Motivation

Riding is a priority at Adventure Fit and we are fortunate enough to make our own schedule. This is cool, but mid-day rides often mean riding solo. To me, the social aspect of cycling is really important. I remember the days as a pro MTBer when I had roommates who rode, neighbors who rode...it was never hard to find a fast riding partner. Now things are a bit different and I usually ride solo. This has its advantages - time to think, a chance to listen to your music, ride as fast or as slow as you like...but it gets a little old sometimes. There's something to be said for a ride when everybody is trying to rip each others legs off.
So for those days it's hard to get out of the door, I've learned some helpful tips:

• Change something about your riding set up. it's fun to test out some new shorts, a new handlebar, bike computer - anything really. And it doesn't have to be expensive. Maybe a new set of cleats on your shoes or even a fresh tune up or new chain lube. It's a great excuse to get more bike gear - and it's a reason to ride.
  
• Music. I've been taking music along on rides even when I had to haul around a Sony Sports Walkman cassette player (remember those big yellow ones?) Music makes me ride faster and harder and is a huge motivator. These days, it's real simple - just download a new album and you're good to go. Maybe a new playlist could do the trick too. Today I listened to two Black Mountain albums during the ride.
  
• Perspective. I just got back from a 2 week trip to the Midwest and I only had a chance to ride a few times. And one was on a spin bike. Yay. I couldn't wait to get back on the bike. So when I'm feeling unmotivated - I think about what it would be like to have a life where I couldn't ride. We are very fortunate to have the health, freedom, roads/trails, and gear to ride.
  
• 2008 Tour of California. If these guys can ride multiple days in 40 degrees and pouring rain for almost 7 hours each day, I can get out much nicer conditions and put in a couple hours. The 2008 ToC was one of those days it makes you happy you're not a pro-roadie.

from behind the handlebar...

I pulled out my old BOB trailer today to make a run to the grocery store. Spring is almost here - 65 degrees! I was tempted to put Maple, our little Viszla, in the trailer for a spin, but decided to spare her the turmoil. Usually when we put dogs in the trailer, they stand up and vibrate back and forth like a person trying to stand on a 'fit ball'. I don't know how people train their dogs to skateboard...but it's impressive. Yet - I digress.

I took the bike out and enjoyed the ride. I realized something pretty cool....I felt like I was much more part of the universe while riding. Driving a car and seeing the world from behind a window offers a much different perspective. Riding a bike puts you in the action, it engages you. There's a level of emotional protection you have from a car, kinda like watching TV. You see what's happening, but you're in your protective box and are only an observer. But on a bike...you have no choice to respond to the world. You feel the water from the sprinkler that waters the lawn, you hear the kids playing in the park, you might even find a cool coin on the ground. Quite often, riding a bike through town (certainly a congested city) is just as efficient as driving. Even when it's slower than driving, you'll see a lot more and be part of the action.

The reason I bought the BOB trailer 12 years ago was for a tour of the western states. On that trip I kept thinking to myself, 'The slower you go, the more you see". When you're looking down a long flat stretch of road and there's nothing coming up but a billboard, you really read that billboard. You THINK about that billboard - and thinking is not something that happens too often these days.

On the Midwest trip, I met riders that ride no matter what. Even in -30, which is damn cold. Weather in Colorado is pretty tame compared to Minneapolis. The trip was an inspiration. I met a guy named B Rose at the Cars R Coffins coffee/bike shop
He uses this sweet Surly 'Big Dummy' to make his rounds - it's a bike that can help you get just about anywhere. Check out the wood rack up front and the longboard platform on the back. Pretty sweet. A very cool bike for engaging the world around us.

Scoutin' Minneapolis

My 1st time to Minneapolis in all of my years on this planet. A very cool city indeed. The 1st place we went was One on One, which is a bike shop/coffee shop/ and art gallery - cool concept.
Geno and Chris took us for a short cruise around the city. I got to borrow a sweet singlespeed road bike with silver bar tape, red chain and wheels...just a cool bike. The boys and girls at Swobo are hitting home runs with their bikes this year.
I almost parked my bike on the girl's bike rack at Whole Foods. Good thing Jackie caught it - that would have been a disaster ;)
We found a Lego version of Boba Fett - this one's for you Jesse.
Kevin from Freewheel bikes took us for a trip around the local bike paths. He let Jack take the 1st ride on his fully restored 1968 Schwinn - all pink and sparkly. I checked out a Trek Lime for the 1st time - it makes riding pretty darn easy. We led us to our venue - the Freewheel Midtown Bike Center - which is going to rock. It's all that and then some.
And we met with QBP - the supplier of bike candy to all bike shops. Also home to Surly, Salsa, BMC, and so much more. It's a huge facility - and it's all 'green' - paperless, solar, recycled material...it was right up our alley. So now I want a Madone, Swobo Del Norte, Surly Pugsley, BMC Pro Machine, and a Salsa Cassaroll. It's a good thing this recon trip is coming to a close - I can't wait to get back on the bike in Colorado.

Waterloo

This was our 2nd visit to Trek's HQ in Waterloo, and the 1st time we took the tour. Dick Burke, founder of Trek, recently passed away so there were tons of flowers around the building. Imagine building bikes by hand in a barn, then growing the business into what Trek is now 30 years later.

