ride.gobig

NEW BLOG....

2010-01-24T19:24:00.000-08:00

Gus has kicked me off of HIS blog. I've moved to...

www.commandonlandon.blogspot.com

Snow Bird.....

2009-12-26T19:16:00.000-08:00

Jingle Bells Jingle Bells, Jingle All The Way, Oh What Fun It Is To Ride On A 60 Degree Day.....
YEA!I rode from Cheeva Falls trail-head up to Bellota Ranch road, caught the Arizona Trail back west and then tip toed down La Milagrosa. (I had forgotten my knee shin armour, which is BAD on this trail)

All together, with the ride back into town, it was about 25 miles. My mind still thinks that I am as strong as I was in October when I did the Centurion, my body says otherwise. Still, a 25 mile day in the middle of winter and I was feeling pretty good. Two more weeks of this and I'll be fit as a.... oh I don't know.....

Gustifson H. has been digging the temps this year. It's a little cooler than in February when we normally come down. Still, he prefers to wear his white shirt, which I wet down with water. His little swamp cooler keeps him pretty happy for 90 year old dog averaging 10 miles an hour.

Snow dogs...

2009-12-20T17:27:00.000-08:00

We spent the week watching Keith and Suzanne's dog Meka. I'm more and more impressed by the Heeler breed. They're quirky, but their loyalty more than makes up for their quirks.

The dogs had been in the house for way too long, so Monday we went for a hike in the snow. The sun was strong and warm making for quite a pleasant day out with Mary Mo and the doogers.

As much as I enjoyed this hike in the snow, I am glad to be leaving the white stuff. ARIZONA HERE WE COME!

Good news for biking the Continental Divide Trail...

2009-12-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

http://www.dirtragmag.com/blogarific/forest-service-decision-continental-divide-trail

Last Days of November....

2009-11-30T13:45:00.000-08:00

Wall riding with the Moon off my starboard bow!

Still warm and dry on this side of the mtns!

Greg photo's are always fun to post!

Connect the dots....

2009-11-24T20:27:00.000-08:00

Riding on bare, naked, untouched slick rock is like nothing else in this world. It's appearance changes with every tick of the suns movement through the day. The same landscape in the morning will be different in the evening. Moab is famous for slick rock, especially the trail that bares its name. Painted dots keep one glued to an imaginary line. The dots make a chaotic terrain more....manageable. The slick rock world just above town is hard for most Moab visitors to grasp. The sea of frozen sand dunes leaves folks from more humid climates at a loss for words. There just isn't anything "back home" to compare it to. Luckily, years ago, dots or dashes were painted on the rock, in an effort to give order to the chaos. The dots keep kids, grandparents and "expert level" riders from flying off of cliffs. They keep riders on track so they do not wander afar and disappear, becoming a part of the desert themselves.

I'm glad for the icon that is the Slick Rock Trail, for I might never have journeyed here my-self were it not for its world renowned notoriety.

For all the fun I have had on Slick Rock Trail, these days it leaves me somewhat bored. There is no danger, when the word "DANGER" is painted on the rock. The dots keep me from feeling the rock, from learning how much traction is available on any given stratified layer, from training my fast twitch muscle fibers to "PULL UP QUICK!" when what looked roll-able turns out to be a 6 ft ledge. What if there was a Slick Rock trail that had no dots, no crowds, virtually no sign of man or his machines? What if there was a place in the desert where one can surf, riding frozen waves for more than six hours?

(the view from inside looking out)

Well.... Such a place does exist, but the price of admission is high. Those with vertigo need not apply, and for those with legs that aren't up for massive amounts of steep climbing, and frightening cliff side descents, you too may want to stay within sight of some painted dots.

And like all good surf spots, these waves are kept pretty secret. "It's classified." "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."
So don't ask, and I won't tell. Be happy knowing that there is a place in Moab where Jeeps, ATV's, Redneck Golfcarts, Hikers, and even Mountain Bikers don't go.

(Some pics are from a trip with Greg Luck in 2008, the rest are from a few days ago)

Epic, Defined......

