With autumn waning and winter looming our thoughts have turned to planning adventures for the new year. But we are conflicted. There are more adventures to entice us than time available to play.
Most years by late January/early February we are ready for a break from winter.
Should we sign up for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo mountain bike race?
Should we take a 4-day weekend to Cabo San Lucas /Cancun /Cozumel /Playa del Carmen and bask on the beach? Maybe play some early season golf? Typically we spend a 4-day weekend with Phil’s boss golfing at PGA West in Palm Springs, CA during late March – early April. A little Mexican warm-up might get us ready to win a few more bets when we attempt to hustle the boss . . .
Or maybe we ship our road bikes down to Solvang, California and do a week long “training camp” on the roads used by the US Postal/Discovery Channel team and also by the Tour of California? San Diego is also an option for some early road miles.
In 2006 and 2008 we rode the Kokopelli Trail with a supported tour (“Bikerpelli”) in early May. Should we do that again or try something completely different? Like a luxurious trip in the Moab area?
Another fabulous option is a trip to Boulder, Utah where we could mountain bike on boulder Mountain and the Burr Trail, ride our road bikes over the hogback to Escalante, do some crazy canyoneering, and top off our active days with amazing meals at Hell's Backbone Grill?
What do you think? Post a comment and vote (or send me an e-mail if the whole comment thing is too confusing.)
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Mt Falcon
Recently Phil and I went riding with our neighbor, Jim, and his buddy Matt at Jefferson County's Mt Falcon Open Space Park. [Jim and Phil, below.]
Mt Falcon is one of Jefferson County’s (“JeffCo”) Open Space Parks. JeffCo has at least 9 top-ranked mountain bike trails – several of which are simply too technical for me and Phil to ride. But Mt. Falcon is one we can ride.
Oh sure, there are a couple stretches where prudence dictates dismounting and a short hike, but one thing we’re pretty good at is climbing, and Mt Falcon has that in spades. If you ride up the Castle trail you climb about 1800 feet in 3.5 miles.
Here is a fun video of the trail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMuk4m7ieCU
Jim & Matt are former snowboard racers, so going fast downhill doesn’t bother them a bit. Watching them effortlessly ride over the waterbars and easily clear each switchback at Mt Falcon was inspiring. Perhaps a bit too inspiring, as Phil biffed at least twice trying to clear obstacles Jim and Matt levitated over.
We went back after work a few days later and it was my turn to take a digger.
Crashing going uphill takes a certain amount of skill and panache. Nothing like an excruciatingly slow speed crash to give you time to contemplate how much it is going to hurt when you finally hit those rocks. Then, you need either the Jaws of Life or your patient biking buddy to extricate you from the tangled up mess of still clipped-in shoes, upside-down bike and rocks/cactus/other sharp pointy things.
It makes me happy to know that I’m not the only one to have the experience, though.
Here is a brief excerpt from Fat Cyclist:
Hairpins on the Mountain
While a hairpin on a road descent can be terrifying and a hairpin during a road climb can somehow be a respite, a tight hairpin on a mountain bike — a turn with a radius less than the length of your wheelbase — is…complex.
First, you’ve got to shed all your speed. And then you start the turn.
Slowly. Smooth if you can, but more likely herky-jerky. If you’re me.
And then there’s the point you hit the apex of the turn. It’s a magic moment. You’re briefly stalled out, and either about to squeak out of the corner and roll out triumphant, or find that your front wheel is at too sharp an angle to the rest of your bike, and fall over on your side (unless you’re lucky enough to clip out in time, in which case I would argue that you weren’t fully committed to the attempt).
When you make it, though — when you slide around a hairpin that you’ve never cleaned, or even one you only clean half the time — you get that wild moment of elation, a moment that can only be described as “magic.”
And that goes double if the guy behind you falls over.
Sunday we went back for another try. It was a crisp, clear, autumn day. We ran into our friends Paul (above) and Linda who were trail running at Mt Falcon. Paul is training for a marathon so he's trying to get in some quality miles while the weather holds.
