Fun in Ute Valley Park!

Last weekend, Russ and I put some flat pedals on our full-suspension bikes and made a little video of one of our favorite downhill trails in Ute Valley Park. Preparation for this summer's adventures in Winter Park's Trestle Bike Park! Enjoy!

Pilgrimage to AZ

My Dad likes to go to Arizona once a year to escape the long winters up in Florissant, Colorado. He likes to rent a condo and just enjoy the desert air and warmth. This year, Cindy and I were the first to visit him and his faithful dog Sadie. I packed our mountain bikes and our little dog Klaus and off we went to Tucson.

Tight fit in the ol' Volvo

It just so happened that my friend Mike was staying down there and had some rides planned for us. On day one, we hit the Arizona Trail out to Three Bridges and back.

Here's one of the bridges with plenty of leafy green Tucson trees.

On day two, I met Mike at Catalina State Park so we could ride the 50 year trail. It was typical desert terrain which then changed as we climbed. Soon we were on a boulder-strewn hillside which reminded me of Hartman's Rocks in Gunnison, Colorado

Lots of cactus...everywhere. See how Gunnison-like the rocks are?

Day three was a trip to the Desert Museum of Tucson. Cindy and I spent 4 hours there and enjoyed every minute of it. We got there just in time to see the Raptor Free Flight show which had a variety of Desert Birds of Prey flying over our heads and getting treats as rewards.

Here is a Grey Hawk and a Great Horned Owl.

I took a few shots of the variety of wildlife at the museum including Cindy's favorite, the Javolina (or furry desert pigs as she calls them)

Bobcat watching all the curious humans

Roadrunner, the coyote's after you!

Fantasy Island

"The plane(s), the plane(s)"! Fantasy Island is very near the airplane graveyard.

Smiles everyone, smiles! We must welcome our guests to Fantasy Island. Cindy and I headed out to East Tucson to ride these fun local (and directional) trails.

Not a good idea to push your cornering abilities...

There was some unusual stuff out there in the Desert.

My favorite vacations are when I can just ride my mountain bike, eat, rest and repeat. Throw in a little culture and you've got it! On one of our final days, I grabbed a beer and the salmon and headed to the community grill in the Condo complex. I took this picture whilst grilling. Not a bad view...even if the mountains are a bit smaller than here in Colorado.

Thanks, Dad!

A different kind of project

Some time ago, I happened upon an incredible photographic archive from around the Pikes Peak region. It brought back memories of my college days in the mid 80's wherein I set about to re-create photos taken by William Henry Jackson. A professional photographer took my college photo project a bit further in the late 90's. His name is John Fielder. I always wondered if he knew my Professor....Ha!

Anyhow, with this new reference in mind I set out to re-create a whole bunch of photos from the old days and make it into a video slideshow. Sounds easy, right? It took many a Sunday afternoon and many photos to get this one right. Not to mention near death experiences, tired legs, freezing fingers, possible tresspassing and inquisitive passers-by. In other words, it was awesome.

Here is the video:

Update from an old post

I have been perusing the Pikes Peak library's collection of historical photos in the Pikes Peak area and found two more of the Cheyenne Mountain Lodge. I had done a post about an adventure ride that Russ and I had done to the top of Cheyenne Mountain (http://roundisit.blogspot.com/2010/10/cheyenne-mountain-lodge.html) and thought that I would add these photos to the mix. Enjoy!

This is an interior shot of the Lodge. Plenty of taxidermy going on here.

Really cool old car in front of the lodge.



The seasons may change but the riding is always good.

My friend Matt made an end of the season video: http://vimeo.com/32186630

And that got me motivated to get all of my photos and videos gathered up and flatter him by imitating him!

This year started out with some nice riding conditions for winter. That enabled preparation for the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde mountain bike race which was May 8th. We did some good urban assaults in January/February/March and even got up in the higher regions in April. We got to visit Arizona in April and I got my dream vacation of just riding my bike and eating and hanging out with my wife and Dad.

We did many a lunch ride and a few night rides. I spectated a few races and even jumped in on one to do some filming. Then I got a wild hair and decided to do Ring the Peak on two different bikes (cyclocross and mountain).

Colorado Springs landed the Prologue for the Pro Cycling Challenge and we were lucky enough to have the world's top professional road cyclists riding all over town. I even got to see Danny doing what he does best (make massive power on a road bike) much to the delight of the fans.

Matt invited us up to his Mountain Command to do some cross country and chairlift-assisted downhill riding. That got me all motivated to build up a bigger travel (6.7" of suspension travel) bike for next year and for some fun on local trails, too.

I spent many hours riding with my friend Russ, who is 10 years older than me but keeps three National Championship jerseys in his closet to remind everyone that age is only a number. He is always positive and never complains and is the best riding buddy a guy could have!

I am also fortunate to be friends with some of the best female mountain bike riders on the planet. We have had some great rides in Palmer Park (and Airplane Loop!) and I feel so lucky to be friends with Alison and Kelli. They, like Russ, are always positive and never complain. I am still working on that....

Editing videos can be tedious but I really enjoy it. Here is my end of season video with a groovy and mellow soundtrack to go with it. Hope you enjoy watching it as much as I....oh never mind.

New Project...

After riding the chairlift, I have been tainted and must now go on a quest to build a bike with more suspension travel. On the right side of my blog page is a picture of what has been accumulated so far...
Keep an eye on that one. If you know me, you know I am a little bit impatient when it comes to building up a new bike. I am trying to take it slow but.....any guesses to how long it will be before this one is complete? Ha!

Catching up...

....ummmm, yeahh....I've been neglecting the blogosphere lately. Like I said before, I completely fall apart around July and for some reason this year, it's been tough to re-group. Not that I wasn't riding but the rides were smaller and not as noteworthy for blogging.

Let's see...it all came unraveled right after our nephew's wedding in Illinois. We had a great time there although it was during a heat wave which made the outdoor ceremony last about 15 minutes! The reception had a photo booth for some serious pictures:

Unfortunately, we flew home in the "germ tube" and I picked up a summer cold. Bummer.

After getting over it, I got to ride with some old friends:

Then I got to ride with my oldest friend (since 1972)!:

Of course, I have the privelege of being old friends with a World Champion Mountain Bike racer and we did some fun after work rides. Here we are checking out an advanced line to practice going up:

She is a very serious character as evidenced by this video clip:

I also did some solo riding. I decided to film the whole Williams Canyon descent and had a pretty clean run. Here are some stills from that ride:

It's probably a good idea to skip this ride if you don't like heights and exposure to cliff drop-offs.

I bought Cindy a digital camera and took this video of the dogs with it. Check out Klaus' eyes!

And of course, it is becoming a tradition to visit another old friend (TwoWheeledWorld) at his luxurious mountain command post in Winter Park, Colorado. This year was a mix of cross-country rides...

Seen here watching Stunt Double lubing his chain.

...and this year, we let the chair-lift do the climbing for a super fun day of downhill riding at Trestle Mountain Bike Park. Please turn up the volume...now!