Not much riding last week. No riding bikes, that is, instead I was riding this:






This is the Rocket at Universal Studios in Orlando, one of a few pretty exciting roller coasters. The family and I spend most of a week here, focusing on the new Harry Potter section of the park. We're all fans, and man did we get our dork on.

My girls next to the Weasley flying car:


Hogwarts castle:


Hmmm, hard choice, Guinness or butter beer?


And of course the obvious landmark:


Lots of fun, but was I glad to get home to the bikes. I felt like a total slug, stiff and fat, after eating too much and all the time on planes. The bike ride to work the first work day after I got back felt so good!

So, with vacation over and spring not too far away, it's time to focus on getting my mileage up. Giddyup!

Super Poorman - a little winter climbing

A winter day with highs in the 40s is a good day for a canyon climb. It's always good to get some climbing in occasionally throughout the winter, so it's not such a shock when you make that annual spring trip to Fruita. So with Saturday's great weather, it was just a question of "which canyon to climb"? Four Mile canyon and Sunshine canyons were the choice for today. Starting and ending in Boulder with Gold Hill as the mid-point, this is a great ride with good views, little traffic, and some reasonably steep sections. I call this ride the "super Poorman", borrowing from the colloquial phrase "super Walker" (another awesome ride) which involves riding Walker ranch starting from Boulder, climbing Flagstaff to get there. In this case, climbing Four Mile, connecting to Sunshine by way of Poorman Road, and dropping back to town is a popular loop, but Gold Hill is a much longer alternative to the same basic concept. I tried to coerce the Punisher into this ride, but he had ski plans, the bum. Guess he buys into the whole "cross training" concept, maybe I should look into this idea... I started just off the Boulder Creek trail at 30th and Arapahoe. Here's a gratuitous bike shot at the start: This is my Salsa Fargo, the SUV of the mountain bike world. It's a drop bar mountain bike, great for off-road touring. Not the lightest MTB I own but it's comfortable, stable, it can carry a lot of crap when properly equipped (e.g. with the custom Epic Designs frame bag and gas tank I have on it here) and it thrives on dirt roads and moderate single track. This bike will be the basis of my bikepacking ambitions later this year. The ride started with a gradual climb west up Boulder creek trail, dodging peds, dogs, and patches of ice. Here's the end of city maintenance, things get more fun from this point: Finally, something more interesting than pavement and crusher fine: Then begins the long climb up Four Mile canyon. This climb is all asphalt though the end of Salina, then it changes to dirt which is typically snow packed this time of year, and fun to ride. Here's the turn off to Poorman road, the quickest way back to town while still feeling like you accomplished something. Today though we're going higher, so onwards and upwards: I had forgotten about the fire that happened in this area last year until I started seeing the damage. I realized I hadn't been this way since this happened. Here's just one small sample: Just below Salina, here's where we turn off onto Gold Rim road: Salina is a pretty place, at this point it appeared it had thankfully escaped the fire: Except perhaps for "Cold Beer" this is the best sign you can ever see. But where's the snow pack typical for this time of year?? Guess it really has been dry here on the Front Range lately: It was unfortunate to see some houses were affected at the upper end of Salina. In this case all that remains of this lot is a tub and some scorch marks on the trees: A view off to the plains, where we started. More fire damage is evident on the trees here: Approaching Gold Hill: And we're here. Ahead is Lickskillet road, supposedly the steepest two-wheel drive road in Boulder county (in other words a hella fun climb). At this point the more masochistic side of me is thinking it would be fun to drop down Lickskillet to Left Hand canyon, then climb to Sawmill, then descend back to Gold Hill, making a figure 8 out of my loop. I ponder a bit but another part of me comes up with the fact that I probably don't have enough water. Nice excuse, so I turn right towards Sunshine. The climbing's not done yet, in fact the steepest part of the day is just ahead. This is why this is a great route, like any good climb the worst part is at the end, just past the point when you think it should be over: Near the high point of the day looking backwards to a nice view of the Indian Peaks. A great view is all the sweeter when earned: Near the top: At the top, a good place to pee, put on a coat, balaclava, and dry gloves. Oh, and double check that my quick releases are on tight. Please pardon gratuitous shot #2 of the rider and bike. Perhaps I should pick a more level rock next time for the camera: And so begins the downhill. I recently installed new rotors on the Fargo and jumped up in size on the front from 160 mm to 185. I had been getting some scary brake fade last year on some long descents on the Fargo. I also threw on some organic brake pads to see what they were like. This was my first real test of my new brakes. I'm alive so it appears I installed them right: I was too busy enjoying the downhill and avoiding sand to take many more pictures, but here's one. The fire damage appears to have been the worst here at the top of Sunshine canyon. My thoughts go out to all those who lost their homes, and the heroic efforts of the fire fighters who saved so many others: Done! Time to scare up some food: Here's a map of the route and some ride stats: Distance = 25.7 miles Total ascent - 3380 ft. Max elevation = 8492 ft. Moving time = 2 hr. 41 min. Total snot rockets blown = 27 (what, your GPS doesn't measure this?)

First ride of 2011 - hardly epic but big on smiles!

Finally, we got snow here in Boulder county! Been a mild, dry winter so far, which has meant dry trails through Christmas, which is way cool. Good to see snow, though, we needed it, even if trails are now off-limits, at least for a little while.

There's still plenty of riding to be had though, whether that be big canyon climbs or dirt roads out in Weld county. This day, however, I got a ride of a different sort in. My cargo kept throwing snowballs at me but I persevered.

2010 restrospective

Well, 2010 sure was a good year. I'm one lucky bastard which I endeavor never to take for granted. I've got a job and family that give me tons of flexibility and free time, and I've got the financial resources and family support to go crazy on this thing called endurance mountain biking. This is looking likely to continue indefinitely as well, thankfully.

I logged a bit over 3000 miles in 2010, about 1200 being boring commuting miles (that's a lot of miles saved on my car), the rest being "real" riding, which means dirt of some sort, with as much rocky goodness and steep climbing as can be found here in the Rocky Mountains. How many hours? How much chain lube, how many worn out tires, and how many moments of doubt in the middle of some huge sufferfest where I ask myself, "Why the hell am I doing this again?" Not sure exactly, but "not enough" is the answer. That's because every hour doing this was one less hour in an office, in a car, watching TV, or doing any of the other mindless crap most Americans spend their time doing (you'll have to excuse my cynicism here, I recently re-read the novel "Fight Club" :)

But 2011 is another year and is therefor the time to take it up a notch. My friend and most frequent riding buddy (the Punisher as he's usually known by) have some great plans for the year, and I also have some solo bikepacking plans as well.

And what's with this blog nonsense? Honestly I'm not sure yet. I've always been pretty cynical about blogging, it seems an inherently self-important exercise founded on the assumption that what you're documenting is worth other people's time to read. However I'm starting to think that the discipline enforced by making an effort to document my rides will keep me focused and honest, and more likely to follow through on my plans and goals. Plus I look forward to bringing a camera along more frequently and looking back on what I put here in the future.

Anyway, here's to 2011, may it be full of bikes, beer, and burritos!