2009-11-17T06:49:00.000-08:00

adjective Also, ep⋅i⋅cal.
1.
noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: Homer's Iliad is an epic poem.
2.
resembling or suggesting such poetry: an epic novel on the founding of the country.
3.
heroic; majestic; impressively great: the epic events of the war.
4.
of unusually great size or extent: a crime wave of epic proportions.
–noun
5.
an epic poem.
6.
epic poetry.
7.
any composition resembling an epic.
8.
something worthy to form the subject of an epic: The defense of the Alamo is an American epic.
9.
(initial capital letter) Also called Old Ionic. the Greek dialect represented in the Iliad and the Odyssey, apparently Aeolic modified by Ionic.
Mountain bikers tend to use the word "epic" a lot. It gets overused and is a trendy word we like to use to describe rides that maybe weren't really all that uhh...."epic." The definition above doesn't really cover what we off-road cycling folks mean by the word. One above definition, which I highlighted in red, does discuss "great size," but I don't think a ride must be long to be "epic."

I think "epic," in mountain biking terms, must have one element. The element of adventure. It's a state of mind. On our way back from central Utah on Monday, Mary and I stopped off of I-70 for a dirt road ride in the San Raphael Swell. A sign noted "Head of Sinbad" 5 miles. I asked Mary if she was up for a 10 mile total dirt road ride. "Heck Yea" she said!

We headed out with Gustifson at a leisurely pace, on smooth red dirt roads, heading for the "Head of Sinbad." But a few miles in, a very smooth (good for Mary's healing hands), ATV trail left the road to the left. We ditched Sinbad, and headed into the wild desert. The trail was perfect, kind of flowy, very smooth, no rock gardens.

Because I had promised her a 10 mile only ride, I stopped us at 5 miles out. But....Miss Mary said, "What if we kept going to see if this road connects with that trail we saw a few miles back, the one that veered off to the left?" And I said, "I'm sure it will connect, it has to!" And thus an "epic" ride began.

As the trail disappeared, the sand got thick, and the sun sank low, I could see Mary was suffering. After a year off the bike, pounding the middle ring through soft soil is not easy. But I could see that despite the cold, the impending darkness, and the sucky "trail" conditions, she was having fun.

In a last ditch effort to keep her hands from freezing I gave Mary my gloves and wrapped arm warmers around mine. The sun gave the tips of the surrounding mesa's one last red kiss and with that it seemed to drop 10 more degrees. Finally we started finding ATV tracks in the wash again. The wash dumped us out at a recognizable spot and we were finally heading back toward the truck. I looked at Gus's black fur in envy as he trotted along impervious to the dropping temp. The sky had very distinct lines of color as the light faded. Visions of flipping the trucks heater switch drove us on. Fourteen miles! Two hours! Yea, it was EPIC!

Fun with Poo Bike.....

2009-11-12T20:11:00.000-08:00

I'm always up pretty early. That's normal for me. And being the first one up I of course unloaded my bike, lubed the chain, adjusted this, fiddled with that.....all so everyone could use it to ride down to the restroom! Long live the POO BIKE!

Amazing weather welcomed a bunch of dirt bag mountain bikers to Gooseberry Mesa, Utah. Two days of technical, natural skate park like riding.Jacques Hadler--Broke his spine nine months ago. He's only been back on the bike a few months and he is already faster than me. Not much changes!
Ashely is a ripper, I think her husband has been teaching her some sweet huck moves, or maybe her boyfriend, heck I couldn't figure it out.

Even the bikes stop to enjoy the views on Gooseberry Mesa.

As we were leaving GJ Keith was poking fun at how many extra bike parts I was bringing. Below is a picture of Keith enjoying his second day of riding on MY extra rear wheel!

Gold, purple, and a pink squeaker toy. That bikes gotta be from Vegas!

Day Tour Tim! Back off lady's I'm pretty sure he's married.

Ba Ba Ba, Ba Ba Baber Anne!
None of the bikes cared enough to give them a handlebar. Poor Dave and Rachel.

Thanks to Jared Fisher for throwing this little bash and inviting all of his past employees to join his current ones for two days of sweet sweet riding, eating and laughing!

Check out a quick video Keith did of the ride....

http://westylivin.blogspot.com/2009/11/gooseberry-mesa-nov-2009.html

More Superhuman!!

