more derny action

the Belgian dude pacing the cyclist looks a bit on the lean side to be super effective in providing a good draft... nowadays they are substantially more "well-marbled" it seems.
at any rate, this was found on a cool French blog called Moto Legendes that is primarily focused on vintage motos- but i happen to think that Dernys are the bomb and would someday like to round out my fleet with a nice, early model that is totally over-restored.
you can be sure that when i really get old and the time comes for me to hang up my self-powered velocipedes, i would be buzzin' that thing pretty much everywhere.

autumn

a good time to bust out those vintage wool jerseys and go for a ride.

mayhem in the bike shop

here's another crazy story (and video) from Orange County, SoCal, via SFGate:

Cadillac plows through Rock N' Road Cyclery

and because it's friday, no one died in the accident, and i happen to like the name of the shop... let's get some rock bumpin' and get a witness on the vid.








this one gets the ABANDON YOUR CAR "holy carpe" near-miss special award for the year. check out the woman standing at the counter; her hair is blown in the wind as the Caddy roars past and slams into the wall at the back of the store.

the ol' "misapplication of the brake" was the culprit again, it seems.







the carnage once again highlights the dangers of the automobile when piloted by individuals who are not qualified to drive. i have always maintained that it is far too easy in this country to get a driver's license (and keep it) and far too difficult to have driving priveleges revoked, even after multiple DUI's and/or other infractions are accumulated.

feel free to discuss, and be sure to watch your back whenever you are out there riding on the roads, trails, or even while shopping your friendly LBS, for that matter.

have a great (and safe) weekend of riding.

two images for today

i went for a nice evening ride into the barren desert south of Palisade tonight with Jen and my friend Dice. there is some nice singletrack out here, and we will post some Garmin files and Google Earth beta when we are sure of legal access. we would certainly not advocate nor engage in any sort of "trail poaching" activity.

you know are on public land in the west when some of the vistas contain a string of power lines. they are also often the location of power climbs, as Jen demonstrates here. 

no shuttles out here in the forbidden zone.

no country for small wheels

one of the problems with living in Colorado's cycling Mecca (actually, there are several) is that it is all too easy to be homebodies and seldom venture much beyond the confines of the Grand Valley.
Jen has never been to Gunnison county and we decided that it was well past time to travel around to the other side of the Mesa to see what sort of riding was on offer. we went to Hartman Rocks BLM recreation area just outside Gunny for some high altitude, singletrack, and sage brush. we found all of that in great abundance and encountered a grand total of 3 other riders out on the trails. it really doesn't get much better than that.

back in the day, the bike trails were just following the cow trails (such as the one at the center of this image). nowadays the trails have been laid out with a great deal of consideration for topography, sustainability, and rideability. they are well marked now, too.

look out for a fast rolling 650B-rrraaaap!

a really nice climb is topped off with a few technical moves over this rock outcropping.

a small part of the vast sagebrush desert of Gunnison county, Colorado

both the approach and exit between these rocks are much steeper than what this image would indicate. Jen abides.

there is a lot of singletrack dedicated to non-motorized use in this BLM management area, and the trails are quite buff as a result of this policy. even the shared-use trails were amazing.

these are some of the trails used back in the day when the Rage in the Sage MTB stage race was held out here as part of the legendary Colorado Offroad Points Series. this was one of my favorite events of that series, and i participated in 7 or 8 editions. it was a lot of fun to be out here riding again and it brought back a lot of great memories of those races.

the big 29'r rolled nicely over the obstacles. the thing has way more tire, fork, and dropper post than what i traditionally would ride, but after a few miles i was able to get some nice two-wheel drifts going through the s-bend singletrack.

take only pictures, try not to leave any tracks. and a big thanks to all of the folks wh have worked so hard over the years to make gunnison county the great riding destination that it is.

ride for wednesday 7th september 2011

it has been a long time since i have been able to enjoy a ride on the MTB, what with being all injured up and having surgery on the ol' L5-S1 at the end of june. temperatures have mellowed somewhat from the mid-summer sizzlers that were endured this year, so we took the opportunity to ride out from Palisade for some nice Horse mountain singletrack at the base of the Grand Mesa.

one of my favorite things about mountain biking is that we are fortunate enough to see a lot of wildlife right near where we live in western Colorado. tonight a large pronghorn antelope ran across the trail in front of us.

he scrambled up the hill way before i could get the camera out for an up-close image, but this ridgeline silhouette turned out o.k., given the amount of light and zoom. i should mention that it is fairly unusual to see a pronghorn out in the desert like this guy.

that's the Grand Mesa in the background. this was my first mountain bike ride since early april, and it was really great to be back out on the trail with Jen. the bike was a lot of fun, too.