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.