A ride with two Pilots

Snow flurries mixed with sunshine and strong chilly winds today. Not a day to be outside in the open but in the trees it made for perfect riding weather. It was time for the annual fall ride with JHK and Heather. I almost got emotional as it may be my last ride with them before we move west, and it was also time to pass off one of the original IGSS Pilot suits to JHK. He and T and Heather are representing the Pilots in New Zealand at the Singlespeed World Championships in a couple of weeks.

The ride today was meant to be shorter than it was (that sounds familiar, eh?!) but mostly because we dinked around with Heather's bike for an hour before leaving. She showed up with a 32x16 and even after we changed it to an 18 tooth she wasn't liking some of the climbs we encountered. I may be a mortal but I just ride a 20 tooth on a 29er, period. I don't care how much i have to spin as long as i can stay on the bike on the hills more! I am sure it's different in different areas, but for the Rockies, I've not found a better gear.

JHK is riding the Sawyer at SSWC10 and was riding it for the 2nd time today - it's totally rad. I will do a write up with pics later on, but I'll just say it has some of the same ideas I had for making my own frames. Steel, rigid fork, lots of arching small diameter tubes, singlespeed or geared with dropouts split for a belt if desired...it's amazing The Man (Trek) has come out with this bike.

Heading up singletrack mountain, I let JHK pass because he had a harder gear than me (yeah, that's the only reason...hah!).

Heather climbing.

Most the aspen leaves have fallen now and with the recent moisture there was water in the cups of leaves on the ground, on the bed of aspen leaves, which sprayed up on us as we rode over. Fall is such a fleeting but amazing experience.

Dropping the rock at the end of the Flume trail. Nice, her first attempt at this. It reminds me of a trip to Fruita we took way back, c.1999 when she had never done Horsethief Bench trail and without even looking to see what it looked like, dropped in and cleaned it no problem to the astonishment of multiple gaukers waiting at the bottom for riders to come tumbling down. Classic. Kick some down-under ass brother and sister! Get some ink!

Fall fest

Daisy and Butter grazing in the front pasture

I'm going to miss this valley. The aspen leaves are slowly getting blown down and it's starting to smell like winter is coming. It's sad to think this is our last fall at DVR. But with that knowledge, I'm soaking in every moment of it. This fall has been very warm, blue skies with not a cloud on the horizon most days. Sure, the fire danger's high but this is a pretty sweet fall if you ask me. Hiking the pups on the back hill, getting to know the ranch in a deeper way than before has been awesome. I'm getting to know the wildlife that frequents this valley too. Our Cuddeback motion-activated camera has picked up Zeke, our very tame fox (no, we don't feed him), that hunts within feet of us doing ranch work such as chopping wood and mucking paddocks; a doe and her fawns on the back hill; multiple coyotes wandering around; but no bear, lion, moose, or elk have been picked up on the camera yet.

Each fall there is an invasion of a couple of magpies and this year it's been hilarious - they land on the horses, pull at their manes, feed on the ground with them, and follow us on our hikes with the dogs while chatting us up. What funny characters.

Aspen-lighted singletrack

Singletrack Cross

Lately, I'm only riding once a week - for the Steel*Wool Wednesday night cross rides in Ned (Sunday's big ride an exception). Cross bikes on local trails with some hot laps on the figure 8 followed by pints and food in town...fall fest the mountain-cross way. There's just something about railing singletrack on a cross bike that is extremely addictive. If I could have just one bike, it would definitely be a cross bike!

A grey day with thunder threatening but no rain made for supreme riding conditions, if poor light to take pictures. It is getting pretty dark now even for the 5:30 ride time. Heyride's riding the new bridge with no lights was a highlight. Afterwards we celebrated BobB's bday at the Pighouse with a group of 12 or so. Bob appreciated my "Old is the new Young" Nomeansno sweatshirt but I felt like a dope wearing it for his birthday since I have a long time till I can truly earn my stripes. He's 20 years my senior and still killing it on the bike.