2009-11-08T16:12:00.000-08:00

http://www.superhumanmag.com/content/view/1674/48/

Butch from Superhumanmag.com made a great little video of Ross, Noah and I riding the "Drop In" For the record, I would like to point out, despite the video, that I have seen Noah clean that line more than anyone else! Check out his line done cleat at:

http://westernslopestyle.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-ride-horsethief-entrance.html

Superhuman?

2009-11-07T09:34:00.001-08:00

Keith, Noah and I got some sweet camera time for www.superhumanmag.com Check out the video. http://www.superhumanmag.com/content/view/1675/48/

Pictures for now...

2009-10-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

(Mile 16, still dark on Porcupine Rim)

I'm saving most of the amazing pictures Greg took for a possible magazine article, but here are 3 for now.

(Mile 63, Getting my second wind on Amasaback Trail)

(Mile 103.87, Delirious but happy)

Also, I had some requests for the original link to the promo website Greg and I put together. here that is: http://www.bikeabout.net/Centurion/home.html

Here is a link to the video Keith shot on Centurion day.

http://vimeo.com/7252341

Some Thanks are due...

2009-10-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Whew!!!!!! I'm REALLY tired! But, before I head off for another round of sleep I need to get these THANK YOU'S off of my mind.

First--Thanks goes to my wife, and without a doubt my biggest supporter, Mary. She suffered through the long day of frantic pit stops and her husbands shaky nerves. She also put up with the years of ups and downs it took me to get to this point. Thank you my girl! You are the best!

Second--My team! (in no particular order)
Keith Lay-- From the Midwest too, Keith came to Grand Jct a cross country geek on a Ti hard tail. Now he rides a Remedy and can hang with the best of em. I will never forget the final miles of Flat Pass last night, rallying our bikes like we had only been out for an hour. Keith rode two of the major trails with me yesterday , nearly half a Centurion. Thanks! and couldn't have finished without you!

Tim Walsh-- Tim played a crucial role in my ride yesterday. He paced me from the halfway point out to Amasaback. This was my lowest point of the day. Having his wheel in front of me got me through. Tim is in his late 50's yet rides Moab gnar like someone much younger. Tim, I hope I am half as fast as you when I am your age. Thanks!

Dez Garmin-- My pit Mom! Dez helped keep the wheels from falling off. Knowing she was there to keep Mary on track was an enormous load off of my mind. Dez also is quite a good bike rider and kicks boy butt all the time. Thanks!

Gregory Luck-- Greg is the only one who can capture by camera what I really see out there on these amazing trails. His photography is art. There will be much more to come as we start going through the pictures from yesterday. Greg rode the Moab Rim with me, near sunset, so stay tuned! Thanks Greeeg!

Third-- People who called and checked in.
Mom and Dad---It's so good to have parents that support what I do, however crazy it may seem. Knowing that you called was an instant boost. I got to hear your message on Moab Rim. I love you guys!

My Bro Jaron, thanks for keeping tabs. Love ya!

My other Mom and Dad Adamson. We were able to base my ride from their house here in Moab. It doesn't get any sweeter than that. Thanks for your support. Jim stayed up to see me when I got home last night. I barely could talk at that point. Thank you!

Nic Nelson (said in robot voice, of course) The effort you make to keep in touch means so much. Despite the miles between us, you are my best friend. Thanks for all the support.

Caleb Coleman, my other bestfriend. Thanks for the pre ride email!

Andy Adamson, my other brother, and a Centurion winner a few years back! Thanks for your support!

Steve Langello, thanks for the call, sorry we missed you. Moab Rim lit UP last night.

Jacques Hadler---Jacques and I have both been through some horrible injury's in the last few years. He is the king of the comeback. Thanks for calling and I am glad you are back on the bike, although the fact that you are already faster than me is annoying!

Nancy Morlock--- Queen Moab ripper! When are you going to do the Centurion? Thanks for checkin in!

George Rosangana-- Geo stayed back at the shop and kept things running while Mary and I took off for a really long ride. Thanks for your support!

(Boss) Chris Brown-- Boss thanks for the flexibility in work schedule. It made it easy to time this ride with the Trek Launch.

