In the Gila National Park, holding up the broken pedal I’ve been “riding” with the help of some found rope used to tie it to my shoe Kent Peterson, Bike Wrenchin’, Randonneurin’, Fixed-Gear Ridin’ and Positive Bike-Advocacy Guru was kind enough to interview me with some questions fielded by the curious about my Tour Divide Continue reading…
One of the final parts of my entire Tour Divide kit that I got together was my photography equipment. Like the rest of my gear, it had to fit some fairly extreme constraints: not too big, not too heavy and able to survive the trip. I settled on the Olympus PL1 PEN, which also has Continue reading…
I have literally just touched down back in Denver, but while I was racing, there was an intense interest in my race, no doubt because I decided to take the standard, completely snowed-in route – and completed every part of the race that was rerouted because of snow. To find out there was so much Continue reading…
Below is the Tour Divide Race Map! Find my personal page here to see how I’m doing. There are a TON of alternative routes because of snow, but I intend to tramp through as many as I can via snowshoes and pure, unadulterated will. And foolishness. I may be dead last, but one of the Continue reading…
Four days, 420 miles, 4 continental divide crossings, 9 hours of snowshoeing, two days of minstrel headwinds,snow showers and over-caffeine-ation. “Well,” said the shaggy man, “let’s start on, or we won’t get anywhere before night comes.” “Where do you expect to get to?” asked Dorothy. “I’m like Button-Bright. I don’t know,” answered the shaggy man, Continue reading…
A beautiful Sunday in Colorado. A nice 80 miles riding to White Ranch to Golden Gate Canyon State Park and taking Golden Gate Canyon Rd. back to Golden. Find some new-to-me trails to ride around in Riding feels strong, I’m about 5mph slower loaded than unloaded, a little worse on the climbs. Pretty pleased at Continue reading…
Having covered our plains with highways, factories and cities, having subdivided our hillsides into suburbs, having deepened and dammed up the rerouted our rivers to make seaways or sources of electric power, we have left only the ocean and the mountains to remind us of what we cannot do to the landscape. — Isabella Bird, Continue reading…
A short tale of overdoing it. I decided earlier last week that I should join the Colorado Randonneurs on their 300km on Saturday. “Haw haw”, I thought, “I could polish off a 300km ride no sweat” In fact, my plan was to ride the 20 miles to the start of the ride, ride the ride Continue reading…
White Ranch Open Space Park, clear skies Snow Squall moving In Snow still around at the top of the ridelines in Golden Gate Barker Dam, Nederland Public Sculptors of a former professor of mine in Boulder I spotted a dirt road from Golden that seemed to go all the way North to Coal Creek Canyon Continue reading…
At around 1:00 am the previous night, I settled on the idea to try the, “Ring the Peak” route around Pike’s Peak. You can learn about the route here and here. I just thought, “Yeah, whatever” and took a few hours snooze and headed out the door from Denver, towards Pikes Peak, via the Rampart Continue reading…
Rode 105 miles on Wednesday, far more than I intended, but happy nonetheless to cover the miles. The original plan was to ride fairly directly to Idaho Springs and follow the, “Oh My God” road to Central City. “Oh My God” is, I think, simply an old dirt road first graded during some gold rush,used Continue reading…
A Tercel is a Young Male Hawk Falconers used to believe that the third hawk egg in a clutch would be a male. So they call a young male hawk a “tercel” from tertiius, “third.” Who knows why carmakers name their cars the way they do. Taking the gas cap off stick it in my Continue reading…
Sunday: Rest? Mon/Tue/Wed: total of 73 miles Thursday: Rest? Friday: 94 Miles Saturday: 43 Miles Total Mileage: 210 Miles Except for Friday’s crushing 94 miles, this was a pretty chill week. I had planned much more epic trips, but they didn’t quite materialize, if not for me not being ready, because the weather last week, Continue reading…
I took the SPOT II tracker with me for all my rides this week (I think?) and have it record my progress. The tracks are a little disappointing in their resolution, but it may be partly the fault of my placement of the device – either in the feedbag of my top tube, or in Continue reading…
Completed my first overnighter of the season! Haven’t camped out since November, where I road from Denver to the trailhead of Pikes Peak (~100 miles), hiked the Class 1 trail (~26 miles) and rode back the same way as I went, all in three days. The plan for these two days was to ride to Continue reading…
I recently grabbed a SPOT II GPS messenger to play around and get familiar with, before the big Grand Départ. Here’s a tracking of my ride on Thursday: You can kind of tell that I left from my doorstep, went through downtown, took the Platte River bike path to Bear Creek Lake, fumbled around some Continue reading…
The BIG news of the end of this month, is that I have met and completely surpassed my 1200 Miles in the Month of March Challenge! I have ridden 1331 miles this month (oooh, ominous number!) and feel pretty damn on top of things, when it comes to hauling long miles on a simple bicycle. Continue reading…
Weather seemed a little iffy on Tuesday, so I decided to keep the ride local. I had a idea for the weekend on what/where to ride and it was going to be a whopper ride in the mountains. I didn’t want to cover any of the tarmac I’d be doing on that ride, so I Continue reading…
Sunday: Boulder Populaire plus a little prologue in the mountains and finally getting (somehow) home – 170 miles Monday: Rest! 10 miles Tuesday: Rest! 12 miles Wednesday: Easy 51 miles to Chatfield Res. and back Thursday: Rest! 10 miles Friday: Denver to Parker to Chatfield Res. to Highgrade Road to Evergreen to Lookout Mountain to Continue reading…
Sunday, I decided to join the Rocky Mountain Cycling Club in Boulder for their first Populaire of the season. A, “meet and greet” 108km ride, to get you acquainted in the strange world of Randonneuring – a French-flavored, ultra distance uh, “sport”, where various cycling routes are put together with a time limit to complete each Continue reading…
Sunday: Rest! 13 miles Monday: Up Lookout Mt through Evergreen and down to Morrison, back to Denver, 101 miles Tuesday: Rest! 10 miles Wednesday: Denver to Loveland Pass to Denver Ride, 145 miles Thursday: Rest! 10 miles Friday: Off the bike completely! – ran a few miles to gym, lifted some weights, did some plyometrics, Continue reading…
As been my convention and as mileage is slowly being increased during the Month of March, I’m seeking out routes that will keep me occupied and interested – creative minds can bore easily with repetitious activities. If this bid for the Tour Divide becomes nothing but a slog of miles over the same routes for Continue reading…
It’s around 90 or so days before the Grand Départ of this little thing I’m doing – the same little thing I’m documenting on this site. I still don’t have a bicycle to ride the course.
Sunday: Rest! – 12 miles Monday: 14er Attempt, Quandary Tuesday: Rest! – 15 miles Wednesday: Ride to Redrocks, Hike/Run Mt. Morrison, via the South Ridge Route, ride back home – 52 miles Thursday: Rest! 5 miles Friday: Ride to Boulder, few hours at The Spot, bouldering Gym, ride home – 100 miles Saturday: 1 1/2 Continue reading…