After the fun at White Ranch, I have also gone back to 2 others I haven't seen in a while: Deer Creek & Bergen Peak. Finished extremely early Friday, & saw an MTBR post mentioning Deer Crik, so got Kevin to meet up for a good spin around it.
Kevin's looking ripped
Crucial turn
Kevin at the bottom of The Wall
Moi -pic by PBRMe!
Saw someone looking at a map, and it turned out to be the dood that posted on eMpTyBeeR looking for the best route. He enjoyed it lots, while his brother shredded a tire & had to hike it back to the car. Seems they traded bikes at the lot, cuz we saw him coming back up as we rolled outta there. The Wall was pure goodness (descending, NOT ascending)
Sunday morning, went to meet up with Eric & Bobby to assault Bergen Peak. It wasn't Eric's day, as his BB was so shot, it turned his non-driveside cup out & stopped the cranks from spinning. Major bummer to start the day, especially as he had just driven from Pb-ville to pedal, and ended up turning around & going straight back home. So, Bobby & I headed up and up and up.....
Bergen Peak - 9,800'?
Nearing the intersection of Too Long & Bergen Trails
Bobby riding smooth
One of the few rocks out there.
We were both feeling pretty good, and discussed heading to Dedisse, and possibly further. Fortunately, we made the right choice & stuck around the meadow, looping Elk Ridge 3x in total to finish the day.
I've been to White Ranch only twice since moving to CO, and the last time was about 3 years ago. Last night, I finally made my return, and realized it's been far too long.
Sun's getting low
Not mine this time
I can see Rawhide/Longhorn getting scary fast once I learn the lines. As a T-101 once said, "I'll be back."
WRC had a demo day at Rooney Rd, so I stood in line & ended up pedaling an XL SB-66 up Zorro, then down the bottom half of DR.
Climbing up Zorro was a breeze (lighter bike, gears & rear suspension'll do that), but I've descended DR better on the Monkey - a 26" FS is a different creature, so it'd take a few more rides till I get comfy enough to ride it correct-like. Wanted to also give the -95 a comparison, but didn't have time to wait around for an XL to become available.
Got a little housework done when I got back.
Privacy for humans & lattice for upcoming climbing plants.
Gonna get wet? Gonna stay dry? Rain in Kittredge, blue skies from the lot up to the top of Evergreen Mt, where I saw a blue donut hole effect, as some big rain split up as it neared. Caught a few drizzles as I neared the lot again, then cleared up just as quick. Up near The Brother I sighted a rainbow.
No double rainbow for me
Not a pot of luck, but it'll do just fine.
Trees
Waited for the rest of the crew near the upper lot & let another rain cloud blow by with only a few sprinkles again. Kevin & Joe did wheelies the entire climb up Evergreen Mt as Hirch & I struggled to stay upright.
Back to the top for rip-roaring fun trip back to the car - only a few raindrops the entire ride & some almost moist soil made for good times.
Thursday night got out to Evergreen Mt, then met up with the TITS crew, making a total of 16 bikes.
At the top, fun time starts now
Headed back up to the top once more for a fun run down in the dark. Smiles all around - a few mentioned that they had never descended that & were willing to head up again so they could hit it one more time. Glad to hear that - it's my favorite local descent, 2.5 miles of pure flowy fun! Back near the lower lot, everyone headed back to Dedisse to beat the curfew, so I finalized my ride with a quickie w/the Sisters.....good stuff!
The next evening PBRMe! suggested a late-morning ride on Saturday w/Hirsch at Lair of the Bear. Chance had it that besoft, his buddy Sean, and Pete Otis Town also rolled in at the same time as us. Our group of 6 took an easy pedal to Pence, imbibed our morning bevies, then headed back to the lot.....but not before I had another tire failure: I saw the rock, told myself to avoid it, focused my eyes on it & nailed it almost dead on, blowing my front tube instantly.
The Rock & the Damage Done
Back on the homefront, I did a little weatherproofing for the veggies. Hoping to get some stuff in the ground a week or 2 earlier than normal with the 'greenhouse'.
PVC framework.
Winterized for the chilly nights.
Got around to dealing with tires and/or tubes tonight - decided try tubeless again & went through the motions to get that Purgatory mounted up. Above pic shows the slice the rock did to the tire, which I found after the Stan's blew out of it like a geyser. Pulled it off, cleaned it up, then took a quick pedal to the shop to grab a new tire boot kit to fix that hole & remount it....only to have air/Stan's blow out, this time on the sidewall near the bead.
1.4mm hole - too much for Stan's to seal
Once again, I pulled it off & booted the barely noticeable slit - Finally, success!
Thinking of riding the KM tomorrow, so I pulled it down to find the rear tire was flat. After the Cone incident, I mounted up the other, almost new Rampage w/an unused tube. I found the issue pretty quickly. (Note to self: always check to see that your 'new' 2nd hand tires don't have 1/2 a dozen thorns already embedded in the casing before mounting them) Glued several patches on that unused tube, so we'll see in the am if all's well.
