Update! 6/29/10

Well, AYC patron, we do seem to be a little delayed with this post. The past few days have been full of fun and even what some might call a little chaos.

So, where to start. Back in Fruita, around Monday last week, Dave took me up the Colorado National Monument road to the visitor's center. It was essentially my first ever sustained climb, and it was a freaking blast. Besides one stop in the middle for an inhaler puff and another at the top, it was pretty much non-stop pedaling. Which is awesome:

(Up we go. It was nice and gradual most of the way up, but if I get a chance,
I'll upload a picture looking down at what we had already climbed. Eek.)

So, as we stepped off the bikes for an inhaler and water break, we caught a great view of Balanced Rock. If you click on that image, you'll find another really cool sight as well. Down to the left of the base of the rock, I spotted a desert big horn sheep looking over the plains. There were actually multiple, which Dave spotted once they got on the move.

(I may be smiling, but that thing was tough!)

Moving on a few days further, Dave and I packed up the car and drove up to Oak Creek on Tuesday or Wednesday and he had a Town Challenge hill climb up Mt. Warner. Although he remains adamant that he didn't have the best form, Dave still would have podiumed in the single-speed division. We then went on an easy cruise down CR25, only to have me crash and burn on the way back. Scratched and cut my elbow pretty bad, but I think I'll live.

After our excursion to Oak Creek, we returned to Fruita briefly to regroup and get our wits about us. We all drove back up to the OC yesterday and enjoyed a nice loop around the Stage Coach reservoir. Today was a pretty chill day with an early trip into Steamboat with Aunt Jen for a practice ride for her race tomorrow and a road ride for me. Then we headed off to the hospital to get that nasty cut of mine checked and we were good to go. We had a great lunch with Janet and Kara and returned to OC. Upon arriving at the house, I was greeted by a box about the right size for a roadie frame. Mmmm... steel is real. Awhile later, Dave and I headed back to Steamboat and got some prep-work done on the frame at the legendary Eriksen and Orange Peel workshops. He went on his pre-race ride and I chilled in the library. We came home and got to work painting and ducting (?). Awesome, full day.

So, yeah, that's pretty much the biggest update I can give at the moment. There's another Town Challenge race tomorrow, so hopefully I can report on that too.

PS: The only spoiler I'm away right now is that the frame is a SOMA product. No pictures yet. Stay tuned!

Happy Fathers' Day!

Well, after a couple delayed flights and some nasty airport food, I finally landed in good ol' Grand Junction, Colorado. Aunt Jen and I drove back to Fruita where I essentially bonked after an awesome pizza.

Anyway, this post isn't my lengthy recall of Friday's travels. This post is dedicated to my father, and all other fathers who like to frequent the blog. You guys are awesome, and what you do for your families is really appreciated. Believe me.

So, the day after I landed, I awoke to some nice breakfast foods to munch, and the day went on with some morning bike maintenance and lessons. After the afternoon and dinner, we embarked on my first ride ever on Fruita singletrack. Of course, it was a nice beginner trail, but I really loved the ride and it showed me what there is to love about this place.

The picture taken is before the start of the downhill Kestler Run. It's a nice beginner trail off the 18 Road in Fruita.

Here we are, bombin' down the trail. Dave was close behind to give me some pointers on form and control when descending slightly technical singletrack. Speaking of which, the singletrack here is way different than what I rode on last summer in Steamboat. There's not as much tall brush, which clears up some clostrophobia. Very fun!

Moving on to today, after some awesome brunch with a couple of Dave and Aunt Jen's friends, Aunt Jen and I went out for a different trail experience in Loma. Dave opted to stay home after a small incident on the road in the afternoon. We hit up the Rustler's loop.

An awesome view of the Colorado River awaited Aunt Jen and I after we started riding. Here's a big thumbs up behind the monstrous wheels of the 29er that I'm riding. It likes the speed!

...And off into the distance we go. This trail was more technical than the one off of the 18 Road, so there were some great little obstacles to play around with and maneuver. Both were great rides, and I'm looking forward to some more in the coming weeks.

So, that's that. Lots of fun to be had out here, and I'm hoping that there was lots of fun out in California today, too. Happy Fathers' Day, Dad.

PS: There's a video, but I'm useless when it comes to that thar YouTube stuffs. Stay tuned for that one!

evening ride for 20 june, 2010

Jen and i took the young apprentice out to the 18 mile for his first-ever taste of Fruita singletrack.
the kid did great, once he got over all of the hype and excitement and just relaxed a bit. he said it was "awesome".

that's plenty good enough for me.

The 1st Annual Kokopellish Epic Adventure!

Longstory short is that the Great First Annual Kokopelli Trail ride did not come off this year as expected...the saga is sad and meandering so we will leave it alone.
Like a Phoenix out of the ashes rose The 1st Annual Kokopellish Epic Adventure- and for now we think we just might be more psyched about the rides we put together to showcase the spectacular landscape between Fruita and Moab than we would be if we had ridden the Kokopelli Trail start to finish.

Day 1 was spent warming up and whipping the foul weather blues by riding between storms on our home turf out at Loma.

Day 2 we raced the thunderheads out in Rabbit Valley along the Western Rim and Trail 2
Day 3 was a lollipop loop from Fish Ford, through Yellow Jacket Canyon, out to Dewey Bridge and back to Fish Ford.

