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