There was Utah and Colorado!

I know it's been dead around here....but a good blogger doesn't advertise when he's on vacation after listing his address publicly.  Anyway, there will be more regular posts now that I'm back Reno side.  Needless to say, there was much camping, biking, rivers, and more.  A few pics to wet your whistle!

New to me truck and my camper...bike in the background is for the pic below.

Now that is a single track!  Fruita, Colorado.....been meaning  to stop here for years.  It finally happened and it was worth the wait!

Rediscovering Peavine.

I found this little article over at RGJ:

Click to read the whole article.

I also found an nice link to a bit of a map highlighting the new trails.

Click to blow it up.

I do actually take issue that riders were long forced to ride rocky fire roads on Peavine.  There have been 10's of miles of trails on Peavine (some pretty good ones) for more than 15 years.  Yes, they might have had rocky sections (that's called technical skills folks) and they weren't mapped and signed.  You either had to do the leg work to explore them or be shown by someone who had ridden them.  This in some ways was the secret joy of Peavine.  That it was this hard to know area that took some time and effort to figure it out.

However, times are always changing.  There are huge apartments at Keystone Canyon and Evans Canyon (and more are coming).  The trails see many, many more users than they used to and if they are to be preserved and kept in shape, signing, labeling, mapping, and maintenance are going to be an increasingly important part of the picture.  The Poedunks and their volunteer trail crews are making great strides for all of us and the newer sections of trail (like 10+ miles in two years) are carrying us into the future.

So if you think you want to experience a little bit of classic Peavine trail riding and check out all the new polished single track, get yourself up to Keystone Canyon and have a go a some of the best darn local mountain biking Reno has to offer!

Corral Trail in South Lake gets a facelift.

I haven't actually ridden the Corral Trail in a while (like years) and I didn't even know about this update to the trail until today.  So take a look at the video about the improvements and see what you think.  I've already got plans for this weekend, but I think I just found new plans for the following weekend!

Dry Pond Loop.

Part of the weekend riding was a bit of mountain biking.  I don't always manage to get in the car and drive to the trail head....so it was thanks to my friend Joel that I got out of the house Sunday afternoon and headed up to Timberline road for some Galena based fun.  We did a little out and back to the wilderness area boundary and then caught the connector over to dry pond.  Sorry there aren't any pictures of the ride.  I accidentally left my phone in the car when we headed out.

You might notice the average pace was a bit on the low side for this ride.  For the record, this shows just how tough Joel is.  Even when he called me about doing the ride, he knew he'd had a "big night" the evening before.  By the time we hit the trail head he was hurting!  To his credit he worked through it and did the whole ride even with the hangover.  And to show true commitment, he was even up for a "carrot" at the end of the ride.

"Carrot" located on the rail of the truck bed. 

Already planning for the long, tedious weekend.

What can I say...it's Tuesday morning and I'm starting to mentally dread the weekend.  Some weeks are like that, especially when work is the only thing you want to do.  For me the long weekend plan is to point the car towards Bend, Oregon.  I know, I know, why would anyone go to Bend? 


It's going to be just terrible....first off, wifey is "making" me go because there is a "Happy Girl" half marathon she wants to do.  Horrible to have to spectate at an event with 1500 (?) fit girls running around in spandex shorts and tank tops, but I'm sure I'll manage. 

If just this wasn't enough, I have this friend....the preacher, who lives there.  He'll probably want to drag me out to ride bicycles....maybe even mountain bikes, instead of hanging out at his really nice house where I'll be forced to stay (rather than a hotel).  To top it off they have this trail system called "Phil's trail" (map below) that he'll probably force me to ride.  What's even worse, he'll probably make me ride this lame trail (movie below) that is an easy climb followed by pine needle covered, flowing, single track, with perfectly sculpted jumps along it's entire length!  If you didn't know I hate trails that aren't one rock garden after another!  I mean if I'm not loosening a filling or two while riding it's just not worth it!

AllRide Edit of Whoops Trail in Bend, Or from Kirt Voreis on Vimeo.

After all this, I'll probably be forced to drink beer at one of the many craft breweries that are as common in Bend as casinos are in Reno.  They probably won't even serve warm Budweiser!  So, as you can see, it's pretty much going to be one trial or tribulation after another for 3 days straight.  I'm sure you can understand why I might already be dwelling on it!

