Every bachelor party should be a day out riding powder with a bunch of bros! We celebrated Beau's bachelor up in Avon on Friday drinking beer and playing cards. On Saturday, 12 of us headed over to Steamboat and rode a half day at the resort and then had an epic day on Sunday with Steamboat Powdercats:
I highly recommend Steamboat Powdercats. The are an A+ operation! We got at least 12 runs of untracked lines. I'll be using these guys again.Wow. A Labor Day Weekend without having to work a ski sale. It was weird, but I managed to have a good time anyway! The family, Beau and I all went up to the Vail valley for the weekend. I had been itching to ride Two Elk trail for most of the summer and was finally able to ride it with my bro on Saturday:
Beau starting up Bowman's Shortcut on his brand new Tuner 5-Spot. Bowman's Shortcut is a brutal climb but knowing you'll be going down hill all the way to Minturn later makes up for it.
At the end of Bowman's Shortcut is "The Top of the World". Fantastic 360 views. Does that green shirt make me look fat??
The trail below the back bowls was smooth, fast and beautiful. There were plenty of flowers still in bloom. Unfortunately this is where the battery went dead in my camera. It's sucks too because there was a lot of cool technical single track in the gully leading to Minturn. Beau took a few big falls and has a grapefruit bump on his shin and a bum thumb to show off. Here are the stats for the ride:
Of course we didn't just ride on this trip to the mountains. Ab got a good road ride and swim in on Sunday while I hung out with the boys. That afternoon the skies opened up and it rained cats and dogs. Perfect for an afternoon concert at Copper Mountain. Beau got us back stage passes to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band show. And it was good thing too because we had covered seating:
The show rocked and the kids had a good time. After the show Jimmy the drummer invited us back to have some food with the band. Well now I can cross a couple things off my list:
After cresting this hill we got to the top of the climb and took a break at this homestead:
This cabin is in great condition and still has the beds and stove inside. The single track started to the right of the cabin. That's where the fun started:
Past a pond and down into a forest of pine and aspen trees.
Beau rocking through Aspens even with a bum hand and leg!
I think I took about 100 photos of this trail! It was beautiful all the way down.
The trail actually ends on the golf course. There were some angry golfers that were not happy to see us cross the course. So we back tracked and found a way to the road between a couple houses. 
Another end to the week. Yes, it's FRIDAY! Sure would mean a lot more if I wasn't on the road seeing customers still. But I really can't complain. It's not everyday that you see spectacular views like this:
Flathead Lake looking south towards Polson
"There are trails that go all over the place and it's easy to get turned around. Don't get lost!" Yeah, sure, gotcha, I won't get lost...
I rode for about three hours looping all over the forest, going through meadows, past lakes and then I thought..."Don't get lost". Holy shit, am I lost?! Which direction was the trailhead anyway? It was East, definitely East or was it? It was difficult to get to a vantage point where I could see distant mountains. The trail(s) was completely immersed in thick tree cover. I decided to head East using the moss on the North side of the trees as a guide. (I'd like to give a big shout out to Survivor Man for cluing me into the moss thing. Les Stroud is the man!) Unfortunately, with the loopyness of the trails I seemed to be consistently heading away from where I wanted to go. A couple times I ran into private property and had to turn around. Eventually I ran into some trail that I recognized and successfully navigated my way out of the spaghetti maze. 
I was relieved to see my car. It would have been interesting to ride with someone who actually knew where to go. While I was driving back down to Missoula, Alex gave me a call to invite me to a shop ride in the same area. I'm sure he was checking to make sure I made it out alive. "I didn't want to mention it while you were in the shop but one of the mechanics here got lost there last week and ended up spending the night out there. I'm really glad you had a good time and got out of there." Wow, is that what you tell everyone you send there? I gotta say that I had a great time even though I was mildly lost for part of the ride.
It's really green here in Montana. The views on the way back down to Missoula were excellent:
The Mission Mountain Range
Back in Missoula, I got back together with my work partners in crime. Denny called me this morning at 5:45 to get me out for another ride. At this point you're probably thinking to yourself "Tree, are you actually working up there?" Yes, yes I am. The days are wicked long (as they would say in the East -- Hi Brian!). You can easily get a ride in before or after the work day, I just choose to tell you about the good stuff in my day! Where was I, ah yes the ride with Denny. He woke me from a dead sleep to go back up to Rattlesnake wilderness area. I'm glad I did. This time we ended up doing about 4 times the climbing we did the time before and got another 3 hours of riding in. A perfect way to wake up in my book!
