Waiting for the train to pass and taking in the view of fall from the
post-cross ride bike path ride to work. A stunning fall morning today
in town. Supposed to be 75 degrees today...wow.

Travels end

I have more to post on Durango...a ton of video as I video'd each ride we did with a helmet camera. It should be really fun to watch, but will take awhile to edit. Maybe in a week i'll have a movie for all to watch.

Just got back tonight from Laramie, Wyoming. It was freaking freezing up there! I was at a GIS conference and snuck out on a couple of after-work rides to get lost. Fun double-tracks right outside of the hotel there that lead up towards "Happy Jacks" road and Vedauwoo.

Laramie truthfully surprised me - in a good way. It had better veggie/vegan food than Boulder or Ned. Seriously. I was totally shocked at that cow-town's diversity in food. It also was surrounded by open space, a TON of it. Snowy Range to the west, and the Vedauwoo area to the east. When it's not -5 windchill and snowy I will certainly come back to ride and explore a lot. I hear there's a cool 100km mtb race up there too.


For now, here are some shots of Durango rides. Saturday we actually did a cross race in Dolores - about 45 min north of Durango. It was a very cool grass-roots event with only about 20 guys in the Cat A group. Duking it out in cross is always a blast and I'm not as out of shape as i thought. T kicked my arse of course in the end - and everyone else's too on his belt-drive singlespeed prototype cross bike. Now for some pics of the rides on Thurs/Friday:

Heading up the singletrack 1 minute from T's house, Perrins Peak in the background.

Lots of wind recently made for lots of downed trees that we either cut or moved off the trail. Here's the happy cutting couple gettin 'er done.

Up Animas Mountain Trail, looking into the Hermosa/Animas River valley.

Looking towards the La Platas from the top of Animas Mtn.

Enjoying having no place to be...

The end of day Bread stop for some grub and coffee.

Singletrack vacation.
Durango view north of Perrins Peak and the San Juans in the distance.

Thursday and Friday we rode most of the day - right from the house and
onto singletrack in less than 30 seconds. Seriously.
There was no place to be, the weather was 70 and sunny, and i didn't
turn the keys in the car for three days.
It was pretty simple really - like every visit to D-town: sleep in,
ride for several hours, stop in town for coffee and food before and
after the ride, and then a beer on the deck before dinner.

Greetings from Durango! I've been in here for a few days visiting
friends and doing some amazing trail riding. The MTB trails here are
stunning...and the areas they bring us to are even better.

Here's a Locals only brew from Ska for you specialty beer drinkers out
there. Ska aparently only releases some seasonals to the local
stores. It was a good wet hopped IPA but not close to the other
standards, and especially far from the Port Brewing IPAs we found in
Boulder recently!

A photo of my Tuesday commute in. The first snow ride of the season.
The snow that fell Saturday mostly melted, but created an ice storm-
like appearence to the trees - making many bend over and arc over and
onto the trail under the weight of the ice. When I'd pass by and hit
their branches, the ice would shatter like glass. A very surreal
experience.

Running

I'm not a graceful runner...by any stretch of the imagination.  I probably look like a gorilla running. But sometimes (rarely) I get that flow - that effortless glide - like you get on a bike on smooth singletrack or on skis on any given powder day.  That feeling, and covering such cool terrain, makes running fun. There's no better way to experience the foothills of Flatrock than running (no bikes allowed).  Like my girl says, even though mountain biking isn't allowed, that doesn't mean that YOU aren't allowed!  So out on foot I go each fall, taking a different and longer loop each time, leaf peeping all the aspen, sumac, cottonwood, chokecherry, willow et al that I can see.  Years ago, it used to be a tour-de-Mtn Parks after each summer race season - the off-season cross-training with the fellow racer geeks. Start off at the coffee shop, then plan the route, 3-4 hours each time, with each peak - Bear, Green, S.Bldr being a race to the top - a KOM with no holds barred but all in good fun.  But now i  go solo and enjoy the sound of feet on fallen leaves, slapping shoes on crunchy snow, contrasting the silence of the woods.  I try to stay focused on the trail, as there are millions of rocks waiting to twist my weak ankles, but the sights of fall are too enticing so I look around and stop more than someone who is actually "training" should or would do.  It's just being out there in cool new places that makes me run (and suffer).

Coldest morning of the season so far...tomorrow will likely break it.
It snowed for the first time on Saturday night - 3" of the wet sierra
cement type snow. Cars off the road on the canyon, nobody with
snowtires on yet. Thoughts turn from cross to skiis already.

A fine day it was yesterday. I took the day off to help the Airspeed
crew (the Ned skatepark builders) with whatever they needed help doing
at the park. So after hitting the Wednesday morning cross ride in the
60plus degree heat in Boulder, I headed back up the hill to be slave.
After helping pour cement and sweeping and shovelling wheelbarrows
full of crap...we took a couple of hours to clean up the park ...and
then skated it....for the very first time since it was built.
I picked a great day to volunteer...!!
Here's Geth - the designer/builder - grabbing a nice frontside in the
large bowl.

Leaf Peeper

South Arapahoe Peak

Headed to singletrack mtn this morning before the incoming storm. Looks like we may have some snow by Monday -- 1st time this fall. It was a bit chillier at 43 when i left at 9am - lending itself to that beautiful crisp "fall" smell. Today reminded me of the late November singlespeed rides with wood stoves burning in anticipation of the snow on the way...where tomorrow would be a super sweet singletrack snow ride. I actually am looking forward to those days. But for now, I look forward to these types of days,as they are getting shorter and shorter, and the aspens are in full kaliedascope colors. I wish this season lasted longer!

PS- added a link to a Picasa web album of Dubba's CT ride to the post below...

Boulder's 30 year bike ban in mountain parks is coming under review
starting this year in the "West Trail Study Area plan." The below sign
was found on a few trails where bikes aren't currently allowed...
Can't you be a mtb'r AND a wildlife lover?
Let the silly games begin...

Yesterday's commute view.