Keep pedaling!

After a Saturday morning of chores and housework I head out for a ride. Kyle and I had a tentative plan to ride mountain bikes today at Horsetooth but he worked the overnight shift on the Ambulance and he is sleeping. It is an OK day so I head up into the park for a loop ride.
Nothing special going on, just a ride and I thought I would share a few pictures!
Got myself above Horseshoe Park on the climb up to Deer ridge Junction. Nothing but the dirty snow remaining from winter on the north slope.

I felt pretty good when I got to Deer ridge so I thought I would just keep going on up to Hidden Valley.
You pop up to the top of a climb above Deer Ridge and it opens up to one of my favorite views in the Park.
CCY, or Chapin, Chiquita, and Ypsilon mountains.

Here is a side view of Ypsilon as I get next to the beaver ponds that are below Hidden Valley

I still felt pretty good when I got to Hidden Valley so I just kept going! (I'm channeling my inner Forest Gump!!) Grinded on up to Many Parks Curve where the road is closed and took a break and ate a snack and goofed around with my camera.

You can keep riding up.....no cars. They are working above this to get the road cleared and open.

Here is your obligatory Longs Peak picture! This time from Many Parks curve.

As you can see some weather is moving in....time to GO! I put on my wind cheater and a beanie under my helmet and full gloves because it is getting colder and I have the long downhill back to town.
This is the view I have coming down the road back towards Hidden Valley. I have to stop and take a picture because it really is beautiful. Camera does not do it justice.

A bit of wind in my face going back and I get spit on a bit by some rain. Cold hands and legs by the time I am back to town but a great ride. Not a lot of miles on a ride like this but 2 hours 26 minutes of solid uphill pedaling to get to Many Parks curve. Total ride was 3 hours 7 minutes, 28 miles, so good saddle time and leg workout with the climbing for Santa Fe.
I hope everybody enjoys their Easter Sunday!!

Jim

Just Enjoying!

When I get to this time of the year any old ride is welcome. As always, winter drags on so when a nice day pops up on a weekend day....off we go!

A rare sight this year.....calm on Lake Estes as I pedal around the lake heading for US 34, Big Thompson Canyon, and eastward out of town. About 37 degrees but NO Wind!!

I was heading for Ft Collins to meet up with Kyle at his apartment. He had some things to do up here in Estes so I planned a shuttle ride back up in his truck.
If you want to see how the flood changed the canyon it is best to travel by bike so you have a chance to look around. There are places with little change and places with dramatic change. For instance here the water took away a large chunk of the mountain. That created a lot of material crashing downstream which caused so much havoc for the homes that were below this. Damaging most and completely wiping away some.

The Kiewit company has done a fantastic job of getting our road open and useable. They are a great company and now I am so happy for Matthew that he has accepted a position with them when he graduates this May.
I'm pretty sure this guy would have room for one more bike somewhere in the back!!

 I toodled on down the road. I was out pretty early so there was not much traffic going down, I was able to really enjoy the ride and looking about instead of just focusing on my rear view mirror to see what was overtaking me. I was also peeling layers and beanie. Big temp change between my house and the front range.
Got to the Narrows. It is hard to believe that the flood water was up to the road level and flowing over the top. It also dug the bottom of the river channel a little deeper. Considering that this has happened twice in the last 38 years it is now easy for me to see how geologic time works to create canyons.

I pop out of the bottom of the canyon into springtime world!!
They put up these signs after the flood and I am super irritated by them.

First off....No Shit!!! When do we not "Ride At Your Own Risk"
Why doesn't CDOT  put up a sign that says something like: "Bicycles may be present, Motorists Proceed With Caution"
Everybody shares the road and is looking out for each other, would be an ideal world.
I have had motorists mention that they interpret this to mean bicycles are not allowed. The reality is that since Kiewit  has worked on the road, it is actually better for bicycles than it was before flood. I can just see the ass hat after hitting a cyclist explaining that it really is not his fault because bicycles are not supposed to be on the road and the cyclist is riding "At His Own Risk"
Just pisses me off....
Alright, I'll get off my soapbox.