Found a pro-shot copy of Refused's entire set from Coachella (much, much better quality than this) & diggin it. Rawk!
Took a 4-day weekend away from Lakewood & we spent it in Steamboat. Hot weather for a few weeks had us wondering about the slopes, but we had no worries, just wanted to chill for a few days. My sister's friend hooked us us with employee lift tickets for a day, so we got on the little snow left. Found that I still remembered how to ski after only a run or two.
Vacation has officially begun
The shittiest fold-out in the world. Glad no one had to use it.
Mally shreds
Posing
Not a whole lot of snow, but enough for us to slide around one day. We heard they were closing the lower section Monday due to too little snow. Loaded up the car Monday morning to head home and the snow started-a-dropping.
Ice accumulating at Rabbit Ears Pass, west.
By the time we pulled into the driveway.
Forgot the camera on all 3 rides this week, but I can say that the rain/snow made for some delightful dirt. Buff Creek rode most excellently Thursday night, then Evergreen Mt was exquisite on Saturday morning.
Half of Denver felt Easter morning would be a good day to ride Centennial Cone, which had very few sections of that moisty dirt left, so it was quite a traffic jam out there. Heading up just past Elk Creek & it sounded like a shot rang out from my rear tire. Started to pull it off to change & saw that it was much worse than I thought - huge sidewall tear at the bead. 7 miles back to the car, so time for some McGuyver-ing: duct tape, tire boots, more duct tape, zip ties around the outside of the tire with more duct tape, air pressure in the teens, and riding as delicately as possible got me back to the lot with my tube intact. That was a relief!
Safe & sound back home
The innards
Sean may have got his payback about me beating him to these tires on Craigslist last fall, or else it may have been him with the blowout.
Did the back door loop for Shabbat (along with 36,929 other people), replete with several flats. The Flat King is back! I hadn't had a flat in a long time, so didn't realize I had only 1 patch & 1 tube with me. Did the MTB 'Walk of Shame' to end my day.
Time for another flat
Bloated to the gills after hitting the buffet at Yak & Yeti, I am ready to pass out.
Some good noise released today. Listen here in its entirety.
US tour hits the almost the entire country, except Denver. WTF!?
Shakedown run on Honzo went well, except for some nasty-ass sticky mud on Box o' Rox that brought the wheels to a halt within 15' of picking it up.
Just point downhill & hang on
Also tried out some platform pedals this week. Played at Barnum on the dirt jumps (the baby line that is). Then gave platformed XC a shot by doing Edgar Winters-Red Rocks-Dakota Ridge loop. I can tell it's gonna take a few shots to get the hang of that. Techy ups were quite difficult since I couldn't pull the rear wheel up over rocks like normal.
Sunday, I finally got back to Buff Creek after a long winter away. Kevin & I put our legs/lungs to the test with a long (winter rides have been 15+/- miles max) pedal out to Chair Rocks - I believe that's the 1st time I ever did a straight up out-n-back route at BC. I was spent for the next 36 hours.
Winter officially ends today, but the recent high temps have made it seem like it's been here for a few weeks already. I hope it stays that way and old man winter doesn't return to strike down upon us with great vengeance & furious anger, attempting to poison & destroy my brothers/sisters stoked on riding some tasty trails.
Another late start at work, so Mt Evergreen called out. Low temps, drizzle made for some funky conditions. The dew dropped on the rocks & created a thin layer of super slick ice where one usually looks for traction in snowy conditions. East side up Mt. Evergreen was excellent - cleared 3 downed trees while climbing.
Joe staying upright
Tree #2
A tad chilly
A little breather up top, then down the west side, which was not as smooth going as the west side. Decided to stick Sisters since all the rock surfaces would prove deadly & headed back up the west side to enjoy the fruits of our labor (clearing those trees on the east) on the way back to the cars.
Iced Earth
Got home, showered & plopped down in my uncomfy chair to settle in for an afternoon of drudgery (a.k.a. work). Had an e-mail telling me my day was canceled due to low work volume, so a couple of paid hours for free, niiiice!
Had an appointment a little later to get the final insurance payment from the hailstorm handed over & noticed something in the numbers that I thought was wonky, so I reviewed the numbers with my contractor. Eventually found we overpaid by more than I originally thought & should be getting back a nice hunk of change, schweeet!
Could today get any better?
Yes, it did! UPS dropped off a 12# box of goodness....the key ingredient to my latest puzzle.
20L frame ain't a weight weenie
A little over an hour later....
What am I gonna do w/140mm of cush?
Some minor tweaks left, such as getting the sag dialed
Hit the Banff Mountain Film Festival both nights in Denver. Saw some goood stuff & here are 4-1/2 minutes of the coolest footage.
It's become a habit latey, and a very good one at that - "To the Springs!" has been our rally cry. Had another joint mission of the Denver & CS boys today, linking together some trails on adjoining canyons.
Excellent ride, up until the point when I head-butted that tree. Hot shower, hot rice bag & slather ed up with Tiger Balm. I'm sure my neck is gonna be mighty stiff in the am.
