Big rides

The infamous, annual Don Ride is coming up in just a couple short weeks.  In order to prepare for this 100-ish-mile, all-day, high-mountain, single-speed epic ride, I’ve been trying to get out on more long rides.  On the weekend of the 12^th I drove over to Colorado Springs, meaning to join old pals Jon Csakany, Doug Johnson, Scott Boyer, Jon Hurley, and others on a midnight attempt at Pikes Peak, followed by a sunrise ride up Mount Almagre, thus attaining the two highest summits visible from the Springs in a very short period of time.  Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate, the Peak got snowed in, and Jon, Mike Chavez, and I settled for a ride in the rain up Barr Trail Sunday morning.  We ended up breaking through the clouds into sunshine, crossing the cog railway tracks, and descending through Jones Park in nothing less than perfect conditions.  Here are a few snapshots from that ride:

After climbing for an hour through steady rain, we broke through into sunshine. Condensation on my cam's lens created this "watercolor" effect.

We left the Barr Trail, taking Barr Camp's supply trail to the cog railway. We crossed at this old stop, continuing on an old singletrack on the other side.

We came across this destruction just before the Water Department road. We didn't know what to make of this HUGE skidder slash - the trees didn't appear to have been harvested, really, just knocked down, shredded up, and left to rot.

At the top, before descending Jones. The Peak doesn't appear to have much snow, but the backside, as I found on my drive out, had a good amount of snow present.

This past weekend, back in Durango, I planned on doing back-to-back big rides.  Saturday I started at the Hermosa Creek south trailhead, rode to the north trailhead, up Bolam Pass 4WD road, across the Colorado Trail, over Blackhawk Pass, down the CT to Hotel Draw road, and back down Hermosa Creek.  It ended up being a nine-hour, 75-mile epic, with much of it above 11,000 feet.  I came home, ate a lot, and crashed for 10 hours.  Today, Sunday, I’ve decided against doing a ride at all other than cruising up to the library, and I’m just relaxing instead.  Yesterday hurt.  Here are a few snapshots from yesterday’s adventure:

After 20 miles of singletrack on the Hermosa Trail, I headed up Bolam Pass road.

Near the top of Bolam, I branched off on the Colorado Trail, heading for Blackhawk Pass. The Pass is in the background in this shot, with the CT in the foreground.

From the top of Blackhawk, looking north. The CT is in the foreground, with Mt. Wilson, Wilson Peak, and the interesting Lizard Head Peak (the spire) in the background.

That’s what’s shaking in this part of the world.  Sandhya’s been conspicuously absent from blog-posting, but apparently she’s enjoying her remaining time in Santa Barbara.  Just a few more weeks and we’ll be in the same zip code again… -Joey

Back in the swing of (Colorado) things

Durango has been really great for the past few weeks.  The only thing that’s missing, of course, is Sandhya – but this past weekend that was temporarily resolved, as she came to visit for a few days.  We decided on a place to live (my current living arrangement is temporary, and it was good to have her input on a place), explored town a little, and got outside quite a lot.  One excursion was a hike over the still-snowy trails to the meadows just below Engineer Mountain, which is just north of Durango.  Starting at over 10,000 feet, we hiked up to around 12k, marveling at the ring of peaks all around.  This relatively short hike was the closest we’d ever come to the Alps in Colorado – really steep, jagged peaks surround the north and east side of Engineer.  Unfortunately, the light wasn’t good in those directions, and all the photos I shot of those mountains turned out poorly, more snapshot quality than anything.  Here are a couple nice ones looking south and east, however:

Engineer Mountain

The La Plata range in the background, along with some nice lichen-covered rocks.

The next morning we headed out for a short mountain bike ride, meaning to have a relaxing last half-day before going to the airport.  As a result of a freak slow-speed crash with a perfectly-horribly-placed stump, we ended up spending the rest of our day at the hospital, with Sandhya (who is going to be just fine) getting a few stitches.  I feel absolutely terrible just because historically mountain biking is something I do and Sandhya is just learning… I would have traded (and still would trade) places with her in an instant.  True to her nature, though, she’d smiled through the pain and blood and said that she still wants to get better, because she has fun every time we go riding.  I am really lucky, for a lot of reasons.  Looking forward to her permanent move back to Colorado!  -Joey

Back in the high country…

It’s sure been long enough, eh?  Although neither of us has put anything up on here for a good couple months, it isn’t for lack of happenings.  We’ve both been quite busy, for quite different reasons – Sandhya’s busy with work, and I, well, I moved back to Colorado.  Yes, that’s not a joke, for those of you who don’t know already!  California just isn’t my cup of coffee, and although I tried hard to like it there, in the end I just wished I’d never left the high country.  After a lot of talking it over, Sandhya and I decided to head back to Colorado, with me moving in early May in order to accept a job offer, and Sandhya to follow in mid-summer, after her work obligations finish up.  I’m now an employee again, after two years of running my own small business, but I really enjoy my job as service manager/jack-of-all-trades at Papa Wheelie’s bike shop in Durango.

