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.

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.