Moab Utah

Ahhhh... Utah, such great mountain biking but the liquor laws are enough to make me not want to live there. All the beer is 3.2%, it doesn't even taste like beer. We stocked up on as much as we could in Colorado before crossing the state line. I mis-calculated on what we had and what we needed and we ended up with quite a bit left over. Luckily I had the sense to leave it at room temp and we lucked out on being able to ship it home with a friend who is also hauling our bikes for us.

Just before we left on our trip I heard about a new New Belgium flavor called Shift. I looked in every store we passed while in CO., (where New Belgium is made) but found nothing. Two days after getting back home I found it in my local grocery store, go figure.

While we were there we had a nice SUV rental but unfortunately it came with ski racks and no bike racks. Having to haul the bikes around in the back with the seats folded down was a pain and it really made me appreciate a good hitch rack.

The day we drove over to Utah the wind was fierce. We stopped half-way through the scenic route to snap a few photos and as soon as I stepped out of the car a wind gust about took me down blowing my hat down the road in the process. It took me a long time to catch it and at one point I though it was a lost cause.

Our first stop was Dead Horse Point, we took in some of the awesome views before we hit the trail.

The wind died down a little but it was still a little cold. After that we had beautiful warm sunny days for the remainder of our stay.

Dead Horse Point was a fun trail that had alot to offer, it didn't have a bad views either.

The Slickrock trail, one of the more popular trails you hear about in Moab was a must on our list of trails to ride. It was nothing like any trail I've ever ridden, probably not my favorite trail I rode but definitely fun and I'd do it again in a heart beat. Being that the trail was smooth you would think it would be an easy trail to ride but that's not the case. The granite was like sandpaper which offered alot of grip but was also hell on your skin if you fell.

All you had to follow are painted lines on the granite and some tire wear on the rock. I think I left quite a bit of rubber on the trail. If you rode that trail on a weekly basis I could see having to buy new tires every few months.

Being that the Jeep Safari was the same week, we saw alot of really cool 4x4's. The Slickrock trail crossed the jeep trail 3 different times and at every intersection we stopped to watch the Jeeps climb and descend the rock.

The was no time to rest on Slickrock if you let your guard down you were going down. Towards the end of the ride I got tired and a little sloppy. I wasn't on my "A" game when I hit a climb, some of which were so steep I was practically laying my chest across my handlebars. Anyway I lost momentum, stalled out and before I knew it I was rolling backwards. I tried to unclip but the sand in my pedals was making that difficult. I got one foot out and tried to hop it out but eventually gravity won over and down I went. I lost a little skin on my knee and my seat lost a little hide as well. 

Hot, tired and weary we made it back to the truck and the cooler full of cold beer with big smiles on our faces.

The following morning we went back to the slickrock trail climbed up on one of the hills and watched the sunrise for Easter. It was nice to reflect on the beauty of our surroundings and all that we have to be thankful for.

Our plan was to take the next day off the bike and at hike in Arches National Park.

We saw some cool pictographs left behind by the Indians, it's amazing that the paint is still there after all these years.

The Delicate Arch was one of the coolest things we saw, I would have liked to spent more time hiking around the park and seeing all of the arches not to mention some of the back country but we felt the urge to get a ride in even though we planned to stay off the bike.

We hit the Amasa Back trail, which was mostly double track and jeep roads but still very fun and the top offered some more amazing views.

Our final day there we rented a shuttle to run us up to the La Sal Mountains which were still snow covered. We rode probably 3/4's of the "Whole Enchilada" trail system, 18+ miles of mostly downhill, all technical riding.  

Not only did it offer up some amazing views, the singletrack carved back and forth to the edge of the canyon sometimes just a couple feet from the edge.

The Porcupine Rim section of it was probably one of my favorite trails we rode while in Utah.

A large section in the middle of the ride dumped us out onto double track, fast, technical and gnar.

The last few miles was all singletrack and a perfect ending to a perfect day. I couldn't have asked for a better ride.

I plan to start pouring over the GoPro footage the next few days and hopefully make a few videos. My plan is to make the videos in the sequence in which I rode them. I've sampled some of the footage here and there and was blown away with the quality of the new Hero2.