TrekFolks--

Rad Ross Schnell-- Ross found me along the road to Amasaback during my worst moments. He gave me a pep talk and rode with me for a bit. Having the All Mtn and Single Speed World Champion give you a pep talk is some pretty good stuff. It helped me break the "I wanna quit" cycle. Thanks so much!

Larry Young-- My Trek Rep. Larry gave me clothing for the ride and hooked me up with the right people at Trek to make this ride be more than "just a ride." Larry also spurred me to blog the ride so people could keep up with it online. Thanks for the support.

Michael Browne-- Trek Mtn bike brand manager. Michael made me a star on Friday, allowing me the chance to present The Centurion to 16 of the worlds best bike industry journalists. He also had me on stage in front of all of Treks pro athletes, guys I've seen on TV and posters since I was a wee little cross country geek. It was a humbling experience, THANKS!

My Health Team
Sheri Covey-- Sheri has virtually eliminated the pain that used to wreck my back. I used to feel fragile. Sheri fixed that. Check out http://www.ortho-bionomy.org/

Sara Wilcox-- When Sheri left for Boston I was terrified that I would crash and then not be able to be fixed, but Sheri's "young padawan learner" has kept me together in the last few months. Yesterday I had NO hand issues! Thanks Sara!

Mario Calderone-- Mario has eliminated my nagging foot problems. Last year I could barely walk after a ride or a day of work. I had zero foot pain in my Mario equipped Shimano shoes. Amazing! (Shoe Design! 648 Main Street Grand Junction, CO, 81501----- 970.243.4777. )

Equipment
VIVA LA REMEDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Trek Remedy is hands down the best all mtn bike made! I punished it yesterday. Across Goldbar are chest high drops to flat landings. By that point I was botching landings, but it ate it up. And then on FlatPass, late last night, I gave up on attempts at smoothness and just plowed into everything. There is a section of "adult human head" sized rocks near the end. Not only did I hit it at full speed, I pedaled through it. Keith followed me on his Remedy. We were giggling it was so absurd how fast we hit it.

Shimano XTR rear wheel. The lightest rideable wheel out there. It was making funny noises, but it did not fail me or bend or go out of true. If they would just make a 20mm through axle front so I could run em as a set!

Shimano XT crank and front der. Not a single missed shift, despite the horribleness of creek crossings and sand mixed together.

Dumondtech lube. I only lubed the chain once the whole day!

RockShox Lyrik coil fork. BUTTER!

Kenda Nevegal front tire 2.35 -- Some would say you can't ride 100 miles off road on heavy tires. Shut up weight weenies! The xtra weight was worth every railed corner and smashed into ledge.

Maxxis Crossmark rear 2.1 tire. This is one tough little fast rolling tire.

Well thats it for now. Much more to come with photo's.

Landon

LANDON is AWESOME!! (and cute too)

2009-10-24T23:03:00.000-07:00

WOOOHOOO it is OVER!!! LANDON FINISHES IN GREAT TIME- PULLS INTO TOWN @ 10:36pm!!

That makes his ride 104 miles in 18 hours and 6 minutes. Yep, that's my hubby. What a day! Delirious Landon is showered and tucked into bed now. (I think he deserves the rest!!)

Thank you to everyone who helped out- Especially: Keith Lay, Tim Walsh, Greg Luck, and Dez Garmin!!! THANK YOU- you guys ROCK!! (Special mention: Gustifson H. Blakfur and Akasha Garmin -special dogs of the day.) I am sure Landon will have his own special post later- so check the blog in a couple of days.

Across the rim

2009-10-24T22:51:00.000-07:00

Greg went with Landon across the rim - taking shots along the way, making some more record time. 45 min ahead of schedule now... a storm seems to be blowing in and it is starting to sprinkle. We pull out lights and rain gear for Keith and LTM to make the long way out to Flat Pass- the LAST trail!!!

Caution! Drunk Man Peeing

2009-10-24T16:42:00.000-07:00

After being caught off guard with the most amazing comeback, we booked it over to Moab RIm where Dez and I hiked up with Landon. Moab Rim climb was really hard on Landon's knees- every step hurting. But halfway up he finally said, "I gotta pee!", he handed me his bike and wobbled over to the edge of the trail- He was so wobbly I thought he was gonna fall over into his own waterfall! But after the excess liquids got out he was ready to keep fighting and steady as ever! He is STILL a half hour ahead of schedule!!!! GO LANDON!!! Yeeehaaa!

