Winter Park
by Mitchell Sprinsky on Jul.30, 2012, under Colorado, Ride Reports
A chance to slowly tick off the places I have never been to, in Colorado. Seven years, and I have never skied or mountain bikes in Winter Park. I figured the Colorado Freeride Festival would be good opportunity to do a little riding and watch people jump their bikes off of stuff. I scored a cheap room at the resort, so why not?
Having reached the hotel earlier than check-in on Friday. it was a great opportunity to kill the time with a ride. I searched out the closest trailhead as the thunderstorms rolled their way in. With lightening striking near by, I waited out the storm and ascended the fresh most singletrack of Chainsaw trail.
Chunky Fun at 10,000′
by Mitchell Sprinsky on Jul.15, 2012, under Colorado, Ride Reports
How do you cool down at higher altitudes, without having to sit in mountain traffic for three hours?
Head up to Nederland and the Sourdough trail.
Gorillas in the Mist
by Mitchell Sprinsky on Jul.08, 2012, under Colorado, Ride Reports
I’m happy for the rain we have had over the past couple of days. It provided a nice break to nearly a month of temperatures in the nineties. It could probably rain in feet and the trails would just soak it up at this point. So, the few inches we have gotten, just hold down the dust.
We did manage to sneak in a ride this morning at Golden Gate Canyon State Park. With the low clouds rolling over the hills, it felt more like riding in Scotland than in Colorado.
Somewhere in Summertime (Pics and Video)
by Mitchell Sprinsky on Jul.01, 2012, under California, Colorado, Colorado, Ride Reports, Videos
Hauling the camper to the Arkansas River headwaters. A bastion of recreational goodness in the heart of Colorado. A mere three hours from the hot and smokey air of the Front Range to the sound of the rushing river and unique community that is Salida. A very livable community at the base of several 14,000′ mountains. I camped, I ate, I fished, I drank beer, but the best part of it all, was riding the Monarch Crest trail.
I guess my goal in going it alone, wasn’t to score any brownie points. When I am alone, that usually means the horse blinders are on. Not this time. I got thrust into the limelight as soon as I registered for the campsite. Do I give off some kind of computer geek aura?
“Do you want wireless access?”, the clerk said.
Sure.
“Do you know how to enter the password?”, she quipped again.
Sure.
“Do you know how to fix a computer, because I can’t get one of our seasonal retirees laptop to work”.
Huh? Now why do you think that? Let me see. Um, you have to push the button to turn the wireless card on.
Ding ding. Score a karma point. The first of a few, I hope.
Saturday morning I ponied up my $20 for the shuttle ride to Monarch Pass. This was the sky that greeted me at the top. A sight that would not change throughout the five hours and thirty two some odd miles of the ride. I had thoughts of completing this in three, but who was I kidding? Monarch Crest, Silver Creek, and the new to me, Rainbow Trail (it’s always been sketchy weather every other time I had gotten to that point before).
Reelin’ in the Cool
by Mitchell Sprinsky on Jun.24, 2012, under Colorado, Ride Reports
As temps soar, so does the altitude. Sure, we are never alone. Everyone has a similar idea, but two thousand feet can mean as much as twenty degrees cooler.
We started earlier than usual. I guess we were afraid of those afternoon thunderstorms that haven’t materialized here in a while. We are in a drought and half of the State is on fire. I am exaggerating a little, but when you can see and smell smoke from everywhere, that’s sends a chilling message.
As with everything in Colorado, we started with a climb. We shuttled the first few miles. But there is still a three mile dirt road slog to the top.