I turn off US 34 and head north to Masonville and climb up into Horsetooth for a little repeat of last weekends ride. It felt good to be hot and sweaty on a ride again. If I would of had some more bike storage on this bike I would have brought shorts and t-shirt.
I love the geology of this area. This band of red rock pops out of the mountain all up and down the front range. I know from way back when I took geology class that it has something to do with The Dakota Hogback formation. Another college class that I should have paid more attention in!!! I just thik it is cool the way the red rock drives out of the mountain and is a feature.

I was out of water because somewhere a water bottle bounced off my bike that I did not notice, but this was the top of the last climb before winding around the south end of Horsetooth reservoir on the road you see on the other side, and down to Ft. Collins.

I see now in the picture with the big earth mover I am missing a bottle, so I must have lost it early coming down the canyon. You can see up above the road over there the MTN bike single track. They have a system of MTN bike trail in and around Horsetooth that I will try sometime with Kyle.

That's it!! A good ride, about 3 hours of saddle time. Slowly building that saddle time for the long day ahead in Santa Fe!!
Everybody have a great week!
Jim

Errandonnee!!

One of the blogs I just started following is Chasing Mailboxes D.C. Mary has tossed out an end of winter challenge of riding your bike to take care of 12 errands in 12 days and has appropriately dubbed it "Errandonnee". She also has the popular Coffeenuering event that I am just finding out about and will attempt next year when it comes about.
Anyway, I am going for the Errandonnee and here are the rules I must follow to be a qualifier:
There are 11 categories of types of errands and a rider must hit seven of the categories, and, no more than two trips in one single category, i.e. you can't just rack up 12 trips to the coffee shop. Well, you can, but only two will "count". There is also a rule about needing 30 miles total to run your 12 errands. This will be a non factor for me as it is a 5 mile trip into town for me plus some of my errands will occur during my lunchtime rides which are 10 to 12 miles. My other goal that I am adding on is to get all three of my bikes involved in this. Different bikes for different errands/tasks

So, this post will be a bit stop and go because I will post my pictures and errand rides as they happen day by day, but just this one post to send to Mary to qualify.

#1 - 03/07/14
My morning commute to work but before work I head to Kind Coffee for a nice decafe before heading over to work. I am posting this in the coffee/dessert category because sometimes I ride into work with out stopping for coffee because I am pressed for time. Supposed to snow today.
What I learned/observed- My Kind Cup fits snug in my holder and keeps the coffee hot for the one mile jump to work.

4.2 miles my house to Kind Coffee

#2 - 03/07/14
Lunchtime ride that ended with a lunch meetup with my buddy Howard. I am putting this in Lunch category. Just beat the snow storm rolling in

What I learned/observed- Lunch is way better when you have a sponsor!!
10.1 miles Estes Park Lumber to end at lunch place. not counting the 1 mile back to work.

#3 03/08/14
A bit of a surprise visit from one of my boys, Matthew, up from Ft. Collins decided to come for the day. It gave me an excuse to head to Safeway to up grade the dinner plan. It was going to be leftovers but a dinner bribe was in order to get Matthew to stay a bit longer.
It had snowed about 5" Friday afternoon into the evening but the sun was out all day Saturday for a melt on the roads.
My driveway is an un-rideable mud bomb.

All packed up for the return trip. As somebody else mentioned for their grocery runs, our Safeway store has no Bike racks.

 What I learned/observed - Two bags of groceries fit pretty neatly into my back rack commuting bag I use.
Mileage- 4.1 miles - Home to Safeway. I took the long way back around on US34, east side of Lake Estes Trail and hooked onto Fish Creek road for a total errand ride of : 10.2 miles

#4  03/09/14
Last fall a group of people formed Estes Park Cycling Coalition. Because of the flood I think things got off to a slow start for them. They have monthly meetings. Because of my Basketball commitment I have not been able to attend. I think their purpose is to raise bicycle awareness in our valley, advocate for trails and lanes on our streets, plus a social arena for rides and fun get-togethers. Since our basketball season ended last Friday I can really start involving myself with all things bike! They had a meet-up to celebrate the beginning of daylight savings time on Sunday, Visitor Center at 4:30. I put this in the category of Community Meeting. Off we go!!

