A blog about a guy who Loves riding bikes with one gear.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
A Gathering Rainbow
Here in these parts, we get quite a few rainbows. I never tire of seeing them though. The Rainbow Gathering is happnin right now in Cuba, NM right next door to us here. I debated headin down there to check it out but we will be in Breckenridge for the Firecracker 50 and to enjoy the 4th of July up there.
Had a terrific ride the other day out on the Rancho Viejo loop. 10 of us embarked on this mission and 10 of us returned. great day for a ride. I took a few snapshots to try and capture the day.
Anthony's new bike
Good to pick your own path
Mark and Jamie takin in some food
Always a nice place to stop for a snack
This is Todd. Riding along the river. It was great riding wirh Todd who is Krista's husband (I think)
If you go through this meadow without stopping and soaking it in then you are crazy
Todd and Krista both laid their bikes down in the same exact position. Isn't that cute?
Another killer ride in Santa Fe What is in your audio player? I have Fanfarlo's new album Resevior in mine. It is quite nice. I love this Will Oldham cover they do to. Thanks to Dan at work for showing me this
Wisdom is but self-awareness, Beyond all words and talk.
Got out on a couple SWEET rides with the Chut a while ago. One was a ride where we met at el Gancho and left a car there and drove another car to Glorieta Baptist center and pedalled up to the tower via ghost town and then descended Apache Canyon and then took a killer single track out to la Barbaria and then back to Marks awaiting truck. That last singletrack out was new for us and I thought it was fantastic. Can't wait to hit that one again.
Mark has found enlightenment
waiting for their friends
Finding our way
Brought along some whoppers to munch on
The trail and the views are top notch up here
Down at the apache trailhead.
It started getting hot out and I remembered a method Jay uses to cool off and I decided to give it a try. It worked
Then it was onto that killer last section of trail that I can't wait to get back to
Then Maka and I met up at the bottom of Pacheco Canyon rd and rode from there and went up to Aspen Ranch and then proceeded to ride the Rio en Medio and it was a KILLER ride. We got some showers at the tail end of the ride. Anyone who has spent some time in the high desert will tell you that the smells when it rains are phenominal.
Just above where pacheco canyon rd turns up towards Hyde Park rd. We stopped for a snack
Sometimes I wish for signs to point the way. This is just too much though
I believe this to be a lovely ???
crossin' over Then the lovely shower came and brought the smells out in full force
A trunk with a view
A couple of SWEET rides.Gotta love it. nothing like hitting the great outdoors for some good ol fasioned fun.
Rode the Santa Fe Century last week. Had a great time. As a bonus Ben from Cinelli USA let me demo a Cinelli The Machine for the ride, which made the day ohhh sooo much better.let me say that I loved this bike. The full carbon framest and wheels were fantastic. It didn't really help my time though.I have always known that it is not the machine but the man. I had quite the eventful day before the century which did NOT help my time at all. Cinelli's seem to be known mostly in the U.S. for their track frames but their road stuff rips. If I had lots of money I would without a doubt get one of these for my road bike and retire the C-Dale.
Coming up Heartbreak Hill. Photo by Anthony DJ
Cochiti is the place to be. Come one come all to the place known as Cochiti. Had a KILLER ride with the guys the other day that was picture perfect. We ascended Dome rd ..... The (edit, thanks to the keen eye of Mark)Mark and Cat 3 leading the way of course
Dom and Cochiti Lake
Isaac in front of the cerro grande fire damage
then it was onto Motown trail which is in GREAT shape thanks to the moto doods that pretty much have built most of the trails and maintain most the trails in Cochiti.
Mark and Stefan riding bikes
Then we made a wrong turn and descended down to Alamo Spring.
Then we made our way down Killer Switchbacks photo by Stefan
Isaac climbing out of Cochiti Canyon
Yes sir another sweet one here in the southwest.