Colorado, a few of my favorite photos

I've been sorting, uploading, sorting, deleting and sorting photos for the past 2 days and I doubt I'll ever get them all right. We took well over 400 photos during our trip to Colorado/Utah, most of them were taken with my iPhone which worked remarkabley well in my opinion. Two days before we left on our trip we realized the LCD screen on the back of our camera bit the dust. The camera still worked but there was no way of viewing what you had shot and all the pics had to be viewed though the crappy little view finder that was full of dust. I got alot of funny looks when I held the camera up to my face to line up the shot. It's crazy the little things in life we take for granted with all the new technology these days.

 The entire time we were out west I was sharing photos and stories on Facebox via my phone, alot were instantly from the trail. Some may say I can't believe you were on Facebox while out riding with all that baeutiful scenery surrounding you. Yeah well, I couldn't help it, I like to share. I actually got a couple of nasty but joking notes from friends who said I was driving them crazy with my photos while they were at work. I apologize for that my friends, please don't delete me form your Facebox friends list. But heads up, I've got 5-6 hors worth of GoPro helmet cam footage to sort through, edit and make into videos. I expect I'll get 5 to 6 videos minimum from the footage. I'm sure it will take at least a month or two to get through it all. More on that later.

I'll not bore you with every photo that I took but below I've put together a few shots, all from Colorado that I shot and or borrwed from our friends who were with us. I'll share more later and keep the pics from Moab seperate. Like I said before most of the photos were taken with my iPhone, we did snap a few with our half broken camera but not many until we reached Utah.

This pic was atop Joe's Ridge just before we decended down the ridge. We were waiting on Andy to fix a flat and we leaned our bikes on this dead tree which made for a cool photo I thought.

This was our first day in Colorado and it was super windy and cold. Luckily this was the only cold day we were there. The first day we rode the 18 Road trails: Joe's Ridge, Prime Cut, & Kessel's Run. I really really wanted to hit Zippty Do Dah but time constraints and scary windy conditions on a high exposed ridge said otherwise.

A view of us decending down Joe's Ridge. I swear I thought I was going to be blown off the trail, it was scary.

This pic was taken on Mary's Loop, a portion of the Kokopelli Trail system. There we rode Mary's Loop, Steve's Loop, Horsethief Branch & Rustler's Loop. This trail system was probably my favorite in Colorado. Some great views and scenery. I got so much footage just in this area in one day I'll probaly have to split it up over 2 or 3 videos

We had a killer house just outside of Grand Junction which was a cool A-frame. The view was perfect from every direction.

The sunrise from our deck.

Sunset from our back porch.

One of my least favorite trails we rode was the Ribbon, part of the Lunch Loop system. Don't get me wrong I loved it but it had alot of rough and steep hike a bike that left blisters on our feet. I did get some of the coolest views from this ride. The 2nd part of this ride was on the Gunny Loop which ran right through the backyard of our house. The Gunny loop reminded me alot of one of my backyard trails, Darwin's Revenge but without all the trees and a couple miles longer. We shuttled to the top of the Ribbon and rode our bikes all the way home. It was a near perfect day.

A cool view from the 18 Road trailhead, after every ride we re-grouped in the trailhead parking lot for post ride beers which seemed to be perfectly acceptable and the norm for all the locals. Every morning we left the house with enough food for the entire day, our bikes, a change of clothes and a cooler full of beer. Nothing completes a long hot ride than an ice cold beer right there in the parking lot of the trailhead while talked about the trails we had just ridden.

We ate at alot of cool places in Colorado, 3 of which were breweries but the Hot Tomato in Fruita was my favorite CO. stop. I'd heard about it prior to going so it was on my list of must stops. They served some of the best pizza and their beer, was all New Belgium brew. I finally got to taste the Cocoa Mole Ale, a spicy choc beer, it was like nothing I've ever tasted.

 The Hot Tomato is a small little joint run by mountain bikers, one of the owners Anne Keller is also a photgrapher for Bike magazine. Check out her stuff, I'm sure you've already seen it if you read Bike, Several times during the rides we did I recognized sections of trails I've seen on the pages of Bike. 

Post ride beers at the 18 Road trails.

A group shot just before we hit the Ribbon.