Landon's BACK!!

2009-10-24T16:41:00.001-07:00

After the bonk, Landon was struggling a bit to get out to Amasa bak, but got a HUGE second wind, he is now a half hour ahead of schedule!!!

AMASA BAK 2:45pm

2009-10-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

Landon finished GoldBar bonking... so we rushed to get him some food and gatorade. After a rest he perked up and with Tim leading the way, headed back out on the road... what a slug of a road. Met Ross Schnell on Kane Creek road, he gave Landon a high five and a pep talk. :) We're off to get more grub and batteries/lights ready for Moab RIM.

On the way to GOLD...

2009-10-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

Landon finished strong from Porcupine. Even did a wheelie down the road headed to GOLD, Goldbar Rim that is. Showing up on time at 10am and heading back out at 10:05. Dez, the bestest girl ever, has shown up to help me support with her dog Akasha. They are troopers. Lots of lube used this stop. Hot Cheese pizza will await our Dashing Rider at the bottom of the portal.

Still Dark at Porky 6:30am

2009-10-24T06:59:00.000-07:00

Met Landon at the Porcupine trailhead. IT IS STILL REALLY DARK. He had a tumble on Slickrock- but, thankfully, landed on "a soft bush". After a quick visit to the loo, he requested something I had never had anyone ask for before... some lube for his chest- his nipples were chaffing. :) Keith Lay from GJ is riding Porcupine with Landon, and Greg Luck got some night shots! Off I go again!

4:30 is early...

2009-10-24T06:58:00.001-07:00

Got Landon off at 4:30am as planned. My eyes are bleary, but he took off like a shot! I think I will try to get another half hour of sleep before I need to go meet him at the Porky trail head.

So much for Sleepy Time...

2009-10-24T02:39:00.000-07:00

OK, so it's 3:40 in the morning. I woke up at 3:00. I was supposed to get up at 3:55. Well, at least I won't oversleep. Gustifson is here with me, he knows it's a big day. He'll get his chance to ride/run with me, probably over Amasaback Trail this afternoon. He was with me in 07 too, when we watched the other end of the day slip behind the rocks of Canyonlands.

This year so many of my friends are supporting me, quite a few will ride sections with me. This should have an amazing effect on my morale as I start heading toward the "darker places" tonight. It can get pretty weird out there, with nothing but a beam of light separating you from the cartoonish landscape of frozen sandstone and the monolithic outlines of distant cliffs.

It's 3:55, time to get up. Here goes somethin.....

"Comandon' Landon"

IT'S GO TIME!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-23T17:47:00.000-07:00

It's 6:45 October 23rd. I just got back from the Trek Remedy/Scratch bike launch. What an amazing opportunity! Thanks to Michael Browne, Treks National Mountainbike Brand Manager, I was able to present my Centurion attempt story idea to 16 mountainbike journalist from all over the world. The room was stacked with Trek's best pro riders too. I gave a little talk and explained what I'm going to be doing tomorrow. It went very well and I don't think I stuttered too much.

So, after dinner and some gear prep I am off to sleepy time. Tomorrow I ride!

"RIDE EM ALL"

Landon

A TOUR OF ROCKS...

2009-10-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

We didn't get to take our normal summer trip this year due to some un-timely staffing problems. With things slowing down at work we took about 5 days off and did a little touring around south east Utah and Western Colorado. However, our vacation started with work. I was hired by a Pro Duo team as a wrench at the 24 hours of Moab. They finished second. We spent Monday after the race resting in Moab.

From Moab we headed to the little known Cedar Mesa. A place that once had an amazing culture living there, hidden in cliffs and occupying the many canyons. It's quite an experience to visit the dwellings of people who lived 700 to 1200 years ago.

After a night of sleep interrupted by a quick rain that stopped as soon as we got the tent up, we headed across Cedar Mesa. The mesa ends abruptly at Muley Point. One can see Monument Valley, Navajo Mountain, The San Juans, The Abajo's, Sleeping Ute, even ShipRock in New Mexico.