1st Annual Steel*Wool XXX CX ride report

The first XXX CX ride was completed yesterday around and south of Ned...and a core group of 6 showed up for the unraveling of the wits. Powers was the only female and kicked arse! Heyride and I had come up with a big ride to emulate the Three Peaks cyclocross race - Colorado Style. I don't think anyone expected how worked they felt upon returning home, including me. The downhills were nearly as brutal as the uphills. More pics and stuff here.

It started out at the local bike/coffee shop where we all grabbed another dose of caffeine to help us wake up.

In Mountain Cross, we have mostly downed trees as our barriers. Here Brian shows us his skillz.

The group just before the 1st peak.

The first safety stop of the ride at mile 6 was Tennessee Mountain Cabin. Heyride had stashed 6 PBR's at each of the 3 peaks we crossed, so we stopped to enjoy a cold beverage and grab our first bottle-cap 'card' of the day. Mine was a 6 of clubs. The winner would be chosen by winning the best hand of the finished 3 PBR's.

A bit of a scratch that ripped my jersey. Looks worse that it was but bummed about my Swobo!

The Pilot showing all us less worthy folk how to shoulder a bike.

Right before the 2nd safety stop, Powers pedals in a sweet Iron Horse wool jersey with James Peak looking on in the background.

Jorge on a rest stop overlooking Tolland schoolhouse. He was on a 29er (having sold his CX bike this summer) so was dropping us all on the downhills with some funny passes.

The Pilot refreshes himself after realizing he's won the day. And I quote "Victory is sweet, but I should've raced Frisco today. It would've been easier."

The Pilot corners around the entrance to a cool lil old mining town we frequently pass in wintertime.

Atop the 3rd peak, here's Brian's losing hand.

The leaves have dropped from many an aspen already.

The Stage Stop was a must after the long 3rd peak 20 or so mile loop.

Webber came up with the best hand to win the pink wool jersey and bomber of Maharaja with custom Steel*Wool label. But sadly, the three lowlanders bailed out before they could claim their finishing bombers so they could get home before dark.

No GPS on board for the ride, but here's the estimated route which should be somewhat close to being accurate in stats.

Everything is illuminated

Heyride doing a hot lap in an illuminated aspen tunnel up at 9000ft.

We have found an excellent training grounds for the Steel Wool team of gansters. Wish you could've been there. Next week, same time (5:15pm in Ned) and we are definitely going to the same place. Why is cornering on singletrack on a cross bike so much damn fun...?!

This is not biking, this is hiking!

I did a "route" that I've been wanting to do for a long time - just to see if it was possible to connect some of my favorite local trails without hitting any pavement. Well...it is possible, but i can say that that's the last time I'll be doing that route. I'm really glad I made the venture, but i should've brought a rope!

On the way there, I met this poor stressed out red-tailed hawk on the side road. He was flying fine, but low the ground and not straying from the road. I hope he's ok!

Fall colors are starting up big-time this week. Four days ago there was no yellow, each day you can see the changes and it's happening fast.

This was the crux of the ride, so to speak. I went under that 'arch' and out the other side, all the while carrying my bike and sliding it down the rocks when I couldn't keep hold of it. This is one of those times I should've just turned around and hiked back out but I knew (or i thought i did) that if i kept going it'd be pretty sweet. There was a trail down almost to this point so i figured that if there was just ONE hike-a-bike, i'd try this route again. But no. The second half of the drainage was all hiking and i felt like there were lion eyes on my back the whole time.

Finally at the bottom the views were incredible. No roads nearby and a major creek that i forded to get to the trail on the other side. I think this would only be doable in fall when the water isn't rushing too fast and the water's not too cold.

A lil cabin in the woods. The caretaker wasn't there thankfully. I was just surprised that it looks like it's used. It's a pretty big hike from any road on part trail, part water. Must be a fishing cabin of a sort.

All in all, 4 hours when it should've taken me 2...but a great adventure. I gotta do all these things around these parts that I've been wanting to do before next summer's departure to the lonesome crowded West coast!

Steel*Wool Cross

Steel + Wool + cyclocross bikes = a beautiful thing.