Nice group! All ages we represented from about age 10 up through Me! Mountain bikes, some cross/hybred types, some pretty nice roadies, and me on my LHT representing the touring genre!!
What I learned/observed-- Pretty nice people that just want to make a better community for and with bikes!!
Miles-- My house to meet up spot--4.1 miles

#5  03/10/14

Monday morning and it sure has an early feel to it due to daylight savings. I am going to get a few errands rocked out today as it is supposed to snow again tomorrow! First errand is going to the simple ride into work category. It was light enough that I did not need my front headlight but I set up and turned on my rear blinky just so the cars coming up on me on Highway Seven can see me.

Hoo-boy being out early is paid off with a beauty of a sunrise. Damn!! This is the way to start a Monday!!

What I learned/observed-- Daylight savings made me find and mount up my rear blinky light.
Miles-- Simple commute in on Highway Seven--3.9 miles

#6  03/10/14

My home laptop computer has been acting up, I think it is the keyboard. The computer repair shop is only about a half a mile up the hill on Highway Seven from the lumberyard, so, over to Bill during my morning coffee break to see if he has a fix for it. I packed it in this morning in my commuter bag on the rear rack on the LHT so I tossed the bag over my shoulder and rode my road bike up there to drop it off. The straps are too long on that bag and it catches on my saddle. Look out!! I almost crash because with it caught I can neither stop or get off the saddle to put feet down. I really hate riding with any kind of pack or bag on my shoulders but I just thought no big deal just a half mile up the road plus the road bike does not have a rack.
Bill says no problem, he will look at it next morning.

What I learned/observed--Reminded myself how much I dislike riding with anything on my shoulders.
Miles--short trip, Lumberyard to computer shop, 0.5 miles

#7  03/10/14
This is the case of two errands in one trip. The bank is right next the computer repair shop and I had my daughter's Tax return checks to deposit into her account. I did ride across the parking lot!! Both this and the trip to the Computer repair shop go into the category of stores other than the grocery store. No event or story here....just an errand!!

What I learned/observed---It felt a bit strange taking a picture of the Bank. Like some security official would come running out wondering why a picture.
Miles--0.0  It was right next door to the errand run to the computer store.

#8  03/10/14
Many of you know that part of my deal is that I coach Boys Basketball for the High School program here in town. Our season ended, as always so suddenly, with a loss a week ago last Friday Feb 28th in the league tournament. As part of our program I also take care of the stats and enter them into Max-Preps for Colorado High School Activities Association. I got all this finished up and needed to get our team scorebook back to Our Head Coach who is a teacher at the middle school. So part of today's lunchtime fitness ride included a swing by the middle school to drop off the scorebook. It was a nice day out even with some pretty good wind rocking out there. Blowing because a change is coming tomorrow with some snow. So, all the more reason to get all these errands finished up today. I am putting this into the wild card category.

What I learned/observed--I put new tires on my road bike last summer going up to 32's from 25's. They are so much better handling the winter shoulder sand from snowpack roads all winter.
Miles--I stopped by the school near the end of my lunchtime ride, 5.8 miles

#9  03/11/14

It was supposed to snow overnight and today. There was a little skiff of snow on the ground at the house this morning, but none on the road, so off I go for the morning commute. We'll just see how the snow thing develops during the day. There was none in town. Maybe it will just be a National Park thing and stay up on the divide!! I got out early so I am heading for Kind Coffee and the second of my coffee category errands. It is OK out this morning, colder than it has been but the snow storm is not here yet! The earlier time means wildlife is still active crossing the roads before the sun pops up. A big herd crossed in front of me on US 36 heading over to the nine hole golf course. Thought I would get a pic of the stragglers on my way for a cuppa, then roll back to work!