So...what will you do with your long weekend?  Are you already planning?  If not you should get started or you'll wind up like me, headed somewhere you don't want to be, with people you just tolerate, doing things that set your teeth on edge.

.....and yeah, sarcasm!!!!

Great day for a mountain bike ride.

Ok, I'd actually argue it was a great weekend for any type of outdoor activity you might enjoy.  For me however, there was mountain biking, a little trail running, and some social town biking.  I'll just dump some pics and hope you had as much fun in the good weather as I did.

I didn't get there particularly early.  I waited for it to warm up.  As a result, the parking lot was completely full and people were parking up and down the road!  Fortunately, I live close enough to ride to the trail head.   The construction on the new apartments also seems to be coming along. 

There's a hint of green in the hills....even with the lack of winter and water.

Choices, choices..which way to go.

There were a ton of people out.  Bikers, trail runners, and hikers.

The return trip.  All down hill from here!

And although this picture wasn't taken immediately following my ride....this was how the weekend on bicycles ended!

And yes, my pint even had a picture of a bike on it!

Finally....a St. Georege report.

Over Christmas, wifey and I met up with my folks in St. George, Utah.  I think this is our third trip there but the last one was more than 5 years ago, so it was definitely time.  If you've never been to the area here are a few things you should know.

One.  It's south of here so normally it's pretty warm and inviting.

Two.

It is home to Snow Canyon State Park.....and beautiful red rocks with tons of running trails, climbing, mountain biking, etc.  Basically, an outdoor playground.

Three.

They deck the place out with lights for Xmas....so it's fun to hang out.

Four.

It's only an hour to Zion National Park....and the Narrows (and many other trails)....which make great trail runs.

Even when they are frozen solid and completely treacherous.  

Hidden Canyon Trail was supper slippery.

You can find the ice covered trail below if you look....

The view from the top was worth it!

Five.

Despite the rumors....there is beer in Utah.  Ummm....well, yeah it is 3.2% unless you can find some bottled versions.  However, in general this can be solved by driving down with a large cooler!

Six.

Mountain biking is just as good as it is in Moab!  Ok, on most trails most of the time.  We did happen to be there after some pretty big snow....so the trails were a bit wet in some of the classic riding areas.  This didn't mean I didn't have good rides.....just that I didn't take enough pictures.

Here's some of the messy ones....which were still totally fun!

Seven.

More great hiking/running to petroglyphs!  No fences or anything...you can just walk around in them.

Eight.

Quality time with the family over the holidays!

So that was St. George in a nut shell.  So if you need a vacation destination for all your family, trail running, and biking needs you definitely should add it to your to do list!

Holiday Happenings....Fenders, Bike Rides, Maintenance, Xmas lights, and more!

Four day weekends freakin' rule!  You have time to recover from the week, be lazy, go out with friends, ride bikes, and just get things done that have been hanging.  Now if only they occurred more regularly!  So anyway, here's a bunch of bikey things that happened over my four days off.

Wasting no time at all, Wednesday night kicked off at Craft for drinks.  It was pleasantly busy which usually means wifey and I would know someone....but since we didn't, we migrated over to the Reno Home Brewer where we hung out with friends until they kicked us out. 

Thursday morning was a bit hazy and slow....until I remembered I had a phone call the previous night from a Cycle Oregon buddy telling me there was an "Outlaw" cyclocross race some time this morning.  After a quick check of email, it was determined the race was in about 15 minutes and I was still in PJ's.  A mad dash ensued and I made it to the race.  You can read about it in the previous post.

The rest of Thursday wifey cooked up a fabulous meal.  Turkey, green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potates, squash, etc. There was much gluttony and laziness!

Friday morning it was time to pay for the previous days sins.  So a 5-6 mile run was set in motion with wifey and a friend.  Afterwards it was time for some bike maintenance and some long overdue fender installations.

You've seen this configuration on the Salsa for a while.  However, after another cyclocross race at Clayton, the rear tire is hosting a goat head party.

Standard steps are required here.  1) Get a beer. 2) Remove wheel.

3) Remove tube.  4) Find all the goat heads still stuck in the tire.  5) Use up all your patches to fix the tube.

