OhSo Happy Land

two days, two ride days (on top of fridays date ride), pix below. holy cow, hope you have a bit of time ;-)

SATURDAY 5.24.08
In the spirit of continuing to re-name all of the trails on the front range, our ride included the following trails:
Year of the Ox to
Red Roll to
Fore to
Sleazy to
Secret Old Stuff to
Pinball
and then home, repeating Fore, Red Roll, Year of the Ox

Start of our Sat ride, just before Year Of The Ox

snow like this on evans -- at the end of MAY!?!? out on Secret Old Stuff

last time we were here, it was christmas day

fun stuff, straight from the house!!!
going up on Pinball

ed clearing the fun stuff!

ed clearing more of the fun stuff

that previous section lead to this section, still going up on Pinball

which ed also cleared, darling!

Pinball, going down

SUNDAY 2.26.08
Well, Sunday maxed out at 47 some odd miles, and 6,500' of climbing. it was a STELLAR day, even if it did take me 1/2 the ride to find my climbing mojo again.... i have words for the internal worlds i reached on this ride .... but not right now. they'll have to wait ;-)

two things, tho:
1.) any pic w/ me in it, is credited to ED
2.) all other pix, which are all out of focus, are credited to me ;-)

Our route:
Day Dream to
The Road to
Organic Cane Juice to
Bristle Meadow Downs to
Recharge Hill to
Haunted Valley to
Pine Cone Valley to
the Zoo to
Forbidden Fruit to
No Mans Land to
This Mans Land onto
Icing and down to
The Road and
back up Day Dream

one note: except for the first and last pictures, these pix are completely out of order

starting out in STYLE!! ed surprised US -- me -- with Susan's jerseys!!! we rode in a trio of matching jerseys this fine, LONG day ;-)

Team Nutcase + Mateo (who took the picture, and who must have forgotten his pink jersey)

mateo goin' up

a ghost lives here. it was playing with my camera, but it wouldn't show up in the picture. but it did tell me that ... i should keep smiling like i was.

one of many high points

you're only allowed access to Forbidden Fruit if you can find your way (+your bike) through this puzzle, after climbing up here. you'll have to trust me when i say it's slightly more difficult than it looks. the Way is easy, accomplishing that task w/out flatting is another ;-)
and YES, this is the gate to Forbidden Fruit....
and NO, i don't have any pix of Forbidden Fruit. Ask Ed for them

ed, gettin' his ROLL on!

moi!! ... way back on Bristle Meadow Downs

i have so many perfect explanations of this picture it's slightly absurd. for now:
steve: 'it's RIGHT over there, I swear'
mateo: 'but the map.... it says... something different. where are you at, dude?'
ed: 'i'm too sexy for my shorts! (and i know right where i'm at)'

just one of the countless breathless views that treated our day

'darling, i see you taking pictures ... no, i'm not really paying attention to what steve is yammering about'

rollin' invisible and Haunted

Haunted Valley in all it's brilliance. what a treat!

top of Pine Cone Valley, looking down at the boys

one resting point in an otherwise perfectly pitched, blissed out climb on Organic Cane Juice

pony resting

jeny resting, waiting, sitting, diggin' the EARTH and Everything around

stevie thinkin' he can

ed showing stevie how it's done, really

way back at the beginning of Day Dream

steevie

jeny, blowing ed a kiss --- believe it or not. yes, she can multi-task like that ;-)

mateo, zooming in his flying ninja style!

mateo, re-living the Forbidden Fruit ninja blaze!

ed, feelin' grrooovvyyyyy!

this part kinda hurt. i was still smiling, tho!

one of my favorite shots from the day --- this was ed's shot ;-)

somehow, on the climb back up Day Dream, i caught an inner blaze of fire, and it was all i could do to get myself to STOP and take pictures. but the light was SO brilliant....... i was moving sooooo happily, and i failed to really get anything in focus....doh!

another attempt at stopping fast to take fast picture and continue the climbing rhythm...

yes, it was pretty darn close to dark when we returned to the car.....

the back is feeling better ;-) knock on wood.

jj

5.23.08

re-instituting the Friday Night Date Ride.

Why is this woman smiling?