 What I learned/observed-- Heads Up!! Elk and deer are still moving about in the early morning hours even for bike commuters.
Miles-- Home to Kind Coffee- 4.2 miles

#10  03/11/14

I am fast!! I am so fast I can out bike snow!!
OK, maybe I embellish the story.....
Tomorrow is my oldest son, David's birthday. He lives here in town and works as a Civil Engineer for a local firm. For lunchtime ride today I head over to The Estes Park Mountain Shop to shop for a birthday present.
I am putting this errand into the Bike Shop Category because not only are they a full mountain shop with ski/snowshoe rentals, a climbing wall, fishing guide service, but a full bike shop. I bought both of my Surly bikes, LHT and Ogre, from them. They do a nice job for all things outdoors! If you wish to come to Estes Park and ride but can't bring your bike they have nice rentals.
Anyway....It just started to snow as I rode into the parking lot. I picked out some nice rain gear for Dave and got ready to head out. The storm was coming in from the northeast. I headed southwest towards home on up Fish Creek road. Beat the snow home. Ten minutes later it was blowing and snowing pretty good. I drove my truck back to work for the afternoon......

What I learned/observed-- It is good to be flexible on plans of when and where you ride to avoid bad weather approaching!!
Miles-- Lumberyard to Mountain Shop--2.7

#11  03/13/14

If you notice these sort of things, I have a 24 hour gap between errands. You faithful readers will remember our hero (Me!!) out-biking the killer death snow-storm home on Tuesday afternoon. It snowed like crazy for about 20 minutes....hmmmm. The next morning it dawned clear, but very cold. About 8 degrees. I totally wimped out and drove into work. It did turn nice by lunch and I got my usual health, lunch ride in, but no errands.

Lunchtime buds sharing the good life!!

Okay, enough fun......back to the Errandonnee and #11
The corporate guys, our President and VP of Operations wanted to come up for a visit. We are working on some remodel ideas for the front of our store and they wanted to see the ideas we are proposing. We also planned a breakfast meeting with our best contractor customer, 7:00 AM, Egg &I, here in Estes Park. I will put this into the Breakfast category.
Remember when I said it was dark enough at 7:00 to use my rear blinky light?? At 6:35 it is full light set-up, dark.

We had a very productive breakfast meeting. The guys wanted to get right over to the yard before heading back down the hill so I blasted out of there and hot pedaled back over the the yard before realizing that I forgot to take a document picture. Oh boy.....I decided to ride back over there as part of my lunchtime ride and take a picture. Now this might me breaking the rules of Errandonnee, I put myself before the panel of judges.
You might notice that my commute ride in the morning was on the LHT where all my lights reside. My lunchtime ride is on my road bike that I take out for those fun rides. It could be the first time a single errand was completed on two different bikes at two different times!!

What I learned/observed-- I need a better mounting system for my front light. When mounted on my handlebars, my handlebar bag blocks it.
Miles-- 4.2  My house to Egg & I

#12   03/13/14

Here we are already on the last errand of the challenge. And, here we have the most mundane of mundane errands; the post work trip to Safeway to figure out the dinner thing. The store is always filled up at this time by worker drone types (like me!) doing the zombie-like shuffle up and down the aisles. "What should we have tonight??"
I am on the solo dinner plan tonight because my wife is working late. I was going to just toss in the towel and get Subway or something, but no, I can do better than that, so here I am. Plus I am bringing cookies to work tomorrow for a co-worker birthday. This will be my second entry in the Grocery store category.
 Shop it!!

Wait....They still have not installed bike racks since I was here on Saturday???

Yup, a small bag of food can fit in my large handlebar bag! Don't beat me up for the plastic bag, I did not pack a re-useable bag!

What I learned/observed-- A LOT of boxed frozen pizza goes out of Safeway during the post 5:00 work time!!
Miles-- 5.8 Lumberyard to Safeway to home via the long way up Fish Creek road

