Spring?

Bikes have happened on occasion. While waiting on leftovers of a visit from old man winter to go away, Bobby & I hit up GBP after work. 

Air Bobby

Bobby rides the skyline

Had a long weekender back east for an in-law reunion.  Arrived in DC Thursday evening & hung out w/the Shaw clan and my ma, who popped down for the night. Headed out the next morning to re-visit Bluemont Vineyard.

951'

The reunion was in Crystal City, so off to the hellhole of the DC area. I could see how people get road-raged out - I was so glad to get out the car the few times I drove around there, the worst day in Denver is like a walk in the park round there.

Friday evening took us to Legal Seafoods for an immediate family get-together: Mally's folks, brothers and their families. Grub there was pretty good, and even felt a bit full after fressin'. 

Washington Monument through the not-yet blooming sakura

The warm weather was just starting, so we headed to the tidal basin to stroll around & see the state of the cherry blossoms - close, but no cigar. Probably 10-15 trees had opened up, and with the temps in 80s for the following week, I bet the place was rocking about 5 days later. 

Passed by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, then the FDR Memorial - full of cool sculptures, waterfalls & choice quotes.

Times have changed since those words were spoken

To finish off the basin walk, we ended up at the MLK Memorial, which I thought was Mao Tse Tung from across the basin. 

MLK

We then made a quick stop at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History before heading back across the river. Oh yeah, out of all the metros I've taken world-wide, DC's was the most pain-in-the-ass to use. 

A quick stop by our room, then off to Peking Gourmet for the big dinner.  This joint was chosen b/c it is one of very few restaurants in the states that makes a traditional, and (what I heard) tasty peking duck dish. We gorged on plate after plate of hand-picked chinese delights, and had a quiet laugh when the duck was served. This place is adored by the Chinese for its plates - but who prepped the duck? 2 Mexican ladies!

Final morning was breakfast at a local diner, then to the Honey Pig for Korean BBQ on the way back to the parental pad. Looked like a cool place, but when we glanced at the menu, I only had two choices. Any plate comes chock full of animal parts, but seafood was few & far between. 

Rolled outta dodge Monday afternoon in 82f weather and stopped by Golden King, which was where Tony set up a family-style chinese dinner on our 1st night, for some dim sum on the way to Dulles. 

Checked conditions back home, and found that a big snowstorm was arriving right around our touchdown, great! Make it back w/no delays, but to crappy weather & a high in the teens the following day, and Mally ended up pulling an unwelcome over-nighter for her return to work.....welcome home!



Back on the homefront:
Report from PBRMe! was that Ridgeline was good to go, the T.I.T.S. crew headed south. Five of us pedaled around for a lap & a half, which was broken up by 3 separate beer stops, not including pre- & post-sessioning. 

I had a quick day of work Friday, so got to take out the new cheater bike on a shakedown run. That was tough, shifting takes a lot of thinking! It'll take another ride or 2 to get the hang of all the moving parts under me.

Very unexpected purchase, but couldn't pass the deal on it. Sold out!

Saul Gud

Got in some good pedaling this week, along with some more finishing touches in the basement. Last Saturday got a bit warm, but we escaped the LoB before the trails got muddy. 

Showed the Honzo a little love on Wednesday by shooting for a quick RR-MW-DR loop before the rain hit. Almost didn't make it, as my old chain finally gave out on me at the top of DR. Had to run it pretty much chain-less back to the car. Even with that incident, I just beat the weather as raindrops started to fall as I loaded the car. 

Thursday eve brought around a different take on GM, as led by Bobby. A bit of chaos ensued, & the group got split up a few times, but all was well in the end.

The following day, I finished early, so felt a need to head out to CC since I hadn't ridden there recently - possibly over a year. Perfect trails from Mayhem, all the way out Travois all the way to top of the descent to Elk Creek. Sun was getting low, I was feeling tired, so This was the perfect time to head back to the car.....then finally visit Cannonball Creek Brewery on the way home. 

Sunday brought us back once again to another glorious Single-track Sunday Service, this week at  at 3Sis.

Round 1, top of Evergreen Mt.

Pit Stop #2, Mt Mulhy

The Brothers

Snotcicles

Decided to head back Evergreen Mt one more time

Another slow week at work = :)

Feeling Almost Human

Had 2 days of work after the towing episode, and Wednesday was canceled, so aimed to do some re-wiring in the forecast sunny & warm 60f weather. When I began the job, I had a strange feeling that the clouds overhead were keeping it a bit on the chilly side, and found it was not even 40f at 11am.

11 of 12 wires were completely snapped

My body was felling achy and weak, so I powered through the slicing, splicing, soldering & jamming all the wires back into place and once again had a working car. 

Good enough for gubmint work

Me, on the other hand, I was hurting, so I headed straight to the hot shower, then off to bed....where I stayed until Saturday afternoon. Major chest/head cough roughed me up good, and had to cancel 2 days of work in that time. Monday rolled around, and felt almost back to normal after a full day of work, so rolled up to J.Paks HQ to grab my newly-finished framebag. Love Joe's handiwork, this thing rocks! 

Frame Pack & RukSak packed with lots of room still!

I knew the Monkey needed some TLC as winter puts a beating on bikes (plus I don't think I've done any maintenance on it since summer) so I pulled the cranks to find the non-drive BB cup was seized, d'oh! No Surly Mr. Whirly BB cups available anywhere, looks like production can't keep up with demand, so I decided to go with an XT instead. Slapped it in & the KM is ready to roll, sporting some fine J.Paks equipment.

Ready for TITS tomorrow night, hope I am

Psyched to get back on the bike after a 2-week furlough....hope I survive.

