A fairly mellow week – the Skyline Traverse from last week sort of took quite a bit out of me. I was also out of town for the last three days (brought my running and rocks shoes!). Hoped to get into the mountains, but the weather (winds!) kept me out. Just as well. Always nice Continue reading…
Another week of searching for elevation gain, as the cold weather descended on the Front Range. The Boulder O.S.M.Ps were relatively vacated of any casual activity, as most people used common sense to realize that ascended even the modest peaks around town in temperatures well below freezing was not in their best interests. Of course, I Continue reading…
Rest week! My legs were telling me it was time to finish up the training block and give the body a nice rest, so I listened. I also had a fairly important band practice and a big show to play on Saturday, so to keep myself sane, it’s good to not attempt to try to Continue reading…
Another beautiful week, with suspiciously similar mileage as last week. 1/21/14 – Freeway on the 2nd Flatiron x4 I’ve been bouldering a bit as of lately, but I finally hurt myself by doing too much, too quickly. So, still wanting to climb, but not feel as if I’m ripping the tendons out of my bicep, Continue reading…
1/13 – Up Green, via the back of the First. Total ice rink on the trail between the 1st and 2nd – not even joking. Would have been faster/saver to climb the 2nd itself. 1/15 – PR Attempt at Green Mountain via Bear Canyon/Green Bear – Success! Working on the very arbitrary and tidy Continue reading…
Mike DeBernardo and I started on the Denver end of the trail this year on the Colorado Trail Race. Funnily, we found ourselves as the only two people starting out on the Denver end of the trail this year for the Grand Départ – everyone else – almost 75 people! decided to start off on Continue reading…
I’ve reported a finishing time of, 7 days, 2 hours, 57 minutes and 58 seconds. Happy to have just finished; a day past what I guessed for myself and two day past what I had hoped from myself. Story to be expanded, as my fingers heal enough, to allow me to type. Until then, I think Continue reading…
Took a little spin on the Colorado Trail – admittedly, the first “mountain” bike ride I’ve taken since around April – not that I haven’t been riding bikes, or riding bikes in mountains, but somehow it’s all completely different to some that it’s bikes on dirt, rather than pavement. To me: not so much. That Continue reading…
6/12/13 – 6/17/13 The trip’s itinerary was to hit up most all the 14ers in the path between Denver, CO and Alma, CO, taking the I-70 corridor to Breckenridge, and then HW 9 to Alma. Ambitious, as the routes picked weren’t the easiest, or shortest: Bierdtstat from the East Ridge, then over the Sawtooth to Continue reading…
It’s getting warmer and I’m getting a little more comfortable with this sort of travel. This next trip is without trailer, or racks/panniers: as close to ultralight as I can in this dual-mode type of trip (cycling to, climbing from). This time, it’s Evans. I leave fairly early – but not really that early in Continue reading…
Climbed on 6/1/13Mountains can be easy to climb, or they can be hard. It usually has nothing to do with the rock and snow found on them. Only sometimes.
Step, step, PULL, Step, step, PULL. Step, step – I’m not saying I’m always on the verge of feeling sick, but today – Monday, I’m there. And I’m not ready, anyways. This surprisingly happens quite a bit: underestimating the time it takes to get gear together to make a trip happen. Even with my style Continue reading…
A fun week riding and running, mostly in Boulder! Next week, I’m off starting Monday, schlepping along all the gear I’ll need to make it from Denver, to Salida by Saturday, where the Dirty Double Fondo race will take place – 200km of Gravel Grinding, with some nice elevation gain/loss built-in. My kind of race! Continue reading…
A fairly boring week of running/jumping/playing, as the weather didn’t want to work with me, and anyways, I had a music show this weekend.
4/5/13 – 4/6/13, 292 miles I’m on mile #162 of – on paper at least, a 160 mile race. In other words, pretty near to the end of the ordeal. The clock is ticking off hour number 11 on riding these long forgotten gravel roads south of Denver – and when I say, “South“, I Continue reading…
I realize that if I don’t write anything here, it looks like I’m not doing anything! Which is hardly the case – I’m just not doing anything overly exciting. To me. But, bikes get ridden, trails get run. I guess I’ll try to list my non-epic errands I do, to get ready for (mis)-adventure:
Photog by Ben @ mountainbikeradio.com I signed up to do a 150 mile Gravel Grinder months ago (it seemed soooo important to sign up, early!), and it’s going down this Saturday. I’ll be riding my Surly Crosscheck as a Single Speed to the starting line of the race the night before, racing the race, and Continue reading…
Waking up at 2:00am on the Sunday of the weekend St. Patrick’s Day festivities in a drinkin’ city seemed a strange way to begin a trip. I needed to go from the North side of Denver, through the South side, without incident – and then far beyond. Plan: ride the bicycle from the back door Continue reading…
Part 1 of an 8,000 word essay by Bryan Schatz (with illustrations by Matthew Burton) on my riding/art/tom-foolery leading up to and through the Tour Divide can be found in the latest issue of Switchback Magazine #10: Pitch black and frozen in the snow- choked Rockies north of the border, and all Justin Simoni could Continue reading…
Cross racing season ended for me around December with the State Championships, where I managed to do fairly OK, as I did for most of the races I entered. 45 minutes of racing is certainly not my sweet spot. I felt like a marathon runner, doing a 100 meter dash, which is somewhat close to Continue reading…
I’ve lived in Colorado for almost 14 years straight; and Denver for most of those years. I could move anywhere, but for over a decade, I’ve been here. What keeps me around? Happy to be able to help Randal Bellows III with this photo shoot, doing something I simply love to do: riding around on Continue reading…
Denver finally hosted its own CX race, in my old neighborhood, even – I’ve lived on both 36th/Marion and 35/Brighton. I got to the scene late – even though my race was at 1:20pm or something (1: I can’t count, and 2: I sleep in), and found myself sprinting to the start line still in Continue reading…
A dude named, Shane decided to map out, and put on a 50-odd mile, Ultra Cross race one Sunday, when the regular cyclocross races were far away in Fort Collins and more expensive than usual (they’re always pretty expensive). His was free. So I, with most of the rest of the Happy Coffee team, decided Continue reading…
Mt Evans Route + Elevation Profile (clockwise) – View on Strava The idea was certainly simple enough: The road that travels up to the summit of Colorado Springs’ resident 14er, Pikes Peak (neé heey-otoyoo) @ 14,115 feet would be open to bicycle travel for the first time for an extended period: the entire month of Continue reading…