That's it!!!
Thanks for reading if you are still with this marathon of posts.
Final Thoughts???  I want to thank MG from Chasing Mailboxes D.C. for being the sponsor of this challenge. I had a great time keeping my control card. It was not too hard for me because these are the things I do on my bike anyway during my riding season. The challenge pushed me a bit to get the bike season rolling a little early which is good. It also pushed me to use my bike when I might not have. The trip up to the bank and computer store I would usually just walk and the trips to Safeway I would have normally ridden home and then drive back to the store so the challenge was a help in that. I did not get the night time ride in but I was out early enough in the morning to need lights. I had a goal to get all three of my bikes involved and I did although I only rode Ogre on the first day because I don't have that bike set up with a bike computer. I know I can get my miles off my smart phone, but, that would mean being smarter than the phone....which I am not. Next year I might have to spice up my errands a bit, for instance; today is Pi day and what an interesting errand to ride and get pie on Pi day to celebrate! (I'll still do that!!) And St Patrick's day on Monday brings all sorts of bikes and beer ideas!! But these are my 12, such as it is......
It was all fun and I hope that by posting this maybe the bike people I am friends with will try it next year. I will be back for sure!!

Tailwinds everybody!!
Jim

Bike paralysis by analysis

This is a complete and total stealing of a blog idea from anniebikes blog. Miss Annie writes about the ideal bicycle out of her stable and I am going to write the same post here instead of blog-jacking her nice site with the sort of nonsense that bounces off my keyboard.

The premise? Can you reduce your bike stable to just one ideal, for you, ride???

Spoiler alert....If you don't want to keep reading....I don't think you can get to one perfect ride.

Now, many of you ride along on the one bike you own and you are perfectly happy with that. I understand. You have a purpose for your riding and your bike fulfills that purpose and all is right with the world. I maybe could use some of that singular pleasure and fulfillment in life. But noooo, I find a need to muddy the waters with choices!

Here we go!
I have three bikes and I actively ride all three. I have one more bike, the 1979 Univega that I rebuilt and gave to one of my boys to ride. He enjoyed it and rode it as a commuter for almost two years. He recently got himself a 29er and the Univega came back home in need of some tune-up help. Not sure what I will do with this bike so it is not included here.

In no particular order:

2008 SURLY LONG HAUL TRUCKER
My touring bike

Pack it on, load it up, does not seem to matter to the bike. The rider (Me!) just has to pedal it.
Close to the ideal bike. It is very comfortable, easy to ride. Steel frame with 38's for tires gives a road absorbing plush ride. Can double as a commuter because I can put one bag on the back rack and bring my workout stuff and lunch for the work day. It has tire size that can handle rolling along pavement or you can get more aggressive with the tred and it will handle dirt, forest service roads. I have this set up with the albatross bars for a very upright touring posture, seat and bars are on the same plane. I really did get this bike to be a bicycle tourist and it has served me well for that purpose. Every summer I have been out somewhere as my vacation time has allowed, tours around Colorado and down into New Mexico along with some simple overnighters. Laying the groundwork for a future in some years ahead that includes retirement and some longer multi-week tours. My idea of an ideal bike has to perform this function This bike is the equivalent to driving a Suburban in the car world.
The downsides???? OK, it is heavy and a bit slow a foot, especially if you are used to a super light road bike. I would not want to attempt any single track on this bike although I am sure it could do it as long as it is not too extreme. Which leads me to bike #2

2013 SURLY OGRE

Not sure what to call this bike yet!

I only have had this bike since August this past summer. It is still growing on me. Why, this bike? I have some friends that do not ride out on the road and I was thinking I sure would like to join them at times. But I am honest with myself and I will never enjoy some real single track crashing around. Smashing around tree roots, rocks, bouncing off trees and bailing out into bushes or the grassy knoll does not really appeal to me. What does appeal to me are rides on forest service or country dirt roads. Gravel grinding is the popular term that is used today. I wanted a ride that can step it up and go beyond the roads that I am comfortable taking LHT on. I did not want to subject LHT to some of the pounding and beat down that can be present on FS roads. Ogre handles this with ease, sorry to say, way easier than this riders off road bike skills. I am the first to admit I have more bike here than I deserve and/or my skills/talents can justify. That said....it sure is nice to have the bike under you when ever the terrain gets tough.
XXL steel frame, Headpost extension with a short stem, (this accommodates my crazy t-rex arms that don't match my overall height!) and Surly open bars to give me an upright touring position. My ultimate goal with this bike is participate in some off pavement touring. The before mentioned FS road tours, rails to trails, and ultimately, a big dream of mine, The Great Divide Route. 29er size rims with 29x2.1 stock tires that came with Surly's complete bike kit. My thinking is, the ideal tour will combine pavement, country gravel, a little single track, just an enjoyment of touring with no road condition limitations. This could be the bike for that!
The versatility of this bike is only contained by your imagination. This bike has so many braze-on attachments for racks, fenders,anything cages.

