happanewyeeeerrr!!

the rioja is flowing and the pizza party is raging but i pause from the festivities to propose a toast to all of you beautiful people! to the promise and hope of 2010! have a Safe and Happy New Year!

on the brink

Whenever I start to feel like I am being annoyingly jovial, I watch this and quickly settle down.

Worldometers - real time world statistics

"for the rest of us!"

Happy F!*#ING Holidays!!! With all seriousness, hopefully everyone has experienced a few relaxing days proceeding the frenzied bustle that is the helliday season. No matter what holiday you celebrate, the important thing is sharing some time with family and or friends.
Turned out a nice long solo snow ride yesterday.

Guess what I saw in the middle of the ride?! I had to try a zoom shot even though I only had my point and shoot. I love birds and I especially enjoy birds of prey. When I was a child, my father used to tell me that he had been an eagle in his past life. I often hoped that maybe I would be one too someday.

It was a privilege to see this bird enjoying it's reward on this cold afternoon.

Despite the encroaching darkness at the end of my ride, I knew that the sun never set on the singlespeed empire. Thoughts of nutty thumb print cookies and warm soup soon danced in my head as I headed home.

The 1x1 is setup in it's usual fixed gear mode with a studded tire up front and nevegal rear. I blew the bead out of my other snow tire last season trying to mount it on an old Rhino Lite rim but the Nev will do just fine until I can get ahold of another Innova. It takes a solid effort to push the 17t through the snow but it is oh so fun!

Winter riding can also be a learning experience. For example, I learned that when it snows, the hordes of people who walk their dogs on the trails do not have to pick up their dog's excrement. I unaware of this change in local law due to snow but I suppose if you are lucky, the old adage that you learn something new everyday, will hold true.

this thought is dated but I still like this frame so figured I would share. I hope to add a CX bike to the collection some day, after my next mtb frame that is...
Me thinks this should be mine! Seriously nice SSCX frameset from Raleigh. I like the Miller Highlife theme better than last years paint job.


enjoy and more soon

slackin in the new year

Apologies for such long breaks and lack of content as of late. The 1.5 people who actually check in on this blog were most likely able to find higher quality entertainment lingering mere mouse clicks away but I am making it a point to pay more attention to the ol' blog. It's not that I have been inactive per se but rather find my own activities rather routine yet still enjoyable in the moment.

This was the last half pint of dry hopped IPA at the Avery tap room, quite possibly one of the best beers ever. $1 off pints when you bring your helmet in on Saturdays.

Aside from the road rides, mountain rides, trail runs, and normal tomfoolery with friends on my fixed gear, which is more about stopping in breweries rather than giving the Lance look back to weekend warriors, we actually hit the mtns last weekend for a few snow turns and heaps of hiking.




I can't wait for some real pow turns, the scratchy wind blown gets old quick.

Thanksgiving was great, thanks for asking and our locally raised and slaughtered turkey blessed our house with incredible quality right down the very last spoonful of epic soup. Our normal T-day ride or run was replaced with what hopefully will be a new tradition, the turkey loops. Basically loops on the road bike, 45min to 1hr in length with stops home between each one allowing for ample basting of our precious bird.

The day after Thanksgiving was a great day in the 60's on mtn bikes most of the day. We ran into friends along the way and the weather was one of the last warm ones of 09.

We came up on this young lady who had open her leg up on a nasty sharp rock up on the trail. For some reason, I missed the best picture with her making a tough girl face and flexing for the camera while blood ran down her leg. She was riding with the Sports Garage crew and actually pedaled out, so props to her. The cut was deep.

So here we are, early Dec and its 2 º outside (feels like -7 according to the feels like meter). We are up for another nice layer of snow tonight and tomorrow on top of the current blanket of white from the weekend. Time for the studded snow tires on the 1x1!

Here is a link from an old friend back east. What Linus never told you about Christmas.

don't let the evil corporate xmas monster bring you down this season. try not to shop too much and forget about wasteful xmas trees! see you soon

happy day of thanks weekend

post ride

The End of the Line :: Home Page

The End of the Line :: Home Page

We saw this movie last night at a screening here in town. This is a must see for anyone who lives on this planet and a definite must for anyone who has children. Our sad reality.

Back at it

edit:this is where we woke up on morning one, not too shabby

I have been delaying a post since we returned. New Zealand was incredible and I wish we had more time there. The hikes were epic, the food was incredible, the wine was outstanding, and the country is beyond breathtaking. I am glad that we took this trip and I can say that NZ is the best country that I have visited to date. I would move there in a heartbeat if they would take us.