One thousand feet below Cedar Mesa is the San Juan Goosenecks State Park. The river is yet another 1000 ft below! The Goosenecks are what are called "entrenched meanders"

After the Goosenecks we drove back toward Bluff Ut. planning to head for the Four Corners. But, this trip had no itinerary and I had always wanted to take a jeep road that wound below Comb Ridge. After an hour of Baja like driving through deep sand and whoop-de-doos we came to the San Juan river. A steep rocky climb requiring low range 4x4 ascended a rise. Mary and I speculated that the hill might be the famous San Juan hill that the Mormons drug their bloody beaten wagons up in the 1870's. But, the hill seemed too easy to be famous. We drove on...

Well, the first hill wasn't the famous hill, but the next one was! I locked the truck in LOW, and engaged the rear diff locker... Mary didn't want us to keep going, and of course, this made me want to climb it more. But, after much tire squealing and near truck flipping I caved in and stopped. We hiked the rest of the hill. At the top engraved in the rock was "O GOD WE THANK THEE." I cannot imagine getting a team of horses or wagons up that incline. I couldn't get a capable locked 4x4 truck up it.

On our way to the Four Corners we got distracted by a sign for Hovenweep Nat. Monument. I had read about it and had always wanted to go there, so we did.

After lots of hiking our feet were tired, so we headed into Cortez to eat a dinner not prepared by us. A trip to the local bike shop got me a map of the Sand Canyon area trails I had heard so much about. We camped on a BLM road just a few miles past the trails. Sunrise was pretty good.

The trails were good, but add the experience of riding with Cliff Dwellings above your head and you have a really cool experience.

This is what riding would be like if we were allowed in Mesa Verde Nat Park, not that we should be? But...if we are carefull this is a great place to ride.

Moonlight To Megaladon To Flatpass...

2009-10-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

Tim and I went up for our last high altitude ride of the year. I had missed the aspen tree's show my a mere two days. Most of the leaves were on the ground. It was OK though, I was in the mountains on my bike. This ride would be my first big test of my hands, to see if a 6000 ft descent would cause a relapse. It was COLD up there. Here's Tim ripping down Megaladon. That trail is as good as it gets if you like desert technical riding. When we popped out at Flat Pass I went on down the trail, Tim called it a day. I finished feeling strong after 6 hours with NO hand pain.

The sky lit up the rocks of Castle Valley on the way home. What an awesome place to live!!!

A September posting in October.....

2009-09-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

Training!!!! Way too hard. This is what I remember about early September. Still healing from my crash in Wisconsin too. Riding becomes no fun. It was on this ride that I started to notice my hands were hurting. It was like I had too much air in my tires or my fork wasn't working correctly. It wasn't a really bad pain, but the irony of it was. Mary has been off the bike now for over a year with hand pain, now mine are freaking out???????????

Yea, that's AM, and I had already been riding for an hour.

The sun coming up and I am at the top of The Gunny Loop heading for Butterknife.

Mid September---Greg, Trina, and I "ride" from Indian Point down into the Kannah Creek drainage from Flowing Park Trail. It was a long day with tons of brush busting with bike. My hands were not doing well at all.

A rare shot of Greg. My what big wheels he has!

The trail was gnarly, but in a really painful kind of way. My state of mind was way off on this day. Aspen trees in yellow, gnarly rock garden trail, a day long adventure--- Normally my kind of thing, but I just wasn't in the groove that day.

A cool Greg shot of Trina.

OFF THE BIKE!!!!!!!!!!! I decided my only chance at completing my mission of finally riding The Centurion Route was to take some time off and see if my hands would heal. I got a good taste of what Mary has been dealing with and it was a good reminder of whats its like to have a problem that seems to have no cause or cure. It seemed like my back problem in 04 all over again.

Sooo, Mary and I have been hiking. Its good to be out together again and to let go of the intensity of training and riding so hard.

Rattle Snake Arches

Mary walks like an Egyptian. What else ya gonna do on top of a big arch?

Above is Gus on a hike we took in the Doloris Triangle. A very remote chunk of land separated from the world by the Colorado River. We had heard rumor of a road that connected this place to Moab via a crossing of the Doloris River. A strange perspective of the La Sals and Porcupine Rim.

After hours of driving jeep roads we finally found the Doloris River. It was only cab deep.

