Forest Hollow trail is a gorgeous ride that traverses along the rim of Glenwood canyon. You ride at least 1000 feet above the Colorado river and the views are amazing. Forest Hollow is mellow and flowing single track and ride is very enjoyable once you get on the actually trail. If you choose to park at the bottom of Red Canyon and ride up, it’s a lot of work. There is a parking lot at Lookout mountain road and another at the trail head, but you really need to shuttle if decide to forego the usually boiling death slog. Ok it’s not that bad, but every time I’ve climbed it has been scorchio and I feel like and egg cooking on the sidewalk during summer in Phoenix.

So the deal with Forest Hollow is that the only way off the hill is via Boyscout trail.Boyscout has a reputation with locals of being a terrifying  scream down to civilization. Boyscout is loose, rocky and sketchy at best, besides going straight down into Glenwood. I had heard so many terrible stories about the descent that I was nervous the first time I had to ride down it. I didn’t die but I did get a root caught in my spokes in the first 100 yards of the descent and did a full endo. I walked a good chunk of the descent.

I rode Boyscout again in the spring dreading the descent but I rode nearly the whole thing. Did Boyscout get easier or am I getting better at descending and therefore stupider with my sports? I have ridden the trail several times since and I can honestly say I don’t think the ride is that bad. Compared to some of the descents over in Eagle, which are similar to Boyscout, it’s nothing killer. I’d like to think this is a breakthrough. Soon I will jumping gaps with Darren Berrecloth.

George is a former newspaper man and has a penchant for photography. George and I have been out on a mission to shoot great biking photos. Here are a few photos showcasing George’s skills.

Riding Highline

Riding up the road to Sopris

Coming Down Monte Carlo Trail

Riding High Line Trail

70 today! About time, the cold winter is over. We’ve been out riding a bit. Hoping that soon we will be back in the woods and the road.

Team U.C.C Radelschlaffen survived the first race of the season. One half of the duo trained the other half managed to sneak out of the training thing and they ended up in fifth place. Not a bad deal. Dave did a great job with the tent setup. The big Yeti canopies were really important this year. It rained, no it dumped on Saturday afternoon. It was a lucky thing that the night was dry or this might have been the worse race of the season. Grown men were crying, well almost. The four man Ute City Cycles team camped next to us and they made lots of weird noises.

The rain really didn’t start until about 2pm, then the course turned to the stickiest clay — bike clogging clay. Nic was out on a lap when the dump hit and he ended up in a line of 12 cyclists all pushing their bikes because the wheels had locked up. Then the sun came out and dried the course, then it dumped at about 3:30 and Nic decided to sit the lap out and wait for the course to be rideable. They ended up rerouting the course onto the frontage road and it was dry enough to finish the race. Though everyone who road during the mud laps will need full overhauls on their bikes. Take them to Nic, I guess.

One of the most interesting moments of the event was during the taco feed. We stood in line for about 15 minutes drinking Mighty Arrow and watching a purple lighting storm cell float along the Bookcliffs. Surely it wouldn’t change directions and hit the KOA. When I reached the taco feed table the wind was blowing paper plates around. I got my meat and it started to rain. I quickly added cilantro and onions watching hail hit the vat of green salsa. Then I ran with tacos and beer across the campground. I made it to our tents and the hail became marble size and sheets of water began pouring down. Other people were fleeing the taco line and took refuge in our canopies — for twenty minutes as the little storm cell dumped and dumped. It was a damp evening and the course was not dry by the morning. So we rode Loma.

Dave waits for his next lap

A little bit of sun

Brothers?

The Ute City Cycles Four-Man Team

Lap number …

Richard smokes it

Wizroth hauls himself up the hill

Dave coming in hot

Nic is almost done

Nic’s on top

Richard found some mud

Dave loves rain

Nic looks regal

Just a little muddy

In Late March, Nic and a group of hardy men rode the White Rim in one day again. The weather left something to be desired with 60 mph gusts of wind and cold temperatures for March. Nic now has a sense of what a sandstorm is like — no visibility, grit in your mouth and gusts lifting your front tire off the ground. I think this trip was really just about survival. I was regretfully engaged elsewhere during the excursion. I consoled myself by going to the steam sauna and riding my bike inside a warm and windless gym. Oh well, maybe next time.

There is something to be said about going to Moab on a Sunday morning. On a Sunday morning in April everyone is streaming out of Moab loaded with ATVs, dirt bikes and mountain bikes and you are driving in to an abandoned town. There is also something nice about being on your own program and riding whatever you like, whenever you want.

Nic and I started with Klondike to Baby Steps. Klondike Bluffs is a super fun ride and I would recommend it to all husbands and boyfriends who are trying to get their significant other to enjoy the sport of mountain biking. You make the trail as challenging as you want and the slickrock is rideable and not scary (unlike Slick Rock Trail.) Baby Steps, however, might not be the best choice for a beginner. But I think it is very rideable if you understand that it is longer and not like Klondike the entire way. There are a couple of scetchy loose descents and there are a few steep and loose climbs. The single track out is pretty fun and really made me thankful for my 575. Plus Nic found and arrow head on the trail, so that makes it cool.

We camped at Willow Springs and used the new stove and Jetboil. Sweet! Nothing like gritty camp coffee. We did find a scorpion. This is the second scorpion I have now seen in the last year. Here are photos of both.

Willow Spring Scorpion

The big one in Costa Rica

Nic adjusts his saddle

Riding out of Sovereign

La Sal view on Sovereign

Evening view down Willow Springs

Arches from the West

Single track on Baby Steps

The black one in Costa Rica freaked me out because I almost stepped on it. I was about to get in the shower and I turned on the water and caught movement out of the corner of my eye and found the scorpion in the bath tub. We had been awake for 24 hours at that point and sort of panicked before we thought to take a photo. .