All that said, I would say that anyone planning to attend SSWC10 on the north island, plan on a long trip or don't even bother going. I can say that the riding there, albeit celebratory and fun, will not be the highlight of your trip. We didn't even go to the north island (the lesser of the two according to everyone on the south island of course) and we still could not see as much as we wanted. It is good to have up to date info from people who have traveled there recently so be sure to put forth the due dil on this trip. It would be very easy to waste a lot of time if you didn't have a plan and backup plans for all your plans as we quickly learned. Weather and from what I hear, crowds during peak season, make it easy to get off track. and all that said, it was f'en amazing, did I say that yet?

I am working on a slide show for friends and family and will post it here. Hopefully everyone has been enjoying the autumn weather. More soon ws

see you in a few weeks

I have been rather busy lately and still trying to finishing up getting ready for departure. I will try to post a little something from the road. Enjoy!

thirsty thursday

art to choke hearts

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.

new collaborative from blu (the artist who created Muto), and david ellis. another cool piece. it loops twice so you only have to watch half.

Living large on very little

That will be my new mantra if I can not find my was back into the workforce soon but the riding has been good and I was able to enjoy a solo ride up high yesterday. Interestingly enough, the highlight was not the ride but the elk I encountered.

The leaves have dropped up high and the aspens seemed to be huddled together discussing their preparation for winter, or so it seemed.

I have seen elk on this ride before but never during the rut so it was a bit more eventful. After pausing at a lookout, I started back up through some dense trees and heard two bulls clashing horns up ahead. I startled a group of cows who trotted ahead and the clashing stopped but as I moved to the edge of a meadow, the bulls started bugling from the trees on either side of me. I slowly moved up and was almost right between them. The louder bull not surprisingly had the cows on his side. It was amazing to be in the middle of it in that setting. It beat sitting in a car in Estes Park on the side of the road.

This weather really has been special the past 5 days. I have been lucky enough to get in some great riding to usher in the change of seasons. It looks as though we will be in for some chilly weather tomorrow though so break out the base layers and longsleeves and revel in the season.

In dated cycling news, Cadel actually won! Maybe now he can stop playing the victim but somehow I doubt it. Most know I am not Cadel's biggest fan and some have even questioned my lack of support for the guy over the years so I will say it here, great job to him for winning the rainbow, now go home ;)

If you have not seen EdE's post on the oil debate, you should check it out. Good thought provoking stuff.

It looks as though it is last call for the garden. Heading down for the last tomatoes of the year. It sure is nice to have lbs of OG heirlooms to eat at will but all good things usually come to a pause.

Hopefully everyone can get out and take the trail less traveled one last time before things are closed for the season, enjoy!

Keep an eye out

These are the flashy wheels that were stolen from the party at Ska brewing, weak move.

SSWC09 Worldliness

"This event is a little more inviting and more personal, not so serious in the sense of where some mountain biking is these days," said Jon Bailey, another member of the Passion Productions crew. "I think it's based off hope. It's kind of like a hope for humanity. This group just wants to go out and ride bikes and push the limits and celebrate. When you see something with all these people coming together and enjoying it, it's hopeful." Quote from the Denver Post article.

As everyone who donned one of the 400 mohawks especially for SSWC is trying to figure out what to do with their hair now, I reflect on the fun with a quick run through of the events. To the best of my knowledge, this it how it went down.

And so it went on that beautiful September weekend. The 2009 worlds are in the books but not before the indelible grooves that are the memories were burned in our minds as well as a couple indelible tattoos that were burned onto the winners.

We headed out of Boulder on Thursday around noon after many delays including a nail in one of the car tires. Construction back ups dented our time but we finally make it and unpack our things. We then walked down from the rented little guest house we had a few blocks from main st and mingle with the Derailed crowd at the saloon. It was a good way to ground with the madness and I was feeling rather nostalgic being back in Durango. I have always missed it after my short time living there many yrs ago. In some ways, it really has not changed all that much and it felt good.

After registration on Friday, we wandered around a bit, chatted with some friends and then headed out to Dry Creek for a little warm up loop to loosen the legs. We rode a nice 10 mile loop and even hit the CO trail for a while. This was a perfect warmup for the next day. A headless and blurry Jessica makes the pyramid look easy. I posted pics already of Friday's party and hosting competition so jump to Saturday morning.

10:30am-we put on our garb and headed to the start line. We jumped in with Joe and the SSO crew at the start. Here is what it looked like in front of us.

