lovely

Absolutely snuk out and danced with the fog before the rain rolled in and saturated everything. Phew!




Not a big long ride, but a short sweet out and back. Had the place to myself, and the trails were perfect ... for most of it. This ride's intention was to be out in the fog more than anything. I'm wasted tired from a week of riding....

Playing around a bit more with the video stuff. This time I used a combination of Picassa and Windows Media something or other... fun (time consuming) stuff! Another experiment:



jj

more experimenting

Friday evening last week I found myself desperate for a dirty date ride! Ed was busy, so what to do? Solo Date Ride -- what else?! This is a little experimental video of a loop I call the Dog Loop. From home, it's just about an hours worth of play time. It is the flattest ride I can loop together from home. So this is a 'rest day' type of ride. There are a few good climbs at the beginning and end, but other than that, it's just a delightful roller.

Again, totally boring video exploration going on here. But... what the heck:


Saturday Ed and I high-tailed it down to Salida, to go and check out some new trails!! We really didn't ride much, but what we did ride was a TOTAL hoot! More to come on these trails sometime soon, I'm sure of it. I took really tremendously crappy pix... but Ed got some good ones!! Go check out his blog for the pix. He sent me one of me (thanks hun):


Sunday we did a little VT125/snow status recon up in them-thar-hills. Lovely day!

We arrived home Sunday evening to rain and then snow. We awoke to a solid 7" of snow on the ground Monday morning!

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine today!

Jj

experimenting

Wednesday afternoon was the last chance to get in a little dry trail and sunshine. I left work early and made the most of it. I got to ride from home and hit DD, A3S, EM, a little extra A3S fun stuff ... and back home the way I came. It was so satisfying to be able to sneak in a 20-miler with a nice kick-in-the-pants bit of climbing before the snow hit.

In the process, I thought I'd experiment a little: I'm playing with video stuff... just out of sheer curiosity. Mind you, the content is BORING as all get out ... but this could prove to be a fun option in the future... it feels like I was able to take a little of the sun and warmth and dry trail home with me!! And, I can now maybe play with this stuff a little to demonstrate the inner experience as well as the outer experience. Who knows. Anyway. Videos below.

Things to note first:

• I chose this type of music because this is what goes through my head when I'm really "on" on the bike. Actually, it's always there. The slower the music, the harder, faster and better the ride. (Not that this was a particularly fast or game-on ride... but I wanted to play a little while out zipping around the backyard trails).
• Yes, this is boring, that's ok........ I will make more interesting ones soon! There is more blog post below if you wanna go read that. I discuss Tonka below. That might be more interesting.
• Try not to laugh too hard. Or, if you must, don't have a cup of coffee or red juice in your hand.

Top of EM. This is, of course, steeper than it looks. M will vouch for that.... But it's so flippin' easy!!


This is just a fun bit out on A3S. Again, it's look so much more interesting in person and on the bike! WTF.


Same section, going up. Blah blah blah.

I'm trying to figure out how to thread all these things together. I'll figure it out ;-)

Anyway:

I will say this: the weather has gone schitzo on us and it's now a white winter wonder land once again.

This was the last pic I took of the ride and evening... the weather rollin' in:


A day later:

It's become apparent that Tonka does not understand weather. He wakes up, goes to the front door, and whines until we open the door. We open the door, and out he goes... only to come roaring back into the house, as he cannot deal with the cold and wind and snowflakes. He then proceeds to be MAD at us because of the state of the world outside the house.

We've decided that Tonka thinks that "we do this TO HIM" .... And he treats us accordingly.



Hope everyone finds one way or another to have fun in all the snow!

Jj

PlayBliss

Work vs. Play.
Work hurt.
Play readjusted the body, mind and spirit ... again.



I have a sneaking suspicion that Monday for Michelle was a lot like Monday for me: difficult and tiresome on all levels. And, I am pretty darn sure that Play re-aligned her stars just as much as it did mine.

Need proof? How about some pix!!!!

We'll start with Michelle:

This kind of (playful) work...


... and this kind of (playful) work...


... and this kind of rock work...


(...and this kind of rock work, too)...


... most certainly leads to places with this kind of (high) Bliss...


... and this kind of beauty (check out that glow!):


And, since Michelle is figuring out her new camera ... I can now show you a bit of Jj-AdjustmentBliss as well!

This kind of rock work...


... just basically leads to a big, happy, mtbBlissed-out heart and smile... watch:


see it starting to show:


ahhh, happy, well adjusted woman!


I must say this: I have never once ridden these trails when they were tacky. I didn't think that state possible for these trails. But, lo-and-behold... not only was the trail in prime shape, there was no one there ;-)... Except for these guys:


Michelle and I nailed it on the timing! LUSCIOUS TRAILS!

Monday afternoon Play was just what the spirits ordered. We both finished the ride grateful for the time, the dirt, the climbing and ... well, yeah, the descending, too ;-)

Thanks, Michelle!!!!

