It's all about this right now

But Tommy D, please make sure the beer doesn't run out ok?

I love this route, and the turkeys and sheep must be aware of us by now ok?

Me and Jeni....don't suck our wheels, ok?

Ever feel like everyone else is just standing still?

But yet I still had no coffee.

DBT-2007 is over. 22 people showed up from 5 different states; NM, CO, TX, AZ, and OR. 11 finishers, with good buddy Rich coming in with 2 of the Texas contingent to finish the day. Jens took over all at 8:36 and I rolled in with the 2nd place guy, Steven Yore at an hour later - he was on gears like Jens and I was on the Moots, 32x19 this time. Steven could have taken off anytime, but I was his route guide - good riding company.

John Stevens shoulda/coulda/woulda been in there somewhere, but wrong turn to make the EBT loop backwards and also skipping the Jaracita section did him in. Hmmmmm....

Good day had on the bike and Jeni and crew led 9 others on half of the ride (EBT to SBT), so lots of tread put into those primitive EBT routes.

Yellow colors and lots of beautiful scenery. Can't wait to ride this epic again. Sportsman.....we missed you!

It's getting close!

Double Boundary Race this weekend!

Boston 1977

Damn fine one here.....took a little while to get dialed in, but just excellent sound.

Row Jimmy

I said Row Jimmy, Row Jimmy
Gonna get there there?
I don't know
Seems a common way to go
Get down and row, row, row....

I wanna be an indian

Sitting in the teepe...

Looking outside.

Jeni row

Seems a common place to go.....

Get down and row, row, row......

Ask the time? Baby I don't know

Ain't got half a what you thought you had

Not too fast and not too slow

Come back later, we'll let it show

the levee doing the do-pass-o

gonna get there? I don't know.

Get down and row, row, row, row, row

And I say row, Jeni row.

Ain't got half a what you thought you had

double twist when you hit the air

Don't hang your head let the two-time roll

Grass shack nailed to a pine wood floor

Ask the time? Baby I don't know

Come back later, we'll let it show

And I say row, Jimmy row

Gonne get there I don't know

Seems a common way to go

Get down, row, row, row row, row

Row Jeni row...

Full concert here.

So many roads to ride

Got to ride with David for the first time this year, and we decided to scout out some of the Pecos, Elk Mountain in particular, which is about 11.5k-ft in elevation. We decided to start from Pecos and take up old logging roads to the peak, and the we wanted to ride the Sky Line Trail over to Barillas Peak, but this turned out to be elusive due to the fire. New USFS signs are in place, but with all the dead fall - they have their work cut out for them if they want to reclaim this singletrack gem.

The climb up was about 6,000-ft in 25-miles.
Climb, climb, climb...

And then we hit some aspens.

But a little turn off route proved to be the best choice of the ride.

This was a nice little diversion, although it packed in the extra climbing.

David picked a nice spot to lose a cleat bolt. So we enjoyed the view for a while.

The backside of Santa Fe....

Wow, we were on ridge lines all day so it was permagrin, with just taking in nature.

That's our Vegas, baby,

But the forest went through a very bad fire a few years back and it's just now recovering.

This is a natural event after all.

Unfortunately Sky Line trail goes through this area for about 3-4 miles and as you can imagine it may be cleared one day, and then with a windstorm 30-40 more trees can call down. This is tough.

But I didn't care, all I could do was smile.

Will the singletrack ever come back? Let's hope so.

Lots more to explore back here. Hope to make a fall color ride here in a few weeks.

Show me!

Well this just got a whole lot more exciting than that other race. Big George is now in the lead at the Tour of Missouri, which is located in our former home and appropriately nicknamed the "Show-Me State." While no one doubts Big George's ability to ride like a madman for his team mates, individual success has been very difficult for the Lieutenant. With Discovery set to disband this would be an awesome way to end things.

Show Me George! We'll be watching all week.

I know you rider (VT 125 Report)

I wish I was headlight, on a north bound train

Cause I'd shine my light through the cool Colorado Rain

- I Know You Rider, Grateful Dead

The locomotive above was with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and it's route was to Salida. My number for the Vapor Trail 125 - 319, fully by coincidence. I hear the train only ran one gear too......

Wow - what can one say after mountain biking 125-miles, on a singlespeed, through the Colorado Rockies after starting at midnight, using night lights to ride through the Colorado Trail, passing through abandoned railroad mountain towns (Alpine Tunnel - at 12k elevation) before dawn, climbing epic rock gardens, cruising above the treeline while praying for oxygen, passing through old mining operations (Lime Creek), riding epic singletrack (Silver Creek), getting fed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by a mountain biking legend (Dave Wiens), and eating a final BBQ at Salida karma central. Did I happen to mention that all of this was free? Tom Purvis and Shawn Gillis, you guys pulled off an epic!

