Late season Southwest mountain bike trip

Both Eric and I had a few days of vacation and wanted to get out of town.  Eric just bought his first mountain bike, so I thought this would be a good chance to learn him how to ride it.  We decided we would head towards Hurricane UT as the forecast looked OK and Fixie Dave lives there.  You can't beat having someone you know to recommend trails to ride.

We stopped and rode Fruita on the way out

Little Mesa slickrock

Saturday nights dinner at Dave's

Saturday we rode Little Mesa.  I think there were 9 riders including Dave, Eric, and Craig Bierly.  It was really interesting talking to Craig as he is retired and drives all over the country to bike.  He is on a non stop adventure!  The trails were slickrock, but when we were out, we also rode on snow which made the rock slicker, ha ha.  It seemed like a really fun place to ride and I hope someday I can go back and ride all the trail has to offer.  Snow kept us from riding the outer loop.  Afterwards, we headed back to Dave's place where we made dinner and talked bikes all night.  Sunday we awoke to snow.  We packed up the E and headed off to find dry dirt in Vegas.

Cottownwood Loop trailhead

Vegas in the background

Confused mountain bikes

Practicing bikepacking

Wait...that is indoors

The view from the 29th floor at Circus Circus, and yes, we stayed on the top floor

Off to Vegas..... to mountain bike?  Yes, that was actually the plan.  Vegas was about 2 hours from Hurricane UT, and with warmer temps forecasted, it seemed like the place to go.  I kind of did some research before departing Denver to see what trails sounded like fun.  The Cottonwood loop sounded decent.  It is an area consisting of lots of random trails that go all over the place and a few big loops.  The trails are located on two sides of the highway which was an easy way to divide the trails into two days worth of riding.  The first day consisted of a fair bit of climbing.  After about 6 miles and 700ish feet of climbing, one of the locals asked us if we had had enough climbing.  We both laughed and thought little does he know.  After a couple hours of heading in about the same direction we were wondering if the trail ever looped back to the car.  We were surrounded by clouds that looked like they might bring rain from two different sides.  The trail dropped us below a ridge that both Eric and I recognized.  The road and trail up to the top was rideable, but the grades were 25% to 30%.  Saturdays ride ended with about 3 hours and 3,000 ft of climbing.

We figured since we were in Vegas, we might as well try to find a place to stay on the strip.  Circus Circus was the hotel of choice.  Exploring Vegas had to be done since this was my first time there.  Eric and I walked through many of the casinos and crazy buildings.  No, I did not gamble at all.  The only vice was drinking a few beers.  

Monday it was back to the Cottonwood trails to explore more.  The other side of the highway did not have much climbing, but the trails were a little bit more technical.  A couple hours on the bike and it was back to Hurricane to stay with Dave.  

It was good to have a long weekend.  It seemed like Eric enjoyed riding mountain bikes quite a bit.  Both Eric and I greatly appreciated Dave showing us around and letting us stay in Hurricane.

Thanksgiving!

Holidays are the hardest times to be away from family.  Its easy to miss grandma's or mom's home cooked meals.  Fortunately I am lucky enough to have made friends in Denver who were nice enough to ask me to share the holiday with them.  This year Jeremy, Kim and Eric came over to my place.  It was the second year in a row I hosted Thanksgiving.  As you see above there was plenty of good food for all.  Thankfully I have the internet so this could help us with dinner.  At the time of posting, there are 3,000 more hits, so we aren't the only ones using this, ha ha.  Football games and Dumb and Dumber were on the TV.  Eric and I even prepped out mountain bikes for this weekends adventure.

Century Saturday and a new record

Its probably kind of funny that I post a new record right after my last post (rest).  Anyway, Erik, Eric, Jeremy and I set out to do our November century on 11/6.  The highs in the Front Range were in the upper 70s and with winter supposedly approaching and shorter days ahead, we figured this was the best opportunity.  In the back of my mind I kind of thought I would push myself and see how many miles I could do.  I thought our planned route would put me at about 115, which it was actually a bit lower.  We rode out to Nederland and did a loop, gps details here.  It was a really good route and highway 72 was new to me.  Overall it is a pretty good descent (72) and some surprising climbs.  After we all hit 100 miles and parted ways, I decided I would head out to the Cherry Creek Res where I do a lot of my quick road rides.  I was not sure how many miles I could push out because of how I felt, dwindling supplies, and the sun.  Well, I ran out of sun, so I ended at 125.34 miles, which is a new overall record.  Our November century was my 23rd consecutive month with at least one 100 mile bike ride.

The most difficult part of being a cyclist for me

rest 1 (rst)

n.

1. Cessation of work, exertion, or activity.

2. Peace, ease, or refreshment resulting from sleep or the cessation of an activity.

3. Sleep or quiet relaxation.

4. The repose of death: eternal rest.

5. Relief or freedom from disquiet or disturbance.

6. Mental or emotional tranquillity.

7. Termination or absence of motion.

Jim's week out West

My friend Jim from Wisconsin came out to visit this past week.  We did not have any definitive plans since Colorado is usually in a period of transition this time of the year.  Lot of biking and camping was what we were hoping for.  I picked Jim up at DIA and went straight to Chris and Marni's.  We ended up going "hiking" for a while up in Boulder.