Jj

dirt addictions

First, I've just got to say this: I have hair envy, in a really lovely and bad way:


Yes, that is Dan's head of hair. Below, he is trying to tell me something. All I can think is: how can I get my hair to come out of my helmet and look that good?


Cyn, the absolute POWER BUNNY ... no, make that the Energizer Bunny; my god, cyn, nice SS JOB!


Kim, rider on the storm:


And Myss Anne -- the Lovely Anne, listening to us nutcases all day long:


The last month of heavy-duty work has pretty much stolen a LOT of what I've worked on over the winter. What I was flying up with glee a month and a half ago, finds me now a bit on the ... slower and hurtin' side. Ah-well. Nothing a few more weeks of less office-work can't fix ;-)

Lucky to ride with these brilliant folks today! Thanks for letting me in on your ride!

Lucky me for riding dirt like this and in this manner 2 days in a row... and looking for perhaps a third?

Hope everyone has had a wonderful day!

And, I just have to do this here: Michelle, you are an ANGEL!

Jj

true colors

Ahhhhhhh - happy, happy day!



Dirt.

I feel MUCH, MUCH better now.

Jj

winter returns ... again

Lovely morning hike with the man. Thanks for dragging me out of bed, darling ;-)

View from the top

Abandoned car 1/4 of the way up ... i love this thing!


One of the many rewards for getting up early(ish) and getting out onto the trail, is that we get fresh tracks, and everything is undisturbed!!!! And, with the odd lack of wind this morning, the snow was just so heavenly!


Also looking off the top

More sunshine and snow


More old car ;-)

Hope everyone had a fantastic day!

Jj

slosh-fest-bliss!

sticky-slushy-snow... and super tacky trail!



and super sweet company to boot. scotts smile the WHOLE ride says it all (you can see it even through the trees), and then some.

thanks for the awesome ride SS and EM!

;-)

jj

heavy dose of heaven

Heaven ... before us and within us

Skipped out of office all together for Friday, headed to Fruita on Thursday night! Spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday thoroughly burning my hide and soaking in all the Vitamin D and dirt I could possibly handle... and then some.

Friday we hit the Loma Play Ground for a thorough mess of fun. Ran into Mike Curiak and Pete B. (almost literally ;-) on Rustlers ... played around with Mary, chased a Horsethief, took Steves Cutoff, then doubled back for a backwards Mary, hit the new (and therefore must be explored Wrangler), and finally some odd bits that dropped us onto the base of Moore Fun and back to the buggy. I didn't take a single picture, but Ed did ;-) We kept it simple and mellow in anticipation of a nice big ride on Saturday. It was scrumptious and I fell yet deeper in love with riding, desert, sun ... everything.


Ed's pic, of course

Saturday we just rode our butts off. Yeah, we had 2 cameras ... and 2 flats... and therefore kept a pace slightly slower than perhaps either one of us expected... but we still had an all day adventure that pretty much left us both satisfied and worked ... in all those good ways one wants to be worked and played and dreamy-eyed by the end of the day.

We started at Wrabbits Valley -- and I still don't know the names of everything we hit. It included: the desert on the N. side of the highway, some whoopdies and some soft-sucking-sand, the burn (one of my favorite places to be - and ride - on this earth) and number of big climbs on the South side of the highway, a lot of really, really exposed sunshine, a kick-ass downhill that I will likely never tire of, some messed up hill of a climb, a huge ride along the upper most rim in the area, then some far-out loop that we've been eyeing to ride for 2 years (holy heavens that was a FUN loop!!!), then finally down onto the floor of the valley (sort of), and ended up riding Western Rim back North and finished up back where we started without double-backing at all. One nice big counter-clockwise 45 mile loop. Lots of soft sand. Lots and lots of sun. I do believe that both of us had smiles plastered across our faces the whole big beautiful day (flat time not included ;-)).

Yes, I took pix... but be forewarned: they all have big white spot in the middle of them (sorry).

Click for all my pix:


I'm sure that Ed will post his pix at some point!

I have a couple thoughts that popped into my over-busy mind:

• Sometimes, when we're really rollin' and finding our way through a mess of a trail, I think I hear Ed shifting gears. We all know, of course, that Ed's pony don't have no gears.
• I did not feel tired once. Not once -- my legs and my body felt full and present and capable the entire day.... However, my FEAR of feeling tired got my head all warped-up a couple of times, and it was all I could do to fend off that fear from actually seeping in and making me tired. On a really personal note I just find this really, really interesting.
• Sometimes, when looking out into the grandest of spaces ... I can't help but feel like jumping out into it and soaring over it and through it like a bird. It makes me need to be so quiet -- and yet it makes me dance.

Here's to my man, may he not have pinch-flats ever-ever-ever again for no stupid reason:


Sunday, we explored an area where there are no bikes allowed. Ed took the best pix of this area, and mine stink.... We had a nice 3-hour, mellow hike to recover from the nice rough-and-tumble ride from Saturday.

Here's to all the lovely people we know out there who are so thoroughly gettin' their SPRING riding season ... ON!!!


jj

phew.

Ride.

As often as possible.