Metal Circus

Took up GBS's offer to pedal a FatBike today.  Squeezed myself onto a L Pugsley that had some strange levers beside the grips, and when I pressed them with my thumbs, it made it easier to climb, what a novel idea!  Great fun, despite the 60° weather & dusty trails.

What would Bob Mould say?

Things took a turn for the worse when loading up to head home. My marvel of Teutonic engineering refused to move from 'P', so had to get it loaded up & deposited in the driveway.  

1st time tow, as the shipping plugs were still intact.

Quick research at home showed it to be something I had recently looked at repairing, but put off in hopes of more time/better weather. Warm weather this week will be a blessing. 


For the other old folks out there that get it.

Mayan Winter

Since our last episode:

Moving seatpost installed

Xmas eve on GM

Xmas surprise, no mo' cold toes!

Met up with Kevin (b-day boy) & Joe for a NYE pedal around Elk Meadows to make sure all was in order for the next morning.

Eerie looking

The beginning of a new year also meant it was time for the 4th Annual Beerd Belly Ride.

Booze

Bikes...of all sorts

Blue skies

Belllies

Booze, again

Back on the home-front: finally moved into the 90s by picking up a fancy Droid4, so time to play my part in being a Stravasshole!

The holiday times are usually a bit slow at work, so I finally got some long-awaited home projects. First on the list was a minor job of re-painting the upstairs bathrooms, in order to cover up the salmon/peach walls. Hall toilet went smoothly, but the main bath ended up turning into a bit more work, involving new paint, vanity, sink, faucet, mirror & wall cabinet.  I am now IKEA-experienced.  Godmorgon!

Must stay hydrated during house repairs.

Next up was the basement project. It only took 4yrs, 3months & 12 days, but the house finally became 100% carpet-free. (Except for 2 small spots where some previous workers built 2 closet walls on top of the carpet in one of the basement BRs!) Re-painted most ceilings, all the walls, replaced all light fixtures/outlets/switches/plates, then laid bamboo looking resilient flooring in all the rooms. I now have a garage again, as we were finally able to bring thin the couch Mally picked up earlier in the fall.  An acceptable room/place to zone out, finally!

Finished it up just in time to head back to an all-day everyday work schedule for the past 10 days.  Hoping to get out this weekend for a little pedal - plan on putting my fat ass on one of those fatbikes for a lil' spin on Sunday out of GBS.

Back in the Saddle

Finger bone's mostly mended, so wanted to head out for a test ride. I received a request to show Jones Pass to some ne'er-been-there's the sights, so I couldn't say no. (Sept 8)

Typical crappy views

Pettingell Peak

Mandatory posing

Herman Lake

Trent was all smiles

Mark working the RIP

"I don't think bikes are allowed on this trail"

Jones was pure goodness as always. Finger survived with just a dull pain on the rockiest of sections, so I headed back to Warrior Princess to end the lift-assisted season. I let the Honzo rest for most runs & napped atop a few different FS bikes....damn, I like me some Entourage! (Sept 15, 16, 21)

Berthoud Falls

Looking back from Zephyr

Headed south to rendezvous w/some of the Inflexibles for a tour around Monument. Good, good trail system there.  Always a fun ride with that crew. Thanks for the tour, Joe! (Sept 23)

Arin wimped out & brought gears

Jaydude on a roll

Keith riding the bus

Our fearless guide, Joe

Spent some time in CCC doing a lil' exploration, and showing a few trails to folks. (Sept 28; Oct 1, 3)

Yellow brick road?

Mally & I relaxed for a 3-day weekend & headed to Salida. I'd been there a few times, but always a quick trip to do Monarch, then jet back home. When we arrived, we hit up one of the regular must-visits, Los Girasoles for dinner - muy bien! 

I also happened to ride 2 new-to-me trails (plus another that could be considered new - only other time on it I had a broked finger & was in excruciating pain atop the rigid KM) Friday was a quickie down Green's Creek - WOW!! (Oct 5)

It was chilly & quite windy on the crest

Had some great scenery

Where I'd been

760' up, lots & lots of down. I think I have a new favorite trail

Oh, joy!

Some gold near the bottom of Green's

Mally picked me up near the bottom of Greens, then we headed into the big city to see what it had to offer. We lunched at The Fritz, good grub. Then we strolled a few blocks over & I made my 1st  visit to Absolute Bikes. That place is very cool, a veritable bike museum up in the rafters. Came back in town later in the evening to fress at Current's - Mally enjoyed her steak & my snapper was delish.

On Saturday Mally, Zeke & I did a little hike up the CO trail. (Oct 6). We checked out the big city & found some sites to pitch our tent next time we come back.  

Looking towards Monarch Pass, Rt 50

Lots of sun with very little wind, so we chilled here for a while

Zeke & I got our drank on

Mally almost got blown away by the wind

We then head up to Mt Princeton hot springs & chilled, or should I say sweat until sunset. Rolled into town to check out Amica's, which was the place to be Saturday night -  a bit pricey, but good shit.

Sunday was NASA (Neatly Assimilating Starvation & Agate) day. Felt like Agate had more ups than what it shows on elevation maps. I was worked after that. We then drove up to the top of Starvation (with some minor issues involved), and did some bombing downwards.   (Oct 7)

Scott on the Crest

Crossing Agate Crik...

...re-crossing Agate Crik...

...and again...

Definitely the last crossing

Add a few rocks here & there

Those wagon wheels would have smoothed out those rocks had you just pedaled through'em!

4-bike trailer hitch over whoops may be unhealthy. Good thing it was a Nomad - no problems!

Part II begins - Starvation Crik was just pure goodness! I needed a much bigger gear, couldn't keep nearly enough speed with 32x20 on the flatter parts.

Firing up their Stravas

We're done already?!

Jeff is pleased

Future mission's are in the works for more double-shuttles, possibly a triple-shuttle day. To the moon, Alice!