In any case, that’s the big news.  I’m happy to have wilderness to escape to again – I’m much saner now than I had been for the past few months.  The higher elevations are melting out and I’ve been pushing the snow line every chance I get, riding for six or seven hours to just spend time away from everything but the great outdoors.  Here are a few pix from recent rides, taken with my miniature Hero cam:

Silver Mountain, seen from the Colorado Trail.

Aspens just leafing out on the CT. Two weeks ago this same spot was brown and snowy.

Upper Junction Creek, about 17 miles up the CT from the Durango trailhead.

Hermosa Creek, from near the north Hermosa trailhead.

Looking up to higher ground, north Hermosa Creek area. There's a herd of elk in the photo - hard to see, but there!

That’s it for now.  Hope none of you were keen to visit us in Cali, but trust me, Durango is a nice place to visit as well.  -Joey

Getting used to SB

We’ve been here in Santa Barbara for a little over four weeks now.  We’re settled in and figuring out what to do about work and so on.  I don’t have much to say about Cali really, at least not at this point.  I’m still working on why it seems so… well, another time.  In the meantime, here are a few photos.  I’ve not been out much with my camera, but I will be soon, hopefully.

Goleta beach, near Sandhya's parents' house, from the pier.

The coastline, with a little help from a marine crane.

Pier pigeon, taking flight. Unfortunate framing, but otherwise I like this shot.

Pelicans hanging out on the rocks.

Flowers near the SB courthouse at night.

The courthouse under a full moon.

That’s it for now.  Off to Fontana, CA, otherwise known as Fontucky, inland L.A., or Hell, to see some old circuit friends and maybe even ride my bike on a race course this weekend.  I’ll see what I can do about getting some bicycle pictures.  Ciao! -Joey

First Santa Barbara MTB ride…

This is where I rode today:

From about 3000' feet above our new house, on the Romero Canyon fire road.

A supposedly secret trail - according to two guys I met - that I found just passing by. It may not be very secret, but it is pretty fun.

Both of these pictures were taken with my little palm-size Hero snapshot camera (thanks Scott!), hence the relatively mediocre quality.  But hey, I can’t ride with the big camera all the time, and the Hero works awesome for its intended purpose!  It also takes video, which I should try out sometime…

After riding the fire road and the “secret” singletrack, I rode a bit of pavement before flying all the way back down to sea level on a creekside trail.  I say “flying”, but I really mean “going slowly”, because I’ve heard tell that trail user conflicts here are quite fierce, and there were lots of hikers out, it being a Sunday and all.  Although several hikers did respond to my cheerful greetings, almost half the hikers I met studiously ignored me altogether.  Sure, guys, I guess that will work – ignore us mountain bikers hard enough and we’ll disappear, right?  Not likely.

I suppose I can see why hikers might be a little testy around cyclists here – after all, the signs of downhill shuttle riders are everywhere, and it’s apparent that “mountain bike” in Santa Barbara is to a large degree synonymous with “guys on non-motorized motorcycles ripping multi-use trails like dedicated race courses”.  While I do enjoy going downhill fast, I find that I respect myself a lot more if I ride UP the hill I plan on going down.  Maybe SB’s shuttle babies just need to both show and earn a little respect.  -Joey

24 Hours of bikes and photos

Well, we’re here.  California, that is.  We’ve made it to the former Golden State (I say former because there’s so much talk of California being a failed state; apparently their experiment with direct democracy has allowed the citizens of this state to vote themselves lots of government services while simultaneously voting to not pay for those services, hence Cali’s truly horrendous economy).  Golden or not in the political/intellectual sphere, it sure is a pretty place.  I’ll be shooting lots of photos, given the time.

