Category Archives: MTB

bikes, GPS, MTB, roadtrip, travel, USA

The start of a Grand Junction week

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Boring, but necessary, things were done yesterday morning – I changed the oil & filter (it’s amazing how fast 5000 km comes around on a roadtrip in this big country), grocery shopping, first visit to REI for the trip & so on.

So I was ultra-pleased with the opportunity for a good ride in the afternoon.  Perfect riding conditions showed up too – overcast. warm but with a nice breeze to prevent overheating.  Just north of town across the Colorado are the Lunch Loop trails set in some nice little canyons.  For an early Monday afternoon, there were an awful lot of cars in the parking lot – they must be good trails.  I’m nowhere near bike-fit yet (damn long winter) so the steep climbing up the canyon (at one point I think I was going up a gnarly down trail) was punctuated by a few photo stops.  I love these canyons in this part of the world, they’re gorgeous.  Good overcast riding weather is not great photography weather, but my photos are never world-class so it hardly matters!

My legs survived OK, but I’ll be pleased to get a bit of cardio back. But it was soon time to turn & go down. The trails were flowy for a while & then headed in to some really big rocks that meant I found it difficult to negotiate some of the step-ups – maybe the biggest part of being off the bike for so long isn’t the fitness, it’s the loss of technique & confidence to attempt some of more tricky technical bits. Despite that, I had an absolute blast as I wound my was down & in & out of sub-canyons.

I met Valerie back at the car, she having returned from walking some of the trails closer to the parking lot, & we continued up the road to Colorado National Monument. This was another one of those places we’d never heard of the day prior, but all the literature for GJ accommodation & the first waitress we had in town gushed about it. A big rock above towering above Grand Junction it is over 20,000 acres worth of monument with many spectacular canyons carved into it. It was a great scenic drive of about twenty miles punctuated by many stops as we looked over the precipices (of great peril) as the sun came out.

These are appropriately called the Coke Ovens

We’ve decided to extend our time here in Grand Junction up to a week as it’s a nice place, but the weather forecast means I’ll struggle to fit all the rides in I want to if we left on Thursday. So Moab has been pushed out until Sunday, I’m sure I’ll survive. Today we checked out the local museum while it drizzled – the history of the local nomadic tribes & the roaming Spanish in the 1700s was fascinating. With just a few scattered showeres this afternoon & a bit of sun we enjoyed a leisurely ride along the Colorado River Trail – with lots of birdlife (& a couple of deer & many burrowing rodents of some description) to keep us amused.

bikes, GPS, history, MTB, national park, roadtrip, snow, travel, USA

Scottsbluff, first ride & Rocky Mtn NP (more snow)

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We got away from Alliance nice & early & headed for Scottsbluff, as I’d heard there was some biking nearby.  Previously, I couldn’t work out the references to Alliance being the heart of the Sand Hills as everything was flat.  Quickly we found the big sand dunes, they were covered in beach grasses & I was sure we should have been on the coast, not thousands of miles inland.  I saw something I haven’t seen for many months – a dairy farm with real dairy cows!  They still looked to be wintering & feeding close to the shed, nonetheless I’m claiming it.  With time to spare, we could afford to stop & look at random abandoned things.  The old motel is a steal – it’s got new-fangled electric heating after all.

Bypassing the town unintentionally, we headed for Scottsbluff National Monument – having no idea what it was, apart from some impressive looking bluffs.  As it turned out, this area was an important part of the Oregon Trail (not the computer game, the real deal).  Scottsbluff & the Mitchell Pass through it were about a third of the way into the trail from Missouri & marked the end of the so-called Great American Desert.  It must have been quite something to make it there after two or three months & realise there was still so much further to go.  We spent a little time in the Visitor Center learning a bit, then walked on the trail a while (it was muddy enough in places to walk over, must’ve been awful out of summer with a wagon) & then drove to the top for some good views.

The trailhead was not much of a drive from the Oregon Trail (although I’m not sure that those are related, I can’t imagine pioneers heading up into the Wildcat Hills to hit some singletrack). I’d only read brief details of this ride on a forum & knew it wasn’t that long & was on our path – perfect for my first ride of the summer (without a trace of snow, that is). It was still quite cool, but dry – my lungs didn’t appreciate the chill, but we got up the hill eventually. There wasn’t a lot of signage so I just went all over the place exploring – it was so good to be back on the bike. Most of the climbing wasn’t too steep & the trail was mostly wide, although there was this nasty bridge.

I did find this substantial picnic shelter that seemed over-designed for the number of people that visit it (I didn’t see a soul on my whole ride – on a Saturday afternoon).

Occasionally, I popped out of the trees & could see where I’d come from & get my bearings again.