Just beyond where we met Paul and Linda on the trail we came across a baby rattlesnake sunning itself on a switchback. The day before we had seen a 3-footer up on South Table Mtn, so this guy looked puny. I guess the snakes are no different from the humans - just trying to get out in the sun any chance we get before winter moves in.
Mt Falcon is one of Jefferson County’s (“JeffCo”) Open Space Parks. JeffCo has at least 9 top-ranked mountain bike trails – several of which are simply too technical for me and Phil to ride. But Mt. Falcon is one we can ride.
Oh sure, there are a couple stretches where prudence dictates dismounting and a short hike, but one thing we’re pretty good at is climbing, and Mt Falcon has that in spades. If you ride up the Castle trail you climb about 1800 feet in 3.5 miles.
Here is a fun video of the trail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMuk4m7ieCU
Jim & Matt are former snowboard racers, so going fast downhill doesn’t bother them a bit. Watching them effortlessly ride over the waterbars and easily clear each switchback at Mt Falcon was inspiring. Perhaps a bit too inspiring, as Phil biffed at least twice trying to clear obstacles Jim and Matt levitated over.
We went back after work a few days later and it was my turn to take a digger.Crashing going uphill takes a certain amount of skill and panache. Nothing like an excruciatingly slow speed crash to give you time to contemplate how much it is going to hurt when you finally hit those rocks. Then, you need either the Jaws of Life or your patient biking buddy to extricate you from the tangled up mess of still clipped-in shoes, upside-down bike and rocks/cactus/other sharp pointy things.
It makes me happy to know that I’m not the only one to have the experience, though.
Here is a brief excerpt from Fat Cyclist:
Hairpins on the Mountain
While a hairpin on a road descent can be terrifying and a hairpin during a road climb can somehow be a respite, a tight hairpin on a mountain bike — a turn with a radius less than the length of your wheelbase — is…complex.
First, you’ve got to shed all your speed. And then you start the turn.
Slowly. Smooth if you can, but more likely herky-jerky. If you’re me.
And then there’s the point you hit the apex of the turn. It’s a magic moment. You’re briefly stalled out, and either about to squeak out of the corner and roll out triumphant, or find that your front wheel is at too sharp an angle to the rest of your bike, and fall over on your side (unless you’re lucky enough to clip out in time, in which case I would argue that you weren’t fully committed to the attempt).
When you make it, though — when you slide around a hairpin that you’ve never cleaned, or even one you only clean half the time — you get that wild moment of elation, a moment that can only be described as “magic.”
And that goes double if the guy behind you falls over.
Sunday we went back for another try. It was a crisp, clear, autumn day. We ran into our friends Paul (above) and Linda who were trail running at Mt Falcon. Paul is training for a marathon so he's trying to get in some quality miles while the weather holds.
Just beyond where we met Paul and Linda on the trail we came across a baby rattlesnake sunning itself on a switchback. The day before we had seen a 3-footer up on South Table Mtn, so this guy looked puny. I guess the snakes are no different from the humans - just trying to get out in the sun any chance we get before winter moves in.Thursday, October 23, 2008
Tech Tips
Some of you grew up using a PC. Most of the rest of the folks checking out this site did not. We’re all self-taught, and there are gaps in our knowledge. So, here are a few handy tips I’ve learned in the last couple of weeks.
Google is also a units-of-measurement and currency converter. Type for example, without the quotes, "teaspoons in 1.3 gallons", "euros in 17 dollars" or "1.3 gallons in teaspoons", "17 dollars in euros". Click Search to see the answer.
When typing a web address into Internet Explorer’s address bar, you can type, for example, "yahoo" (no quotes) and then press Ctrl+Enter on the keyboard and the address will complete itself into www.yahoo.com. This only works for .com domains. [Shift+enter does .net, and ctrl+shift+enter does .org]
You can enlarge the text on any Web page. In Windows, press Ctrl and the plus or minus keys (for bigger or smaller fonts); on the Mac, it’s the Command key and plus or minus.
You can also enlarge the entire Web page or document by pressing the Control key as you turn the wheel on top of your mouse. On the Mac, this enlarges the entire screen image.
You can tap the Space bar to scroll down on a Web page one screenful. Use Shift + Space key to scroll back up.
That's all for this lesson . . .
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