Big Wheels

This weekend was bittersweet, an opportunity to get together with people, share a great ride and say a last goodbye to a friend. Chuck passed away last year and as he spent a good portion of his life in pursuit of “conscious suffering in nature”, whether climbing, paddling, biking or sailing, so it seemed fitting that his final resting place be on one of his favorite trails – the Monarch Crest section of the Colorado Trail.

A whole gang met up for the weekend and shared stories of Chuck’s adventures, rode bikes and drank tequila in his memory. Chuck and I rode this together last summer and it was hard not to still imagine him tearing down the trail this time out. He had a funny way of bringing people together and even after his death, he still managed to get a group of friends out to all participate in our own  little piece of the “pro leisure tour”.

Keep pedaling Chuck…

Did I say Permit? I meant H instead of P, silly me. There are some okay trails in this neck of the woods. But it’s mostly sandy, loose double track covered in old cars parts and shotgun shells. Maybe I could be convinced to go check it out again (perhaps in a couple weeks when the Aspens are all golden yellow).

No camera today – photo courtesy of Retsin.

A little late, but did a weekend of riding in Winterpark last week. Rode many of the old standards – zoom, flume, elk, tipperary, etc. Discovered that the Tipperary/Spruce ride is best done in that order, especially on the single speed…

The family headed up to Steamboat this weekend. The annual run was the main attraction, but I was still able to get out for a couple of rides. There’s still an amazing amount of snow up on top of Rabbit Ears pass, but our local guide was able to steer us towards some good dry rides a little lower. Lots of flowers, bugs and even saw a couple of bears out and about – not a ton of pics, too busy riding…

Even came across this old Unimog on Sunday. This would be a great bio-diesel project!

Due to a host of issues the neighborhood posse was left with the C option for a ride on Saturday, missing the local shindig. Our back up plan took us to some of fun trails to the north – Coyote Ridge, Blues Sky and Lory including a little stint on the dirt jumps/pump track. After ride festivities included empty cans and bb’s. All in all, not bad for plan “C”.