I haven’t had time yet here to go out and find some good photo ops.  But on our way from Colorado, we stopped at the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo mountain bike race in Tucson, AZ, where I both raced my bike and took some photographs.  The race was really fun – our team had a few issues of the mechanical sort and thus we failed to place on the podium.  I guess maybe I should have done pre-race checks like I do professionally, but when I’m working, I’m working, and when I’m playing, well, I don’t want to work.  So I let everyone take care of their own bikes.

The photographs went a bit better than the race did.  Here they are for your enjoyment:

On the way to Tucson, we camped for a night at Elephant Butte State Park in New Mexico. This was at the break of dawn, looking over EB Res.

Another sunrise, this time at the race venue 30 miles outside of Tucson. Looks like a reverse question mark to me...

Sunrise on these boulders made for a colorful scene.

Didn't we see this same guy, in the same get-up, on the same bike, last year?

See all that cactus? Picture an entire 16-mile loop lined tightly with that stuff. Then picture riding it for 24 hours. No, really, it was fun!

More cactus, more trail, more nighttime fun.

Over the rock drop at night.

As always, more photos of more places in higher-quality formats are available for your perusal at www.panoramio.com/user/joeydurango , if you’d be so inclined.  Thanks and check back soon for Cali updates! -Joey

Out and about

We’ve been getting outside a fair bit lately.  Sunrise and moonset coincided nicely several days ago, and I took photographic advantage of it, as well as some other sights on different outings.  Enjoy!

The moon was full and bright, and the sun was just coming up on the opposite horizon.

Clouds that were placed just right helped the scene.

Meanwhile, clouds to the south were on fire.

This sunrise photo is from the day before in Palmer Park. The interplay of light and shadow on the rocks could occupy me for a lot longer than Sandhya has patience for...

Up on Barr Trail yesterday, the weather was amazing. This is February?

This old tree had some beautiful colors that matched the rocks around it.

T-minus one week and counting until our departure from Colorado Springs.  Here’s hoping I won’t regret leaving the mountains! -Joey

Bike Messenger!

I’ve finally achieved the height of all things bicycle-related, becoming a bicycle messenger!

Well, I wasn’t rocking the tight hipster jeans, little black cap, and messenger bag while swerving through crazy traffic on a fixie, so, perhaps I can’t call myself a “real” bike messenger.

Possibly a messenger, most likely a poser. But that's the style.

In fact, I looked quite the opposite.  Instead, picture a nerdy rider in rain gear and helmet, lumbering around town on a mountain bike with a bag dangling awkwardly from her handlebars.  Not quite the image of “I’m so cool, if you look at me too long I’ll smack the side of your car with my U-lock,” is it?

Let me explain how the protagonist of this story got into this embarrassing bicycle fashion nightmare.  Since the roads were covered in snow this morning, I pulled out my trusty mountain bike and donned rain pants and a rain jacket to avoid getting a wet stripe up my butt when the snow started to melt.  I rode out to the nonprofit where I’ve been volunteering and was thankful for my choice in gear.  In the afternoon, the organization asked me to deliver some oversized envelopes to several businesses downtown. “No problem,” I thought.

However by this time, the sun had come out and the snow had completely melted off the roads, and I didn’t have a backpack to stash my rain gear in, or with which to carry the envelopes.  So, I sweltered around town in all of my gear, feeling like a wrestler in one of those sweat suits.  Without a lock, it was necessary to bring my bike into the high-rises to avoid theft.  This didn’t work out so well the first time, since the entrance to the building was a rotating door.  I tried to enter with my bike in tow and got the rear tire got stuck in its grips, jamming up the whole contraption. “Oh crap,” I thought “I’m stuck in a revolving door with my bike and all these office people are looking at me like I’m a complete idiot!”  Luckily, I was able to force the door to revolve backwards a little bit and I was able to squeeze out.  Hiding my bike behind a pillar outside, I entered once again to make the delivery, looking quite out of place amongst the business professionals as we rode the elevator up to the top floor.

I completed all of my deliveries successfully, which leaves me with the question of: Who’s the real bike messenger out there?  Me, actually making deliveries despite the nerdiness?  Or all of the hipsters riding around town mimicking the messenger style?  Yeah, that’s what I thought!    -Sandhya

Wannabe bike messenger

Some new Colorado pix

Seeing as we’re about to leave Colorado for, at the least, an indeterminate amount of time, I’ve been trying to get outside and take some good pictures while I have the opportunity.  California will of course present many beautiful photographic opportunities in itself, but the subject matter will be quite different.  So, for your enjoyment, I present the latest (but not quite the last) of the Pikes Peak region photos:

A cloudy Pikes Peak sunset makes for dramatic skies.

