Pine Valley

Made it out play in the snow 2 more times this week.
Hit up Pine Valley after work, both Tuesday & Wednesday. The 1st night was a pack-down-the-trail ride consisting of 12 wheels, so we did a pretty good job of it. Almost went back for another loop seeing how well the trail felt in the sweep position. I probably woulda had to have been airlifted out if we really had gone for another round.

Heading up Strawberry Jack....

Jerry trying to figure out which way is up....

Saw snow might be coming, along with a change in my schedule made me decide to head right back out the next night to ride the freshly smoothed out trails. Not so! 24hrs made quite a difference to conditions, cuz it was much harder this time around. Wind gusts have drifted over some sections & the snow was much crazier to deal with, especially in the descents. I may have been on trail 50% of Buck Gulch.

Spike decided not to wear pink tonight...

Is it summer yet?

Back in the big city, and the cold weather, ugh.

At least we don't have the piles of snow like back east, just enough to make pedaling a bit on the difficult side....and enough to make the mud muddier when it warms up.

Got back too late to join some folks out in Pine, but hooked up with ss spike the next night for a painful pedal. I knew before we began, that after my past week at sea level doing nothing at all, that this was gonna hurt. Rolled downhill for quite a bit to get to the creek (this alone gave me a frownie face, knowing that this would be our final miles, uphill) & headed up Strawberry. Not too bad, mostly clear so we pushed on, literally, to try out Charlie's. Tiring slog through 6" or so of white stuff. A little riding here & there, but even then it was a workout trying to stay on the 6" of ride-able trail. As soon as the front wheel fell off the hard-pack it would catch the deep stuff & bring you to a halt.

Turned around & hiked/biked back to Buck's & started the downhill, where I turned on my dying NiteRider, trying to save it all for this section. Going downhill is my favorite part, but I had problems staying up this night-went OTB when I crossed up the bars in a turn & slammed it pretty hard. I was feeling so off my game, I even had thoughts of riding w/a suspension fork. As soon as we started back up to the cars, my body gave out, had to stand on the slightest incline & still had no oomph. Really felt it when I got home & through the next day.

No more light problems, as I finally broke down & had scar build up my light...no more demos or dealing w/a 10-yr old NiteRider that throws of a faint orange glow for 40-60 minutes. Bring on the night!

Heard the recognizable purr of e's car pulling up just as I was finishing work Sunday as he came to grab me to head out to GM, perfect timing! White stuff was coming down light, but steadily. Ended up doing a small loop across the bottom, then back through the middle, where we ran into the Goat on his 'short lil jaunt' in cold weather.

There was lots of hiking involved, so it was much more tiring than it should have been.

Big new rubber.

Si

Got out of the country (sort of) for a week, as we hit the Mayan Rivieria. I say 'sort of' left the USA, since we stayed in an all-inclusive resort, meaning it was chock full of tourons & the menus there were very Americanized; see cafeteria food.

It was a great time, but I am sure that will be my one & only encounter with this type of establishment. We saw some cool sights: Chichen Itza, Tulum & its wonderful beach, Playa del Carmen & its recently restored beach. Spending some time at the beach below the Tulum ruins was the highlight of our trip-1) the sunny finally broke free of the clouds, & 2) the beach & water were beautiful! Best meal was probably lunch in some tiny locals only joint we found strolling through Pla'aya-both of us had lunches & drinks for a grand total of around $4.80 & it had taste to it, unlike what we were ingesting at the resort restaurants.

Now for a photo essay of some of the trip highlights:

Our place had pools, man-made lagoons, but no real beach.

Chichen Itza......

Tulum's beach.......

Playa del Carmen's new beach.

And don't think I missed the local bike action, cuz here's what the locals were wheeling:

Cushie SS

Townies....

Nice SS ute-bikes were everywhere.....

More townies.......

For riding duplex style.......

Some of the Playa del Carmen SSer hoodlums.

It hurts, bad!

The Lyons gang came south on Tuesday, so had a rare Tuesday T.I.T.S. ride. Lots of others felt it was a good night, since we had either 20 or 21 riders roll outta IW! I was weak outta the gate, took it slow & hung way back on every hill this ride. I probably walked 40% of BoR-almost felt like selling the bike & taking up golf after that display. At least the Goat & some of the other burners had their race faces on. Besoft has a cool Garmin player of the ride stats.

Work got cancelled Thursday, so PBR Me! & I decided to try it again, this time with much better results, both legs- & lungs-wise. Headed straight over to Zorro/DR first, to hit it while somewhat fresh, instead of going straight up like I usually do. Kevin wasn't a bit hesitant at first to go over to the rocks, but he wheeled it pretty good today. You'll be cleaning it all soon enough!!

Back over the BoR (T.I.T.S. crew has now adopted it!) & a fun bl'ast! down Rooney, followed by a quick spin across the middle brought us full circle. Almost for me, since I now 4.8m of downhill to get back to the house. Good one: 23m & 2,600' (including road to/from) & was able to function afterwards.

Today had me on the Peugeot for a little jaunt. Rolled up to GM to meet someone to sell a tire @10. It was freakin' cold when I rolled outta the garage! Got up to GM & looked back towards the house & everything was fogged in. I met up w/Goat just after, as he & BadAndy just finished a GM/DR/MW ride starting in the middle of the night. He has some cool pix showing fog everywhere, except for the top of GM & DR.

Dirt is forecast for tomorrow, so to GM/DR/MW/?? with a few other fools joining in. Better weather than my brother is having in Pixburgh, he couldn't get out of his drive this morning, so they were gonna do some XC skiing from the house.

Winter in CO ain't bad, but can't complain about the beachtime in Mexico starting Tuesday!!