Off Season

Well sort of.....my last post indicated some winter weather moving in, which did happen over the first 10 days of the month.  But this is Colorado and things change quickly.  After some large road rides we were able to return to the trail.

It is the off season though and I do enjoy a break from the bike.  My miles are way down from the 8 months of 400+ mile months.  Much of that time has been spent making pierogi's (a Polish dumpling) for Christmas eve.  Last year was the first year I had made them from scratch.  Decided to get an earlier start this year......

Potato cheese filling on these; in the background the squash I would use to make a sweet squash filling.

Filling on these is what I am calling a Polish meatball (polish sausage, kraut, and mushroom), with the dough on the right.

And it keeps going.......

the amazing fall that is.  However, it is coming to an end tonight as we are expecting 6 to 12 inches of snow....but last weekend was amazing 70's and sunny.  I have been working a ton of hours, had some PTO to burn, so took Friday to enjoy a great day at Buffalo Creek.

Sarah enjoying Buffalo Burn.

S....is for Sandywash.

Saturday we did a 50 mile road ride into Denver and back out to Golden...with a hike in the afternoon by Clear Creek.  The colors in Golden made for some nice pictures.

Sunday we went for a hike in the Mount Evans Wilderness with some friends.  It was a really nice day in a pretty remote area only a 30 minute drive from Golden.

The Amazing Fall Continues

Weather was amazing this weekend....great ride up at Buffalo Creek yesterday.  Just a couple pics from the day that started in 35 degree weather at 9:00 am and turned to 80 degrees by 1:00.  Crazy swing in temps, but really beautiful out there.

Nice Fall Ride

Yesterday we got a mix of snow and rain all day, but everything cleared out today with cool temps and some snow still around things are feeling like fall on the Front Range.

Did a nice ride from Golden over to Green Mountain today.

Some pictures from the day....looks like temps are supposed to warm back to the 70's for the rest of the week.

The nasty Chimney Gulch switch backs.

Some fall colors.

Some snow!!  Yeah not much but still a shock with how nice the weather has been.

Much more snow on the divide.

Hard to see with the clouds, but the is Mt. Evans with a fresh coat of snow.

Denver from Green Mountain.

MOAB

Not much else to say about this amazing place (we really do enjoy our time here).  Just finished up our fall trip to Moab, bringing us to 17 days spent there in 2011.

First day did a quick ride with Paul and Deb....313 to M&M.

Day 2 we were joined by some friends some from SLC and others coming from the east coast for their first riding experience in Moab.  We headed out to Baby Steps > EKG (new trail) > Green Dot.

The Harding.....

 Al...

 Marching Men.....

Day 3 was "The Whole Enchilada"....

This was the first time I have done the full ride; had done Hazard down before, but not the full ride, which is pretty crazy considering we have spent over 100 days in Moab in the past 6 years.  Not much else to say about this one aside that it is epic.  Starting at 11,600 feet in the La Sal Mountains and dropping 7,000 feet of vertical back into Moab.

The day was perfect and the group was ready (thanks to Sarah for the ride up).

  On the way up to Burro Pass.....

The Burro climb reminded me of Wheeler Pass in Breck.....however, Wheeler is a bit more brutal than this climb.

We are in the right place....close to 30 miles down from here with some climbs mixed in.

Wes....

 Dave....

Al....

Wes.....pretty amazing to be riding through all these Aspens in Moab.

Dave

Warner Lake

Wes working his way through Hazard

Dave on UPS

Dave on LPS

Lunch spot at the start of Porc Rim....no one was there just us, a really quiet day on this trail.  Just before Dave went over the bars and hurt his wrist.

Dave riding out with a broken wrist.

After shot....Dave managed to ride out most of the remaining 8 miles with what turned out to be a broken wrist.

Some sunset photos from camp.

Day 4 was the Slickrock Trail (middle route).

Finally a nice sunrise on our final morning......great trip to Moab again.