Snow "ride" and the winter shut down

 It started out like this...dry as a bone, but with some icy patches. That tree on the right was broken off midway up from that crazy windstorm a couple weeks ago.  It just snapped tons of trees off like that or ripped them out of the ground exposing their root system. 

Then i got a bit higher and the packed snow and ice showed up.  Only because people hike here is this even rideable! Only foot tracks for some reason, no other bike tracks. 

As I got higher the deeper snow started. Two moto tracks on Bus n' Shack bummed me out not only because it's designated as a non-motorized trail but because trying to ride in a frozen snow rut the width of a moto tire is...challenging.  It's much better to break trail than try to stay in someone else's rut!

I neglected to take any photos of the rest of the ride, which is saying something, since i was mostly hiking up snowy singletrack and trying to stay upright on the downhills.  A fun, if challenging, 3 hour "ride" that made me realize for this type of bike at least...mtb season is over up there. (A fatbike is now in the queue.) A big storm is coming in tonight, forecasted to drop 5-9" and another storm is on it's way for Saturday. I think it's time to get the skis and skins out of the garage and begin riding the planks!

Fire in the sky

view from the deck this morning...unreal!

Freshies

MC#6. My bikes are so balanced, they stand up on their own!

Friday afternoon forecast called for a high of 41 and a 20% chance of rain/snow.  It was dumping by 4pm. It's pretty common for the 20%'s to dump and the 70%'s to be clear here.  Funny since NOAA is in Boulder and there are likely more weather forecasters here than any other 20 mile radius in the US! Anyway, it snowed just over an inch and although bluebird skies, it didn't go about 30 degrees all day.

 

Hayride corners

 We met at doubleAranch where a surprise guest rider, SupaDupaTupa, had arrived a half-hour early since Hayride and myself thought we were riding alone! But good to have company to get fresh tracks out on the trails. We did almost the same ride as on Tofurkey Day but with the addition of Lost World.  Well...nobody but elk hike there so we walked much of that 5 miles.  Not a car to be seen all day, it was like the eastern Mongolia area was devoid of all human life...strange...i knew I wasn't going to be called up during the Rapture but wasn't that supposed to be months ago...?

Tupa climbs with Eldora and the Indian Peaks in the background.

 Once we finally got our way over to the other side of the road, the trails were just stellar with that inch of snow over dirt or packed snow.  Super tacky and soft, it felt like we were floating most of the day. I almost ate it several times from those icy puddles with snow on top but didn't hit the floor thankfully.  I've shed enough blood this year already.

Steel*Wooler tracking up some trail

 Even though we didn't leave doubleAranch until 11:15am or so, we got fresh tracks almost the entire ride! Except for a coyote, bobcat and some elk...but they don't count.  None of these trails are even secret, they're all on the map! Even at a popular trailhead for the locals, the trails were devoid of any bike or even foot tracks! It's strange to me how many put their bikes away at the first sign of cold weather and snow.  This is my favorite time to ride!

 We did two laps up at the rainbow dots just to track it up real nice, followed by a sip of whiskey of course to warm the inners. 

Back on Black Coffee, we headed over to the ridge for a quick loop and then back to the ranch to warm up.  I hate to sound like one of those stupid surf movies where they interview all the surfers and they're telling you how cool surfing is but they can't explain it because "there's nothing like it"...but riding on snowy singletrack is kinda like that...sorry.

Thanksgiving day ride

 Got out on a Thanksgiving day ride with Hayride, and a new face to the Steel*Wool crew - highD.  We went for a ride on the local trails a short ride from our houses.  It's amazing that on Thanksgiving day we could ride some dry singletrack! Most Thanksgivings it seems like I get out to ride trail but it's not usually over 60 degrees at 8500ft! Crazy, I tell you.  The hikers had packed down the snow on most of the east-side trails so it was mostly easy going and really fun riding.  My favorite time to ride these trails is in spring and fall and winter since it seems like it's a whole different place.

Hayride on boot. That's not dirt, it's pine needles that blew down to thee packed down snow.

My artsy shot of the day

highD carefully choosing her line. If you go off the 8" wide packed down section of the trail, you stop dead in the softer snow and usually let out some kind of... UMPH! There was some slipping and sliding, safety was definitely 3rd.

Lots of sawing logs today...followed by some trailside "recovery" drinks.

5 rather large trees were still across the trail from the huge windstorm a couple weeks ago.  Hayride was able to clear most by himself a day or two ago, but the others were too big without the saw.  Trail is clear now though! Except for a major double-spruce down that would make a great lil bridge in the spring if nobody can bring a chainsaw in to cut it.

The crux...no way we could cut this one today.

and yes, as with all S*W rides...another shot of whiskey!

Tour de Dewey

For Dubba's 40th birthday his wife revived an historical event in the Boulder area - the Tour de Dewey.  The TDD started in 1997 with a handful of friends at Dubba's Dewey street house.  It somehow arose one fall from the end-of-race-season-burnt-out-on-racing-and-traveling-mindset while under the influence while riding cruisers. 

The first year was a humble beginning, and somehow it soon grew into a few hundred people by 2004 when it was decided best to stop the event altogether...it was just TOO big and rowdy.  Costumes, cruiser races - including a shotgun prologue, Individual Time Trial, Circuit Race, and Hillclimb - were all part of the TDD.  It was a moving event with nobody knowing where they were going exactly before the 'race' -- each stage was at a different undisclosed location until the night of the event.  With the TDD, the IGSSC (Intergalactic Singlespeed Championships) grew (and died) as well, for the same reason.  But it appears for now that the TDD lives again and will re-appear at (random) times. 

For this year's event I created a Time Trial "Chalice" of sorts out of scrap metal i had in the shop.  I welded and brazed it together one afternoon and added some hammered rattlecan paint to finish it up.  It was easily packed because it unscrewed at two locations for easy stashing. It held the beer that riders would race out to, drink, then spin around the chalice three times before hopping back on the TT bike (14"-wheeled kids bike) and heading to the finish line.

that's a 32 and an 18t ring...perfect ratio for the single

Dubba drinks from the chalice at the pre-party at Upslope Brewery

It was another classic TDD, lots of great costumes, lots of people I hadn't seen in a long time - some since the last TDD, lots of PBR, lots of fun, oh...and lots of near misses on the bikes (with one major exception).  I ended up with 16 stitches in my chin from a rather large collision with a buddy in the circuit race.  Ouch for both of us!

I've created a photo album of all the pictures I have available.  Many or most of these are from friend's cameras and not my own. Enjoy the show.