Beer, Bikes, and Big Wheels...Tales of the Urban Assault Ride.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Saturday, June 5, 2010

There's a little town above Boulder called Nederland. It's got a few coffee shops, a great Nepalese restaurant....and some of the best mountain biking in the front range. It's nice and tight single track that weaves through Aspen groves and past abandoned gold mines. I usually ride it each year a couple times and I got a jonesin' for Ned this week.
Usually, we drive up and hit the trails for a few hours. There's also a bus that leaves Boulder that'll take your bike up with you. It's only $2 and this was my plan. However, the plan was foiled as I missed the bus. So, it was time to ride up 3000' and 20 miles to the trail. When you ride out and back to a trail in Boulder, the locals like to call it "Super" - like "Super Walker". So this must have been "Super Ned" Not too many people do this though - it took over 2 hours just to hit the trails.
I took the Boulder Creek bike path until it ended around Betasso preserve (another fun trail). Then I made a turn on Sugarloaf, up some steep switchbacks, up, and up, and up some more. There's plenty of things to look at - like Boulder creek.

After a lemonade and some iced coffee, I hit the West Mag trails. This is Aspen Alley.

Here's some of the tight twisty singletrack. It doesn't get much narrower than this. There were plenty of spots that had handlebar marks on the trees.

On the way home, I rode Magnolia Rd. A fun dirt/paved route back into town. I passed this ranch that looked so peaceful. I'd love to have a little cabin like the one in the center of this photo. All said and done, it was a 4 1/2 hour ride - with plenty of dirt roads, trails, and snow capped mountains. No wonder Outside Magazine recently listed Nederland as one of the best weekend escapes.

Then when I got back, Jackie told me that the butterflies were hatching! I got her this cool gift where you order butterfly larvae, then watch them develop in this incubator. We saw then go from worm to pupa to butterfly. On this picture you can see a couple of them still in the pupa stage.

Here's one drying out its wings

Then it was time to set our new friends free. Kinda sad they only live for two weeks! We made sure no birds were around 1st.

I love the photo of the butterfly on the tree. Click it to make it bigger - it looks so proud doesn't it?

Anyway - I hope you're getting out there enjoying nature. It's such a beautiful time of year. Oh yeah - drink some good beer too!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Happy Trails

We hit some new (to us) trails today - Soapstone Prairie. It seem like we hit it right about the perfect time too. A couple weeks later and everything would be golden and windswept.

Over to the left is Wyoming. The trail takes you up to a ridge with a nice overlook. Pretty amazing considering how 'out in the middle of nowhere' this trail feels.

Lots o kittie litter gravel around the corner. You had to get used to the tires sliding. It was like riding a hovercraft - never feeling like your tires were fully engaged. Here's Kurtie banking out of a dip.

Benny showing us how the 29er tires hook up.

Some pretty sweet views to be had.

Yours truly - enjoying the cool breeze on top of the ridge line.

Ben - showing us how to truly enjoy the post ride beer.

But one of these things is not like the other. Kurtie says there's a new trick called 'icing' somebody where you expose a Smirnoff Ice (like above) and the person who sees it has to drink it. I think he was perhaps trying to pull one over over on me - but I had to oblige (much to my dismay)

I was rather embarrassed when a fellow rider rolled up and I was drinking the 'Ice".

Kurtie riding a big boy's bike

A good day indeed. When you get a chance, head north of Ft Collins and ride the trails at Soapstone. Just make sure your buddies aren't packing any Smirnoff Ice.
Thanks for the good times Ben and Kurtie!

scenes from the bike

Did a nice little ride from Ft Collins to Longmont the other day (via the trails Hogback, Blue Sky, and Devil's Backbone). Here are some things that caught my eye.

I was riding in Black Sheep territory, when I spotted Ryan sporting this badboy. Truss fork, dual top tubes, media blasting...oh so pretty!

Horsetooth reservoir. It made me want a little boat to cruise around after a nice bike ride.

Off the in the distance you see 'tha bone' that Devil's backbone is named for. It's a nice rocky trail and I love it when trails can take you from point A to point B (vs a roundabout loop)

Back in Longmont, I saw one of the most elaborate scaffolds ever. This is just to put up a big pole. Funny thing is - I'd have never noticed this if I wasn't riding a bike. Sometimes, the slower you go the more you see.