I'm not dead yet…….

Bring out your dead.


"I'm not dead yet……"

Not that you could tell by my "less than timely" writing here.   Seems as if time has been flying by without me gracing the pages of the Internet with my own brand of wisdom & entertainment.   May well be for the better,  but I seem to have a bit more juice flowing these days (Creative Juices,  that is…).


First,  I DID go get a fat bike,  and got a taste of winter Fat Bike Riding on the front range.  THAT is a great way to stay motivated over the winter.   It's fun,  in that it is quite obvious that bikes were NOT meant to be ridden on snow.  Amazing it works at all.

Man,  the last time I wrote something here,  it appears to have still been winter.  Well past that now,  I've even had a full spring week in Utah,  my annual version of a spring training camp.  So it must have been a while.  

Spring Training Camp - All work - No Play

Did a week in Utah.  Moab for a few days,  then my second visit to Hurricane.  Stayed up on Gooseberry Mesa,  and that place just gets better and better with each visit.  The old trails still rock,  and there is a bunch of new stuff out there to ride.  If you like desert riding,  you owe yourself a trip out there.  World Class.

End of the Goose

Cactus Slalom

After a few days there,  we rocked across the entire southern Utah/Northern Arizona line.  With that we were able to check us out a little FLDS action.  A drive by on the greater Hildale,  Ut./ Colorado City, Az. metroplex is an experience not to be missed.  Well, at least the next time you need to drive from Hurricane, Utah to Fredonia, Arizona that is.   You owe yourself a few minutes to read up on the FLDS thing down there.  It's FAR worse,  and FAR weirder than you can imagine.   I of course managed to pick THAT day to wear my Polygamy Porter T-Shirt.  "I Tried Polygamy".  Perfect.

Then Get out of town…..

Spent a day on the way back in Cortez,  sampling the flowy,  jumpy goodness that is the Phil's World trail network.  Yep,  another place you HAVE to go to.  Here's a taste.


Rib Cage from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

SO,  hope to have a bit more flowing out of the brain here soon.  Stay tuned.

Photo(s) Credit:  John Deibert

These are not the droids you are looking for.....

I know it is cross season.  But it really is still mountain bike season,  maybe even the BEST part of that gig.  Having a bit of trouble switching modes just now.   It's just been SO.  DAMN.  GOOD. this year. The damp trails,  the long days.  Just plain off the hook.

Now,  if you DO ride mountain bikes,  I have to tell you that you need to add one thing to your list of things to do.  Even if it's just once,  or once a year.  Go over to the dark side.

Yep,  go rent a big ass,  slack-o-rama,  eight inches of squish mad max Downhill rig,  a Storm trooper suit,  full-face helmet

 

and a lift ticket.   Don't worry,  16,000 feet of downhilling will still leave you beat to a pulp.  It is FAR from "easy" and more fun than it should be.

Even an old geezer like me can learn to get (a little) air,  and come to love it.  Go do it.  You might like it.

As usual,  there is plenty of room for learning.  Always something to "try later" (Or never...)  This old dude is not really up for EVERYTHING on offer in this knuckle-dragger-huck-it world.  Sometimes a man has to know his limitations,  and just say no.

Get out there & Ride,  whatever it is.  We will return you to the normally scheduled Cyclocross obsession soon.          

Maybe.

Spring has Sprung, er... dumped?

You'd think it was mid-February,  given the cold & snow lately.  While springtime dumps are not really that uncommon,  the last few storms have been on such a neatly staggered schedule,  It's just kinda getting annoying.    I'm ready to REALLY start riding,  and the Colorado spring is doing it's best to keep me from doing it.

After finishing up my Cancer treatments a little over a week ago,  I was really hoping to get a chance to get a couple of weeks of riding in before heading off on our "Spring Training Camp" at a top secret Utah location.  Looking more like it will be mostly on that trip where I'll find out how much my lack of any decent riding ability was fitness driven,  versus cancer drug driven.  I anticipate having my head handed to me on a platter twice a day by my still-in-shape riding companions.  Maybe the gallons of beer will help vault me back into top form quickly.  Or maybe I'll just suffer like a dog,  and do my best to have fun riding Mountain bikes in the desert.

In the last week or so,  the U.S. Cyclocross scene got news of more bad luck.  The USGP series looks to have died after a 10 year run.  I for one am pretty bummed by this news.   I think that a solid,  obvious premiere national series was a boon for focusing the elite of U.S. cross.   Sadly,  I don't see an immediate replacement on the horizon.   USA cycling is putting races on a "National Cyclocross Calendar",  but that is not really the same as what the USGP series brought to the table.  With luck,  there will be some kind of high-end series to focus on soon.  Wondering how much the "stress" on both  the promoters and the U.S. cross sponsorship pool from hosting Worlds contribute to the USGP demise?  Think it was probably on its last legs anyway,  but a shame that there is not an immediate,  obvious series to leverage the buzz from having Worlds here.

It appears that for us Colorado folks,  the Ft. Collins race will survive in some form,  looking like the "other" UCI race here in Colorado (besides Boulder Cup...).  Hopefully we will still get a chance to see the big dog pros in action twice a year here.

Not a lot else from my snow-addled brain right now,  starting to have reoccurring visions of tight,  twisty desert single track.  Getting hard to focus.

Fake

Well, after the 2 weeks of fake summer, we got our "you're not out of the woods yet, buster" reminder here in the last few days. Maybe now the trails will return to some kind of tacky dirt, rather than the "August Dust" that was already in place. Sunday was WAY too hot in the land of scorching sun

on the Bobcat Ridge/Ginny Trail

and I did leave the skinnies to my younger, faster healing riding companions.

Summer, yep, it seemed like it was here. Then, Tuesday it was snowing. But hey, it is Colorado, and wet, snotty weather is not just for cross season. The rides are good this spring, nice to be able to get some good mountain bike rides in this early. Now if I can just figure out why it HURTS so damn much after being off the bike for so long. Could it be "old age"? Nah, got to be something else.

On a less whiny note, saw yet ANOTHER way to shoot video of a cross race, thanks to The Natural Way Racing Team guys. What a cool toy. I think I want one.

Speaking of wanting one..... After the new UCI rules, one of these would be nice to have, eh?