Friday Morning Ride

Denny and I rode Hall this morning. Perfect weather; 56 degrees. It sounds like the coming week is going to be HELL HOT so I'm glad I got a ride in. I felt pretty strong today and was able to ride the whole thing in my middle ring. Wish we would have had a little more time, would have liked to squeeze another loop of Nelson in.

On another note, I saw some guy on a Maverick riding on Nighthawk at the top. Nighthawk is clearly marked as a hiking and horse trail only. No Mountain bikes allowed. Did I miss a memo??

Lion Gulch Solo

I showed up at Lion Gulch at 6:00 for the weekly Tuesday ride. No one showed. An Omen perhaps??? I had been itching to get out riding all day and decided I'd go out by myself but remembered that Dave rated it a 9 of 10 in difficulty on the redstone site. OK, I know I have to push my bike up some stuff but I'm not too proud to do it. So I headed out. Down to the river, over the bridge and started up the hill. No problem I thought and then I went over the handle bars for the first time....another omen??? I cursed and dusted myself off and got back on my bike. I was able to ride up a fair share of the first part and then it got REALLY rocky and difficult to climb. Here comes the pushing part. I probably pushed my bike 2 miles of the 2.7 up to Homestead Meadow passing several hikers that made snide remarks about how Lion Gulch was not a suitable mountain bike trail. "Ah, yes..", I said "but at the top it will be totally worth it and I can cover way more ground than you on your two feet." and I slugged on up the hill.

Once I made it to Homestead Meadow, I was able to ride easily on the trail (Glad that I had decided to ride anyway). I passed the trail that takes you up to Pierson Park and headed towards the Griffith, Walker and Brown homesteads. Cruising along easily, I finally made it out to the Brown homestead. The sun was dropping quickly behind the mountain and I decided I better get going so I had daylight down the technical descent. I made it back through the meadow quickly but had a rough go on the way down the more technical part.

The statement "The descent on Lion Gulch is great. Don't ride over your head, especially if you're solo." on Dave's site is absolutely true. If anything it should say something like: "Don't ride this shit solo, you could kill yourself." Unknowingly on my hike up, my left cleat became loose. It didn't get hard to get out of the pedal until I was on the technical shit where you would like to dab your foot here and there when you get in trouble (My technical downhill skills are weak!). Needless to say, I fell over more than I probably should have banging my legs up pretty good in the process. I even fell and hugged a boulder in one of the stream crossings at one point. All the while, I'm thinking "I could hurt myself pretty bad out here and there's nobody around!"

I made out with a bruised body and ego. Although the ride was nice at the top, I'll have to think long and hard before I do this ride solo again. Maybe I just need to improve my skills...

Hot Good Old Days Weekend

The Good Old Days were back again in Lyons. We headed down on Saturday morning for the 23 "float" parade. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. The best part was the trapper walking guy with the LOUD gun that startled my kids and made them cry hysterically. After the parade we headed over to Bohn park to the beer tent and carnival. Because it was still early (10:45 am) beer wasn't available and rides were not running. So we headed over to the old stand by Oskar Blues for some burgers and beers. The rest of the day I spent doing chores around the house so that I could get out on my bike on Sunday.


On Sunday morning, Ab ran the 5K River Run at 8:00 am in the morning. Daddy was in charge of the kids while Mom ran.

"Dad, it's early and this Kix isn't going to hold us over for long."



"Watch me chase down Mom as she's coming into the finish!!!"



Abby finishing strong.

After the race we stayed to hear the results. The winner ran the race in 15 minutes and 14 seconds. I don't think I could sprint as fast as he was running the whole thing!

Wilson met me up at the Tree House to go for a Coulson Gulch ride. As I was waiting for him to show up, I noticed the temp outside had climbed to a brisk 90 degrees. A nice dry hot ride on the way...

This view NEVER gets old.


Wilson was definitely cursing me for going riding in the heat.


Ah, single track appears!


A water break in the heat



Not sure why I stopped here...

...probably would've helped me stay out of this bush!

Cruising through a sweet meadow.

It was at least 20 degrees cooler down by the water.

We dunked our heads in the river and took a nice long break.

The mellow start of the climb out.


After this, Wilson told me that he hadn't eaten breakfast. Bonk! Nothing a GU and Granola couldn't help though.

We ride again.

Energy BURST....or not.

Hot. Damn Hot.

Still some great Columbine flourishing in the valley.

Single Track Heaven.

It was an awesome ride. I'm looking forward to riding Tuesday with the Redstone gang at Lion's Gulch. It supposed to cool down a bit...

Biathlons Kick Ass!

