Heil Valley Ranch, June 29, 2010

One day of rest and then on to the Heil Valley Ranch with Darcy.  This trail is also in Boulder County, but is built and maintained by the county and is a part of the county's open space program.  The trails there were built in about 2001, and were specifically built for mountain biking.  Thus, they have gradual climbs and are pretty consistently wide.  They also have not suffered too much from erosion, as they are built to shed water instead of letting water run straight down the trail and cause them to become ruts filled with baby heads.
They also have really nice maps along the way.

This trail is also wooded, with a bunch of flower filled beautiful meadows, and how often does one see a TURKEY in the wilds of Colorado?  Never.  Until now.

The bluebells were nice too.

And, where else but in the People's Republic of Boulder will one find a bench to rest at?

Towards the top, a nice view of Longs Peak.

And, near the bottom, a nice split rail fence.

Sourdough Trail, June 25, 2010

I recently joined a Meet-up group that is dedicated to mountain biking, and while I have not gotten together with these people very much, I did a recently.  We drove to a stretch of single track in Boulder County known as the Sourdough Trail.

This trail is an extremely strenuous ride.  It starts at about 9200 feet of elevation and rises to about 10,200.  It is not very well maintained, so as a consequence it is fairly badly eroded.  So, this means lots of loose rubble on the trail.  It is not super steep, but between the baby heads and the elevation, the rider is really breathing.  When you stop and catch up with your breathing, when you start again, your legs feel strong, but your lungs quickly fail and the ride becomes instantly anaerobic.

Here is our small group that made the Meet-up.  Justin is on the right, and Nick is in the middle.  Both are great guys and good riders.  Left me in the dust!  This shot shows the upside of the Sourdough Trail, tho: it is through the woods.  Lots of shade, and combined with the elevation, a good place to ride in the summer heat.  One can also see a bit of brown in the trees, a result of beetle kill.

Here is an interesting feature.  Nick says to me, "There's a few fun little spots ahead, it's probably best to speed up when you see them."  This certainly piques my interest but gets me a little bit skeert.  I have no idea why the trail builders/maintainers would do this, but it looks like that if a tree falls down over the trail, instead of cutting a portion of it away, they simply build ramps of dead logs to help one ride over it. Actually, it was fun.

Here is Justin coming down the trail.  It was about 6 miles up and so one gets a hoot of a long descent for the ride back to the car.  By the end, my hands were cramping from hanging on and applying the brakes.

Here was our reward at the top.  Left Hand Reservoir.  Late June, and still snow on the ground.

Darcy, Tim, and Gordon: Jun 8, 2010 on Coyote Ridge Trail

There are several differences in how the three of us ride a trail.  Tim is strong, fit and very technically able.  He rides it all, uphill and down.  Darcy is strong, and fit, but not as technically able; she rides it all...downhill.  She tries very hard to ride it all uphill, but for reasons that I cannot fathom, she can't ride it all uphill.  She is strong and extremely fit, but can't get over some of the uphill bumps.  Perhaps it is upper body strength.  Myself, some days I am in the middle of them...I can ride some stuff uphill that Darcy can't, and there are several places that she can ride downhill that I can't...or won't.

The following shot is Darcy riding a narrow series of steps.  These steps are not steep, and each of the steps are really quite small.  But, these steps are inside my head, and I chicken out riding them every damn time.

The picture doesn't really show it, but this portion of the trail is poised on a very steep hillside; in fact, to the right of Darcy it is an absolutely vertical drop of about 7 feet, down to a very steep hillside which is covered in rock and cactus.  The vertical drop is in my head, and I can't remove the image of a mental mistake which would send me over the edge onto my head.  So, I stop and walk it.  Clucking like the chicken I am!  Look carefully at Darcy's face and that smile.  She loves singletrack and has a supreme confidence in herself.

On the other hand, I got here several minutes ahead of Darcy.  She sometimes has a bit of trouble with the climb up to this narrow spot, and I was able to find a place off of the trail to shoot her as she came over it.  Of course, Tim came by here 15 minutes ahead of both of us, and is long gone on down the trail.

The next series of shots is another tough uphill rock garden, which is about a half mile further along the trail.  Tim can do it easily, and Darcy and I can do it...if we rest at the bottom.  It is very rigorous, and anaerobic.  The rider must look ahead carefully; both just in front of the wheel and farther up the hill planning a (hopefully) successful line.  It is an intense little bit, and a reason for high fives at the top when we all make it.

First, Tim.  Notice the relaxed eyes and mouth.

Next, Darcy.  Fierce concentration...she is very competitive.  Tim is also very competitive, but not so much around us.

I like this one.  Really shows her intensity.  By the way, she cleaned it today.  These shots also show off Darcy's nice bike.  Titanium hardtail, with pretty much top of the line components.   Tim spec'ed it out for her.  I picked it up and it almost took off like a helium balloon...that really isn't fair!