Next up.  I had some absolutely gorgeous custom fenders made up for the Salsa....about 6 months ago and they've been just sitting.  Mostly because I miss measured and they were a little wide for the rear mount....meaning I had to custom cut them to get the perfect fit.  And...they were just so pretty I didn't want to rush it and mess them up.....so they sat. 

Required tools and mounting hardware....check.

After finally daring to cut them this is the preliminary mount.  Oh, yeah....the other delay on my end.  I had to drill a hole in my "newish" frame.  Something I also was nervous about.

Add the support stays.

The final mount for the rear.

And...finally, add the front fender. 

You can love or hate fenders....but they don't get much nicer looking than this.

 Ok, where does that leave us.  With this much time off, the days just start to run together.  At some point we decided we hadn't had enough social interaction, so friends were called and plans for visiting Public house for beer and Wild Garlic for pizza were made.

Beer and friends....these guys screen names are still evolving....right now I'm thinking Smiley (this one is a no brainer) and the Sasquatch.

He's huge and the eyes are kinda creepy...hence the Sasquatch (and that's what the preacher called you so deal with it).

Cold nights require two things for riding.  Layers and lights.  The xtra was sporting it's new Christmas light configuration.

Good lord.  This post is getting long.  However, we're not done.  The next morning I decided it was time to get motivated again.  So there was mountain biking.  Sasquatch was supposed to join me....but as the discovery channel has taught us, Sasquatch's aren't morning creatures, so I was on my own.

The plan was just to ride up Evan's canyon and then around the downhill course.....it evolved.

Some newer banked turns of the downhill course....they aren't as fun when you're going up.

We need a storm with some winds...the smog is building.

A view back on a steep section leading into the banked corners.

Bridge over an abandoned mine shaft....only on a Reno bike ride!

A view back on some of the climbing involved on the Halo.

Ok, so that's that.  I didn't take a lot more pictures because the Halo gets really rocky and I was tired.  And just to prove that the weekend totally kicked ass....here was what Monday morning gave up for the bike commute in.

How much better can you get than riding in to work under this sunrise / Sierra wave cloud delight. And with that I'm done with this ridiculously long post.

New Trails in the works for Peavine Mountain!

No writeup on this yet....but the Poedunks just published this map!  Looks like progress to me!

I'll update this if I hear more on specifics.

Tuesday Night Mountain Bike Ride.

For the last couple months a group of my friends has been making the effort to get out and do some mountain biking.  For the most part the group is regular riders who used to mountain bike quite a bit....so it's not a "new" thing.  The problem is that life starts to get in the way and then suddenly you're riding less and less.

Making it a designated weekly group ride with several people means you're getting texts and phone calls that make it that much harder not to attend the ride.  In some cases your manliness may be questioned if you fail to attend....

I don't know why I've failed to bring a camera on these rides.  Especially since their have been some great falls!  Anyway last night we did a section of trail that I'd call lower Galena Creek to upper Galena Creek and I finally managed to take a few pics.

There were no "real" falls to record but it did start out in typical fashion.  Meaning we didn't park in exactly the right place and as soon as one of the guys pulled his bike out of the truck and let it touch the ground we found our first goats head.  So a 1/4 mile down the road at the trail head it was time to fix a flat!

Yeah, um....that's a goats head all right.  And now my tires flat.

I'm sure I can get the tire off the rim without a tire iron....I'm a big strong guy....do you guys have a tire iron?

And it only takes about a thousand strokes with a mini pump to inflate a 2.3 29er tire!

Finally, we managed to get on the trail.  It was nice single track with some technical sections (most of which were ridden by the group.  This "bridge" stopped everyone short however.  Not only is is a step up to the log, but there's an pretty much unridable slope at the end.  I don't know if anyone rides this but if they do my hats off to you!

My instincts told me not to try to ride this as I approached.....

 Looking back (hind sight is 20 20 they say)....instincts were correct and I probably would be laying in the creek with a broken something!

After some additional riding we still managed a few wrong turns....the proof that we were riding is Jesse's backpack silhouette.  And for the record, his camel back wasn't leaking! 

For anyone who thinks all Reno/Tahoe trails are rocky you haven't had the pleasure of riding around the Galena area trails lately!  So grab a bike and take the drive....it's a worthwhile trip and the riding was excellent!