I'm pretty sure I could live in Montana. Big Mountains, good mountain biking, good fishing, shoot it's an outdoor paradise! I have a couple more days up here and then I gotta get back to CO. Have a good weekend everybody!
On Saturday, Ab and I got out to work on the new Picture Rock trail that is going to connect Heil Valley Ranch to Lyons. 225 volunteers helped build over 8400 feet of trail! Big props to Dale and Oskar Blues for putting on a BBQ and supplying 4 kegs of beer. Here's some pics of the day's events:
Walking in from Lyons. "L" mountain is on the left side of this pic.
Walking to section 15. Notice how there isn't a trail yet.
Still walking in.
Bush whacking to get to our section.
Looking back towards Lyons.
Walking back to Lyons via the new trail!
Abby walking back to Lyons, looking forward to the ice cold Dale's Pale Ale.
There are going to be some nice fast sections in this trail
A crew working on a nice bench cut in the side of the hill.
Check out a lot more photos here and here. Boulder Daily Camera story here and here. It was really fun to be a part of such a big event!
Last weekend was a good time. Ab ran a 1/2 marathon in Steamboat (where she kicked some ass!) while the boys and I stayed home to enjoy the Lyons Outdoor Games and Redstone Cyclery's Re-Grand Opening in his new location. It was great to have a weekend with just me and the boys...nobody got hurt and everyone got fed! Check out some youtube footage of some of the L.O.G.:
It was a nice rounded ride with two "nut deep" ice cold stream crossings.
A beautiful sunset at the "top" of the climb (there was a lot more climbing after these two shots).
More climbing...
When we finally reached the down hill section, it was a mix of nice tight single track and technical steep rocky sections. I was toast after the ride and looking forward to some Oskar Blues goodness. Unfortunately, I got a call from Ab that one of our dogs was missing and she couldn't find him anywhere. I asked if she had looked in all of the usual hiding places, including the car. She said that she did, so I ended up going home to search. After an hour hiking through the woods up and down the hillside, I couldn't walk anymore. Totally exhausted, I just went to bed and skipped dinner (Probably better for my body anyway foregoing my 3 beer and fatty burger intake).
The next day there was still no sign of the dog. Ab sent out several emails, made some calls and made a fist full of fliers. She had my mom come up to watch the kids while she posted the fliers and did some more searching. As she was getting into the mini van to start the search and rescue expedition, guess who greeted her in the car. Yep, the dog. My question is this: How does a 100 pound dog hide in a minivan?! Ab said she checked twice. Right. I'm sooooooo going to use this situation to my advantage.... I see an extra ride coming my way soon!
Anyway, I'm glad it's Friday. Big plans this weekend with National Trail Days being celebrated in Lyons. About 200 of us are working on the Picture Rock Heil Ranch connector trail on Saturday.
Enjoy the weekend everyone!
Sorry regular readers, it's been a while since my last post. I've had a busy last few weeks with an 8 day stint in Sunriver, OR for a sales meeting (eh) and some tough meetings with customers (double eh). But let's cut to the chase shall we?! Memorial Day weekend ROCKED!
I started out Saturday with the 8th annual Lyons Fat Tire Fest. Let me tell you, it was just what the doctor ordered! This year Death March Dave split the group in to an A and B group. I decided I wasn't feeling up to the 'A' all day Death March as I just got back from a sales meeting. I always go to the sales meeting with good intentions of keeping my fitness up by running but I ended up drinking a whole lot of these instead. So, the 'B' group was definitely the way to go for me. Not to say it was easy by any means!
We started in Estes Park with 20 riders.
It was a nice 1500 ft. + climb to the single track. 
Good views the entire way.
Pierson Park Trail is sweet. It doesn't get a lot of traffic and it's a great downhill.
Yep. I took a nice digger on the way down. Right over the bars skinning my shoulder and right leg. The bike was not injured!
There's a bunch of great single track around the old homesteads.
At the bottom of Lions Gulch. The total ride was right around 16 miles. Not too long but definitely a good time. There should be more photos of the 'B'eeeer ride here soon.
The Party boy on his way home.
A view towards Longmont. A bit hazy...
You never know who you're gonna run into in the forest. Homey didn't have a spark arrest on his bike...loud and forest fire starting potential. Yikes!
