My bike seems to be fallin apart faster then I can put it back together.  I think I have bent another derailluer hanger, ruined another chain, my head set needs some lube, and cut more sidewalls.  Oh wait, there's more.  I may need a new shifter cable, have to take out my main pivot- regrease, clean up my bottom bracket, re-adjust my front brake, and re-tape my seat stay soon.  That seems to be the life of my Yeti.  Once I get it back workin, we go out and trash it all over again.  I could only imagine what would happen if I had a more entry level bike.  One more thing, I had to replace another hub spoke nut.  On the other hand, my SS bike with no gears, no hangers, and no cables, has ran smooth no matter how hard I have pushed it.  Maybe next year it will begin its demise. 

 

Uncle Lee had sent Billi and I four pounds of some kickin coffee that we have been sippin on.  It has been a nice change from the coffe we had been drinkin cause we were buyin all organic.  Since we have been shoppin around here, we were starting to buy the kinds we did not want just to meet the list. 

We have decided to do some trail travelin.  We got out to Salida last week and have a Moab, Crested Butte, Gunnison, South Boundary, Cortez, and maybe a Fruita trip planned.  We rode hard last weekend and it shows.  It seems to be the case that I had been preachin the whole time.  People will show up with there bikes when the trail is long, hard, and epic enough to challenge and tire people.  Sometimes the group plans a ride down the rode on a Sunday and no one comes.  We plan to do 35 miles of techy trail-- 12 people ready to endo, bleed, sweat, cramp, wreck, and limp back to the pickup. 

Thanks for readin

Brad

We got in some good rides this week.  Thursday we went on the weekly mountain bike group ride and finished it off with some goodies and beer.  Saturday we got in some nice road miles, met another cyclist and fixed a flat tire on Brad's bike.  Sunday we joined the cycling group for a 35 mile ride on the Monarch Crest.  Brad could hardly sleep the night before and was ready well before the meeting time the next morning.  After a few comical errors and bathroom breaks, our group of 12 finally started up the trail around 9:30 AM or so.  Brad and I have ridden this trail once before, last year not too long after I got Stumpy P.  I struggled through it last year and was anxious to see how my riding would compare.  Brad had a blast.  I had an awesome ride.  Despite several wrecks, a little hail and rain, a couple of flat tires, and many stinky riders, everyone in the group had smiles the entire way.

 

Except, there was one rider that was not all smiles the entire way.  All started well for this rider until his chain broke.  No chain tool, no spare link and no knowledge of how to fix his chain, he quietly stood by the trail looking at the broken chain in his hand.  He wouldn't ask for help so he waited until one of the riders stopped and offered.  The single speeder of our group fixed the chain for him and got him back on his way.  So the guy continued down the trail, tried to hammer, cramped up, whined to anyone that would listen, went straight to his pick-up and left.

 

Meanwhile, the fun had just begun for the rest of us-- the descent down into Silver Creek and onto the Rainblow Trail.  It was twisted, up and down, thru creeks, across meadows, down the creek and flowed along the hill sides.  It was fast and fun but still with enough climbing to keep you satisfied.  It was an epic ride.  The pizza and beer at Amica's afterwards wasn't too bad either.

 

Billi

 

I was riding to work on my bike a few weeks ago and had a bee fly down into my jersey.  The bee stung me twice times on the chest before I could stop my bike and grab hold of it, and then stung me again on my finger as I flung it away.  As I was digging the stinger out of my finger, I thought about whether or not I was allergic to bee stings.  I have never been stung by a bee so wouldn't know.  I waited a minute for the stinging to subside a little and my throat didn't close up, so I got back on my bike and continued on to work.  I guess I am not allergic to bees-- good to know.

 

I went to an appointment with a new doctor last week and learned that the appendix does have a purpose.  Although still debated somehwat, the appendix holds the blueprint of your intestinal microbes.  Everyone's intestinal microbes are different and unique to the individual.  So when you take antibiotics and kill alot of your good microbes along with the bad ones, the appendix tells your body how to get your good microbes back to original.  I am sure it is a little more complicated than my explanation, but that is my reduced version. 

 

Brad was grumpier than usual and really tired the beginning of last week and he couldn't come up with any reasons why.  The grumpiness and tiredness went on for several days, until he realized he had not taken any allergy medicine any of those days.  He took some allergy medicine and was back to normal within a day.  We now know that the allergy medicine does work and Brad can get grumpier.

\ 

Even though learning something new is good thing, it doesn't mean that it doesn't come with a learning curve.

 

Billi

 

We went out to see some 24 hour racing.  Heather (that's for Trish) entered the race as a solo woman rider and rode all the way into second place.  The race seems to be not so much about speed but being able to stay on your bike for a full 24 hours.  The way this race worked was at noon they said go and the contestants rode 13 mile loops untill noon the next day.   Anton (some more names for Trish) was riding by the pit we were hanign at, and he was on a old 1940 or so schwinn cruiser and was showin off by riding some wheelies, well or what he could on a 40# bike.  All of the people were havin a good time and the cow bells were ringing every time a rider would fly by.  There are many ways to enter and one of them is as a duo, which is probably how Billi and I will be racing the events.  Taking a name from a group of snowmobilers, we are thinking of using the Rue Crew.  We might go into next year racing SS or geared-- we have not decided.  Sunday we headed out to the trail and threw down a ride that went by too quick.  We enjoy cruising and laughing a little more then the pacers wanted to.