A gnarly hike a bike section down the entrace to Horsethief Bench, I'd seen several You Tube videos of people riding this section but the trail looked much tamer then. I think alot of the original dirt has eroded leaving nothing but rocks. I saw no one clean this section while we were there. This photo doesn't even begin to do it justice but I did get some good helmet cam footage while we hiked it.

Before we left for Colorado/Utah I'd heard alot of great things about the riding but two of the locals who've visited stated after 2 or 3 days they were ready to get home and that they missed the trees not sounding like they really enjoyed the terrain. To that I say you're crazy, I loved every minute of it and I hated to come back. We rode 8 out of 9 days and I could have easily stayed another week. There are so many trails out there we just barely scratched the sureface. I don't think there was a single trail I disliked and I see a return trip in 2013 for sure.

I'm not really sure what I'll post up next but I'm sure my blog will be pretty active with all the stories, pics and videos.

breaking more stuff

First there was a plan, said plan included loading up the bikes, driving over to Dupont and riding the sh*t out of the awesome trails Dupont has to offer. The night before there was some debate about the weather forecast. Depending on which site you chose to look at you could get anywhere from a 30% chance of T-storms to a 60% chance. I always choose weather.com and for the most part it's pretty accurate. The plans remained in tact and we went to bed with early morning ride plans.

When my alarm went off the next morning I checked the forecast again, things had changed a bit, from 30 to 50% but not until later than afternoon. In my mind we were still good but not everyone was in the same mind frame as me. The more it was discussed the more people started to doubt. Within an hour all plans were cancelled and a new plan was hatched to ride local at Bays Mountain.

The weather stayed dry all day, meh

I had been going back and forth prior to the Dupont cancellation on which bike to take, the JET or the frog. I knew the JET would be more fun but I'm super stoked on the frog right now. With a change of plans to Bays Mountain I knew the frog was a fine choice. My last ride on the frog I noticed my rear tire had gone a wee bit soft but not enough to fret over during the ride and I forgot about it until I went to load up the bikes and it only had about 3 psi in it. I had this same issue with the front about a month ago and once I re-Stans'd it everything was fine. I didn't have time for that so I pumped it up and hoped for the best. A half mile into the ride I knew it wasn't going to last. I threw a tube in, shot it with some CO2 and stomped on the pedals to play catch-up.

There really wasn't much of a ride plan so we pretty much made it up as we went along and somehow we ended up riding down all the fun downhills, turning around and riding back up them death march style in my case. Surprisingly I cleaned a majority only walking a few sections. The frog was wearing me out, it was the most climbing I'd done on it yet.

 Remember the broken white WTB Silverado from my last post? I replaced it with a brand spanking new black one. Well, it didn't make it through the first ride unscathed. I've never had an issue with WTB saddles then bam, I break 2 in less than a week, back to back rides.

Really I didn't break this one, I just managed to rip it off the seat rails. The problem is, it's such a tight fit I've yet to get it back on.

How it went down, I was riding up a hill and I was pretty beat so my line was getting sloppy. I clipped a tree with my handlebar and down I went. The only thing I can figure is that when I landed my leg must have clipped the nose of the saddle pulling it off. After multiple attempts to pop it back in place I ended up zip-tieing the nose on and rode standing up the rest of the way out yet again.

When I crashed I scraped up both of my legs pretty good, I had no idea until I saw the blood running down my shin.

Sneaky Pete returns! This little guy isn't porcelain, I think he's made of plaster or something so if a herd of rowdy dogs run through and knock him over he should survive.

breaking stuff

Well I think I've just about gotten the frog broken in properly, I'm not sure if I've got it dialed in where it fits like a glove just yet, that may take some more time in the saddle. Yesterday I planned to squeeze in 2 separate rides, the first one was plagued by a mechanical, the second one Mother Nature said I'd ridden enough.

Halfway through my first ride I came to the realization that I'd broke one of the rails on my saddle. It's been a while since I've done this, especially since I made the decision to ride WTB saddle only. They make great stuff and they're very comfy on my behind but I guess every once in a while things break. Thankfully I was riding the frog and it being a singlespeed, saddles are not something that get used much. The words sit and spin up the hill do not exist in a singlespeeders vocabulary.

