Our last fall

 It's a strange feeling going out for a ride knowing that this is the last fall I'll be riding these trails.
We're heading west sometime in the next month, or 6 months (a lot is up in the air still obviously, in particular where exactly we'll end up).  But each fall here is such a spectacle that it makes it hard to leave. The brief 3-4 weeks of colors changing are...just too short.  But I guess it wouldn't be as special if it were a few months long.  It just seems like the aspens greened up and now they're already cutting out getting ready for winter.

I went for a 3.5 hour local loop today and only went 17 miles. I just kept stopping to take photos and space out on the colors! That, and I was getting the last tweaks on the new bike setup - frame #5 seen above (it's my best yet by far, i love how it rides! Check out my other site in the next day or two if you're interested in hearing more of the details).  

  

The sunny south-facing slopes still have all their leaves and some are just starting to turn yellow. But the cooler drainages and north-facing slopes are either pure yellow brilliance or the leaves have already fallen to the ground. 'Very Male' (above) is just past prime I think...the lower reaches have fewer leaves but the top sections are perfect.

 

It's been a really bad week for me and the family...i'm not even sure how to write about it.  You that have followed this blog for awhile know that I have been pretty 'personal' at times but for the most part it's just a bunch of pictures with some words on the latest foray into the woods.  But last Tuesday, we lost Chloe, our 8 year old "wild mustang."  She lost her battle to kidney failure but held strong for a year after being first diagnosed.  She had an amazing last year of her life - walking in the woods, grazing the lush grass-filled pastures, and just spending as much time with her baby Snapdragon and with her mom (Mrs. Meriwether) as possible.  Her last day went as well as possible, but when she started having a couple of seizures we knew it was time.  We feel a big loss in our hearts, she encapsulated so much spunk and attitude that her absence is definitely overwhelming.  

On top of that, our 14 year-old shepherd mix (Basie) is having a rough time after some sort of stroke-like episode last week.  And Rikki, our 12 year old german shepherd had a 2 pound tumor removed from her right armpit area...she's recovering well but man...WTF?! Saying "when it rains it pours" is such an understatement for us right now!  We're crossing our fingers our two older dogs hang on for awhile longer, if not just for our sakes so we can spoil them rotten before they go.  

Which brings me to what some people call 'the journey'...I just can't handle this outlook on death.  Certain people believe that the journey of life leads into the journey of death, and that there is hidden meaning for the dying being in it's death as well as the ones that are affected by them.  As a result of such 'spiritually enlightened' belief systems, I've seen people let their dogs and horses die "naturally" -- not giving them pain medication to help their struggle, or choosing not to put them down via drugs or even a gunshot.  The dog or horse ends up getting attacked by coyotes and eaten alive...great journey, eh? Domesticated animals are not...wild...duh...anymore.   Such an ending is in no way "natural."  It peeves me that this belief system leads to such behavior. The journey of life ENDS at death.  We are biological organisms and the end is...the end.  Sure, we're re-incarnated in a sense with all the organisms and beings that feed and gain life from our aftermath, but to think that all deaths have some sort of hidden meaning to help guide us, or to help us understand our purpose in life, or to live better from here on out is pure speculation at best and pure myth (lies) at worst.  Who or what exactly is steering this ship anyways? A journey presumes predestination. To give into fate is to not live a life at all...but to follow these pre-determined 'signs' that are laid out before us?  No, I can't accept that. We choose our way -- with our choices and with those we choose to surround ourselves with. We define ourselves. We create our own being...and when we die, that ends.  And that, to me, is why death is so difficult for humans to understand and accept.  "It can't just end..." i hear said.  Why not? Who guaranteed life extension or reincarnation? Mythology did.  

Sorry if I'm offending anyone but all those beliefs are (in my opinion) just ways of coping with the difficulty of understanding death and it's finality.  I 'get it'...trust me.  I've lost loved ones and understand the want or need to see them later in another life.  But to call death itself a journey in itself that allows people to rationalize letting their animals suffer instead of putting them down just so that they can experience 'their journey'...is just sprinkling sugar on shit, and downright cruel.  Ok, rant over...back to the ride.