 
Oh yeah, right now on xm radio they are runnin Manditory Metallica.  I have been jammin it every where we go.  Listening to all those songs bring back a lot of thoughts.  I still remember borrowing my friend's Killl Them All album back in the 6th grade and have been a loyal disciple ever since. 

 

Well we will be riding the Crest this weekend and that should be very entertaining since that was some of are best stories from last year.  Oh yeah, we have been walking Tucker and he was bored one night, so I got out the Haro, my BMX bike, and hooked him up to a long leash and he really enjoyed running all over town. 

 

Brad

I received some cold, hard bank for my B-Day to buy some more biking products.  The dollar bills went towards lights and a brand new tire.  The lights are designed to fly down some sweet, single track at night.  I got a handle bar mount lamp and a head mount lamp.  They run off a battery that connects to the bike or rests in your bag.  I have not tried them out, since we have been so busy with just riding hard in the day time.  Soon the days will get shorter, the evening rides will run out of sun and then the lamps will come out and fill the the void.   My tire I will have to buy has not yet gotten here due to the fact I have not purchased it yet.  My old tire has three holes in it and the tread is almost gone.  The new tire I am thinking about getting is the Big Earl and has a scary, aggressive tread pattern.  My cousin runs them and really likes the tire.  I also broke a spoke this weekend, so I may have to put on my old wheelset for this weekend rides.

Yeah one more thing, Trish and her family gave me a book that tells me what my strenthgs are.  Probably will mention my exceptional social skills and my love for the phone.

 

 

 

This past week, it rained and rained some more.  We decided to on the weekly group ride despite the dark clouds all around.  The ride was nice but the rain finally caught up with us to soak us for the last couple of miles.  Thanks to Mick's camper shell, it wasn't enough water to keep us from enjoying a few of Heather's cookies and a beer after the ride--- who says we aren't social people?

 

The rain continued and the forecast was rain for sure for the entire weekend.  Brad and I posted our weekend ride invitation anyways.  We actually got a few responses, most of which were warnings.  We got the warnings about how much it had already rained, how much it was going to rain, about the muddy trails, about bringing our raincoats, and about how we might should re-think our plans.  Of course, all of the warning emails came from the people that weren't actually interested in going.  We ignored them all and four of us took our chances.  We must have somehow managed to please the bicycling Gods because the weather was great, sunshine with some clouds and no rain, not even a sprinkle.  We rode our mountain bikes Saturday and rode again on Sunday on the road bikes.   

 

We didn't have any rain but we did have good company and som fun.  Heather wrecked while trying to sneak up on a marmot to take a photo (see photos) but other than that everyone came out OK.  Just a reminder that the weather forecast is just a prediction--- get outside anyways and enjoy the ride, rain or not.

 

Billi

We did a group weekend ride for the people who wanted to.  Seems funny how many people can't ride when the trail gets hard and long.  Anywho, we were working are butts of when Billi said " I think that's the top", She was talking about the need not to hike the bike no more.  Well it wasn't, and every chance me or Heather got , we would say "hey I think that's the top".  Well the top never showed up cause I think we rode 20 some odd miles and climbed around every corner.   We had a great time though.  One rider ran out of water halfway and was drinkin some iced tea out of his bag.  The other three of us made it with our water, barely.  On days like that, I will wake up and start to drink water right away.  The weekend group we have found is filled with riders willin to do anything for a thrill.  We hiked a bike, tore soles of two shoes, fell down and sliced a leg with a cherry about 6" around, blisters on our palms, hid under trees from rain, wrecked going up, endoed going down, 5 flat tires, two brake adjustments, and tons of laughs.  I am sure glad we have met some really neat people through cycling that we can go have fun with. 

Until next time, take no organized group photos.

Brad

We decided not to go on the Alamosa-La Veta train ride this weekend.  We found out that the train ride from La Veta to Alamosa would take 4 hours.  It would only take us about 3 1/2 hours to ride our bikes from Alamosa to La Veta.  So we thought we would join this group ride but backed out.  The train ride was too long, especially in comparison with the bike ride.  The train ride scenary would not be great--- the train route follows along side of the highway most of the trip.  We have already rode La Veta ss earlier this year.  So the only remaining reason to ride was that we would get to ride and visit with other cyclists.  It did not outweigh the negatives.  We are picky, what more can I say?

 

So instead we went on a mountain bike group ride Saturday and Brad and I did another mountain bike ride Sunday.  We have never rode either one of the routes we did on Saturday or Sunday.  Saturday, our group of four explored trails out in the Terrace Reservoir area, and Sunday we explored Trails 700 and 704.  Both experiences had some hike-a-bike with Saturday having more.  Saturday had really nice weather, while Sunday got delayed with lightning and rain.  Saturday had a nice dry and fund descent at the end, while Sunday had a muddy, slippery descent.  Both days had their rewards and added to the storytelling for later days-- we posted some photos in the meantime.

 

Billi