There ain’t nothin sweeter than ridin the rails. — Tom Waits
Continue readingSalida
Fooses Creek Loop
I had some unfinished business with a certain trail that heads up North Fooses Creek.
Continue readingAll aboard the Starship Enterprise
Back in the mid ‘90s when I started racing mountain bikes, it wasn’t uncommon to see a number of guys still lining up at races on fully rigid 26-inch bikes. Suspension forks had only been around for a few years and a good fork was considered the pinnacle of off-road technology.
Continue readingBanana Belt Bike People
This video has been out there for a couple of years but it just recently popped up on my radar. It’s an inspiring look at mountain biking in Chaffee County as described by four residents and local riders.
Continue readingHow not to ride the Monarch Crest
I swear, the older I get, the faster time goes. Blink and three months go by. Here it is the middle of Summer and it’s been over a month since I’ve posted a single thing on this admittedly intermittent web site. Apologies for that. Time to rectify the situation.
Continue readingCottonwood Loop
It’s summer, and that means it’s time to do one of my favorite in-town rides, the Cottonwood Loop. The Cottonwood Loop is in the Arkansas Hills north of Salida. From town it’s a 20-mile round trip involving an eight-mile gravel ride up to the trailhead, followed by a twelve-mile single track descent.
Continue readingRainbows and Unicorns
In the continuing effort to bring you video tours of Salida’s mountain bike trails, it is with great pleasure I present a look what I’m pretty sure is the biggest loop you can do on a bike on the Methodist Mountain side of Salida.
Continue readingLocal Perk
One of the best things about living IN the mountains, as opposed to NEAR the mountains or, god forbid, AWAY FROM the mountains, is that every now and then Mother Nature offers up a little gift in the way of weather that you can partake of only if you’re here to experience it first-hand.
Continue readingFlow
In 28 years of riding and racing I’ve pretty much ridden every kind of trail imaginable: ledgy limestone, chunky granite, desert sand, gnarly roots, soft loam. In terms of mountain biking, there isn’t much I haven’t seen.
Continue readingPostcard from Colorado
A couple of weeks ago, while the high mountains were in less than ideal condition for skiing and the local trails were too soupy from snowmelt for mountain biking, I headed up into the network of gravel roads in the Arkansas Hills for some random exploring.
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