After climbing for a couple thousand feet and stopping to leaf-peep every chance i could, I re-found an old trail I haven't taken in many years (and apparently nobody else but some elk have either).  It leads to the next round of shots with the broken down cabins on some water - an old 'getaway' for people on the front range to come up and stay the night and fish in these ponds.  It all burned down some time ago and now mostly the rock parts of the structures remain.

wine cellar...? "refrigerator"...?

This chimney is absolutely huge....I don't know how it's still standing considering the wind it sees each winter.

The hidden lake nearby that looks so peaceful now but in a few months will be seeing sideways snow.

South Arapahoe Peak from a far. Lots more snow patches over-summered.

Seat-stay view of sweet singletrack

The new Sugar Mag trail is riding really well.  Some new work completed on Saturday by BMA and NATO folk is great! and much appreciated. 

Fall is my favorite season.  There's really no season that typifies change as much as fall.  Spring is so beautiful but really almost undefinable here.  It basically goes from winter to summer with a couple weeks of what some would call "spring."  This fall feels so much more permanent to me with the oncoming move; leaving a place i've called home for 20 years.  I'm bummed to be leaving my friends and these beautiful surroundings that have defined who I am and what I've become, but I'm also very excited for what we get to create at the next stop in life's journey.  ;)

Sunday Gold-en Sunday

three riders hiking

Heyride heading down elk

Snow-covered peaks up high, turning yellow down low, the Statistician rides

Get out there while you can to see the colors, they'll be gone in a couple weeks!

First snow on the divide

 Very poor iphone photo from Monkey Meadow on a hike with the guppies.

September 15th morning after some big rains the night before. We had our first fire in the wood stove last night too. It wasn't that cold but it just FELT cold...if that makes sense at all.  Funny how temps in the 30's feels like zero degrees when it's just September.

Inagural Caribou Classic complete

Heyride on the top of the north Sourdough Trail, heading back west towards the Indian Peaks Wilderness.

A horrible picture of an amazing start/finish area on Caribou Ranch at dusk.  The start of the race saw the lead pack almost get taken out by 50 cow elk.  This place is an elk sanctuary.

Yesterday was the 1st annual Caribou Classic and Sufferfest.  I have a feeling one day this is going to be a pretty large event.  The owners of Caribou Ranch, and the production company they are working with, are gunning for it to be the end-of-season Sea Otter Classic.  We shall see if that's possible, but it's pretty wild that's their goal. 

Other than the 4x4 road and some old mining camps, this place has spots that look pretty pristine.

I was involved at the start up by helping design the course and create the maps to get permits and for riders not to get lost.  I offered to help "sweep" the course with Heyride, and the Pilot and Promoter joined along.

 The southern part of the course took riders from Caribou Ranch around a 4 mile "parade" loop and then south through the town of Nederland.  Right through old-town, up to the High School and left on the newly renovated Sugar Mag trail. From there, there was about 10 miles of the best singletrack Nederland has to offer, before returning back to the High School and heading up to the "505" through the town of Eldora.  Heyride and I flagged the hell out of the West Mag trails but people still got lost somehow.  (No, they likely didn't look at the provided laminated map and step-by-step directions...but oh well! All part of the adventure.)

Heyride and I start out to sweep the 24 mile northern portion of the ride, FS road 505 heading north from Caribou Flat at 10,200ft. In winter, we backcountry ski just to behind those two big spruce trees on the left (Ptarmagin hill we call it).

Promoter on the left on the upper reaches of the Sourdough and Heyride on the right on one of the bridges armoring the trail completed by local trail volunteers

Hunter - the Silverback on the ride (oldest rider to ride the longest-by far) - bloodied but unbowed, continues on down the S. St. Vrain Trail

The course had two options - the southern loop was called the "Caribou Classic" (37 miles) and a split at mile 27 to the northern portion of the course which is called 'the Sufferfest" route (50 miles) by BMA - the Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance - who puts on the event each year for their members.  The split in courses occurred at the old Caribou Townsite at around 10,200ft elevation and hits some of the more rugged singletrack of this area - it's fun, but it's super technical up and down, and over time beats you down.  The local joke is, "Oh yeah! THAT'S why we only ride that once a year!"

It took us about 5 hours to sweep this section.  One woman took a wrong turn and went UP South St. Vrain Trail instead of down and ended up at the Wilderness Area boundary a few hours later...total bummer for her. It had us a bit worried that we'd be looking for her in the dark, but she turned up at the aid station in good spirits.  The eldest rider of the day, Hunter, kicked serious ass on the ride but had to bail out early because of a rock to the nose.  South St.Vrain trail is really quite technical, especially after having ridden 30+ miles at high elevation.  He did an endo to face on a large boulder and I have never seen a nose look that bad...it was crazy.

