Six hours of riding at Buff Creek...

...and all I got was a few mediocre pics. The weather, views, and company were great, I should have gotten more pictures, but I guess I was too busy enjoying the amazing single track.

My newish Waltworks with my brand new Porcelain Rocket frame bag, next to JS's new Pivot:

Working a short climb:

All in all, about 48 miles and 5200 ft. of climbing, all on singletrack - a great way to start spring!

Boulder to Ned

Meetin' up with the Johns at the coffee shop:

The plan?  To attempt to bust our way through snow and any other obstacles and climb up to the Ned area.  JP had ridden down from Ned to join us while JS and I had met up at his house and biked the mile or so here to find JP recovering with some hot tea.  Bad ass!

After the Boulder creek path and 4 Mile Canyon, this is the start of Wall Street (right below Salina):

Start of the Switzerland trail. At this point we were alternating between ice, snow, and dry ground:

Sometimes you gotta give up and walk - no shame in it, for any of us:

A nice dry spot and a good view east to the plains:

It's all about balance:

Stopping to enjoy a nice view of the divide:

High enough now to find long uninterrupted stretches of deep snow.  I had some winter shoes on (love my Shimano MW81s!), but the other guys didn't.  Not sure how they managed, I would have been miserable:

Moose print - guess they're more used to these conditions than we are: 

The very top of Switerland near the Peak to Peak highway is mostly plowed (mostly):

Then it was on to take in a quick view of the Caribou Ranch valley, then on to JP's house for a quick beer/snack, then the bus back to Boulder (we wanted the most expedient way home at that point).  Wait, aren't you supposed to take the bus up from Boulder to Ned?

The route:

About 35 miles and 4200 ft. of climbing

Weld county again... naturally

It's been a long winter, and a long winter season of trolling the dirt roads out NE of Longmont in Weld county.  Here's a typical 69 mile route that includes several scenic miles along the Poudre river between Greeley and Windsor:

What's that you say? Endless hours of the following is boring?

Actually there can be a fair amount of excitement, Weld county is a hot bed of all kinds of wholesome American activities.  For example, you have farming:

 and fracking:

 you've got drinking:

dumping:

pooping:

and dying:

And not as popular but high on my list, you've got riding:

But it's not all fun and games out there.  I know our educational system has some problems, but if people have to be warned about poorly performing kids, it's gotta be really bad:

Or maybe the sign is in reference to another problem?

Be careful, Weld county is full of barns!  I don't think squirting a water bottle at zombies will work as well as it does on aggro farm dogs. (I apologize for the lame humor, the mind really wanders on those long rides).

Quick pics...

...from a recent group evening/night ride. Nothing fancy, just another JP Thursday night ride, this one covering most of the Marshall Mesa area.

Put up the winter clothes and break out the sunscreen, it's spring already.  It was in the 70s at the start of the ride:

JP acts the gentlemen and holds the gate for the group:

A nice sunset:

Some quick snaps...

...of a short ride today. With a one foot week-old layer of snow still on the ground, the only riding lately has been commuting to work. This morning I woke up to about one inch of new snow, still falling, and very cold temps.  While the plan is to get in a a longer gravel ride tomorrow, I couldn't resist a quick ride on the fresh snow.

 

Deeper, colder, darker...

snow ride!  Masterminded by JP, four of us headed up to the Beaver Res area, above 9000 ft., for one hell of a night ride.  Only 4.5 miles travelled on a short out and back, but with many calories burned, and most uphill stretches had to be walked.  Temps were in the low teens, with some serious wind chill - in the trees, though, the worst of the wind was avoided.

The terrain - deep snow somewhat packed due to ski traffic:

Toby, John, and Steve up front on an uphill stretch.  Steve managed to ride more of the uphill than the rest of us with his psuedo-snow bike (a Surly 1x1 frame fitted with a Pugsley fork and Large Marge rims):

Fall off the packed snow and you may not get up again. JP enjoys the landing:

And some more pictures, courtesy of JP (and hey, I'm in a couple of these!):

Snow ride

Some pictures from a recent loop out of Boulder.  Terrain covered included asphalt, dirt, ice, and of course, snow.  Thanks to fellow patroller John S. for sharing this route - I had covered all these areas before, but not in this order, and not in winter.  Nice route, John!

John leads the way out on Folsom:

Treacherous section of the Boulder Creek path:

The best part of the day, packed snow.  There were some drifts to walk, but most of it was rideable:

View of the Indian Peaks:

John layers up before the big drop back into Boulder:

I didn't measure mileage,but I'd estimate close to 30 miles.  And some people ride trainers this time of year??