Dead Deer Carbondale: October 2010

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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