 Sunday we drove out to Buffalo Creek to meet Ben who did a ridiculous ride from Denver.  He got in something like 80 miles and 11,000 ft of climbing including what we rode together.  Temps were a bit cool but pretty nice.  We rode the typical Thursday night loop, details below.  The ride elevation is between 6,600 ft and 8,000 ft, which is difficult for flat landers, but not really bad.  Most people who have not seen the landscape of Buffalo Creek are impressed by the rock and burnt areas.  Its probably a really good transition early on in Colorado.  Garmin stats.

 Jim and Ben

Jim 

 Me riding through high mountain Birch trees

 Jim

I did not have my V8 I guess

The weather looked like it was going to be bad in the Front Range.  We packed up the E and headed to the desert to enjoy 80 degree weather.  Our first stop was the Kokopelli trailhead just west of Fruita.  Lunch was at Paradox Pizza in Moab.  Monday night we camped under the stars down Willow Springs "road."

E packed with toys

Monday nights campsite

Tuesday we rode Sovereign.

Jim climbing

Tuesday night we did the tourist thing in Canyonlands national park.  We even saw the sunset over the Green river.

The best place to watch the sunset in Canyonlands, on the side of the E

 Overlooking the Green river and the White Rim trail, its been a while since I've seen it from this vantage  point.  I hope they fix the Mineral Bottom switchback before long.

The sun nearly set over the Green River

Wednesday we rode Porcupine Rim from town.  It was about 10 miles and 1,800 ft of elevation gain before we even got to the trailhead.  A little video for those of you who don't know.  Garmin stats.

 The Lev at the trailhead

Wednesday evening we did the tourist thing in Arches National Park.  We watched the sunset by Delicate arch.  

Delicate Arch

 The Lev had a great day, I only hoped beer with the same name would be a great way to end the day

Wednesday night's camp spot

After days of mountain biking, we decided it would be fun to try to do Lefthand Canyon on the road bikes, which is a classic Front Range climb.  And what good would a long climb be without a great descent.  I surpassed 50 mph on the downhill, and this is not the first time I've done this on the way down to Lyons.   Garmin info.

Mike and Eric joined in for the fun.  Jim is third in the picture (not counting my shoulder, which can be seen).

It was a great weekend, we were able to get quite a bit of adventure in.  On this trip Jim logged a few good firsts-first time in Utah and first time sleeping under the stars.  Dining out at Fugo De Chao, which is a Brazilian steakhouse in downtown Denver, was the only way to finish the trip.  First rate service and first rate food is all I can say.  It was a great way to spend my vacation.  I can't even imagine how much fun it was for Jim since everywhere we visited was new to him.

Night mountain biking

Night riding a local front range trail.  I am the first rider, Ben is the second rider.  The video was taken by Jesse

Thursday night riding video by Ben

Normal weekend for some, not so normal for others

I have not been posting as much the last half of the summer as I used to.  It seems to me the content of the majority of my posts is the same.  Camp somewhere that is amazing, ride my bike places that make most people envious, repeat.  Three plus years in Colorado and I still think that I am incredibly lucky to live here.  This past weekend Ben and I got to share some of the amazing riding and camping we do every weekend with Jesse and Tyler Welnak (Ben's brother).

Ben picked up Jesse and Tyler Friday afternoon and I met them out for a night lap.  We got about an hour and a half of riding mostly in the dark.  After the ride we drove to Idaho Springs for dinner at Tommy Knockers brewery.  Tiger road was our camping spot for the evening.  Morning temps hovered around upper 20s lower 30s, which is pretty nice for October at 9,600 ft.

Sunday we got up, ate pop tarts, and went into Breckenridge to fuel up to ride stage 2 of the Breck Epic. The ride consists of some tough fire road climbs and a really good section of the Colorado trail.  The climb up the section of the Colorado trail took us to over 11,000 ft.  Mountain bikers in Wisconsin do not get climbs that last for miles, and the reward, descents that last miles.  All the suffering led to a decent that puts a smile on any rider no matter where they are from.

 Saturday nights camp spot

 Jesse on the final long decent

 Typical views during the day

Ben, Jesse, me, Tyler

Sunday Mark and a couple others met us for a lap around the Indian Creek trails.  Conditions were pretty much the same, perfect.

The four mountain bike rides (if you count Thursdays night lap at Buffalo Creek) were a lot of fun.  While Colorado is to dry this fall, the warm weather has given us plenty of time to log miles on the mountain bikes.  I hope I can find weather like this past weekends somewhere as Jim will be visiting me next week.  More vacation and lots of biking, can't wait!!

Breck video slideshow thing by Ben

Indian Creek video slideshow thing by Ben