 If you look at the Ogre build thread on Mountain Bike Forums there is every version you can think of. Guys build them as single speed town bikes, 1x9 bombers, 3x climbers like mine, Roloff hubs for ultimate touring. Guys have them set up with frame bags for super light bikepackers. With trailers for grocery grabbers or set up as kid haulers up and down urban bikepaths.
This is pretty close to the Ultimate do-all ride.
The only drawbacks?????  Like the LHT, it is a heavy ride, a bit clunky on pavement, although more nimble footed than you would expect. It is actually more nimble than LHT as an around town commuter. As I ride this bike more and get to know its ride.....this may move into #1 on my list as the one bike to have if I had to have only one.
That said.....I am agreeing with my bike friend TJ.Comstock. As I ride this bike on pavement I look down at those wide tires and wish for my more pavement friendly 38's on LHT or the 32's on my roadie which leads us to bike #3

2010 SCHWINN LE TOUR ELITE

 Yes, this is the Jim version of a road bike. Why this bike?? Well, After having the LHT I found a desire to get involved in riding some of the charity rides that were one day events of different lengths. I belonged to a little online group of bike riders and there was an appeal to ride with them in events like the Santa Fe Century ride. This called for some type of road ride that was a bit lighter and more nimble than LHT. I found this bike from an old friend who had bought it in the XL frame but he found it too big, so he gave me a wonderful price on a bike that had about 100 miles on it. It is an aluminum frame. I modified it to get it to a more comfortable upright ride that I liked. Headset extension and shorted stem like my other bikes. Triple chainring, I ride mostly in the mountains so the gearing is important. All my bikes have triples. Brooks Imperial saddle. I run a handlebar bag on this bike.....I know, added weight but the tourer in me likes having my stuff with me for every possibility that may occur. I will never be a super fast rider that a super light, wonder road machine would pay dividends. If this bike had not fallen into my lap, I would probably be riding a steel version of a road bike. I just like the ride that a steel frame gives me. I just upgraded the tires on this bike from the 25's that came with it, to 32's. I am glad that there is room for the 32's to fit in the frame. This really smoothed out the ride for me....it is pretty nice! Slower??? Probably, but like I said, I'll never be fast, so I might as well be comfortable. The whole idea of this bike was have a road machine that I can sit on for a century....eight hours on the saddle for me folks at my pace....and I have achieved it!
This is my go to bike when I want to put in some miles on a ride. Whether I am getting ready to ride a road ride event or I am getting ready for a tour, this is the bike I put miles in on. It is fun to ride and very comfortable even when the miles and hours pile up. Yet, this would be the last choice if I had to just pick one to have forever. I need that versatility of packing my stuff on the bike and heading out on a tour. I love the daily commute and the just riding and putzing around town on bikes but I always have a tour in the back of my mind that I am pointing towards.

Those are my three rides. Are they the best or most expensive bikes out there??? Not even close. But they are set up to fit me and I am very happy with how they all work for my riding and purpose.

To add on to this post, I got the real first ride of 2014 in this last Saturday. My truck had to go to the dealership in Loveland for some warranty work where they had to keep it. It was a pretty nice day for us so I decided to pack the bike and just ride back up the mountain.

 Lets Go! Get this year going!

Back up there where the wind monsters reside. Obligatory Longs Peak picture!

A nice cruise back through neighborhood streets in Loveland. I rolled through old town Lovland and stopped for second breakfast. I was down to just one layer and no beanie under the helmet. Luxury riding!!

Made my way back to the narrows of Big Thompson canyon and....oh yeah...it might still be winter.

Traffic was surprisingly a bit heavy. I guess people still want to be looky-loos to see flood damage. Kiewit is still working cleaning up piles of tree and flood debris and they had one lane closed for a section. The super nice flag girls let me ride through by myself!
Most of the canyon you had to pay attention and not wander off the shoulder too far!!

