Saturday, May 31, 2014

Morrison Monster

There are many crazies around the Front Range; some have started doing a ride called the Morrison Monster, which is really just a large Front Range tour of the open space parks (there are many different ways to connect the open space parks).  The ride is mainly trail with some road and bike path to connect the parks.

I have done different variations of this ride over the years....today was a big day for me filled with deep greens from all the rain we have had, wildflowers, and perfect dirt.

Route was Chimney > Apex > Matthew Winters > Red Rocks > Mt. Falcon > Lair O' Bear > Bear Creek > Green Mountain > Home.

52 miles with 7,500 feet of climbing
































Memorial Day Around Golden

Nice day around Golden to get a longer ride in.








Friday, May 23, 2014

MOAB

May means a nice long trip to Moab.....7 nights this year with amazing weather.  Some numbers:

  • 125 miles
  • 16,600 feet of climbing
  • 24 hours of ride time
Day 1: Slick Rock (Main Loop)

We got into Sand Flats and setup camp....having the new dog we decided to stay close to camp and see how it went with him tied up.


Junior did great.....some pictures from our afternoon hike with him.




Day 2: North Klondike 

The Moab Trailmix group has been working with the BLM over the past couple years to add a ton of new trail in Moab.  The North Klondike area now has around 40 miles of single track.  We rode a bunch of new trail up there this time.....it is all really good.





Another afternoon walk around Sand Flats with Junior.





Day 3: Jedi













And another camp walk with Junior.


Day 4: Mag 7

Had some friends in Moab with us and neither had ridden the Mag 7 network.  Some of my favorite trail in Moab including the out and back on the Blue Dot to the closed section....still a shame the upper part of the Blue Dot got closed.....it is indeed some of the best trail in all of Moab.

 







No afternoon hike this day.....our crazy puppy was with a friend hiking and swimming in Mill Creek when he decided to take off.  We spent the rest of the day after our ride looking for him with no luck.  The next morning we went back out and after a couple hours decided to check the trail head again and there he was heading across the parking lot to the water....he was out on his own for about 15 hours.  Who knows what he was doing, but we were extremely happy to have him back.


Day 5: Amasa Back

Another area where old illegal trail has been incorporated and some really nice new trail added including Captain Ahab last year and new this year Hymasa which provides a nice single track climb up avoiding the jeep route.













Day 6: Dead Horse Point

Yet another area where new trail has been added.  This is probably the easiest network in Moab and provides great views into Canyon Lands.






In the afternoon we headed over to the Mill Creek swimming holes.....so relaxing.


Day 7: Slick Rock (Middle Routes)

I really can't get enough of this trail and have really started to get the middle routes dialed over the past couple years.

Dave making his way into the main trail.















Camp for the week.


Last night hiking around camp.



Jeep out on Fins n' Things

Yes we can....


Junior enjoying sunset.



Thanks Moab for another amazing trip......