Tag Archives: Mountain Bike

Fruita on Friday

Not a lot to report from the Fruita trip. We rode as much as our old bodies would deal with and had some tasty beer and food.

Here is a link to Friday’s ride…


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Had never ridden in Rabbit Valley, it was super fun. The Western Rim trail was absolutely amazing, the pic below is Scott riding it. The rest of the ride was good old fashioned desert riding with some tech and some length. We rode the obligitory Mary’s, Horsethief’s Bench and Wranglers Loop on Thursday and spent a short ride up in Grand Junction yesterday with Gunny’s Loop. I should have more pics posting when I get around to them.

Cycling the food chain

OK so a minor rant today about cycling etiquette.  I ride multiple bikes and pedal as much as a suburban work-a-day stiff kind find the time to (I’m also quite lazy).  I would consider myself a cyclist foremost as the riding and thoughts of cycling comprise 90% of my non-family thoughts.  If I had to narrow what kind of cyclist, no real reason except to banter on the interweb, I would say I’m a mountain biker closely followed by a bicycle commuter.  Though I ride a bicycle during a commuting or getting somewhere circumstance more than I ride the MTB, I like the mountain cycling better than pedaling to work in 10 degree temps.  In my opinion, mountain bike enthusiasts are the top of the cycling food chain as far as humans who pedal bikes go.  We are friendly, we say hello on trail, most of us are not assholes who ride wet trails and don’t yield to other trail users and a we work on the trails we ride.  When is the last time you saw a roadie in tight pants and an orange vest doing road work?  Any way I digress.  Maybe it’s the nature that should chill everyone out and make people have fun at what they’re doing or it’s just the hi-low tech (doesn’t matter) love of the cycle.

The next on the cycling food chain I used to think was the bicycle commuter.  I could smile at cars stuck in traffic with my self-assuring glare that I’m better than them because I caused zero emissions on the way to the office and I’m in a hell of a lot better mood than them.  But now, oh now, I commute along a rather traveled stretch of bike lane everyday in Denver.  20th street runs from west to east and is safer than some of the other streets that go through as far as it does.  I feel we are unique as commuters and we should share a certain camaraderie amongst our superiority complexes, but my fellow commuters are assholes.  Or as preoccupied as a 17 year old texting the passenger in her car as she runs over old ladies in cross-walks.  I’m all for the zen and solitude of a nice bicycle ride but what the fuck?  Say hello!! Be Polite!  Any way, again I digress, I can rest assured that we are still better, even though impolite, than people who drive cars as a lifestyle choice.   Any ways, there are the hipster dufus guys in tight jeans and fixed gear bikes, nothing to complain about there, natural selection will take care of that.   Roadies would come next, they are the epitome of the superiority complex.  They are fast, or at least look that way, and they are building lean muscle and have no time for the plebeians.  What ever, they suck, don’t say hi when you pass them going up big hills.

Wait I think I’m rambling now.  I meant to make some point about how bicycle commuters are higher on the food chain than the recumbant riders and the trials riders.  We were way higher on the chain than the unicyclists.  Even higer than the recumbant unicyclists who ride trials, the are the dregs of cycling.  No one really takes us seriously.  We are the hood-ornaments of the cycling world, the yellow jacket, peg panted army that will always be made fun of by the “serious” cyclist.  OK, still rambling (I’m Old and Bitter) anyways, fumbling through the interweb this evening after work, a way better blog than mine posted a video of this amazing kid riding street/trials and us poor commuters dropped under the trials guys in the food chain.

It’s five and a half minutes of your life that will not be wasted…
Fruita Fat Tire Festival is this week, we’re leaving on Thursday AM and we’ll rock and drink through Sunday morning/afternoon. If you’re going and unfortunate enough to read this blog, leave a comment and we’ll see you there.  I’ll have the low-down, photos, and random rants about them dang kids with their streamers and fancy bikes.  All for now.

