Pics from Pueblo

Since I didn't have a camera last week, I decided to bring one today and take some pics. We rode similar trails only the opposite direction. My friend Mike was our guide on the trails up and down the bluffs (i.e. "edge", "roller coaster", "free-ride", "skull canyon" and a few others. Thanks Mike!

Mike on "Free-Ride"

Don finishing up "Outer Limits" on his new Giant 29'er

Matt and Mike taking a break on "Voodoo"

Another great ride in the books and here comes another winter storm...

Could be a while until we are down here again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am returning to a past Thanksgiving Day tradition: bike ride then pig out. Last year I rode the Falcon Trail and it was cold but completely snow-free. This year it is warm but not snow-free...

Time constraints kept me from completing the entire Falcon Trail loop so I had some fun on the lower sections before heading home via the Santa Fe Trail.

Now it's time to eat!

Finally tried the Incline!

Today I decided to meet my friends Dave and Derek and hike the Mount Manitou Incline. I'm sure you've heard all of the stories about how steep it is so I won't be redundant.

Here is the view from the very bottom.

Derek and Dave getting started.

Dave on a snow-packed portion.

Those steps get pretty tall on the steep parts.

Derek on the final push to the top. Just below

him, the steps were slick and you could see

many hikers slipping. Derek said he

slipped back about 5 steps there!

Yeah, Dave!

It turned out to be a great workout especially for a cyclist. Going down is much harder for me than going up. The people are all pretty friendly, too. One guy blasted the last few steps and stopped his watch at 23 minutes. The funny thing is that is really fast for one mile and 2300' of elevation gain!

Helmet-cam demise in Pueblo

Today we decided to drive down to Lake Pueblo State Park and do a long (for November) ride. I prepared my Helmet Hero helmet-cam and mounted it to my seat-post facing backwards. The plan was to have my friends follow me so I could film their faces in complete agony after accelerating out of the 500 corners down there. Not ten minutes into the ride I jibbed off of a small bump and heard a loud crack and the sound of something dragging on my rear tire. My poor little camera got sucked into the rear wheel and the ensuing carnage destroyed the on/off button. Dammitall! I didn't even bring my camera because I had planned to take some stills with the helmet-cam.

Oh, the agony.

We continued the ride and slogged through the mud for a while longer. Then it warmed up some more and the trails became drier. Mike's theory is that the older trails don't get as muddy since they are more packed down than the newer ones.

One saving grace is that Don had his Garmin and sent me the file. Here it is:

Lake Pueblo State Park Mountain Bike ride

Even after the tragedy of the Helmet Hero and the slimy mud early on, we had a great time and that's what counts. Oh and I am still trying to forget the dog poop that I ran over and scattered all over myself (I was thinking of you, Greg). Haha. Crap.

Beer finale

Well, the weather outside is frightful, and the beer is fermented so I guess it's time to bottle it up.

Frightful.

First, you have to cook up some more sugar

This is for carbonation.

While that maltodextrin in boiling I am sterilizing

the bottles in an iodine solution.

Super cool bottle-washing attachment for my faucet.

The bottle tree for draining them.

Christmas has come early!

I am transferring the beer to mix it

with the sugars I cooked earlier.

Now I am transferring the beer to various

containers for the final carbonation.

Capping those bastards!

Here is 5 gallons of beer in various containers.

In 1 to 3 weeks they will be carbonated and

ready to consume.

I took a sample sip of the un-carbonated beer and it is awesome! I can't wait until it is completely ready.

Cheers!

Night ride heebee jeebies

Last night Ron and I headed out for our "classic loop" night-ride. It's about a 2 hour ride in the North Cheyenne Canon area. There are many forms of wildlife in the area including fox, bear and mountain lion. Near the end of the ride we were at a turn-around point and I heard some bird-like chirping nearby. Maybe it was a bird or maybe it was...
http://www.extremescience.com/images/audio/cougarpurring.wav

Time to head down the trail. About half way down I heard a voice. I thought it was Ron catching me until I came around a corner and saw a dude standing just off of the trail telling me to have a "nice evening". Holy moly! Talk about an adreneline rush. I'm pretty sure my heart rate shot up about to 1000 beats for a second.
When you are descending at night, your concentration is 100 percent on the trail in front of you and you really don't expect to see people hiking alone and talking to you. Weirdness.

Sad news.

I recently found out that my friend, Mike Pieczarka passed away after a massive coronary. The world will never be the same without Mike.

He was an awesome bike mechanic and loved his Datsun.