Fort Collins cyclocross

Well Dudes, the USGP New Belgium cup came to town last weekend and it was quite the event. Pros were everywhere along with the Dead Deer [Photo Club]. I guess Schuyler did some stellar black out bike prep for the costume race on Sunday and didn't tighten down his basket. So the Deaddeer didn't make the podium.











This is me petting Geoff Kabush with a Dollar; he won on Saturday



Adam Craig's down for the Dollar



Schuyler's getting amped for a renegade hot lap with the Blacksheep dudes







AND BTW Per your post was amazing

Tonight's The Night [Gonna Be Alright]

IMBA epic bromance

hello - several weeks ago Schuyler and I went on another date up to Curt Gowdy State park in Wyoming. A couple years ago Wyoming had one progressive thought and figured that if you build it they will come - So they partnered up with IMBA and went the distance in order to ease his pain, what? IMBA came in and built ~30ish miles of trail through three different eco-systems ( high plains, upland montane & riparian. not sure what those last 2 are but they involve precambrian exposed granite and sandstone). Basically, its pretty awesome riding through terrain you might not expect to find in Wyoming right off of the plains. oh and its garnered an IMBA epic status.

more info available here : http://www.imba.com/epics/curt-gowdy-state-park

Anyway, after a healthy amount of shit talking and imbibing several cocktails and vegetables at a backyard BBQ dance party compliments of the Meister; we agreed to pull out of the fort at 6:45am in order for me to make it to my 8am work BS meeting in Cheyenne. Determined not to "Jacoby" it I set 3 alarms, packed everything I might need and pedaled off into dreamland for a nap. Holy shit, it's 6:15 and I'm awake. Now let's see if Schuyler's blowing it, nope not a chance, he's down. Post meeting, we fueled up on food from a dennys/ihop/clone and head straight to Curt Gowdy to get Epic. We make it to the park to discover good weather and 30 miles of super fun trail - it has all of the cliches you'd find in a good dirtrag article. We got our freeride on and then found the "secret" waterfall (it is literally called the "secret" waterfall on the park map) where we hung out for a bit. Then we headed out for another hour of trail shredding back to the car. Curt Gowdy deserves its Epic rating and you should check it out. I'm going back there today. Eat shit.

Polarized sunglasses lens cover deal

fort collins USGP cross race

Hey dudes - here's a good chance to see the best of the best race cyclocross in the fort. Pro men race at 3PM and amateurs start racing at 8AM on Saturday (11/13) and Sunday (11/14). Should be a good time.

nettles

bikes and camping...

nobody cares...

dudes - sorry for the lack of posts. I feel that a lot of the cycling crap I see on the internet is so full of prolific epic moments chalk full of hyperbole that I was just over it for a moment. I'm certainly guilty of it as well; so in the future I'll TRY and write a dialogue that checks the proverbial avalanche of [internet cycling] cliches at the door. Because/besides if you know Dead Deer, then you know we had a hell of a time, drank a vat of beer and perhaps visited a different mental state resulting from the shred fest of "epic" proportions. and those epic shred fests could be drinking coffee while listening to jazz, riding across town in flip flops, walking, riding 3 wide in a big rig shirtless, mastering french toast, sewing, guitar-ing, skating or stealing souls/moments in time with a point and shoot.

george
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So onward..

A few weeks ago Schuyler and I went on a night ride with the Blacksheep dudes (http://www.blacksheepbikes.com/). I was a little apprehensive as I seemingly always feel a bit anxious when I ride with new dudes; there's always a bit of doubt in my mind as to whether or not I'll come back satisfied. I think it comes from living in the mountains where you have endless opportunities to go on different rides but you're constrained to a certain amount of time. So you get in the mode of weighing your options of who to ride with and where as you are always trying to get the most bang for your buck. But in Fort Collins, it seems like the time table is thrown out the window along with the rule book regarding your obligations. There is always time for an exploratory ride that might suck or be completely awesome. This ride will focus on the latter.
Schuyler and I met at the Blacksheep house at 8:45, bro'd down and hit the road with 5 strangers headed south into the night toward Coyote Ridge. A new moon and a storm brewing over the front range brought darkness and a keanu (cool breeze to the layperson) to us all as we spun out 32:18/19/20 or whatever down the road with the red lights flashing. It was my first time up Coyote ridge and that ride has a solid 3ish climbs to get the blood flowing and make you realize that it's early October and you don't need long sleeves. Coyote has a really fun 40-50 ft long section that has steps that are deeper than your bottom bracket and closer together than your wheels and it was awesome to see everyone just bounce and flail through it (self included.) after that we made our way up the last climb to the Blue Sky trail. Some people hate on this trail as it's not technical and often crowded during the day, but at night riding it for the first time I was everything but disappointed. This trail is full of "roller coasters," "g-outs," "drifty and blind" corners to keep you on your toes while in an "epic" state of mind. After Blue Sky we ended up at the Canyon Grill to re-up our supplies before heading north through Lory State Park. Riding into Lory is like a cataclysmic collision of memories from my previous 7 year stint in the fort; the darkness ceases to be a problem, it feels warmer and the bike just goes where it needs because it and you fall into a familiar rhythm. The only unexpected issues were 3 skunks determined to derail your singletrack mission and make you squeal out a warning to the others / (slash) get rear ended by the guy behind you. oh yeah, the bridges get slippery after the dew falls - they took out one rider. Now, we've exited Lory to haul the road down to the North Dam(mit) climb to the Michaud/foothills trail; this road climb hurts. Bring your A-game, let out a few mother-fuckers, put your head down, pretend its not midnight and 5 beers later and you're at the top. oh wait, there is just one more stand up grind climb till you are truly topped out and ready for the free for all down the baby and adult head sized rocks of the michaud lane descent. Damn that was rad, there's hardly any blood (only scrapes), its's 12:50 and there suddenly is a pace line of single speeds racing southbound on Overland in order to get to Road34 for last call. 3 out of 7 made the final push to 34, grabbed some cocktails and then had the best $3 pizza and fries available.
Get home and realize your ride started at 8:45; it's 2:30AM, you're filthy, frothed, wired and ready to crash out completely satisfied. Sweet dreams.
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radio jammin




Canyon Grill




Shots!


Pizza Party!

wow, a post about a bike ride with photos of dudes primarily drinking and eating.

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sorry if I got on the biking cliche train unless where intended!

Cottonwood Pass

Another lovely Friday afternoon ride; this one was about 75ish miles and started from the house over Cottonwood pass to Gypsum through Glenwood canyon and back to Carbondale. As soon as I got to Gypsum it started dumping rain; I rode in blinding rain for about 15 miles in a wool jersey with arm warmers, spandies and knee warmers then it stopped while I was in the canyon until I was about 2 miles from Glenwood. Then the gods dropped the rain hammer of cats and dogs for the 12 miles back to home. In Glenwood, 7-11 coffee and hot dogs never tasted so good or provided so much warmth.








bummer

2 hr friday afternoon road ride from May

listen to this...



from there, up to here



now you're where the finger was pointing



again, more climbing

Spring Rides

OC'S too fast to capture









Sorry the photo quality is bummerish

where to begin...

well these photos are from a dirt and road ride in April that started at my house, went over the crown, to the top of old Snowmass, over Watson Divide, to Woody Creek, then Aspen and returned the same way. this ride full on kicked my ass as its about 85 miles with around 5500' of climbing. enjoy.












***I stopped and snapped the horses in the field for Momma Owens