Hikes and Bikes

Bobsled PR

Belle and I just did the Popperton Park - Dry Creek - Bobsled loop in 60 minutes.  That's the fastest I've ever done it with her or on the 575.  Considering that water breaks for her take about 2 minutes, I'm pretty pleased with that time.

Belle has been able to keep up the last couple times down Bobsled, which she couldn't do in the past.  I don't know if the new lines are just a bit slower (because they're higher) or if she's faster.  Maybe dogs are like people, with endurance peaking relatively late.

Shoreline fun

I've gotten in a few more rides on Shoreline lately.

Bobsled is better than ever.  It seems like there are higher lines put in every season.  This years new line goes above a 2-foot boulder than had previously limited the height of one of the berms.

City Creek is in great shape.  What a fun ride.

Best of all, a local hobbyist filmmaker is putting together an RC heli-cam.  He's got a miniature remote-controlled helicopter (miniature means 7' blades) with a film camera mounted underneath.  I got to watch the test run at the I-Street dirt jumps.  It's pretty sweet.

RAGBRAI

A handful of friends are planning to ride in the 2008 RAGRBAI. RAGBRAI is a week-long road bike race across Iowa. 

A week riding road bikes.  Across Iowa.

They declined my offer to start naming more fun ways to spend a week a bike.  Probably good as I'd still be going.

It's bike season

Belle and I went for our first ride of the season last night between Red Butte Canyon and Emigration Canyon.  Thanks to an ongoing high-pressure system, south-facing low-elevation trails are dry.  The new bike performed wonderfully and we had a blast.

We bumped into one of the mechanics at my LBS.  He noted that he wasn't surprised I broke the Yeti and referred to Belle as a "meat stick".  I don't know what that means, but I kinda like it.

Vegas pics

Billy's got pics from Vegas up.  I told you we go there to ride bikes, it's not just hookers and blow.

Things I noticed:

My form sucks.  And I need a longer shirt.

The Mustang seems more practical in picture form than while trying to get a bike in it.

Colorado City looks less creepy in picture form than in real life.

new ride

I broke Turtle, my beloved old 575, a couple weeks ago in Vegas.  Yeti was good to me and immediately sent a replacement frame, which I got today.  Pics to come, but it basically looks like this:

I'm think I'm going to be obvious yet pretentious and call her Phoenix.

The only problem is my Duke-blue accents clash horribly with the new paint job.  Not sure what I'm going to do about that. 

Gooseberry pics

A couple pics from Gooseberry Mesa, all taken Jan 25.

Regular morning camp shot, perhaps the yeti's last.

Hanging out at the end of the mesa. Billy sitting, Ross tossing rocks off the side.

Zion National Park from the south.

The side of the mesa.  Don't fall.

It's a long way down.

Vegas, baby, Vegas

My regular crew went south to mountain bike this weekend.  We rode Gooseberry Mesa (near Zion NP), bumped into some old friends at the Boulder City bike shop to ride Bootleg Canyon, and finished up riding the Cowboy Trails out at Red Rocks.  I've ridden most of those trails over the past few annual winter bike trips, and ride them better every year.  Maybe next year I'll get in on the guides' last-one-to-dab-drinks-free contest.  But probably not.

The bad news is that it looks like the Yeti is done.  The welds at the triangular rear shock-top tube junction are cracked.  I'll be warrantying it this week.

Moab

I went to Moab with some regular riding partners this weekend.  We camped near Gooneybird Rock, then rode Gold Bar to Golden Spike to the Portal on Saturday and Amasa Back on Sunday.  I packed in a hurry and thus forgot my camera.  Doh.

Our regular campsite is five miles up the Gemini Bridges road.  While it looks rather idyllic here, after the recent 24 Hours of Moab storm its in pretty bad shape.  It was fine in the truck but would be (and was) dicey in anything with less clearance. 

This was my first time on Gold Bar and the Portal.  For bikers, Gold Bar and Golden Spike are just different stretches of the same trail.  They lead south along the rim above 191 with cool views of Arches and the La Sal mountains.  Like most Moab rides, the trail has no major climbing; instead it's an endless series of steep, technical, short ups and downs.  Ledges, rollers, step-ups, all the usual culprits.  After a couple weeks off the bike I struggled with my confidence and thus rode poorly, but had a great time anyway.  While it's not an absurd goal, I don't know that I'll ever clean that trail.

The Portal is quite a ride.  The first mile or so is iffy and won't be further discussed here.  From there its a great downhill.  Tons of rocks, tight spots, scree, just plain screaming fun.  It's tough, but cleaning that is a reasonable goal for the spring.

Amasa Back is a classic Moab jeep road.  Lots of ledges, rocks to play on, a good time.  The only time I've ridden it before we descended the Jackson Trail singletrack above the Colorado River, so roaring back down the jeep road was a blast.  The 575 soaked up the smaller drops, the DH brakes on slickrock gave me amazing control, it was fun.

stupid injuries, a continuing series

I currently have a stripped-down steel bike frame sitting in my room.  Having moved from a house to a room, there's not much space, so I propped it on top of my bed's headboard.  Being prudent, I gave the headboard a push to make sure that it would stay, and it did.

Can you see where this is going?  Still remember that this thing is steel? 

Sure enough, a couple nights later it clanged down on me.  Now I have a big ole knot and gash dead in the center of my forehead.  The  cut is clearly a section of a circle; I haven't yet tried matching it up with the various tubes on the frame, but my guess is that it was the bottom bracket tube that got me.