Anyway Moab was lovely, we road Salt Wash and linked to Sovereign. I like Sovereign better, more flow in my book.

On our last trip back from Moab we took a lunch break in Loma. Loma always feels like a continuation of Moab’s geography. It was funny, we ran into several people from the Roaring Fork Valley and Seth from Yeti. It was apparently the place to be on a Monday in mid-March.

Trails were in great condition and the weather was beautiful.

Rustler’s loop

Rustler’s loop

The Skinny Tire festival was unexpectedly fun.I am not used to riding road in Moab, but it was fantastic. I was also surrounded by an amazing group of people that made me laugh and smile the entire weekend. So the first group ride of the event was to the Potash plant. I learned that Potash is a mineral that is used in fertilizer and it drys white. The plant is to the East of Moab and it comes with turquoise pools that capture the potash. The color is not of this earth and reminds me of Lake Tahoe. The kind of blue that makes you think it is dyed. I don’t think it is just water at Potash.

The bridge over the Colorado River outside of Moab is a potholed deathtrap. So my party drove to the first ride of the Skinny Tire and parked on a Uranium mine burial site. Yummy. I guess they are starting work to remove it just in case the Colorado floods and the uranium gets in the drinking water of all of Arizona, Nevada and California.

Our group of eight paused for a photo journalist from Grand Junction for Nancy’s new book “Kemosabe.” Then we road up to Potash, a mellow flat pedal, maybe slight incline and a little headwind. We road past Wall Street, a very notorious climbing area and I remembered the few times I had climbed there. It was sandy and a little scary, but then again I was never a huge trad climber. I like my sport climbing and bouldering.

The ride was delightfully mellow. I noticed people from all over the country just trying to get in some early season miles and sunshine. I also figured out that I need to eat a lot and constantly even on a two hour ride. I was out of food the last few miles and it showed. George and I went to lunch and I was dragging until about an hour later when the food was finally being processed. I know that no energy system works as well for me as real, whole foods.

Parking on Uranium

The plant in Potash

George and I at Wall Street

Why is the mountain biking so amazing in Moab? Every ride I have been on is so cool. Well, except for Slickrock, that’s kind of a stupid ride in my opinion. It’s short, steep and scary. Just don’t take your girlfriend or wife on it if you want to still be together later that day. Plus it’s crowded with rental bikes and people with a lot of heart and very few skills. I probably fall into the few skills category, which could also be why I don’t like Slickrock trail.

Moab sun

George and I drove out to Moab on Friday, March13 and went to Klondike Bluff s on the way into Moab. There we met Jim and Valerie who were kind enough to invite a pack of us down to stay at their condo in Moab. This was a big weekend of bikes, including mountain biking and the Skinny Tire Festival. We’re talking 3 to 5 hour rides, a true test for my periodization training.

Klondike is a ride I have been wanting to do for a couple years. I had a great time in the two giant sand patches and I love riding up slick rock that isn’t out to get you. I understand that Klondike is the ride that the shops send the greenhorns out on and rightly so, it’s a very mellow jaunt overall. It was great to hit it in the early season and be 4 of maybe 15 people on the trail. We ran out of time for Baby Steps, but we hiked out to the Bluffs and took in the windy view. Gotta love friendly slickrock.

There were not very many people in Moab at all, I guessed it was the economy and early season. People want a guarantee of sun, when they go to Moab and mid-march can be a gamble. I know condo and hotel bookings are down. I decided that renting and someday owning a condo in Moab is the way to go. Two bathrooms, nice beds, relaxing patio, kitchen, grill — way better than camping. When I am in Moab I am ready to live there.In fact, I had to talk myself out of living there on the way home. It’s the mountain biking, it gets me sucked in every time I ride.

George broke a chain

Better park it

Hike to the Bluffs

Jim and Val

Moab sun

So Nic was tricked into doing the 24-hours of Sunlight again – he swears it’s his last time every year. I think it has to do with his shop sponsoring the event. He did the usual 5-person co-ed team and it seemed to go pretty well. Alternating laps and getting long breaks is really the best way to do 24-hour racing, especially a ski race. Over the years the Ute City team has figured out to rent a hotel room at the base of Sunlight so people can sleep in a warm place with a bed or two. As I recall the camper van’s heat broke the first year at about 11 pm and it was a long, cold night in the parking lot. Ever since, the team has made an effort to book a room.

The race started at 11 am on Saturday. People skin, run, shoeshoe up the resort and then ski down, trying to get in as many laps as possible in 24 hours.I had a fitness conference in Denver and showed up at about 9 pm on Saturday night.I strolled in with some food from Whole Foods and talked for about an hour. I then went home and slept in a warm bed. In the morning, I had some coffee and went back up at about 10 am with muffins. I helped load the car and we went to the Brewpub for lunch. That is my kind of 24-hour experience.

Chris, one of the guys on the team wrecked at about 5 am and lost his ski in the woods. Apparently some 50-year old ripping woman found it at dawn in the middle of the run. Ski patrol gave it back and Chris went on to do the final lap for the team.I will say that there seemed to be less people doing the event this year, maybe because the entry price per person was $125. That is steep on a lot of people’s pocketbooks this year. Seems pricey, especially because this is Sunlight Mountain,resort of jeans and 15-year old equipment.

Has anyone else noticed that the entry fees for endurance racing have skyrocketed in that few years? I find it odd that people have decided to try to make money on these events, kind of seems like the antithesis of what 24-hour racing is all about. Let’s start a movement, Take Back 24! Now who is in charge?

Must Eat, Grow Strong

Darren is a Man of Action

Nic Makes Something Yummy for his Tummy