Thursday Early Morning Ride

Got up early this morning to ride Hall Ranch. Another Blue Bird Colorado day! There were a few more folks on the trail this morning than previous mornings. Still a lot better than battling the afternoon crowd and 100 degree heat. I rode up Antelope and did two loops on Nelson. Feeling really strong, I charged down the hill. Unfortunately, I came into a hairpin curve on Antelope too hot, cranked my handle bar to the right to make the turn and came to an abrupt stop breaking the bead on my front tubeless tire. Intsa-Flat and I was over the handle bars and laying on my back in the middle of the trail. 30 seconds to take an inventory of my body and bike...... All's well, just a flat, a nice hole in my seat and a bruised shoulder. I'll fix the flat tonight and be ready for a ride tomorrow....

Tuesday July 19

After a long trip up and back from Sidney, NE I was itching to get outside and clear my head. It was a good thing that it was Tuesday. Another Tuesday night ride was in order. We met in Jamestown at the post office and rode from there. This ride isn't a published trail, so I really can't say where it goes (sworn to secrecy!). 10 guys showed up including Dale from Oskar Blues. It was a great ride with lots of climbing, river crossings and tight single track. Dave posted some pics on the Redstone Blog and Jesper posted some here. Next week we're going to ride Lion's Gulch. Hopefully, I'll get a couple rides in before then!

Early Morning Ride

Yesterday I had to go up to Sidney, NE for business early in the morning. I couldn't believe the amount of light at 5:00 am. Last night I decided that I should take advantage of that morning light and take a ride before work. The trail was perfect this morning. I only saw three guys riding and we never crossed paths. Tomorrow Denny and I are going to ride up the Antelope trail at 5:45. I could see this becoming a daily event for the next month.

A Great Weekend

Summer's here. A great weekend of 80+ degree days. Ab and I had Friday night to ourselves as Nana and Poppy took care of the boys for us. We decided to go down to Boulder and eat at Sushi Zanmai. It had been a while since we'd been there (My 25th Birthday??!!). There was a large group in a private room behind us having a great time. I think they did about 100 saki bombs, it reminded me of a few times I had there during college. The meal was great and the company was even better. I'm not sure Abby and I have had a night out like that since Sage was born.

Saturday morning Ab and I slept in and then worked some more on the apartment bathroom. Oliver and his family are going to stay in the apartment in a few weeks. They're visiting from Switzerland. Beau and I got to know Oliver when he was an exchange student at our high school. After getting about four hours of work done, we went for a hike up to the ridge that shadows our house:

Ab hadn't ever been up there and I've only been up a handful of times. There really isn't a defined route to the top so you have to do a little route finding to get there. All the more fun I say.

Abby negotiating a nice slot route.

Me climbing out of the same slot with some sweet bed head.

An Overlook near the top

There were tons of neat rock formations along the way.

Abby enjoying the adventure.

The top of the mountain. Threatening clouds were coming in but didn't materialize.

After we summited the mountain in our yard, we went down to Nana and Poppy's house to pick up the boys. They were happy, well fed and definitely not ready to come home.

Poppy and Sage.

Arjen enjoying the cool grass.

We picked up the boys and headed over to an old haunt of Abby of mine; Proto's! We used to eat there at least once a week when we lived in Longmont. The four of us shared a Caesar salad, Lowrider pie and Traffic Jam pie. Arjen will eat anything. He ate one of my anchovies from the Caesar salad!

Sunday morning we packed a picnic and headed over to the Denver Zoo.


Look at that Sage!_____Elephants!____The Zoo Kicks Ass!



What's Next?________The Train!!______Pre-ride Excitement...


More Pre-Ride Excitement______It doesn't get better than this!

As I was posting the pictures, I realized that I didn't take many of animals. More than anything it was fun to hang out as a family. A Great Weekend indeed.

How to Ride Motorcycle

Here's a great instructional video on how to ride a motorcycle:

Safe Motorcyle Riding

Tuesday Night Hammerfest

I met the guys out last night for the Tuesday night ride. We decided to ride Hall Ranch with the small group that showed up. The previous week I was in Sunriver, OR for a sales meeting (aka an eating and booze binge) so I had a feeling I'd be left in the dust quickly. I could feel the booze and fatty foods oozing out of my pores as we climbed Bitterbrush to Nelson Loop. After the first lap, I thought I was going to hurl. Then we did a second lap which I was sure would be the last. The third lap was a "cool down" lap, luckily I caught a second wind to take me back to Lyons. I ate the dust of Melis, Redstone and Keith on the way back down. My rubbery legs and empty stomach appreciated the beer and BBQ sandwich at Oskar's. I'm hoping we check out some forest stuff around Pinewood next week.

It's Sage's Birthday today. Born on 6-6-06. Happy 1st!!!!!