After taking this picture it has dawned on me that I don't wash the underside of my saddles properly. I mean look how disgusting it is under there! Oh the horror!

Once home I promptly paid a visit to the receipt drawer to see if I still had the receipt for the broken saddle and I did! Thankfully I purchased it the same day I purchased the AIR9 and to my surprise it was still under warranty.

The black Silverado saddle that I had previously thought about attaching to the frog was bolted in place and the white one was removed. It just so happened that I needed to make a trip over to my LBS to pick up his and her JET9's from getting the brake lines trimmed so with broken saddle in hand I ran out the door.

I got to the shop a bit early and was able to see the entire process of cutting and bleeding the new Shimano XT's, a very simple process indeed, once I procure the proper tools I feel confident I can perform myself. Actually there was no real need to bleed the brakes as the trimming process went flawlessly.

This week is NASCAR week in my town, the circus has officially rolled in. Normally I pay a visit to my local Wal-Mart to ogle at the cars, normally they consist of mostly cars of the less famous drivers but yesterday it was different. There were several big name rides in attendance including Dale Jr's car. Of course I snapped a few pics but oddly Dale Jr. was no where to be found.



throwing caution to the wind

With two rides in on the temporarily named singlespeed, "the frog" I'm definitely feeling the effects. I don't know if it's the usual lack of fitness left over from the winter season or just the fact that I've not been on a singlespeed in over a year but I'm definitely enjoying myself. I hit Warriors full bore yesterday, throwing caution to the wind and rode a full lap minus Rock City. Why did I skip Rock City? I'm not sure, part of me wasn't fully in tune with the singlespeed skills I think. There is more than just being able to stand up and mash a big gear over and over. Cleaning obstacles smoothly is different especially when you're used to doing so in a higher gear. With a singlespeed you have to mash your way through and sometimes do a bit of the half pedal dance. My norm is to stop at the intersections but yesterday I found myself stopping a little more, usually after a climb or somewhere halfway through the trail and then again at the end.

For the most part I cleaned everything except the sketchy rock section that dumps you into more rocks just at the base of the Boneyard climb. This one can be difficult on any bike and yesterday I just couldn't pull it off. I know I had the power to make the climb but I didn't pull off the funky transition to even start the climb so I walked it. The JET9 has definitely made me soft with all the squish. I've had so much fun on the FS that the last couple of months saw the AIR9 staying home even when I headed towards Bays Mtn. I think the last time I even rode it at Warriors was a couple of months ago when the JET was having some kind of issue. My usual, just plow through the rock garden mentality was caught off guard yesterday when I quickly realized I was riding a hardtail and needed to pick cleaner lines. I was bouncing all over the trail like drunkard.

Even with the tough start I'm feeling good and excited about the new ride. Something about a singlespeed and a steel frame puts an evil smile on my face. I hope I can refrain myself from calling other riders with gears, a bunch of sissies, especially when I have a bunch of gears and squishiness sitting at the house begging to be unleashed.

Earlier in the year I said I was going to put more focus in overall fitness and running but I'm afraid today will be another bike day. In fact if everything goes as planned I might squeeze in 2 rides.

Maybe I'll find the time to run next week.

One thing I did notice was my brakes, I moved the trusty Avid Juicy 7's to the frog and put the new Shimano XT's on the JET. Now my Juicy's are 6 years old so I'm not sure if this is a fair comparison but the Shimanos definitely have more stopping power and of course are quieter. The only downside I can find on the Shimanos is the length of hydraulic hoses, I had a rat's nest of extra hose winding around my handlebars, just to look at it made me cringe. I'm not sure why the extra length, I've never had to cut the lines down before and I lack the necessary bleed kit so I had to let the professionals at my LBS handle this one.

One other thing, the pad adjustment screw, while easy to adjust, I can't seem to tell any difference in the adjustment, the Avid's you could tell a small difference but the Shimanos, nada.

I must not be holding my mouth right when I turn the knob.

the frog

Ahh the feel of steel, it's like none other, well I guess I shouldn't say that since I've never owned a titanium or carbon bike. Hopefully one of these days I've have something in carbon but it's not really that high on my list of must have bikes. I've always liked riding a steel frame and I knew I would regret selling the Karate Monkey and I did. I do like the geometry of the SIR9 much better, I don't feel as stretched out and they're both large frames.