All in all a good first ride. A bit ambitious but that is how one gets ready for Santa Fe!!

Is there one ultimate ride??? Yes, for many of you there is. For me?? I am so lucky to have found the bikes that I own and thus I don't have to make that choice. My choice is; what bike do I ride today!!

Safe rides and tailwinds everybody!!
Thanks for reading!@
Jim

Winter rambling

I am questioning whether age is starting to affect my mental processes. It is winter and while I accept that I live in the mountains of Colorado and it is supposed to be winter......Does it seem it gets worse every year????
I used to snicker at the "old" people who complained about the winter, the wind and the cold and the snow. I always thought; "Go south you snow-bird wimps. leave the nice winter and skiing to us younger crew!" Do I desire to now be one of those snow-birds??? I don't think so. I like winter less than I did, probably because I used to make a living on my skis and just enjoyed it so much. I only ski now about four or five days a winter now. I do still enjoy it so much, maybe I need to invest a few more days in that activity so I appreciate winter again.
Activities that I do enjoy involve my bikes and this winter it has been downright nasty to maintain any connection to outdoor bike riding. During a normal winter there are days that come along where you can throw on a couple of layers and get a winter fix in on a bike. So far, this has been one of those stretches that it seems when it warms up......the wind gets really cooking.....or when it stops blowing then it snows. We have had snow on the ground since the week before Thanksgiving and I am not really complaining, just observing. In the past, snow on the ground was welcome, looked forward to it. So, I maintain with daily "rides" on the spin bike at the local health facility. I am one of those personalities that can go in and grind out an hour on that machine and be just fine. Put some tunes on and let my mind wander through the corners where the weird stuff lays tucked away in the cranium.

What else??? Basketball. I really enjoy my connection to kids through the basketball program. It is the winter activity that really motivates me to study and work on planning a program so the boys have a chance to enjoy the game in practice and the games. It is my belief that the work we do as a coaching staff improves these kids high school experience and along the way we teach them something about being better prepared to be men in their future lives. This is another area where age  has popped into my head. I am not too old to be a Coach but, our staff is the oldest in our league. Our head Coach is a young guy and I know that Rene (He is two years older than I) and I bring a maturity of age and experience (we both had boys go through the program) to help him deal with parents and teenage boys. I also see the day out there when youth must be served and it will be time to step aside to allow a younger generation lead these young men into adulthood. I find it is healthy to recognize this and just know when in some future years it will be time to step aside. For now, I get so much from having a connection to High School kids through a game I played and have loved for so long.

Winter Blahs.......That is what is prompting this post. Let me tell you, all my friends out there, facebook and elsewhere.....your posts on your rides or working on bikes from Ryan and Hugh, really keep me going. I really enjoy them. Richard, you and I have talked about writing another post on the "same old ride". But believe me, they are a "warm breeze" for this winter bound cyclist! Ryan, I still need to find a project to put in the stand, always a good distraction waiting for riding weather to return.

Whew!!! I already feel better.....blah,blah,blah! Off we go for another session on that spin bike.
Everybody have a great week!!
Jim

Good Feelings!

One of the big days of the year for me is our inventory day. When we get it done and especially when we get a number that everybody (that means corporate) is happy with, there is an incredible exhale and a general good feeling that settles in with me.
Got up this morning and being pretty nice out.....well, you can not waste days like this. So, in spite of some nagging home projects that we currently have going, I am saving those for crappy weather days and heading out!!
After a nice breakfast with Debbie I head up into the Park. I was a bit surprised by the traffic on a November Sunday but settled into a nice rhythm heading up the south side to Deer Ridge Junction.

Good view of Chapin, Chicita, and Ypsilon....and my transportation device.

There was a pretty good headwind keeping me working. I actually worked up a pretty good sweat grinding on up. I was thinking I would just go over Deer Ridge and loop back around to town but I was feeling strong so I kept going on up to Hidden Valley.
I got up where the snow is probably here to stay on the north slopes until summer.