;-)

let's see, we rode ... which trail did we ride... we rode the Secret Shadows trail tonight.

ha.

jj

ode

to the power of wonder

the mountains i've known my whole life

standing outside next to my car, dressed in heels and skirt, freezing my little butt off .. on the ON ramp no less, i was trying to capture the pull and grace of the clouds. i really had no idea what was going on around me in that moment. i was just ... taking a picture in my own little universe... and then i heard a strong, clear voice behind me "excuse me".

yes, i screamed and jumped! scared the living hell out of me! i expected a CAR -- but not a human voice, so close, and clear!

laughing at me, he continued: 'do you know if i can ride on this highway?'

everyone, meet MARTIN! he is riding from NY to CA -- and has just hit the mountains TODAY! go martin go!!! as you might guess, i tried to tell him how to ride the back roads to get to idaho springs this evening --- but that wasn't going to stick. so yeah, martin can ride the highway. i told him if he spotted a frontage-road, he just just get to it. i offered to draw him a map, but he was in a bit of a hurry --- that storm was looming with insanity, and i would have wanted the shortest route there, too. and no, he didn't want a ride ;-)

anyway.

what a day (for martin) ;-)

jj

home on the range

i've decided i'm re-naming all the trails. my choice, day by day. don't complain.

today i intended to ride Puppy Paws to Porci down Long Turn and over to/around/up over/down PreSchool, back up Long Turn, up the fun way on Porci and finish badabing.

i ended up riding the other way on Porci first (first mistake), down Long Turn and over to/up over/down and around PreSchool, then back up Long Turn and back over Porci -- the 'wrong' way as one down-hiller thought he needed to point out (though, he was very sweet about stopping and letting me by -- and giving me props for going the wrong way). (why am i not allowed to climb the techy things and enjoy it. it was THE most redeeming part of my ride today... the ONLY time i felt ON and in the flow. wtf!)

i hate PreSchool. it's boring as ****. it has only ONE saving grace: the views.

south

north

other than that there 360 degree merry go round vision ... my personal opinion of PreSchool is that it's worthless except in the winter. don't let me go there again. i don't play nice with the kids there.

Puppy Paws, on the other hand, looked sweet and playful... and i missed it. PreSchool pissed me off. i went to the grocery store instead.

later this week, i hope to hit up ... other trails no one has ever heard of ;-)

jj

rollin' home

honey...
guess what i rolled today ;-)

ridin' dirt. being happy.

jj

a photographer and his model

photographer: ok, lie on this ski bag, wait, also on the papers and bathroom stuff ... yeah, like that, can you pose there?

tonka: like this?

photographer: just close your eyes a little more; exuuuude catness.

tonka: like this?

photographer: yeah, yeah, now ... turn your head, a little to the right

tonka: k, dude

photographer: ok, pefect, now perk the ears a wee bit -- like you mean it, but like you don't

tonka: mmmm

photographer: HOT! ok, now, curl your paws -- like you're bordering the edge of consciousness; like you're walking into The Other Side ... unaware of what your body is doing ...

tonka: mkkkaaaayyyyy.

photographer: ohyeah... ok, hold it... hold it.... ok. now ....... glow like a ghost! GOT IT!

what a team!!! my boyz ;-)

click here for tonkas exclusive photoshoot

colorado trail, as one goes up it via waterton and towards my favorite indian creek madness.

one of my favorite spots on the CT -- one climbs gently through tall, slim trees; the pitch is mid-ring sweet, and the shadows tickle ones fancy and make you feel like you're sneaking quietly, sweetly through the forest. i think there are actually fairies that inhabit these woods.

not to mention that the dirt was like STICKY today.

not bad for feeling like complete crow.

rode tuesday for the first time since 'the incident' a few weeks ago. it was precious. 2 hours in the saddle from the house made me cry with so much joy.

rode thursday for the second time since 'the incident' a few weeks ago. it was precious. 1.45 hours in the saddle from the house made me ... giddy. i had a hard time sleeping i was holding onto my excitement a little too much.

rode sunday for the third time since 'the incident' a few weeks ago. it was very precious -- lucky day in the sun, i'm just sayin'... that's all i'm sayin'. the pony is at the pony spa now....

i got to give cyn the hug of all hugs; perhaps the best hug i've ever given her.

ah, life.

rollin'.

jj

slowly ...

but surely, working my way back into physical work. another hike-walk day. working on body position and stabilization. sounds like fun, eh? ed, my darling, escorted me through a most delightful day day -- it was an earthy day and i've enjoyed every last grounding step of it. i know they're not bike or biking pix, but try to enjoy anyway, yo! (all the pix look better when they're bigger, btw -- click on them for a more comprehensive view i guess).

maybe this one is my favorite?

we saw the remains of a lot of the dead today ... remarkably so

maybe this is my favorite today?

i think, in all honesty, ed would say that this is what my mind seems like... ;-)

ed, getting his perspective On

it was one of those days where you can't tell if spring and summer are around the corner, of if fall and winter are around the corner

also one of my most favorite from the day

this tree resembles how i feel in life sometimes...

this was at the very top, before we (absolutely surprisingly) saw the guy with the GUN . we were off the trail. he was off the trail... it was weird.

also at the very top

the textures today were wonderful

just a different perspective on something very, very familiar

hope everyone is out, having fun, ripping it up, or RESTING (as some of you should be doing), and enjoying LIFE.

jj