Back on the bike again

Went out on the dirt bike on Saturday with Aaron at Rampart Range. We had a great time and got in about 3 hours of ridinig. Here are some pics from the day. Due to a non-cooperative blogger, the pictures are out of sequence, but still a good collection from the day.

Catch up on trips since...

I seem to never have a chance to catch up on my blog. First I had many excuses, such as the wedding and such. Now I can only say that I have been working some and taking lots of trips. I have found that it is easier to just put in a link to a picasa photo album than it is to put up a bunch of pictures here. This blog is only so user friendly then it just gets annoying. So here are some of the adventures since the wedding...

Shortly after the wedding, Pam and I headed to Moab to meet up with 12 guys from the New Orleans area, including Scuba Steve and Cannondale Tim. That was a super fun trip with lots of friends and riding. On their way back to Denver they took a day of riding the Chair Lifts at Keystone. I was just coming from church, dressed vacation church nice and took Tim's bike for a run. That was a pretty fun time.

Click the link below the below picture for the photo album.

Moab over labor day with Scuba Steve

Some time after the trip to Moab, a bunch of friends thought it would be fun to go tubing in Ft. Collins on the Poodre River. It was fun, but it was also freezing cold, even in September. Me being me, I was too cheap to go buy a tube, so I just used a tube from my dirt bike. It worked, but it left me pretty much submerged up to my chin the whole time. So by the end of the float, I was almost suffering from Hypothermia, jaw chattering and chicken skin everywhere. But it all turned out good and it was a fun trip. But next time I will have a tube with larger air volume or a wet suit. I found out that Big Five Sports had $5 tubes, better than $17 tubes at a tire shop. (Below, my sister Elizabeth is on the right in a black top, white skirt.)

The day after the float trip, we went to Elich Gardens Amusement Park. I almost was tossed out of the park for dropping a dime off of the power tower, but I played dumb and didn't own up to it and they moved on. No pics from that day.

Pam later had to go to Maryland for work for a week, so I took advantage and picked up my niece, Claire, and nephew, Lane, and took them up to Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park.

That was a lot of fun. We went to Mt Rushmore at night to see it lit up then were going to come back the next day to see it in the daylight, but ended up going to see the buffalo and donkeys instead. So we ended up with no pictures of the monument. After Custer State Park, we went south to the wild horse sanctuary to see the wild horses. They really loved that part of the trip. I think feeding the donkeys carrots and the wild horses were their favorite part of the trip. Ohh, that and making ice cream at the camp site both nights. Photo album below...

Mt Rushmore

After I dropped the kids off in Cheyenne, I drove back to Denver and picked up my truck and dirt bike and headed for some riding in Steamboat and later in Rand. That was a pretty fun trip.

Photo album below.

Moto in Steamboat and Rand

The day after I returned from riding in Steamboat, I headed south to Colorado City and to San Rafael National Forest to do some shuttle rides on my xc bike on St. Chuck trail and Snowslide trail. Those were some fun technical trails. I want to go back and ride them on my moto when I get a chance. The trails were about a 2.5 hour drive south. Photos below.

Mt. Bike in San Rafael National Forest

I think I took 2 weeks off from any major trips, then this past weekend Pam was taking a girls Mt. bike trip to Fruita and Moab. So was escaping on a boys dirt bike trip to the same places, but I was stood up and ended up riding 4 days alone. But since camping space was limited out there due to a busy weekend, I ended up camping with the girls, which was nice, they cooked dinner and breakfast. Other than a bunch of girl talk the first day, it wasn't too bad. We had a lot of fun. Photos below.

I should really comment on the trails that I rode. Peach Valley by Montrose has some good trails and some REALLY GREAT trails. Dark Horse and Eagle Vally are really challenging and super fun, well built trails. The hill climbs are pretty sweet too. I think I about wet my pants from excitement all day. It was hard to eat my lunch before riding when I first got there.