What is in your audio player? I have Animal Collective's new one Merriweather Post Pavilion in mine. Yet another Baltimore band hittin the bigtime. I first heard of these guys when I saw they had a song called Loch Raven. Which was a reservoir in Towson which had about 40 miles of trails it.Many good memories there. A picture of the upper loop
"Don't feel bad, I teach spin class and I couldn't make this climb either" This was said to Mark as we hiked up a steep section on the Chamisa trail form the Winsor up to the saddle. This section of trail can be really tuff on the SS after lots of elevation gain all ready under your belt. I have hit the Winsor and Chamisa a bunch lately. I can say it is soo nice to get back into the bigger trees. I got a late start on the ride up the Winsor but ended up reeling in the crew. Having a drink before hitting sidewinder Matt coming down the burn
Bout a month ago Chris from Bike mag was visiting BTI and he was on his way to New York. He wanted to hit up a ride before he rolled out of town. He was testing out some equipment. That ride was really fun The snow had just started when we began pedaling. It was falling steady but it was a real light snow and it fell really slowly .Quite magical
This Cochiti ride was a good time for sure.
Robert loving the monocog and ripping it
TG out there Started seeing more and more snow as we got up to beaver pond
Ohh Beaver Pond. Why are thou so pretty?
I wonder what this cabin was for?
What is in your audio player?Eric sent me this video of Small Sur playing "Yosemite" live at Current Canyon Fest in Baltimore, Maryland on October 6, 2007
Winter seems to have returned lately round these here parts Easter weekend just passed and it was rather snowy and rainy here. It was sort of nice. We had a nice indoor day Saturday getting stuff done around the house. Sunday I watched Paris Robaix then made it out for a trail ride on the Dale Ball North trail round 4:20 It was a lovely ride all by my lonesome How much do we all love solo rides? I think a lot
I love the Dale Balls
Can you guess the tread pattern?
A few weeks ago I met Dominic and Mark at Doms pad on upper canyon and we rode our bikes from Upper canyon onto the Dale Ball central trail up to Hyde Park rd and took that up above 10,000 Waves and up to Chamisa trail. From there they let me catch my breath and we proceeded to climb up to the saddle and take Sidewinder to the Burn to the Juan then back around to the Bishops Lodge trails then out to Bishops lodge rd up to Barranca to Sierra del Norte back to Dale Ball north trails down to Dale Ball Central back to Upper Canyon and to Doms swanky pad and awaiting brews.
Chamisa was a bit snowy but fully ridable
Mark had a tough time getting over some of the larger downed trees on the trail
A lovely door on Barranca Then it was a couple diferent IPA's that I had not had before. A Sierra IPA called Torpedo and a Rogue Ales Yellow Snow IPA
What is in your audio player? I have been still digging on Yeasayer a bunch. Love this track Tightrope
The spring equinox has come and gone and the rides have been plentiful.Rode Cochiti for the first time in the year 2009 a couple weeks ago. It was rather snowy but the descent down Medio Dia was fun in the snow.
It was quite snowy on the saddle before we dropped down Medio Dia Anthony, Mark and Jason enjoying a break on the saddle.
Dom is all smiles.... easy when you have nuttin but leisure activities to fill your days
Anthony stepping over to the other side
I had never ridden with Jason. It was great riding with him. I think he had fun despite his serious face in the picture.
Mark is soooooooo hard
It was Thursday at work which means it is Kips donut day
Then it was a nice weekend ride with Tony from Magura and Ryan and Matt from Hi altitude sales. It was a sweet ride up chamisa and on sidewinder.
Ryan and Matt had a killer truck that was fully custom with solar panels and all kinds of crazy shit. It is behind my bike in the picture. I, of course didn't get any pics of it. I should of though it was pretty cool.
Heading up to Atalaya for the first time of 2009
The bag-of-homos have there Tecate and cuervo and I have my Cadbury cream eggs
Mark coming off Picacho Ella requested that I take Yoshi up Atalaya so that he could see Santa Fe from Atalaya peak. He had a blast on the ride and even got to ride with his head out of Anthony's pack so that he could enjoy Anthony's aggro style.
Ohh man Jeff at work was kind enought to bring me a couple sixers of Dogfish Head 90 Imperial IPA
What do you have in your audio player? I have The Books: Smells Like Content in mine
Couple weeks ago I packed my grocery bags full of my lycra and other assorted sundries and hopped in the BTI truck and rolled on down to Tucson with Matt, Ben and Taylor from Spot. We were racing in the 4 man singlespeed catagory. We left Santa Fe about 10ish in the morning. The guys loaded up the trailer and arrived at my abode to pick me up.