Red rocks, some scrub oak, and the moon make a great natural still life.

Green trees and red rocks - great contrast.

Afternoon light in a pretty westside valley.

What mention of Colorado Springs (photographic or otherwise) would be complete without a church? At least this one is pretty - quite unlike the multi-million-dollar industrial-religion campuses of New Life and Focus.

As always, these photos are viewable full-size at my Panoramio page along with many others.

We are set to move in early February, and we are definitely stopping in Tucson for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo mountain bike race along the way (it’s sort of on the way, at least).  Soon enough Sandhya and I will be getting reacquainted with and exploring anew Santa Barbara, respectively.  I’m planning on making it back to Colorado in July for a big-mountain-ride tripleheader, though:  The infamous Don Ride in Salida on July 4, Ring The Peak in the Springs on July 7 or thereabouts, and the newly-christened Spike Ride in central Colorado on July 10.  All these single-speed mountain bike rides are between 85 and 120 miles, all include plenty of riding above treeline, and all are hard even if you live at altitude.  I’m not sure that coming from zero feet to do these 6,000′-13,0000′ rides is such a good idea, but summertime riding in Colorado’s backcountry with friends is the number-one thing I’ll miss in Cali, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a few thousand feet of acclimatization stand in my way.  Pikes Peak or bust, as the old saying went, even if I am coming from the opposite direction.

That’s all for now.  Catch you soon! -Joey

California Dreamin’

Hey everyone – we’ve been conspicuously absent from this blog for the past, oh, few months.  Whoops.  It is wintertime here in Colorado, and while that means great things for some folks, well, it means hibernation for us.  We really don’t like the cold.  So keep that in mind when wondering about the dearth of new material here – unless you want pictures of our basement and living room, we’re just not going to be very interesting in the wintertime.  All that is about to change, however.  We’ve made a somewhat-snap decision to move to California, back to Sandhya’s hometown of Santa Barbara.  I, for one, never, EVER, pictured myself as a SoCal resident.  Life is funny sometimes.  The short story is that one-half of our combined family is there, the weather is nice year-round, we were ready to get out of the Springs and all the other options we were considering paled in comparison to some things that fell into place in SB.  The long story is, well – long.

We made this decision while visiting Santa Barbara for the holidays.  While there, since it wasn’t cold or snowy, I got out with the camera a little bit.  There are a lot of new photos up on my Panoramio account if you’d care to see them (link to the right); I’ve posted a few here as well:

This rock has weathered in a crazy way. There's an entire mountaintop full of rocks like this above Santa Barbara.

As seems to be New Year's tradition, we went climbing with family friend Greg. Here, Greg toughs out T-Crack at Gibraltar.

What is this? The Lion King? "The Cirrrcle of Liiiiiiffffe..."

She's in charge of the life on the other end of that rope. It looks like that's making her happy...

Thanks to Sandhya's grandparents, we all took an hour-long boat ride to the Channel Islands. We hiked around on Santa Cruz Island; Anacapa is in the background.

On the way to the islands we must have seen literally hundreds of dolphins. Here's one, enjoying playing off the bow of the boat.

The islands have been isolated enough for long enough to have their own species. Here's a Santa Cruz Island fox - it's only as big as a housecat.

Sea kayakers off the island coast. The water color was beautiful.

As I said above, there are more pictures on the Panoramio account if you’d like to see more from the islands, California, or otherwise.  On another note, here are a couple from the Springs – while walking around the lake near our house the other night, we noticed that all the geese and ducks that live there return to the lake within a 15-minute window.  Hundreds of birds fly into the small unfrozen area in the iced-over lake from every direction, making a huge honking/quacking racket.  I like to think they’re catching up with each other after a day’s activities afield.  The next night I brought a camera up there to try and catch the phenomenon – however, the light was pretty terrible and the pictures turned out a little blurry.  After that we headed over to the skatepark, where I tried to get an action shot or two.  This is all I got from the whole evening, and they’re not that great (but I’m learning on a new-to-me camera, so bear with me):

Geese coming home to Prospect Lake after a day in the field - Pikes Peak stands sentinal in the background.

This grom was boosting huge over the coping, but couldn't quite land it.

That’s all for now.  Back later with more – looks like we’re going to the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo mountain bike race in Tucson this February, and then of course there’s the whole California thing.  See you soon! -Joey