Here is what it looked like behind us. Now, I was not trying to get off the front but I wanted to be in the front 1/3rd of the crowd. All seemed according to plan as we chatted with The Outlaw and the race began. 50 ft into it, we get hung on the inside corner as two people go down and about 600 people go around us to the right. It was hilarious and everyone was hooting with anticipation of the madness that would soon ensue.

As we head out of town and turn left to head up the hill, there were riders as far as the eye could see. I started to move up through some of the crowd on the road but it was more like moving through an endless school of fish and fish we were.

Hiking was soon impossible to avoid and we bush whack up in attempts to find parts of trail to actually spin on. Part way in, I realize my newly mounted rear tire is really low but I did not see any Stans leaking out so figured it was ok. It continued to lose air though and by the end, it was almost flat with about 10lbs of pressure but it held up enough to finish. I would later find the Stans stem had been leaking.

Much happened between photos but it is impossible to put it into words. Think fun technical trail with people crashing in front of you and people behind you yelling at everyone to ride through and not stop with some sections of spectators. Some of which, hand you alcohol.

This was part of that last big hike a bike. Right after this spot, there were guys cooking bacon trail side. They were also offering doughnuts and tequila shots. This hike lasts 5-10 minutes but much happens, read it fast to get the idea... I took the teq shot as the smell of fresh bacon wafted about. I followed it with a long draw off someone's PBR. Half eaten pieces of chocolate covered doughnuts dot the next 10 ft of trail representing the poor decision making of earlier riders. I round the next corner to see the Early Times crew with full fifths of the cheap whiskey trying to get someone to drink some. I turn one of the bottles up and bubbled a huge double shot that was rewarded by huge shouts of approval from the whiskey givers as well as a slap on the ass. It was followed immediately by a bite of an apple chaser that was handed to me before the pain of the whiskey was fully realized and promptly taken back after my bite. With stomach on fire, I round the next corner to Tecate handouts and drew off a couple cans in a row to get the whiskey and tequila burn moving. All this happens while hiking up a very steep hill.

The last downhill was a wild ride and I almost washed out a few times in the tight loose switch backs as the alcohol blurred my dust covered eyes. I followed a rowdy crew out to the finish, one blasting music out of his camelbak. We cheered each other on to the end and crossed the finish line somewhere between top 20th and 1000th place (pretty sure we weren't top 20 but maybe last). I finished the ride 1/2 drunk on a rear tire that is 3/4 flat. The only thing I know about my placing is that I passed the 5th place woman at some point about 2/3 through the race according to spectators telling her she was 5th. Only chicked 4 times was not bad considering my start position and all the fast women out there. My legs were actually feeling great throughout so I had that going for me, which was nice. I was handed a beer as I crossed the finish line and that was that.

-Edit-After seeing a top 20 list today, it was the 6th place woman I passed (somehow without throwing up) but there is really know way of knowing about a personal placing nor do I care to know. Most of us won big when it came to fun factor and that is what matters at this event!


I thanked these guys after the race, two of the organizers that made this all possible, cheers!

Props to this cat who rode it fixed. He ripped the first section of DH. I was behind him, I cheered him on, it was sweet.

The spirit was contagious.

Checking for cracks

Jessica finished strong despite her scraped arm from a crash. The tennis outfit worked as did the striped tights I had on over my bibs, I can't believe they held up.

HB finishes in old school style

then coughs up a lung

We hung out until the beer dried up then I drank a few refills of much needed water and we headed to our place before the party at Ska brewing.

Joe, Julie, and the SSO crew taking it all in. It was great to catch up with them even though it was short lived.

The crowd drinks great beer at Ska Brewing and watches a team representing Italy play a team representing NZ. Nobody on either team was from the respective country but that just added to the ridiculousness of it all. I yelled my ass off for Italy but they lost.

NZ takes the prize and the daunting task of attempting to make 2010 even half as fun as 2009. The D9 crew did an incredible job and attention to detail was top notch.

It was great to see people we knew and meet some new ones. A few Boulder people made it down and it was great to hear that AZ transplant and Niner rider Tim A. who hooked up with Neil for a ride, turned in a top 10 finish 7th or 9th maybe, well done indeed! Neil kicked ass too on a borrowed SS and got out on the front pack at the start for a great initiation to the darkside that is SS, great work and strong ride to Neil! I see a 29er SS in someone's future.

I did hear that some jackass stole the wheelset they were supposed to raffle. White Stans rims and CK hubs, hopefully karma catches up fast with this lame wrongdoer. I was wondering who won them...