I thought that was very nice of my teammates. I just wish that the positive team attitude could of continued through the weekend ;). We stopped to check the tire pressure on the truck and trailer per request We sort of took our time getting to Willow Springs, When we arrived in Tucson we stopped at our first stop which was at Nimbus Brewing.
We acquired 4 growlers full of there fine IPA. We then did a bit of grocery shopping. After getting a bunch of stuff we would never eat. We made tracks for Thunder Canyon Brewing for some more beer and some dinner. We were quite impressed with the wait staff here. After eating and having a couple pints we made our way to 24 hour town. We arrived at a late hour and it was pretty chill at Willow Springs Ranch. We set up and pretty much went to bed. It was quite chilly. At least there was no snow though. I awoke to a herd of Flagstaffers
Then it was time to start the race. Notice the coonsumate profesional Mike Raney getting himself mentally ready for the race. Then you have our team mate Matt getting ready for the run
BANG
I think this picture shows the proof of Sasquatch
Ben coming in from his first lap. Check the full Clif Kit
Taylor was riding a ti Spot belt driven bike for the race. Once he got the gearing on it that he wanted he didn't have a single mechanical.
Mikes friends making up some breakfast
fire is my friend
As the sun sets on race day we are doing pretty good. My first couple laps went really well. My next 2 laps were much worse. My first full night lap I had to keep stopping because my bar light kept sliding off the bar and slipping upside down so that it was pointing backwards. WEAK. I fixed it when I got back to our campsite though with some electrical tape. Then my 4th lap which was around 5ish am I decided to lay down in my tent because it was rather chilly. I remember waking up and being like ummmmmm ok what time did Matt go out for his lap? I put on my wet lycra and went out by the fire and warmed up. I looked at my watch , it said 5 in the morning. I woke Ben up and asked him what time Matt had left on his lap. I thought Ben said that Matt had gone out at 3:58. Cool I have a couple minutes. I got my self together and went down to put my bike at the racks and went into the tent to wait for Matt with the rest of the people. I waited a couple minutes when I hear Matt coming in the wrong way for coming in from a lap. He was VERY mad at me because he had gotten back and I was not in the tent to meet him and he had gone up to our campsite to see where the fuck I was. Man every other word out of his mouth was F#*K. Real bummer because 10 minutes is a lot of time. Ohh well. I am to blame.
When that sun comes above the horizon it will put a smile on your face
Taylor heading out on his last lap.
here is Ben Coffey getting ready for his last lap of the race. Ben is making quite a statement with his attire.That has to be the nastiest jersey I have ever seen.
Waiting for Matt to come in for my 5th and final lap.
The Cycle Locos scored a 4th place finish in 4 person SS. We Vagina Monocogs) got 8th. If you want to look at the lap times. Click here We stayed the night in Tucson and went back to Thunder Canyon for dinner and pints. We stopped to see the THING on 10 near Benson, AZ First we came upon this scarey scene Then this barroom scene Then we arrived at the THING......
This guy didn't look too happy
we stopped in Hatch for a fantastic Southern New Mexican meal at The Pepper Pot. This place is right on the main road. If you are ever goin through Hatch New Mexico I would suggest you stop there for a bite to eat. as you can se we are excited to be back in New Mexico 3/4 of Vagina Monocogs started it off with some chips and salsa
Most of us if not all of us got the combo plate which was KICK ASS This picture was taken to document Matts profuse sweating whe nhe eats spicey foods. Sweat was dripping of his brow and shit. Then we meandered across the street to buy some cheap ristras. The KILLER waitress from the Pepper Pot had noticed that Ben had forgotten his coat and came across the street to return it. She could of been the best waitress I have ever had.
What is in your audio player? I have A sweet Yeasayer song "Tightrope" in mine. Can't wait for a new album from them.
One last shot. This one is from the shoebox archive. Paul and I made a trip down to Daytona before we moved there and we stopped at a few parks on the way down. The benifit of being with Paul was that we got to skate places after hours sometimes. The shot was taken at the Hanger which I think was in Charleston