The little creek that comes out of Hidden Valley was bubbling along and was a soothing sound next to the road as I pedaled along.

Rolled into the HV parking area and found a bench to sit and drink a Gatorade and just reflect on stuff. I am a pretty blessed person. I live in a beautiful place, have the health to get out into it, and the smarts to know that this is pretty special.
I throw on another layer and my beanie under my helmet for the rock and roll back down to town. It is nice out but it is November!!
In case it might snow this year maybe you can borrow this to clear your driveway!

A quick stop for a selfie! Check out that blue sky!!!

Short post here this week as I have some Broncos to go watch!

Everybody have a Great Week!!!
Jim

Just Because

I know, prolific bloggage from me! Two weeks in a row!
I was on the Saturday shift at the Lumberyard and when that was over it was a nice day so I just decided, "what the hell" might as well head out on my bike.

I did not have any specific destination goal, just roll on out of the driveway and see where Ogre might take me.
I headed out to the south end of Fish Creek road with the Homer Rouse Trail in mind.
Had to ride down through the ditch to get around this.

The temp was not bad out, about 50 deg or so. The wind had picked up blowing right in my face, as per usual right off Longs. But, it is the time of year that if it is warm you really have to get out and ride just because, you know, it is not going to last!
This has been such a strange fall. It is usually a time that allows some down time away from the busy work schedule of the summer. This year was a bit different as we had to wind it up for the months of September and October. I remarked to my co-workers how they talked about the Red Sox winning the World Series and how they get to have down time now and enjoy their success. We don't get that luxury to enjoy our success, nope just start over again November 1st with our sales and budget goals for the month. Ah well, it's the business we have chosen and it is all good!!

This is for you Richard, these boys finishing up their breakfast hay. Fish Creek Ranch under the specter of Twin Sisters mountain on a fall day.

I could not jump onto the lower part of the Homer Rouse trail because of the path of Fish Creek so I continued on up the FS road because I know it intersects again up higher. Eventually you can wind all the way up to Baldpate Inn and Lily Lake on the top of Wind River Pass which is the gap you see above on the far right.
I was grinding a bit as the road gets a little steep and the wind in my face and my cycle fitness has taken a bit of a hit this fall.

This has been part of the blah, WTF feelings this fall. I have some disappointment in myself for letting my conditioning to take a back seat to the other things going on. I like to keep my weight right around the clydesdale mark of 200 lbs, but I had creeped up to 207 with the lack of riding and some lack of discipline on eating habits and resorting to some comfort food eating. I know that I am not to be a "slave" to the scale and usually I am not, but once you have been chubby and then found the discipline in your past life to take it off, it "weighs" on you when you slack off. My ride last week up to Bear Lake was a real good wake up call to stop the "woe is me" crap and get going again. It was a good week to get my daily routine going again and 3 lbs fell off pretty quick.
Any hooo, back to the ride at hand. I got up to where the road turns up the mountain and connects with the trail and I found a washout.

It was about a 15 foot drop off and through the creek and then 15 feet up the other side, so, this part of the ride was over for me! Time to look for other stuff!
Here we go! Always gotta take a selfie!! I am pretty happy about a ride in November!

Worked my way back to Fish Creek Road and Hiway 7. I decided to run around the south end, Mary's Lake Road and into town. Debbie was meeting some friends at something called The Fall Back beer festival in Riverside Plaza. Pretty cool event with 7 or 8 Front range micro-brews set up in tents and a real good bluegrass band playing.

It was a $30 ticket to sample all the beers so I did not get in on that since I had to pedal back home, but it was a nice way to take a break, hang out with Debbie and listen to some fine music on a fine day!!

After about an hour I headed back home. Took the long way around up Fish Creek from the north end. There is one place where you have to detour up through the woods just a little, but you can get to the north side of Carriage Hills and then wind myself home through there.

This last picture just struck me as ironic. The firefighters will have a bit of a tough hookup if needed! This is looking back on the 17th hole of the golf course.

Wait! A post from me that does not have the obligatory picture of LongsPeak!!
I'll have to double you guys up next post!
Everybody have a great week and thanks for riding along!!
Jim