In Grand Junction, I went for a short morning ride in Bang's Canyon. There I did the Butterknife trail which was pretty technical and great single track. Then I came up a nasty jeep trail rated a 9 out of 10 for difficulty. That was a pretty hard trail, but it gave me a chance to work on my bike maneuvering skills. Such as stuck in a pile of rock and popping the clutch to put a wheelie and move the front tire where I needed it then bouncing up a pile of big ol' rocks. Fun fun, but it made me work.

Then the 40 mile loop in Rabbit Valley was super sweet, it truly felt epic. A trail I would love to do anytime I am out there. Excellent terrain and views.

And Moab was fun, but not as much as the rest of the trip, but it was fun to check a bunch of trails off my list. I did do Prichett Canyon, a 5 of 5 star jeep trail that is suppose to be just hard. It was challenging but not as much work as the jeep trail in Grand Junction. I think in a jeep it is harder but not on a dirt bike.

Here is a short vid of the first hill climb I did in peach valley, I found much bigger ones later, but this was pretty exciting just off the truck.

Moto in Montrose, Grand Junction, Fruita, and Moab

Crack Pipe

After my adventurous ride last week, I found a good crack in the expansion chamber on the exhaust pipe of my dirt bike.
I called Wayne to ask about the best way to fix the crack. He said bring it over and he could TIG weld it.

Good as new. Then I put 500 degree clear enamel on it to keep it from rusting, hope that helps.

Then I put studs on my rear tire for snow riding this weekend. #8x1/2" metal screws. I hope they don't puncture the tube.

Sideways

Ever since I put the trials tire on my bike I have been dying to get back up to Left Hand Canyon and try this gnarly trail that Wayne took me on last year. We had to push and pull our bikes up over several sections. But now I have a new bike with longer wheelbase, better tires, and more power. Since everyone seems to have a job or a broken bike, I figured I would very carefully try doing the trail by myself.

A few shots of the trail.

The trail goes to the right, with lots of exposure pretty much the whole way.

Since this trail starts and ends at the top with the middle the low point, my approach was to work my way down the way that we went out, and each time I came to an area that we struggled with, I would turn around and try it. That way, if it was too much I would only have to deal with one of the problem areas, not all of them. This approach worked pretty well. I ended up making it past all the obstacles and making it to the bottom of the trail. Then I went up the way that we came in, and to my amazement, it was easier than the way that we went last year. After reaching the top on the other side, I went back down and up the way that I had come from. Me and Wayne had 3 areas that we really struggled with, this time the first area was much simpler, but still took some pushing. No problem with the second area. The third area, well...
(notice the little piece of white fluff below the bike, that is some of the foam from the seat where I ripped it open on the fall.)

Same result as last year.

So, lots of pushing and finally made it past. Only to struggle with one that I had made just fine earlier. This one was pretty tricky, it was so far to the side of the trail I could barely get it back onto its wheels without losing it down the hill.

The line was in the notch to the right. I had to lower it off that big rock and down to the left.
Once I had it back on stable ground, I started it and stalled it and fell over again to the downhill side. I was so tired by this point I could barely see straight. But, I finally made it back out.

Moto Day

A few weeks ago, before the snow, Jeff and I went out for a day of riding. It was super fun and good temps. Probably Mid 40s.

Here is me at the bottom of a big rock slab getting ready to climb it.

Jeff rippin' the trail.

Climbing another rock slab.
These things felt way steeper than they look here.

4-wheelin' in the creek.
The way we unload the flat bed. Waitin' for one of those boards to break.

New moto!

I've been listening to Devin, Doug, and Ben all winter about all their dirt bike action and it has been making me drool. I have been wanting a bigger bike. Mine was a little too small and under powered. So this week I picked up a 2006 KTM 300 XC. I took it out for the first ride yesterday and it proved to be everything that is should be. On paved roads it feels stupid fast, but on dirt, it handles great and the power is just where I wanted it. It feels great.