Especially if you're grumpy or pissy.



jj

add on

Idea that's been bouncing around in the back of my mind: hit all the front range parks and trails from home... in one shot.

Today, start with 4:

• Bergen Peak (and vicinity) -- across the trail at the base, up the TooLong climb, summit trail, down Bergen descent
• Didesse
• Alderfer 3 Sisters/Ranch
• Evergreen Mountain

Check. Two relatively big peaks in there with a lot of little and not-so-little stuff in between ... and I wussed out and voted to take the West/shorter and prettier climb up Evergreen Mountain -- it being one of my absolute favorite spaces to ride through.

Ed, at the top of the last big hill - Evergreen Mountain -- out at the apex of our route. In fact, this is the only place I took pictures at all. We were too 'in-flow' to stop and take pix anywhere else. Ah-well. Click the picture for the rest of the pix... all 4 of them ;-)

We did not hit as many trails as I would have liked in the 3 Sisters area. We did, however, add mileage by riding a bunch of back roads to get home, and picked up some wicked-yummy soup to bring home for dinner. Can't beat that.

Oddly, it only turned out to be like 35 miles... WTF!!! (I thought it would be so much more. It FEELS like it was so much more)! It did end up tallying a solid 5,300' vertical, tho. That would explain why I'm so ... uhm, worked?

We did manage to sneak in new singletrack, a exploratory-fire-4x way to other relatively untravelled singletrack in the Ranch area (almost fell in the river there), and thus slyly missed one nasty little climb I was not particularly looking forward to.

Our route (or, I'm sure that Ed has/will post the route on his blog):

So, the continuance of my idea goes something like this: next time -- over the next number of add-on-game-days, hit all the trails/parks mentioned above, and add one or two parks at a time:

• LOTB
• Falcon
• MatthewsWinters/Dakota
• Apex

And, of course, somewhere along the lines, these will have to be added to the add-on game as well:

• Green Mountain (ickyyawn)
• White Ranch
• There are others than can be added to the list from this vicinity, but I don't even really want to talk about that.

Damn good day. I'm so glad it warmed up and we got to ride in shorts and short-sleeves for most of the day. The breeze coming in from the East was pretty darn cold tho -- but I think we only really felt that going downhill ;o)

A few observations:

• Singlespeeders get FITTER, FASTER. Period.
• Further on that thought, Ed is moving up steep hills like a loco-motive. Note the 'loco' part.
• Geared bikes have an advantage when riding on ice and snow at pitch. I'm just sayin'.
• My mind is way too busy when on the pony these days. Bad juju. Searching for my ZenJen.
• Further on that thought, I talk to myself a lot. I wonder if anyone else hears this.
• In my mind, I can just pack up my pack, jump on the pony, and ride forever. In reality ... well.
• I finished strong, standing, climbing up the last hill to our house. That felt good.

Tomorrow is another day -- another sunshiny day no-less!!!

Thanks for the adventure today, Ed.

Jj

there he goes...

there goes my date! blasting off like a rocket-ship, out into the wide-open meadow and sunset.


the afternoon light has just been scrumptious, all week long!

happy friday!

jj

happyhappyhappy

aaaahhhhhh.... splash!


so glad the lunch rides have turned into after-work rides ... on dirt ... from home ;-)


nice to see the locals out on the town


it's been a good week thus far, making the most of the afternoon light more than once. hope everyone is getting out, having fun, and smiling a heap-ton while riding ponies on dirt.

yeehaawww!!

Jj

notes from the head

Is it odd that this video clip from the movie The Man From Snowy River is what goes through my mind when out riding?

I think about the play and speed and energy of the ponies ... I swear, this is exactly the energy!

It's a long video -- but catch the long middle part with the horses running... then the big jump down the steep hill! I bet I'm not the only one who feels this?



Mind-you, it's just the horse scene -- the big horse chase scene... and not so much the 'story line' of it ... but the energy of it. When out on my pony, this is what it feels like, with my friends and their ponies.

I know. I know. Ed of course says: "Well, honey, they're going much faster than we are."
LOL!! yeah, SOOOO -- it still feels like this!

No, I have no pix from the 34-mile, 3,480'vert, 3 hour and 34 minute ride today. I know -- wtf?

It sounds like everyone was out and lovin' the trail riding today! That is FANTASTIC!!! Just know that I was thinking of all of you as if we were all out on a big pony chase ... with music.

;-)

Jj

aaahhhhh...

thank goodness for truly warm air today! felt much better to breathe a bit of heat instead of the cold wind and air that's been forcing it's way into every day of riding in weeks (and into my sinus'!!).

while ed opted for a large dirt and back road (and connector trail) loop, i opted for strictly singletrack (minus the ride to/from the singletrack that necessitates a bit of concrete) adventure for the day.

i am happy with the state of the trails right now ;-)

thanks SO much michelle and aj, and dave and anthony ... for the wonderful day in the dirt. i think we all needed that ;-)

Click the Picture for More Pictures!


hope everyone is OUT in the sunshine and warmth, soakin' it allll in (before the snow flies again... because you know it will).

jj