They build the OCLV carbon bikes in Waterloo as well as the high-end aluminum. Most of their new models (Madones, Super Flys, and Carbon EXs) are sold out for awhile. Which is amazing considering there were 1000s of frames being built. It was cool to see frames of this caliber being assembled in such quantity.
Here are some of the bikes awaiting paint. They said that the employees that put on the decals are almost all women, because men don't have the patience for the meticulous work.
One thing is for sure - I want a Madone now.

Not so windy after all

After 4 days in one of the biggest cities in the country...we've learned about Alderman, park permits, and the overall lack of open space in Chicago. It was a good time in the city and there was lots to see. We're excited about the venue we found, all the people we met in our journey, and most importantly that we're bring the UAR to Chi-town!
Here are some of the things we saw along the way...
This is a cool custom painted fixie outside Columbia College. Lots of fixies with rear wheel fenders around town - and this one tickled my fancy.
The Bike Center, a shop/bike parking/locker room in Chicago has this cool vending machine where you can get cycling caps, tubes, crash kits, and ponchos. That's my kind of vending machine.
I wish I could have seen this bike puppet show in action, but the trike was pretty cool.
After 4 days of searching, we finally found a SWEET venue. It's called Murphy's Bleachers and it's right behind Wrigley Field. Just imagine what this place will look like with big wheels, NBB beers, and LOTS of bikes.

Stay tuned...

Jackie and I are hitting the streets of Chicago planning out the UAR in Chi-Town. I'll tell you what...this is by far the most 'urban' Urban Assault Ride ever. There's not a lot of open space here. But we have some insanely cool obstacle ideas on tap. So...stay tuned.
In the meantime - checkout this sweet moon walk...

Almost Spring!

Hitting the road bikes today on a pre-spring ride around Boulder County. First hooked up with the VeloNews crew for Tour de Carter Lake. It's a fun ride, but it's been done way to much lately. It's a primarily flat ride...which is pretty rare around here. You see, there are plenty of great canyon climbs around here, but in the winter time the descents will shiver your timbers. You almost need to wear a wetsuit and outfit your bike this some of this gear...The sun was shining, so Jackie and I hit the road for a Longmont 'city ride'...but Longmont is pretty rural so we took in some varied attractions...We finally figured out what Borat did with his van after the movie...
We had a nice view of Long's Peak - one of Colorado's 14ers...which we plan to climb one summer...We checked out some horses while finding a good use for the bottle cap I had in my pocket...And we found the place to buy our tractor if ever get the farm we've been talking about...

Boulder

We picked up and moved from Austin to Boulder in 2005. We came for the riding, the mountains, the weather, the overall lifestyle. Austin's great, but 90+ degress for 8 months out of the year got a little old after 11 years of living there. Didn't seem so bad at the time, but getting used to Colorado weather makes TX weather seem unbearable.
I was surprised to find that there is almost no mountain biking in Boulder. There are plenty of trails, but they are built for hikers and off-limit to bikes. Kinda a bummer since riding from my door is very important to me. There are lots of great road rides - right from the door. Today was a nice climb up to Jamestown. Tons of cyclists on the road. I traded pulls with this guy for about 1/2 the climb. It was nice since it made me ride faster. I said 'Hi' when I first saw him, but after that we both had headphones on and we're pushing pretty hard. This photo is on the downhill and I guess we were going fast since it looks like my spokes are bending.

Tomorrow a day on the MTB after a night of whiskey, Rumikub, and some tasty pie.In case you didn't know, Jackie is an incredible baker (or is it bakerette?). Our plan is to some day open a bakery with lots of bike racks inside, serve beer, and have good acoustic bands.
We'll serve up some of this...






Oh I also saw that Swobo has out a nice new pair of Shpants that I have my eyes on. Shpants are all the rage in case you didn't know. See - I like sporting them....
I wish I had them when I was a kid and maybe my knees wouldn't have so many scars.

Today, we're working hard on thrilling things like bio-diesel storage containers and recycled paper suppliers. Luckily, our man Hans sent in this clip of a new obstacle idea to shed some sunshine on our day.



"Impossible to steer and it glows in the dark". That's BRILLIANT....on second thought maybe not so much.

Biblical name of a bastard son

Fruita ended up being too wet, so we headed a bit further down I-70 to good ol' Moab, UT. I was wondering what Moab means, so I looked it up. Turns out 'Moab is the biblical name of a bastard son of Lot and his firstborn daughter. Hmmmn. Who'd a thunk it?
We had a great couple of rides in this amazing part of the country.























This is an encouraging sign along the Portal trail. Even the Super-D killers of Team BikeParts.com were getting off their bikes in spots.















We shared the trail with pink jeeps. It's an interesting use of the trail system. I think it's cool what the jeeps can clear on these super technical roads - but bikes do it so much faster, with no pollution or noise. I guess it's because of the $$$ that the jeepies spend in Moab that keeps the trails open - so I suppose I shouldn't complain. And we loaded up our truck with plenty of Mavericks (which are possibly the perfect bike for Moab).

Last year, I was riding the Amasa Back trail and this little girl asks her Dad (who had his truck stuck on the trail), 'What's he doing Daddy?' and her Dad said, 'It looks like he's trying to kill himself". I get a kick out of that experience. Just two different worlds.

On the Saturday, we were looking for a new trail called 'Rockstacker' and found ourselves on a steep section that was definitely not the trail. So we hike up the sandstone and my foot slips and I start sliding...with my bike..down towards a 200ft drop. Luckily I stopped, but not without a little bit of sandstone exfoliation.
Kinda crazy considering this happened just walking.

So back to work. It's cold again today here in CO. Supposedly, March is the snowiest month of the year. Yay.