2021 Mountain Biking

[AmyPJ]

We were getting a little dry....and two days of rain comes our way. Trails should be amazing by Tuesday, Wednesday for sure.

In other news, I sold the Top Fuel. Liked it a lot, but never quite loved it like my Fuel EX.

Supercaliber coming my way!

Speedy!! I am loving my Fuel EX this year. Cut the bars down to 730 and it feels even more intuitive.

 

[4ster]

A couple of cool days with rain & snow left some nice dirt yesterday for a backyard trifecta..

 

[Tom K.]

Speedy!! I am loving my Fuel EX this year. Cut the bars down to 730 and it feels even more intuitive.

Same. Love the FEX. Interesting side note: In Moab, a friend was lamenting that he loved everything about his Remedy, except super-steep climbing. Felt a little in the back seat. I swapped his Mino-Links to the high position and he was gushing.....so I did the same on my FEX, and holy shite I love it even more! So lively, and a solid bit more eager in the climbing department.

I recommend giving it a try. It's a five minute experiment, or less.

 

[AmyPJ]

Same. Love the FEX. Interesting side note: In Moab, a friend was lamenting that he loved everything about his Remedy, except super-steep climbing. Felt a little in the back seat. I swapped his Mino-Links to the high position and he was gushing.....so I did the same on my FEX, and holy shite I love it even more! So lively, and a solid bit more eager in the climbing department.

I recommend giving it a try. It's a five minute experiment, or less.

Already done! Yes, it quickens everything up on the down, too.

 

[Doug Briggs]

I hung up (well, set aside at least) the skis after last Sunday and got out on the bike today. A simple 'work out the kinks and make sure everything is working' ride on the Frisco Peninsula.

The trails from my house to my friend's were in remarkably good condition. Only two very brief wet spots and those were in the usual locations. Not a single tree down! Although in other parts of the county there have been dozens of trees down so I'm not feeling out of the woods (put intended) yet.

Looking south along the perimeter trail over the Blue River arm of Dillon Reservoir. Red Mountain in the distance. The res is at its usual level for the spring. It may not fill this year with runoffs predicted to be about 50% of normal.

The north end of the Ten Mile Range. Frisco is at the end of the Ten Mile Creek arm of the res.

Guyot, Baldy and Red (l to r).

 

[scott43]

I just got a new 20" MTB for the older lad. Had his choice between this and a BMX, chose the MTB.

 

[Andy Mink]

@Philpug and I had a nice ride on Peavine Mountain today. No photos because we were just going way to fast. On the plus side I didn't tip over.

 

[nay]

I’ve been riding a ton. 40 mile Gunnison Growler race (Big Bad Wolf edition) this weekend in Hartman Rocks.

Hartman is so tricky, it seems easy but there is so much constant climb spurts of limited vert, all of which add up to about 5K of climbing and the same for descent for this race.

I pre-rode it in 2 segments two weekends ago. I think I should have left the Big Bad Wolf edition at Red Riding Hood’s house. This will occur on the 31.5 lb Stumpy Evo that is now 170/160 travel.

First half of the race…

 

[nay]

And second half - it’s not going to be 45°, humid, with hero dirt, either.

 

[nay]

Section 16 full loop at Red Rock Canyon back on May 1st. 2K of vert on a 12 mile loop with a fall down the kitty litter and rubble descent.

Business in the front, party in the back.

Brand new trail on the edge of hogback - riotous fun down the fall line with constant little park jump features. Over a mile long and no hikers.

 

[nay]

And White Ranch right outside of Golden.

Belcher Hill is a slogfest. But you can get 2.2K of vert followed by the mad descent of Longhorn over all of 9 miles. All erosion, all the time.

 

[Tom K.]

I’ve been riding a ton. 40 mile Gunnison Growler race (Big Bad Wolf edition) this weekend in Hartman Rocks.

