Peak Cycles – BikeParts.com Blog

I went, brought the camera, and didn’t take a single photo.  In three days I rode Rabbit Valley (3/4/5/8) loops, Ribbon Trail, Holy Cross, Kessle Run, and Zippidee Do da.  Add to that two 30 mile dirt bike rides at Rabbit Valley and Road 18.  The motos were outrageously fun to have out in Fruita.

Paul at DT Swiss gave us the tour of Grand Junction with a first stop at the Distillery (www.peachstreetdistillers.com/), Ale House brewery, and then the famous Quincy’s dive bar.

So now I’ve done an Alley Cat (SSCX Worlds) and a Sprint (FFTF).  If I don’t have a fixed gear am I still a hipster?

– Colin M

From Colin O 

-My living room at the moment!

Breckenridge has it’s own version of the spring classics, except ours involves a little more than riding a road bike along some ancient cobblestones.  The Imperial Challenge has been a mainstay for the past fifteen or so years.  I use the race as a tune up for cycling season, a sort of gauge to see how fat and lazy I’ve gotten over the winter.  Some years things don’t go so well, other years I’ve proven that I’ll survive another year of maxing out my heart rate.  The Imperial Challenge starts off in town with a six or so mile bike ride, then you strap your skis on for an all out assult upwards to the 12,998 foot summit of peak eight, with over 3,500 feet ascending on the bike and skis.  Then, just when you thought things were going to be easy, the leg burning, muslcle cramping, hardest descent of your life takes you back down to the base area of the ski resort for a finish.

This year was alittle different from out usual balmy mid-April days.  A monster snow storm blew in a few days before the race shutting down highways and throwing down snow measured in feet.  But like all things Breckenridge, the show had to go on.  I felt comfortable and at ease the whole race, trying not to over do it at any point and blow up.  The bike ride which takes place on dirt roads was a mixture of ice, mud, hardpack snow, and soft snow that threw many competitors off their bikes.  I took it slow and relaxed, adding almost ten minutes to the typical bike ride pace.  Then as we headed farther upward on skis, the weather and ability to see slowly diminished as you can see by parker’s race day photos.  Visibility easily was fiftty feet or less.  At the top I pulled the skins off the skis, tightened the boots up, plowed through the chunked up snow to the groomers, and finally to the finish line.   I finished around 2 hours 10 minutes not bad considering the weather.  My best time on a colorado picture perfect day was 1 hour 50 minutes.  – Jason Kompf

From Bill

– A friend of mine  got hit yesterday at Pierce and 44^th, he is OK but very sore!  Amazing that the car that hit him caused the bike to break in half, the helmet to have a dent. Bob did not have any breaks but he did have a few dents – healing fairly well so far.

Back in January, I gathered all the biking crash and scar photos from my friends and posted them in a photo blog, Crashes of Year Past.  I pulled them together to remind all of us that for all the miles and the years we have been riding, we do crash, but we always make it back home safe.  Well, relatively safe!  😉

Here is Mitch Westall’s submission to “Crashes of Years Past” .

Mitch Westall had a crash in July while out on riding his favorite trail, Indian Creek, that almost cost him his life…  here are 2 photos and his quick story….

I started riding in late August with the neck brace on.  My doctor said I could ride Mid-Sept., I was racing 3 days later.

It was a C1 break (titanium car bolt in the neck), T9 compression, and the TBI.

 I think the 70 stiches to the face,  the hellicopter ride, and the $110,000 medical bill will top the list.

Did you ever hear that the death alarm kept going off because my resting heart rate was too low — in the 40’s.

After that accident, I don’t think my resting heart rate has been below 60, but I’m working on it.

I recently found this website that has awesome collection of photos called Light Paint… enjoy!

Matt, Tate and I headed to Lunch Loops in Grand Junction for an big day of riding.  Our plan was to ride Free Lunch, Eagles Wing, Ribbon Trail and Andys Loop.  We missed you Colin M!!!!!!!!!!!!!!The view from the top of Eagles Wing

You DONT want to see the landing of this jump...

Not to be out done by Mother Nature, Tate talked Matt and I into trying I-70 again! We got to Fruita and rode Moore Fun today in less time then it took us to drive to George town yesterday! I’ll post more photos soon …

here are photos from Moore Fun!  😉

Matt

Jesse

Tate - The Leader

So, our little adventure to Fruita didnt quite work out.  We all met at my house around 3:00pm, got stuck on I-70 at 6:00pm, finally got moving back towards Denver around 8:30, ate dinner in Idaho Springs, and finally got safely back to Golden around 12:30am.  Here are some picts of the adventure…

Colin tackled Tate and he disappeared

Unloading the truck after sitting in it for 60 miles and 9 hours

Tate matt colin and I tried to beat the snow on our way to Fruita. Photo taken at 5:30pm near Georgetown! Update as we make our way west!

After waking up to a damp and dark morning, I deliberated with friends, checked a couple weather forecasts and figured the weather wasn’t going to be getting any better.  So I suited up and headed up Lookout Mtn for a little mountain bike ride before the snow comes. It was a little chilly but there was no one else out and it was super quiet.  It was a nice ride in the fog and it got me thinking about another nice Sunday…

Although that video was filmed in 1983 (Bono’s mullet is evidence of the era), it was only filmed about 2 miles from where my photo taken.  I hope you all got to enjoy your Sunday, even if it was foggy or bloody!