It was another couple of hours to drive to Fort Collins – in our fifth state, Colorado. Although grey night last night, it’s a very nice town – lots of lovely old houses & big old trees. I would have been tempted to stay more than one night if we were not getting so sick of rain & cold after ten days. So this morning, we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park (a little west) to see some wildlife & drive through to Grand Junction (west CO). The drive out took us through a great skinny canyon & by the time we got to the park it was very foggy. It turned out that the road through was still closed for the season, but we went as far as we could (about 2800m) & looked at the snow, thought it was cold & turned around.

Bits of the park were nice, it was a pity we couldn’t see the great views; we didn’t see any moose or anything else interesting, just more lupins (actually didn’t see any bloody lupins), elk & bighorn sheep. Thankfully we didn’t have to backtrack much due to the road closure, just head south to I-70. The road was tortuous & still pretty high up, it was evident that they (there were lots of scattered houses forming a nice mountain community) had had quite a few inches of snow in the last day or two.

Just before the interstate we went through some very western & old looking mining towns – Black Hawk (founded during the Pikes Peak gold rush) was the most impressive (I’d be more impressed if they hadn’t banned bikes from the streets).

We were soon on I-70 & climbed steadily to cross the Continental Divide. The tunnels through the divide sit at 3400m above sea level & are 2.7km long – it was quite a tunnel that we went through. From there it was mostly downhill (& quite steeply at times too) to Grand Junction at 1400m. The scenery changed dramatically from snow covered trees, to trees & the large ski-resort town of Vail (reminded me a bit of Canmore – lots of new housing that looks like it sits empty most of the year) & then we crossed the Colorado River for the first time. For a while, we were through open valley-bottom plains & then plunged in to tight twisty canyons with very impressive rock – even saw a few climbers on crags right next to the road. By now it was getting hot & the clothes we had on for the morning’s snow & fog were too much. When we rolled in to Grand Junction almost 600km later, we realised we’d gone from close to zero to thirty degrees Celsius in five hours. It sure is nice to be in shorts, T-shirt & flip-flops/jandals.

around home, bikes, Canada, event, friends, MTB, snow

Canmore Winter Meltdown Triathlon

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A few weeks ago at work an opportunity to compete (I use that term loosely now) in the Canmore Winter Meltdown Triathlon at the Nordic Center with a couple of workmates.  As Lafarge was one of the main sponsors, we were to get a complimentary entry (“it was for free”); my teammates pulled out a couple of weeks after that so I organised Megan to do the 10 km (skate) ski & talked Anya into running 5 km – I was to ride 10 km on the snow.  With the spring melt progressing quite well over the last couple of weeks I was worried that the course might be very slushy (judging by last year’s photos there wasn’t much snow off trail).  How wrong we were, a big storm blew in Friday night & when we got up on Saturday morning there was a good 15-20 cm of snow everywhere.  At least it was around 0ºC.  Here’s a quick outline of our day – we didn’t come close to challenging the leaderboard, as this event is a fundraiser for athletes there were many tip-top athletes in the field (i.e. most of the entrants).  Oh, & while we were doing the triathlon as a team Alex somewhat crazily/gamely took on the event by himself.

Me & Anya doing some good Lafarge stretches – Greg standing by bemused.

Finn’s Minions trying to look worried by all the snow.

Megan & Alex before the start – which was delayed (very casual event), I assume for the snow.

Most of the field setting off.

Kristy did a great job of looking after our evil overlord/mascot, Finn

Megan heading out for her second lap – skiing was OK apparently (at least it wasn’t concrete-ice), apart from trying to pass when one had to go wide into the deep snow.

That’s me heading out on the bike – the first lap was the hardest five kilometres I’ve done in a long time (not helped by it being only 5 km I’ve done in anger for over four months).  The snow was deep & rutted out – which meant that any time you hit a strange line you were suddenly going a different direction.

Alex finishing his ski leg before heading out on the bike.

Heading out on my second lap – yes, I look like a midget.  Megan lent me her new 29er & I had the seat low as I knew I would be dabbing (putting my foot down) a lot.  The wheels were great, the Crossmarks (tyres) not excellent for drive.  The second lap was easier as a racing line had developed in some places & in others I’d learnt that the 29er was great for hitting the side of the trail & the fresh snow.

Anya heading out on the run.

Anya heading for the finish line – while the snow continues to fall, it must be warm as she’s ditched the hat.

Alex heading for the finish.

And across the line (said in a good Clarkson voice).

Our star skier receiving the post-race debrief from our coach/mascot/overlord.

I think we are celebrating the fact that we survived the snow.  Worth celebrating too, a fun morning & we scored some Icebreaker spot prizes.

