schnauzers.ws

So the weather has turned nasty here. Snow has been on the ground for a while and it has pretty much shut down riding with the occassional road ride exception. A big chnage from last year, when we were still riding in shorts.

So, I had a custom Ti bike built for me. Today, I went to Steamboat Springs and picked it up.

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I think the ride out to the rim is pretty inspiring. I’ve ridden this twice before doing the Kokopelli, but always went right by the rim trail, for failure means another 14 miles on the longest day of the Kokopelli. I have to admit, this experience was more memorable.

Caution: Desert biking causes an excessive compulsion to smile.

I call this the Mountain Bike salute.

The brickyard challenge.

If you think the brickyard isn’t a challenge, look again.

Jess rocks it! Third time on clipless pedals. Very impressive.

inspiration: noun: arousal of the mind to special unusual activity or creativity

Elysia making us all look bad.

The rim appears as the trail becomes singletrack.

Of course we did a group shot!

"It’s like a jungle, sometimes it makes me wonder,"

Nate and Garth were providing plenty of entertainment and motivation. Though I tried to keep up with them, I was owned.

Lunch time!

This is Stu. Owner/operator of "Stu’s Most Excellent Lunch Line" or SMELL for short. No complaints, no worries, and no charge. No, there’s no smell either. Well, maybe after all the beans and sauerkraut he ate with the brats that night.

We started with the Ribbon trail. Giant parking lots of slickrock fun.

I have someone in mind to try this. I won’t mention any names, but he wasn’t with us on this trip and we missed him. Heal up dude, it’s waiting.

We even did some spelunking.

Next. Fred serves up some more advanced fun and Holy Cross extends the offer.

We accidentally added a little trip down the canyon on Miramonte. I can imagine how that would feel on a hot day.

Finally, we headed back to the lot down the "Gray Matter" of Death. I don’t think that was the intended route.

Another truly memorable fall trip. Now, it’s time for snow back in Golden. This Winter will not be as kind as last year. I guess I may have to tune up the skis.

The heard:

Nate looks happy:

A little further:

We met the gals on our way up:

Still climbing:

We reached the top:

Happy Stu:

A little further than my normal Boulder ride, but I now had plenty of time. It’s even more scenic and tucked in from the highway, though a climb through most of the ride.

Boulder Creek this far out from the city seems a lot cleaner. There’s also some elevation change in the creek bed which adds to the splendor.

Of course, I had to ride it in the "other" direction and carry the bike up the stairs.

It just gives me more time to play with water.

Since there were far more hikers than bikers, it gave me a good chance to practice my interaction skills. I think I had at least ten conversations with the other users. All of them were very pleasant and were very pleased to have volunteers spreading good will. A smile and a handshake go a long way to keeping the trails open to mountain bikes and even increasing the amount of areas open to them.

Now, if we could only get this little stretch of area between Walker and Marshall Mesa area opened up. That would be one sweet Front Range ride!

It’s amazing how much the back of the Flat Irons look like the front.

Of course, no Colorado ride is complete without the view.

This was probably the bluest day I can remember since January. Not even a puff of cloud. Temps in the 70’s and a nice breeze. It just kind of makes you say, ah.