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