginning of the Triple and have been using them as a prop since. I'll post more details about each ride and pictures soon....until then, just know that I've had a smokin' summer!

Dale's Pale Ale