Absolute Bikes in Salida pulled this one off. Because of USFS permitting issues this was a ride not a race, and thus it became invitational only. I had spoked with Tom P a few times at the Cortez race and later at the shop and was fortunate enough to snag a last minute invite. While it was a ride per se, believe me people were going as fast as they could to finish this bad boy.

I started at the line with Adam Lisonbee, and Jeff Kerkove - here is a shot from Adam's blog. I figured since I was running single and the VT125 started off on a road climb from town that I should follow a strong gearies wheel, and so Jeff became my target (err....thanks amigo!). I had a feeling he might take off strong and well, he did, along with three guys from Leadville. The Crested Butte locals all knew better of course, and krept up later. But as a SSer. I thought it might be good to make time fast, and well that proved to be quite correct.

We hit the Colorado Trail and it was absolute fun in the dark. The CB crew started creeping up and I ended up riding with Ethan Passant up to CP2, another of the highly successful Albuquerque alum. Damn, our ex-residents rule. Ethan, that geared bastard, disposed of me on the way to Alpine Tunnel, but then Jesse the Canuck caught me and brought us back to Ethan and then we proceeded to a weird adventure in the swamps. Turns out the swamps were not part of the course, so we turned around and decided to follow the directions.

Once we headed back on course, we ran into Jeff Irwin, who turned out to be my riding buddy for quite sometime. Ask him about pine needles and I'll bet a distorted and yet painful look appears on his face. But the games for me were over with these strong geared bandits once Tomichi Pass came. I can make up for suck ass descending skills on most courses, but throw in a couple of 2k walking climbs for a singlespeeder and lights out Irene. Ah, who am I kidding, I descended so horrible off Tomichi pass (two endos) that that alone moved me back to whatthe fockamidoinghere? status.

Later in the ride me and Blake Heren realized that we had been passing one another all darn day. He finally put me to rest on the Rainbow Trail. Great job, you geared knuclehead!

I ran the 34x21 combo and ran the Mustang up front and the AC350 in the rear. Yes, I stressed about this and came to a compromise. What a geek are I.

Well after getting beat up very serious on the Tomichi up and down- but yet being helped and brought back from the dead by Dave at the Monarch CP, I did continue on. But shoot, Lime Creek was tough. I can only imagine this must be tougher than the previous Agate to US50 route in years past.

Here is a shot of me at the finish, courtesy of Dave Nice. He's got a lot of fotos up on his blog so please check them out. He attempted the VT125 on a fixie but ended up cutting his tire and losing his chain - better luck next time Dave!

I came in with the 5th fastest time and the 1st for a singlespeeder. For that I got a bottle of Stranahan's Whiskey. Wow, that was quite cool! Dave Nice is all about the cycling karma!

This report is brought to you by The Santa Fe Brewing Company, which happens to reside on I-25 on the way back to Albuquerque. As I drove back from Salida, I stopped in and the head brew master Ty somehow managed to hook me up with the state's finest - Santa Fe Pale Ale - all while talking on the phone and giving out brewing advice to someone in dire need.

Anyway, the beer is now chilled and the words (hopefully) were flowing, at best in some sort of communicable state. All spelling errors will be fully attributable to my inattentiveness in Mrs. Griffith's English classes, and of course all ability to communicate effectively is fully attributable Mrs. Giltner.

I think the Grateful Dead can sum up it best with a Tuscaloosa concert....

Roll Tide Roll......

Shout outs

This buddy of mine has dusted off the mountain bike and just completed the Berryman Duathlon! Dude, remember when we used to think Coach Gschwender's practices were hard?

And Vanessa just kicked some serious tail up in Wisconsin. Way to go girl!

The things that I get myself into....

This one is gonna be rough, but wow, the scenery will be amazing. Heading out in a few hours to Salida and then will stay up past my bed time to do a bike race - yeah that sounds weird! I think they will have updates at each aid station on their blog, so check it out for Sunday AM breakfast, lunch, and hopefully I'll be done before dinner!

I set up the Mooto-x for 34x21 which is 46.9 gear inches. It's the lightest that I've run all year and I hope it's not going to drive me crazy on the flatter portions. Stan's ghetto tubeless for 2 wheelsets, the AC Sprint 350, and the DT 240s w/ Bontrager Mustangs. Still about 380-gram between the two wheelsets, but definately the Mustangs are more durable. Will have to decide which one to ride on the drive up there. I rode the AC 350's at Cedro with Donnie on Thursday PM and wow, those are smoking fast on the climbs, but a little flexxy on the descents. So that's my decision to mull over. Do I take the weight penalty or roll up the climbs easier....which will total 20k ft!

Oh and I'll bet it's gonna be real friggin cold up at 12k before sunrise!

And to think I could be at cedro today and then drinking beer afterward. ;-)