T.I.T.S (Night Riding)

Green Mountain, Thursday nights.  Hell, High Water, Freezing Temps, no matter the riders, well they ride.  This is my second night riding with the T.I.T.S posse and it was hard. All organized on the MTBR Forums mostly regulars but they sure are nice to fat slow guys like me.  First time riding with these guys a few weeks ago had 24 riders ranging from way faster than me to not quite as fast.  It was nice, I rode in the middle all night and had an awesome ride.  This time…Much colder and I didn’t feel so well but as I like to think a bad time riding is better than a good time in front of a computer…so I rode.  14-15 boys all very quick, I was the last guy in to every stop, sucking wind and ready to puke.  Good times…

SCAR loaned me a real light that he makes himself called the Amoeba Light…Check em out HERE then buy one from him.  I’ll have a full review as soon as I pony up the kibby to buy one myself.  It made the ol’Light In Motion look like a plastic flashlight duct-taped to my handlebars.  It’s amazing the confidence you can have while being able to see in the dark.  Good lights are highly reccomended for night riding on mountain bikes.

Brought the camera along.  Only to have the energy to take pre-ride shots…

I do plan on riding next Thursday and feeling better too.  I’m off to Dallas tomorrow for work, fun, fun.  I might try to bring the big camera out with me then but we’ll see, I don’t need any more weight to carry while chasing super fast single-speeders. Till next time, drink, be merry and ride your bike!

Riding in January

We had a wicked good day today in North Boulder County. Today’s “adventure” was Heil Ranch to Picture Rock as an out and back. First time for me and boy was it fun. View the GPS data for the ride HERE
Being a new ride, I had to see what the pundits on MTBR.com had to say about it and what a bunch of whiners! It’s too rocky…boo freakin hoo! The rocks add a level of interest to a fairly mundane trail free from anything technical. For those who think this is too rocky, I saw your brother out on the highway in tight pants…be with him, he needs you. Anyway the trail is fun, the climb is very easy compared to the other rides on the front range (APEX, White Ranch, MT. Falcon or any other trail you could name here). It is well designed to make it easy and the descent to the picture rock trail head is really fun and well thought out by the trail designers. Thanks! It’s a little sketchy with beginner riders and other trail users but slow down, be polite and there are no problems.
We did the ride up from the road side which added about 4 easy miles and then did some trails which I’ve already forgot, but go there and have fun. Here are some pictures from myself and from Troy who I just me today at the trail head.
Everything shot today by me was done by the Canon G10, i’m liking this camera more and more as I’m using it for what I bought it for.

Gotta add myself first
Gotta add myself first

This photo is from Troy.  Me riding down some trail on Picture Rock.  Good Times, love having guys with skills behind the camera.

No matter how you get your kicks whether it’s riding bikes or boards (one or two with crutches) you need to eat here after riding, you won’t be dissapointed.  It’s the best or second best mexican food in all of Denver and that says a whole freaking lot.  That’s all for this post, I seriously doubt I’ll do anything interesting besides solve some time series analyisis this week sooooo, I’ll post later.

Troy flowing through the paved switch backs on Picture Rock trail

Scott getting funk in front of an old car. (left)

My favorite photo from the day…Just the boys posing for a pic on a fantastic January day.  Riding beats everything.  No matter what’s wrong with the world, go riding and all is well for a minute, and that’s worth it.

Boy isn't riding a mountain bike fun?

Troy, just riding along.  How much fun is this??? It’s fucking January!

Your fearless author.  Midride and having fun.  Now boys and girls…Go ride your bikes or whatever (whomever) you need to ride to have fun!!!!

More pictures from Troy…

Hope you enjoy todays post, there will be many more. Buy my house in France and I can live free and ride as much as I want! Check out Michelle’s site about what we’re doing with our suburban yard.  It’s pretty cool, not everyone has the balls but you should!  Have a nice day!