Thursday, December 2, 2010

Thursday bike in pictures.

Just a tick under 4 hours on the mountain bike with 5200ft of climbing. White Ranch starting up Belcher Hill. Belcher up to Drew Hill and into Golden Gate for a few miles. Then back down to finish White Ranch. Awesome ride.
 Pictures. Captions are below... I never know if they should go on top or below.

 I think that's Pikes Peak.



 I started up the ramp and did OK for a bit. Then jumped fell off and ran all the way up and rammed my pedal in to the back of my knee and now it's killing me. Ironic and poetic.


 Looking back.




 This was an awesome switchback on a long steep climb back out of Golden Gate.

 Golden... which was looking quite golden.

 This rock was awesome. It is probably responsible for hundreds of dollars in sales to Shimano. Those are grooves hewn in to the rock from chain rings.



 I took this looking back across a ravine that I had just ridden. These two guys were catching me on the descents and then I would take the time back on the climbs. Kind of a fun little game.

 I did a quick practice burn on a scrap piece of leather last night for my Merlin logo seat. I can't decide if I want the word 'MERLIN' below the logo. I don't think so.

5 comments:

mtnrunner2 said...

Epic ride, nice pictures; I like the views back down onto the plains. Really gives you a sense of perspective.

I run White Ranch and it's a great little (?) park. It's about 13 hilly miles around the perimeter, the kind of run that has you asking at various points "this is only 5 miles?"

If you like this one, you might enjoy stringing together Mount Falcon (starting in Morrison) then ride on some mellow mountain residential streets down to Indian Hills, then across from Pence Park take a right into O'Fallon/Corwina/Lair 'o the Bear all the way over to highway 74 -- and back. I've considered running it but that's a bit ambitious for me -- for now.

Jeff Valliere said...

Wow, that looks great. It has been a long time since I have ridden there (1997 I think), certainly before those nice steps and ramps.

Yep, that is definitely Pikes.

Lucho said...

Mt- Tim Long mentioned Mt Falcon too. And I ran Mt Falcon with Scott Jaime. Similar trails. Great suggestions, thanks!

Jeff- They have also put in 'steps' on all the big descents and they have eroded in to 2+ foot drops. Tons of them. White Ranch will be my skill building ride for Leadville I think. I have a hard tail built up now but will probably build my Specialized full suspension after I get my MTB skills back. I worked for two summers in Winter Park as MT bike patrol and rode damn near all day 5 days a week as my job. I used be quite good. We would finish the day by sweeping the downhill run.

footfeathers said...

Got the Della Santa road bike yesterday and road after my run today (for only 30 mins) and it was sweet. I'm out of shape in all sports right now but building back up is what I think I enjoy the most.

Lucho said...

You know it will come back quick... it's just like riding a bike. Har.
You'll be a stronger runner for it too, especially on steep climbs. What days are you off next week? Lets ride!