Here I am now, with a couple of shots by Darcy.

Can't see my face too well, which is just as well.  Grimacing, struggling, fighting for air, balance and leg drive; not pretty!  But...I cleaned it too!

Distractions from the Flow

The mountain biker wants to reach the flow; that state of mind where the world dissolves and one reaches a now that is all encompassing, all embracing.  The world is gone, nothing is left but the trail.  Zen.

I rode Lory State Park on a hot Sunday afternoon recently.  The Timber Trail climbs to Arthur's Rock and on its way it overlooks Horsetooth Reservoir and one of its several party coves.  The music, laughter, hollering, etc. can be heard from about a mile away.  No way to reach the flow with this static in the background.  One climbs the track, sweating, cursing the log and stone steps in your way, trying to breathe and drink a bit of water at the same time, and all one can think of is the cool, cool water, and the cool, cool beer down below.  

Rattlers are common in Northern Colorado foothills, and are often encountered by the mountain biker.  This one had 4 or 5 rattles, and was somewhat riled up.  Too bad I neglected to focus on his eyes.

A friend of mine is a massage therapist.  She had a client once who was bitten on the thigh by a rattler.  He was biking by a large and close rock, when the top of the rock suddenly came alive and bit him as he rode by.  

Most of the time, you hear them or see them crossing the trail, or sunning themselves on the trail, and can stop.  Occasionally, I will hear a buzzing as I speed by, and then several tens of yards down the trail, I will think, "Was that what I thought it was"?  I have never seen one actually strike.  They rarely leave this pose, if you give them room and simply leave them alone.

The weather is another hazard.  It can be sunny, mild and benign when one leaves the trailhead.  An hour later, you notice the sky and it is seemingly very suddenly very threatening with wind, rain, hail and lightening.  Nothing like a helmet full of vents to protect one from the falling ice, and nothing like a really good conductor of electricity nestled into your crotch with millions of volts dancing around.

And lastly, gravity.  But really, gravity is your friend.  Just keep saying that: gravity is your friend, gravity is your friend......  But, it really is.  The one time I reached the Zen like state of the flow was on a long, curvy descent.  I suddenly became aware of myself again towards the bottom of the hill.  I remember thinking: who am I? where am I? what am I doing?  It took awhile for me to answer the questions.  Then a huge grin came, and I have been looking for the flow ever since.  I told Darcy what happened; she laughed and said, "Man, you've been to church"!

The Devil's Backbone Trail, June 2, 2010

The Devil's Backbone is a very unique rock formation, especially considering its location on the Front Range of Northern Colorado.  It is quite stunning.  The trail goes along beside the rock, offering beautiful views of it while near it, and then rises up onto the nearby hogback formations which are more typical of the geology for this area.  The trail is extremely rough and challenging, due to the nature of the rock, which is slabbed and layered, flat ironed if you will, creating a very bumpy ride.  When riding uphill, the trail constantly fights you and tries to reject you.  Even when riding downhill, it is trying to buck the rider off the bike.

The Devil's Backbone Trail starts just west of Loveland, goes northwards and connects with the Blue Sky Trail, which connects with Horsetooth Mountain Park, which connects into Lory State Park.  It makes for a trail system that delivers way more milage than I ever want on any one ride.

Here is a portion of the Devil's Backbone.

Another view.

I have been riding with a couple of buddies, Darcy and Tim.  Here is a shot of Darcy.  At this point, the trail is very easy and pleasant, with a great view of the Backbone.  It soon gets technical: steep and rocky.

A shot of Darcy that she might like better, at a pause overlooking the Backbone.  I have known Darcy for about 10 years, meeting her at a bookgroup.

Up on top of the hogback formations, the trail builders had to create several "bridges" because the west side of the ridge is so steep.  This is Tim, negotiating a steep switchback at one of the structures.

Tim is a very, very, very strong mountain bike rider.  He has strength, endurance, and awesome technical ability.  But, today and here, Tim was struggling.  He had fallen earlier on the ride and damaged the front shock of his bike, making things quite difficult.  Never the less and as usual, he was riding out ahead of Darcy and myself and then turning around and coming back to us.  He usually rides about 50 percent farther than I do.

Below, Darcy is on a portion of the trail that illustrates what some people call the "flat irons" nature of the rock.  It is hard to tell, but she is riding uphill.  This makes for very interesting riding, never mind if you are going uphill or downhill.  The rider had better be concentrating!

Here is yours truly, descending down to the Backbone.  Once you are down alongside the Backbone the trail is a gentle descent, with fun, flowing curves.  It makes for a mad, mad, crazy mad ride back to the parking lot: top gear, cranking has fast as you can and the three of us wheel to wheel hooting and hollering.  Well, okay, Tim, just Darcy and I.

One last shot, from atop the hogback, camera looking east over Loveland.