A huge thank you goes out to everyone who put forth the huge effort to put this thing on, it was colossal as are the memories! thanks

what just happened?

the finish line begins to take form

more to come

Update from the madness

People really need to give it up to the organizers of this event. You can tell that every minute of the past year was used to get things together. The organizers did not overlook the fine details to expedite the process, respect and huge thanks needs to everyone involved!

the party begins

360 dirt jump style under the lights. The roll in was sweet, off the hillside with two bridge drops or a hit to a table top before hitting the transition to the big ramp to ramp. Despite the drizzle off an on, the guys rode all night.

SSWC2010 host competition. This was the American Idol prelim comp last night.

Canada signing Kiss By Prince (actually pretty good)

New Zealand singing a Queen song. He sucked but everyone likes NZ

Italy (Isaac) singing the Misfits.


The judges! Greg Herbold was Simon.

A Misfits song should win automatically but also the fact that they ripped it and Italy would be a great venue, makes it the place to be for 2010. New Zealand would be cool but we are going there for 3 weeks next month so I am pulling for the Itals!

So, this is how it played out, Italy and New Zealand advanced, Hungary dropped out and Canada waits to try again next year. After two yrs in a row in North America, I guess people want it to move back across the pond. The two winners play each other in a real basketball game tomorrow. They must choose a team of 5 out of the racers and the winner gets to stress out for a year trying to put together an event as good as this one, should be cool.

Off to get ready, just hoping to survive this course.

It's on!!!

SSWC09, be there or be rectangular!


Mohawk Matt will be there

and so will I

and so will Matt's sweet Waltworks frame!

Gonna miss some good friends that may not make it for various reasons but excited to see those who will be there.

We will try to take heaps of photos for all to see, should be fun.

classic friday

Kenosha Pass to Georgia Pass. Since we had the day yesterday to ride, we decided to hit the CO trail starting at Kenosha Pass and avoid the weekend crowds. Little did we know, there was an annual relay race going on that put quite a few runners on a section of the trail but luckily it was mostly on the way back and it was fun to give some encouragement to the runners. The race takes relay teams from Idaho Springs to Basalt so quite the distance. The lucky ones get to run this leg of trail.

The weather was perfect!

Above the treeline pre-snow

Runners head down off Georgia Pass under the low lazy clouds.

Heading back down.

The leaves are turning.

It was nice to hit this one sans crowd. There were maybe a handful of cyclists out there all day and most stayed close to Kenosha. Next time, I would like to round trip this all the way to Breckenridge and back.

summer fades away

August has come and gone. It was a bit of a scratch month when it came to consistent long rides. I crashed hard in the 1st week of Aug after a week of mellow recovery riding and then crashed again on the trail a couple weeks later putting the hurt on my already sore shoulder and knee which sucked the motivation out of me.

Regardless, I still managed to get out and enjoy what had to be the mildest August I can remember.

New pine cones at the top of an old favorite resting spot.

1/2 hr after my crash. Older abrasions below new ones

the giant sunflowers are full blown. a couple have started to lose the flowers and are revealing their seeds. I doubt the birds will save us any but they are fun to grow

The moon on my way home last Thurs after a little ride that takes one all over hells half acre. Not hellish in terms of scenery but the climbs are the steepest around. I had to cut the end out due to darkness but there was still plenty of climbing on this one. The first section after this photo had me going 50mph. Things got weird 10 mins into the descent when I rounded a corner and almost found myself strewn across the road at high speed due to a rat bastard deer. It would have made a great POV youtube video.

Sunday at Buffalo Creek. We headed down for the 2nd time this season to get a change of scenery. The rocks are incredible down in this area but I don't have a single photo of them.

I did take a photo of the IF replacement I finally built up. I did not have to buy one thing, everything transferred over from the Niner and I had a used seatpost that fit. I only have two rides on it but I can say it handles well, actually quick but not too quick. I am thinking it may be less stable on the long high speed tech descents but you cant have everything and eventually I hope to get James at Blacksheep to build me a frame. He really does a great job and I like the fact that James will work with you to make your frame exactly what you want. If I had the money, I admit I would be very tempted to call the man, Kent Eriksen for what has to be one of the best ti frames currently being built. I really admire his work as well, top notch.

this smelled like caramel

Double rainbow at the end of the ride

somebody wanted to ride a 29er

Living off the land, yesterday's harvest. The rat as they are affectionately known among growers, is a very tasty fingerling and this is just 1/4 of one row so very productive as well.