We all got back to Caribou Ranch for the MUCH needed free Oskar Blues beer and food just before sunset.  Most riders had completed the shorter Classic route by 2 or 3pm and had been partying for several hours by the time we got there at dusk.  It was a good turnout of around 120 riders and I can only think it'll grow from here on out.  Some BMA members camped across the street on an old football field (literally, it was the decades old high school field before they made a new one) probably freezing their balls off in the sub 30 degree temps overnight...but that sounded like an awesome way to finish of the day. 

Thanks to everyone who got this event up and running in such a short time and I hope everyone had a blast! Hope to see you next year.

For the Mountain Flyer article by Shawn Lortie and some more photos click HERE.

High Country riding

Headed up high with four Pilots today. At home, we awoke to a chilly 26 degrees...winter's on it's way.  All the critters that left the ranch for the summer and headed up to the high country have now started to come back this week.  Leaves are turning yellow in the colder drainages, I brought out my puff-jacket for this morning's dog walk, people are excitedly chatting all about cyclocross, it's definitely starting to feel like Fall!

The High Country will get a snow soon, usually each September there's at least one early on...so we headed into the high country today just in case it snows soon.  Somehow, 65 degrees in Ned felt like 80 degrees.  I could've taken a nap ala "Sound of Music" at 10,200ft. and woken up with a severe sunburn.

The Pilots arse and Heyride in the center distance heading down Very Male.

Heyride on the Birthday trail, the nice route that bypasses most of  the more heinous 4x4 ascent route.

Pilot heading on the flats before the descent. South Arapaho Peak in the distant right

High Country singletrack where the arnica is still out in full force!

Another job well done by Turn Roads Into Singletrack (TRIS)

Apparently, a couple weeks ago, the Pilot and I set a new Strava record for the "road" you see above. Won't be hard to beat as we didn't even know we were setting it.  Slowest average speed record EVER I would imagine.  We ended the ride today on this road that is slowly turning into singletrack with ours and Mother Nature's help.  It's in the Caribou Classic next Saturday, on the shorter loop, so it was good to get some trail work done today and let it settle in all week.  It's funny...there's some hiker that keeps slashing the trail even though we have full permission from the landowner to use it on bikes and CLEAR it of any downed trees and such.  But each time I go out and clear it, the mystery person un-does everything I did the previous day.  It's good to know I'm in the right, so even though I feel maybe a little bit sorry that they're losing their own private trail (that's not on their property), we are getting a great route to use for the upcoming event as well as in the future.

1st Annual Caribou Classic!

I've been working all summer helping a group of people to get this event a reality, and it's finally done!  All the permits have finally been received and it's going to become the biggest mountain bike event the riders of Boulder and Nederland have ever seen in this area.  It's the first year but it's goal is to become a "classic" with the start/finish and expo area at the historic Caribou Ranch just north of Nederland. The Guercio's wanted to create such an event - a 'Coors Classic' for mountain biking in Nederland!  This will likely be the only time the gates of Caribou Ranch are opened to the public all year and it's for a mountain bike festival!

This year, the event is run in conjunction with the BMA "Sufferfest." It's not a race, more similar to a "Dirt Gran Fondo."  There are two main rides you can choose from, plus shorter rides for kids that stay on the Ranch itself. The main expo area is on the Ranch and there's even camping available on site after you've ridden and partied with the rest of the riders and sponsors: Oskar Blues, Yeti, Honey Stinger, Acli-mate, Mountain Magazine, MSI, and Caribou Ranch.

The course starts with a 4 mile loop on Caribou Ranch and then heads south through Nederland, onto some sweet singletrack in the West Magnolia area, then west to the town of Eldora, and up to Caribou Flat.  Once at the top, you can either head back down to the Ranch for a 37 mile loop, or continue north to the Sourdough Trail and la loop on South St. Vrain/north Sourdough Trails and end your ride at Brainard Lake Road (50 mile ride) where there will be a shuttle back to the Ranch where there will be food and drinks waiting.

The event poster is above and here's the link to BMA's website where you need to register.