Hartman is so tricky, it seems easy but there is so much constant climb spurts of limited vert, all of which add up to about 5K of climbing and the same for descent for this race.

I pre-rode it in 2 segments two weekends ago. I think I should have left the Big Bad Wolf edition at Red Riding Hood’s house. This will occur on the 31.5 lb Stumpy Evo that is now 170/160 travel.

That looks like a GREAT endurance race! Winner should be decided by the best mix of fitness AND actual biking skills. My favorite. And 5k in 40 miles will be no picnic.

But that's a big, squishy bike, for any race course?

Thank goodness you aren't doing "The Pup"!

Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[nay]

^^^thanks! Well the Stumpy Evo is a “The Utimate Trail Bike” so we’ll see about that . It does pedal well and there’s plenty of techy downhill where the cushy will keep fatigue down, but I’d sure take an Epic Evo for this race and shed 10 lbs. I did shed 10 lbs on myself riding so much during Covid so maybe that counts?

There is only one big climb, Aberdeen Loop @ 1.200’, the rest happens over smaller drop in / climb out punches so I’ll be climbing for a good 4 hours between 8-9K punctuated by mostly quick downhill whips of tech to flow. Almost no JRA.

I think some people may try this on gravel bikes, but that would be a bit brutal on the arms and legs on this course even though fast in many ways. Either way there are insane Crested Butte types here and some of the college kids at Western are just unreal.

But it’s a super cool race and I’m not DH competitive so…let’s see who can grind it out. I’ll have fans out in the course and there are pickles at aid stations. They just want to see me suffer (the kids, suspect the pickles only want to help).

 

[sparty]

First proper mountain bike in a couple of decades, and I think I got pretty lucky finding a decently-spec'd full squish bike at a reasonable used price. I got a few rides in last week, but I finally got shoes in this weekend and got out on clipless again yesterday. The rides last week were a combination of newer (i.e. more flow-y) trail and some logging roads; this week, I found the local trails that are a bit more of what I remember from years ago—more rocks and roots, plus a fair bit of short ups and downs. But overall, I'm super-impressed with the bike and feeling pretty good about having sold a dirt bike to fund it (there's a lot more non-motorized riding around here than there is motorized).

 

[blackke17]

been hitting it down in Herriman Utah . some great views of Timp along the way

feeling a bit awkward on the bike yet. im so used to having 2 planks on my feet.

 

[Doug Briggs]

I returned to the scene of the crime. I picked up a map from the Frisco Recreation office to try to identify the new trails we encountered the previous visit. Unfortunately, the maps were not updated. So this became an exploratory mission.

The Ten Mile Range.

A confusing sign. It was a three way intersection yet the same trail (Buzzsaw Loop) seemed to go in 4 directions.

KT rode the VooDoo D'jab today while waiting for the Ibis to be serviced. She was riding well and quickly. The O2 concentrator is working well for her. It has enhanced her skiing and her riding.

Yours truly.

The next time we'll go back and ride trails that aren't on the map but are on MTB Project. Excelsior and Treasure Vault. The other new, but unmapped trail is Eureka Patch which we did up and down today.

I typically ride to KT's so get another 3.9 miles.

Lots of terrain has dried around my house so I'll be back on the usual rides soon.

 

[Philpug]

Yabba dabba doo!

 

[AmyPJ]

I never thought I was superb on the DH segments. But I’m not gonna lie, I’m a wee bit proud of being a decent ripper for an over 50 mama. My times have gotten even better with the bars cut shorter. For those who have skied with me and seen how cautious I can be, this is kind of surprising. Crap, maybe it’s time for some enduro races!

 

[Tom K.]

Crap, maybe it’s time for some enduro races!

You will first need as much "Enduro" blue clothing as @Tricia is collecting 80s/90s ano purple bike parts for her new E-Caliber.

A fine day up here on the local semi-rugged, xc-ish trails:

 

[graham418]

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Yabba dabba doo!

I take it that the ol' ticker is keeping proper time.