When I first started piecing this bike together in my head I wasn't too keen on the white fork and seat but not really wanting to blow the already blown budget even more I decided to keep the fork until my bank account said otherwise. I have a brand new WTB Silverado saddle that came with Mel's JET in black that I planned to put on it but once the white Reba was in place I realized the white saddle pulled it all together. I left the white stem off figuring that would be over kill. For now it resides on the JET until I come up with another plan.

 

Most of the parts on this build come from the AIR9, the wheelset dates back to the Karate Monkey. I did splurge and bought a new Niner Seatpost and seatcollar, they were just too cool. I would love to have one of those new RDO carbon bars in the matching green but it ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

 

Yesterday I had an important run to make to the LBS and I also wanted to get in a shake down ride before the sun went down so I killed 2 birds and hit a couple laps on the Hampton Watershed trails. The singlespeed felt great, I opted for a 20 tooth cog in the Surly flavor to get my feet wet with, it's been a year since I last ran without the derailleur and I didn't want to feel beat down after the first ride.

This is my first ride with an EBB, this one, Niner's brand is a bit different than the others. With no set screws in the bottom of the BB shell there is less chance for the elements to work their way into the BB area and less chance of noise, that and no set screws pushing on the bottom of the EBB to dig in and squeak.

Originally I wanted a Moondust grey frame but I know of 2 peeps with that color scheme already, one of whom, B-Rad, I ride and race with regularly. The kermit green is bold, beautiful and funky all at the same time. The only downside is the lack of color coordinating accents available. There is not much that goes with the kermit green other than black and a wee bit of white.

I'm thinking this bike is deserving of a cool name, my list currently is : "Kermit", "SIR Kermit" and "the frog". I'm leaning heavily on "the frog". It doesn't hurt that there are little green frogs on my wheels, it's almost as if it was supposed to be.

Speaking of the Watershed trails, they were in awesome shape yesterday, the surrounding scenery is awesome and there are plenty of sweet rock gardens to keep you on your toes. I need to get out there more often, I just wish it were a closer drive and a longer trail.



back to the SS

This weekend I sent the AIR9 to be with another, I found it a good home, one that hopefully will see plenty of good singletrack time. We shared a good couple of years together and this frame made me the Ninerd that I am today. It was my first Niner frame, one that caused me to fall in love with the brand and want no other but it was also the gateway drug that has caused my bank account to suffer many losses. I will miss that frame.

It's replacement is in and currently residing at my LBS. The replacement is none other than the long awaited SIR9 in kermit green. I've always had a soft place in my heart for steel frames and singlespeeding and with this frame I can have my cake and smash it in someone else's face if I want. I can also run gears if I think it's necessary but for now it will be a singlespeed. I just hope my body can handle the abuse. I'm not sure when I'll get by the shop to pick it up, I'm stll waiting on a couple of key parts before I can begin the build. A new matchy matchy Niner carbon seatpost and a Niner seat collar were supposed to be ordered but got lost somewhere in the lines of communications so I'll have to wait a little longer.

No I didn't go for the RDO post it's waaay out of my price range. I was hesitant on going carbon all together, I've ran Thompson seatposts exclusively for years but I figure I'm due for a change.

Pretty aren't they.

Saturday I was cooking some pancakes in the kitchen when I noticed movement out my back door. Three large dogs were standing on our back deck having their own little private party. Melinda and I immediately went outside to say hello to our guests. Moonshine and Jackson just stayed inside and barked. They were very friendly and seemed to be enjoying themselves but didn't look familiar. Only two had collars but no identification so we had no one to contact.

In the commotion Sneaky Pete lost his head and had to be buried, poor guy we're gonna miss him. Good thing for us Gnomes are on the shelves everywhere so Sneaky Pete will return re-incarnated!

Have you ever heard of March Madness? Probably, I'm not talking basketball. March trail madness, it's all the local rage. I'm putting up a growler of beer to the person who puts in the most local trailwork hours for the month of March. Not to mention anyone who puts in 15 local trailwork hours gets a free trail gnome t-shirt. With all these great incentives why wouldn't you want to build some trail? Check here for more details and workdates.