Day 4 started at 8,000 feet, took us "backward" along the Kokopelli Trail to the ripping descent through Fisher Valley and Onion Creek
Day 5 we explored some amazing high altitude singletrack along Fisher Mesa in the Manti-sal National Forest and earned bird's eye views of the desert lands we had ridden for 4 days prior

We rode hard- got put away wet and came away from it all still talking to one another. YEAH!

Certainly there will be further postings and better links as we recover, but for now check out the slideshow!

two from back in the day

my bro Andy over at Bike Furniture Design recently emailed a couple of images scanned from his vast archive of cycling history. please take a few moments to visit Andy's photography website to check out more of the exciting work from this important and underrated artist.

here's a couple from the golden era of bmx racing:


North State Raceway- Marquette, Michigan

this was a 15x moto at what was probably a double points race or a qualifier for something, judging by the turnout. from left on the gate are: Frank Bink, John Duflo, Jim "Yellowman" Mercure, Ron Young.
i'm in the back row, waiting for my 16x moto. you can see me behind mr. "hang loose" GT rider, head down.
notice that the "olden style" wooden, manual gate required additional muscle to hold back the horsepower- there's another big guy on the right hand side doing the call and dropping the gate. that is how we rolled back in 1980, baby.
it wasn't long after Andy took this photo that the track got a new steel, electronic gate and timing light set-up installed. the canned call was the same every time now, at every track.

but i'm not really sure that it ever got any better.




Traverse City, Michigan BMX

Mrs. Anderson took a whole mob of us down to Traverse in the Winnebago for a big race... this was probably in 1979 based on my racing number and the fact that i have opted for a more casual fashionway instead of JT Racing slacks and fresh kicks.
i remember the track being really crappy at that time- a bunch of piles of dirt on the ground with a starting gate at one end and a finish line on the other. and not much grooming or flow in between, like we see on the nice, modern bmx tracks.

this is an action shot from the "jumping contest" which was sometimes a formal or informal affair that might be tied to the racing in some fashion or other. remember folks- this was when the earth was still cooling as far as bmx is concerned.
the object was to pedal at a furious rate of speed and fling oneself off the big pile of dirt and see who could fly the farthest and stick the landing. pretty simple, really.

this sort of activity fell from favor shortly after "doubles" were invented and we didn't have to land on flat ground like so many sacks of potatoes... okay, so maybe some things have gotten better.

bike month

the month of June has been designated "Bike Month" by the folks over at CDOT

here at ABANDON YOUR CAR, we think that's awesome. when the state of Colorado gets behind any initiative to promote alternative transportation and a healthy lifestyle, we're all for it. we would also like to take this opporunity to once again encourage everyone to do what they can to move away from the car-centric culture and all of its pitfalls.

the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first turn of the pedal.





Photo: Win McNamee / Getty Images

we know all too well what continuing down the same path will bring. here's some additional motivation:

wildlife images at SFGate.com

an essay and some more images, timely and relevant. make yourself read and look. do it.

Fruita, USA ride report for May 31, 2010

Dave and I worked most of Memorial Day Weekend and didn't get to ride with our Routt County peoples- but we got to hear their glory tales over cold beverages and dole out the Arnica to those in need. And, as the holiday weekend dust settled and the trails fell silent, we got our turn. (Dave has a separate post showcasing yet more amazing wildflowers out at Loma Sunday evening).



I decided to showcase what we call "urban riding" here in the greater GJ metropolitan area. You only have to have been up here once to know what I'm talkin' 'bout.

For the uninitiated- this would be the mighty Ribbon up above Tabeguache.

We rode late Monday afternoon (5:30 out of the Tabeguache Parking Area) and saw maybe 3 people riding the lunch loops and another 7-8 being shuttled up Little Park Rd for a sunset hotlap.

We prefer to ride up to the trailhead- convinced that the 2200' climb compounds the adrenaline rush of the descent. And, what a spectacular way to close the day- back to the car as daylight fades.

One another note:

Not 20 minutes from the parking lot as we are slogging up the Tabeguache jeep road, we came across this collection of crap- note the inner tube tangled in the sagebrush by the rock.

Un-freaking real. #1- you are dumb enough to carry your spare tube in its box. #2 you are arrogant enough to leave your inner tube and the box on the trail (your Mommy wasn't riding with you today to pick up your crap?!), therefore, it may be safe to assume that #3, you are stupid enough to not have cleared the goathead from your tire and flatted again in a mile and you still haven't figured out that leaving the trail out here = a flat tire.

I've talked big about slapping idiots with their old GOO packets, but, folks you better believe I put this inner tube in my pack and went looking for the jag I could slap silly with it.

I would like to call your attention to an alternate scenario- observe the dignity and respect demonstrated by our man Tony here as he races to the finish line after repairing his flat, still hoping to podium in the Cholla Challenge out at Hurricane. Even a chance to podium in a MSC race is not justification to leave your crap on the trail.

Tony was denied a spot on the podium that day- but earned a high ranking in our "people we want to ride and race with" category (versus the "people we'd like to choke with an inner tube" category). Good luck in New Mexico Tony! (be sure to check out how Tony, his hotshot son, Drake, and all the Superfriends at LiveTrainRace.Com are faring in the MSC)