Some Cushion For Your Pushin

Cross round #1 this morning. Hurt bad, heavy legs, heavy bike. But I learned some stuff. Alls well that ends well.

Friday Night Two'fer

Two rides last night. T.G.I.fucking.F. all I have to say right now.

Drastic Fantastic

Rode in the sunshine and the leaves today. fun fun fun. It realy feels like summer in town but up en las montañas, the seasons sure are changing. Almost got a frost last night. Ski movies are premiering at the moment, oh well, can still get the dvds. The single felt slow today, the legs, empty. oh well...

roads and rain

pedal pedal pedal pedal. cars cars, whoosh, watch out. up. up up up up. Pedal. ahhh relax, look at the leaves. stop drik some coke, eat. watch a cowboy movie. uh oh rain. pedalpedalpedal run away here it comes. wet. up some more. stop put jacket on. down down bumpy bumpy wet spluttering splattering wet mess. down down down brrrr. crossay is sick but road sucks.

hut to hut by bike

last weekend (i know its a bit overdue) headed into the mountains for a hut trip. One catch, it was by bike. The Surly is by far the fastest and most awesomest bike i own. It rolls over just about anything and accelerates like a ducati. Most of the trip was on dirt roads, and it was unbelievably fast. And its so sick to be able to pedal a reasonable tempo on flats! any ways back to the trip

Started just outside of eagle, CO in yeoman park, went mushroom hunting while the shuttle was shuttling, and learned a bit about fungi from Ruthi Mathis.

Rode 10ish miles and 3000 some feet to the peter estin hut. Cool hut, cooler views, and a gnarly outhouse.



Next day, somewhere around 40 miles to the next hut with a low pressure trough moving in about mid-day. the barometer dropped by 200 feet that morning. However, regardless of the impending weather, we rolled out on a killer ride. Got to spend some quality alone time with the bike, some new tunes, and really stellar scenery.






These pictures don't quite do it justice, but the clouds, the light, the leaves, everything was feeling like fall.

Anywho, it started precipitating about lunch time, with 15 miles to go, it could have been worse, but it was still wet and cold. I dont have pictures from the rest of this day because i had to secure the camera in a ziplock baggie. Just use your imagination. Thunder was just about a consistent 3-5 seconds, and we had 2000 feet to gain in the last six miles. the only problem; five of those miles only gained 700 feet.

we made it to the hut cold but intact. I'm not sure a wood stove and hot cocoa has ever been so nice. Chicken curry and rice for dinner, yum.

Woke up the next morning to find that winter had decided to visit the cabin.
two inch an hour flake-age is a nice compliment to sausage and blueberry pancakes especially in a hut in the mountains. Clouds eventually lifted and blue sky came out of nowhere. made for some specatcular views.



A great weekend indeed. Lots of riding this week, tired legs. But loveland is making snow, and fall adventures are yet to be had.

Nuevas cosas

The Surly is now complete. And sick. and radical. and shiny. and new. and sweet... well, you get the picture. Fits like a glove, rides like an Italian Stallion. Smooth hard and fast. I have a feeling that I'll like the 1x9 setup. simple but still forgiving.

Here's the pics:


the beast unleashed


Wheres my sunglasses?!


¡Que asombroso!


Custom-made chain gaurd (i.e. big red chain ring + stone grinder)


Also, on a plus note, A belated birthday present just arrived. Stealthy new surly 1x1 fork. Its not purple, but its suspension adjusted, so i dont have to ride with my hands below my ass. Scha-wing!

Murphy's Law

Just when everything is completely wonderful, just when not a thing could bring you down, you realize... shit. Nowhere in boulder sells star nuts at 9:00pm. Ah well, what can you do? I knew something had to be forgotten. Something had to go wrong. Murphy's Law. But, the surly is sick, just need to cut the steer tube, set the star nut, adjust cables, and wrap the bar tape.

Pictures Tomorrow!

Of cross and crashes

The new frame is now in Commerce city and should be loaded onto a delivery truck bound for Boulder, Colorado sometime tomorrow. Every thing is shined up and ready to get loaded on to the surly as soon as I get home from school tomorrow.

White and red is going to be the theme for this bike. I cant wait.

Went to the research park today with the team to practice cross form. On the first hot lap, I was battling it out with coach ann for the singletrack line, got bucked and ended up in the pokies. except for a sore elbow and a couple scratches, turned out ok. Good lesson learned about not giving up on a line.


mike demonstrates proper barrier jumping technique (with a bit of color alteration)

One more day! Its amazing how a bike in the mail can alter your attitude. The surly is in transit to commerce city, CO and should be there some time later today. Sick.

Rode up sunshine and down to salina with mike yesterday. Chilly and fast, but really fun. Definitely a hint of fall in the air. Leaves are fully changing right now and winter will be here soon!

Sunday Evening Blues

Cool and cloudy outside. This morning felt like the first morning of the changing seasons. That time is truly upon us at the moment. At least above 6,000 feet. Excellent weekend past, good friends, great riding.

Friday afternoon went up the canyon with Mike to try and find some fall. Leaves are changing, mostly on the willows and such, but none the less... Up, up, up, and up some more. Found a cool new single track that might be sweet to ride down, but a bit of a kick in the shorts going up.

Anyways, topped out on the old railroad grade, and made our way down into lefthand. A crisp spin down, and up to the top of the big hill. My legs felt empty, quaking almost under the task of hauling my carcass up the climb. At the top made some time to work on my bow and arrow skillz... radical.

Saturday was mostly movie watching, bow shooting, and couch sitting on. Felt quite bad actually. Its this school stuff, starts out as a tickle in the back of the throat, and before you know it, it feels like theres' a balloon in your face, and you came of on the wrong end of a mack-truck collision.

Sunday morning, woke up to thick clouds all about the place. Misty and chilly. Felt like mid-october in NH, not early september in colorado.

In an effort to pop the ballon, went out to follow through on a volunteer thing at the Buffalo Bicycle Classic. Fuck. Got the sweep job. 3 hours for a fourteen mile loop sums it up well, slogging along, following those who cant pedal. Hey, at least they're out there right? I'm perfectly fine when they're out there. Out there on Marshall road and the east goose creek bike path.

At least there was some sweet tag team tandem loafer action.

Its Coming!

Hopefully It'll be here sometime next week

A new addition to the family?

Plans for a new baby are in the works. A Surly crosscheck may be on its way here. just in time for the season. Ive been wanting one of these bikes for a while, and I just found a frame at a suitable price. Considering the 9-speed build with a 39 x 11-25 but I'm not so fond of spending cash dolla on a set of those drop bar brake levers when all you need is one. Anyways, most of the parts from the soma will be parted from their frame to provide life for the new surly. A reincarnation of sorts.

School is back in session, with classes returning to a brutal barrage of b.s.p.n. However I got a sick new bolsa and a new camera to help let the mind wander.