An indication of just how much snow there was to compete with – my car was cleared before the race & this was about four hours later.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty relaxing with a late lunch, a trip to the Hot Springs in Banff to soak & a great big Irish stew that Megan cooked up accompanied by wine, lemon meringue pie & games. (Thanks to Megan & Kristy for some of the photos.)

bikes, Canada, friends, MTB

Dreaming of bikes & biking

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The final happening on the Main St of snow Monday last week was that it was open to mountain-bikers from four until six o’clock.  Not wanting to pass up what will probably be my only opportunity ever to MTB on a groomed & track-set main street, I dragged my bike out of the garage to go & meet Alex & Megan.  They weren’t home when I got there, but it wasn’t long before they arrived with Megan in possession of a brand new Giant Anthem & a rather large smile.  After quite a few days of (one of) the local bike shops promising to build it up & then failing to, it seemed that finally got around to keeping their word (which rather seems strange business conduct – are they so confident that no-one can be bothered driving to Calgary to drop thousands of dollars on a bike that they can continually disappoint & frustrate potential customers?).

We set off for the snow street, some of us avoiding the large slush puddles (not me) on the way.  Biking on the snow was OK in places, & just hard work in others.  Last year’s shredded tyres were not really helping (especially for propulsion).  Alex must have been working pretty hard, because he got about one block down (out of two) before snapping his chain.  So a quick trip home & Megan was persuaded to christen her new bike (the snow was hardly likely to get the frame very dirty).  Meanwhile, I was enjoying being on the bike in the warmth & being completely in control half of the time.  Around juggling Finn, I had a little go on the new steed.  Being a 29er (that is, before you ask Mum, it has 29″ wheels rather 26″) it soaked up the bumps in the snow & with more rubber in contact was able to get noticeably more traction.  I think that was my first 29er experience & it was pretty neat – but being on a brand new bike is always nice, down to the lack of sloppiness in the SPD cleats.

Alex must have also been impressed as a chunk of the rest of the week was spent discussing the merits of various other 29ers & which one he should get.  It turns out he’s put a deposit on one of these Specialized Cambers – yet another 29er.  All this new bike buying action & too much time on the internets, really had me considering which bike I should be buying soon.  I’d have to ride a 29er a bit more on a variety of singletrack before I could go for one – at this stage I can’t get over the clown wheel factor; I also envisage them being more difficult for plane & car travel (biking & travelling being my two greatest loves), which is enough to put me off for now.  Still, it’s not like there are no normal bikes out there & I found a few I quite liked.  But in the end, my bike is functioning (well will be soon, more of that later) & with more travelling coming up, $3000 could be much better used some other way.  I’ll just have to console myself with some smaller toys so I don’t feel left out.

With a bit of prodding from the snowmelt & Megan, I’ve started working on the winter clean & overhaul of my bike.  For some months now a box has been sitting in the garage with a new drivetrain, tyres & a myriad of other little parts in it waiting for the garage to warm up enough to be tolerable to work in.  So I’ve pulled pretty much everything off my bike & stripped the parts back as much as practical to give everything a really good clean & grease (well, those bits that need greasing).  That’s taken a good few evenings – probably five to six hours in total.  In case anyone is wondering, these are the parts that make up my bike (& the tools required to disassemble & hopefully reassemble it).  Yes, there is one obvious missing part – I could say I left it out on purpose as a test, but really I put it on top of the fridge behind me & forgot about it.  Who can pick it?

I’m still trying to figure out where I picked up the knowledge to do this, not being mechanically inclined.  Still, as I’m often reminded I’ve always had a tendency to pull things apart.  I suppose the test is seeing if I have a bike I can ride when I’ve finished with it all.

The weekend was filled with skiing, yet again.  Saturday was a pretty chilled day at Sunshine with Kristy (who had just got a new touring set-up – skis, boots & bindings).  I was still working on my turns after last week’s lesson & strangely spent all day looking for moguls.  I was impressed at how Kristy’s skiing has come on since I last skied with her – perhaps she shouldn’t have followed me off a jump & twinged her knee, but the small amounts of powder were quite enjoyable.  Following the knee incident, we had an early lunch & I skied by myself for a couple of hours before we left around two.  We had a great games night & much hilarity later on that evening – the boys just took out Pictionary (blast from the past) & the descriptive/one-word/charades game was a winner.

After weeks of talking about it, I finally had a day at Sunshine with my boss/colleague/friend, Viviane & her fiancee, Alex.  The periphery of a big storm coming up from Montana & moving across the prairies had given us some snow in town & on the road all the way up.  Unsurprisingly, there was a big wreck on the highway & about a twenty-five minute delay.  Once we got there, we had a fantastic day.  There was around 5 cm of fresh snow, it was warm, visibility was good & there were very few people around (for a weekend).  Viviane is a much better & more experienced skier than I am & it was great skiing with her & Alex.  I still find I’m bracing my right leg a bit too much coming out of turns (turning right & keeping my left leg bent is no problem), so there is still plenty to work on.  I think this post is plenty long enough so I’ll just say (so I can go & finish my book) that the conditions were the best I’ve had since I dislocated my shoulder at the end of January & combined with that & my improved skiing, it was the best day I’ve had on the snow.