More Moab

We took advantage of the great weather and jaunted on over to Moab with last minute for some warmer than Rico weather riding. I ended up with  50 miles and 4000 feet of climbing. Not big miles but fun miles and if you know Moab the terrain it isn't so easy.

The weekender mobile man cave. New decals from the bike shop.

New trail in the Brand area.

Overlooking the Sovereign area.

Lucy having fun.

The Ti-licious single speed enjoying some riding time.

Phil's Time Again

I had a mid week day off and took advantage to go ride at Phil's again before the storm rolled in that dumped a few inches of snow in Rico. I rocked the secondary bike; The Vassago single speed full rigid riding the big loop in just under two hours. I didn't see one person on the trail making it very enjoyable.

On the Ledges loop.

Stinking Springs Loop.



On Stinking Springs trail on one of several overlooks facing the sleeping Ute.



Phil's World Pre-Halloween Ride 2011

Halloween is almost here and it was time to ride Phil's World in costume. A bunch of the Durango folks and locals from the area have a tradition of riding in costume and having a parking lot party. SKA brew was on tap. After a good hard effort of 20 miles with Shawn, Krista and Todd Park we enjoyed some beers and snacks. Also this year a time trial on a 60 pound bmx rig was in store only of course after drinking a mandatory 3 beers.  

Yep, I rode all of Phil's in that mask. It was warm!

Yep, there is a helmet under there somewhere.

Laura the witch! She even had a broom attached to the seat.

Shawn Gregory in his Hawaiian get up on his full rigid clunker. Sweet skirt!

Mukluk 2

The next bike to add to the collection; Salsa Mukluk 2. A FAT bike for the snow and whatever else gets in my way. I should have it anyday now.

Fall in Rico

This time of year in Rico can be amazing when the weather is right; and right it is. (Until the snow starts to fly consistently). We have the bluest skies around. I'm sure of it.

It's been a good week of 'recovery riding" after the Zuni 100 ride. I rode home from work once this week already and a mountain bike ride on our local stuff in Rico as well as a 6 mile run on Barlow Creek Road. Tonight (Friday) will be another ride home on the road bike to start the weekend off in correct fashion. Maybe some Phil's World or Boggy riding this weekend. The high country is out of commission with the last snow fall sticking up high from 3 weeks ago. The temps have been in 20's for the overnight lows and I even saw ice midday in the shade in Rico. Stay low. I might even finish up my wood splitting.

Rico riding.

Rico. Just right outside the house.



Barlow Lake in the background. Brought the lights in case I got carried away running too far.



Mr. Beaver in Barlow Lake doing his thing.

Zuni 100 2011

Gallup, New Mexico

The Zuni 100 was as awesome as ever if not more so with an added 10 miles of track to make it a true 100 mile race. Perfect weather. It was loose, buffed in spots with lots of undulating terrain. 100 miles, 9,200 feet of climbing. It took me 10 hours and 45 minutes to finish this monster. I was 3rd overall and 2nd single speeder according to the results. Danny Powers missed a turn and was regulated for it in the end sending me up one spot. Bummer for him. I started falling apart a bit in the last 15 miles as I ran out of water and didn't feel like eating. It ranks in my top 3of any 100 mile mountain bike race. This was my 4th finish of the Z100 and to date I have the most finishes of anybody.

Laura rode as well riding the 50 mile course with some friends from Rico; Mike and Sue. A good time by all with a sweet after party to boot put on by the Gallup Trails 2010 people.

Other locals riding were Paul Adams from Kokopelli Bike and Board Racing Team and fellow Rico resident Dan Holmes. Unfortunately they both had a DNF but still finished with some great miles.

Full results here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en_US&key=0AsSR1PCM3HHPdElfS0VMQVlrVl96ZDRPdnFMMmZ4WXc&hl=en_US&gid=4

Finished!!! Time for a beer.

Moab Season

That time of year again to visit one of our favorite riding destinations; MOAB. We had a some neighbors in Rico join us as well as Paul Adams to ride our normal routes such as Sovereign, Green Monster and the Klondike Bluffs area. The weather was perfect and we found some new single track trails out in the Baby Steps area. Moab is doing a great job adding new trails. Back for more soon.

Our sweet camping stash in Moab.

Nacho and Lucy having some fun. They love Moab.

The view from the camping area.

Beer drinking spot.

Another view from the camping spot.

Sovereign Trail area.

New single track in the Klondike/Baby Steps area; Mega Steps and EKG. So much fun.

Crested Butte 100 Pics

A nice walk up to Deer Creek Trail with Pete and Brian. Geez, I look short next to Pete! Thanks for the pics Brian.

Happy to be finished. Here comes Pete.

Tim getting finished.

Mountain Flyer Crested Butte 100 Write Up

An excellent write up of the Crested Butte 100 by Chris Miller.

http://www.mountainflyermagazine.com/view.php/8th-annual-crested-butte-classic-2.html

Awesome pics Chris!!

Crested Butte Classic 100

The first weekend in October was a great one with me racing the Crested Butte 100. I have NEVER ridden in Crested Butte and was excited to go over and do much of the trails in one day on a hundy ride. Sure we didn't cover all the trails but I definitely received a good dose of what is there.

The ride started a bit after 6.30 am in the dark cool fall morning air. The temperature was hovering around 35-40 degrees. It looked to be about 75 people to start.

We rode three loops starting and ending in Crested Butte at the Brick Oven restaurant. Loop one was about 25 miles taking a bit over 2 hours riding up Kebler Pass to Dyke trail an back via Kebler and Wagon Trails. The third loop took over 4 hours and over 30 miles long sending us out on the Lower Loop up the Slate Du’Huez forest service road onto Washington Gulch/403 Trail (super fun downhill on the 403), up Schofield Pass and onto the 401 Trail and back to town via Gothic Road. Damn that was a long loop. The third loop was 20 something miles with the ride ending on Deer Creek but first going out Brush Creek to Strand Hill single track, Canal Trail back to Brush creek and up to the start of Deer Creek. There was some hiking for sure on the single speed. On the final loop I was riding with Brian Powers from Cheyenne and a local rider named Pete. All of us on singles. I did manage to fall towards the end of Deer Creek puncturing my left elbow pretty good. Bummer. It's still pretty swollen.

I ended up finishing in 10 hours 50 minutes and 14 seconds. 95 miles and 12,044 feet of climbing per my Garmin 705. I was set up with a 32x21 gearing but maybe a 20 tooth in the rear would have worked a bit better for all of the road segments. Looks like I placed 3rd overall single speeder behind Danny Powers and Matt.

It's always a good time to see all the bad ass endurance guys at these events. Nice job to everyone.I'll be back to ride more of Crested Butte.

Here is link to a sweet video Chris Miller shot of the riders throughout the course:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?permalink.php&id=100001561868504&story_fbid=220161444712313&mid=4f48bceG42a1919bG1e78a95G52&bcode=cQAWyjVh&n_m=jeffnlaura2001%40hotmail.com