Shortly after this cabin we popped out near the remains of the old Dewey Bridge. Its only 65 miles from GJ, yet it takes 2.5 hours.

The last week of September Mary headed off to the Interbike trade show, without me! It was payback time for when I was in Wisconsin. I ran the shop while Andy (her brother) and she played with bikes.

Yes Andy, those would look GREAT on my bike.

After Mary got back from Vegas my friends from Missouri came out. Chris, Joe Lynn and Rylin. The first to come out since our wedding. We showed them two days of rocks.

Joe Lynn does her best to hold Delicate Arch, but dropped it at the last minute as I took the picture.

And with that September was over. I climbed back on my bike in hopes that the hand problem was a thing of the past, that I could get enough ride time in the coming weeks to still attempt The Centurion. October will tell?

Centurion Blog

2009-08-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

http://www.bikeabout.net/Centurion/home.html

Above is a link to a "pseudo" blog that Greg and I put together to promote my Centurion attempt. I presented at Trek World to the national Mountain Bike brand manager. Hopefully there will be more to come from this, stay tuned....

"Easy" trails in Wisconsin

2009-08-18T20:26:00.001-07:00

Trek put us up in some pretty decent digs for Trek World 2010. This was the view from the hotel room window of Lake Mendota.
For the most part the roadies get all the cool colors this year. With the new Project One program you can get pretty much any color you want, as long as it goes on a Trek Madone.

Above is one of the coil versions of the new Scratch 7" freeride bike. (what is up with the name?)

This will hopefully be my new bike for the coming year as long as my Fuel EX sells. Should be a 7" version of my most favorite bike, the Remedy.

Below is the most fun 29er I have ridden to date, the Rumblefish. It handles well and the new 36 tooth cog in the back makes it a pretty good climber.

After riding a Scratch and a Rumblefish, Brady, one of the Trek engineers I know, talked me into taking out the new carbon fiber Remedy. It's about 3/4 of a pound lighter than my Remedy and the new rear shock works really well. I was feeling pretty good on it, despite the crappy stock tires, the long stem, the brakes on the wrong side, and no gravity dropper to get the seat out of my way. The Trek trails are not what I would call technical, and last year I made quite a bit of fun of the people coming out of the woods bloody and with broken collar bones. Well, this year they added a few new trail features, one being this dirt jump/step up/step off combo pictured below.

Well, the stock tire wrinkled on take off, I made it up onto the upper most part of the wooden structure, and then stepped into thin air. I did one full rotation, landed on some of the logs and then the bike landed on me. I, of course, was not wearing any body armor because the trails in Wisconsin are "easy." I now have two badly swolen and lacerated shins and a black and blue elbow. Now i get to roadbike for the next week or so until the swelling goes down! DANG!

Need a little boost....

2009-08-09T07:30:00.001-07:00

I found this link on the Velo News website. http://www.cellsciences.com/content/p-detail.asp?rowid=6800 I found it at the bottom of the page for "Di Luca's B sample positive" http://www.velonews.com/article/96439/di-luca-s-b-samples-positive Hmmm?

Apparently it's not that hard to get performance enhancing drugs! For only $300 I can juice my-self up and go kick ass out at Lunch Loops. Maybe I will dope up for the next Throwdown and give Ryan and Dwayne a run for their money! I guess since Throwdown isn't UCI sanctioned we could all get juiced, just to see how fast we can ride Holy Cross! Yea Baby!

(Velo News Editor responded to my letter with this response)

Hello Landon,
You're right. I appreciate the heads up. We can - and should - block the appearance of the ad through the tool we use to control Google Ads. I have notified those in charge. If this ad - or others like it - continue to appear on our site, please let me know.
Charles F. Pelkey, J.D.
Senior Editor, VeloNews.com
Charles@Pelkey.com
609 S. 5th
Laramie, WY 82070
307/920-0542
www.GrumpyScribe.com

A different kind of Anniversary...

2009-08-09T06:28:00.001-07:00

Last night I went out with my buddy's Brad and Keith. We climbed up Eagles Wing and down Holy Cross trail. Earlier in the day I had noticed that it was only 78 degrees at lunch time, so it was a rare day indeed for this desert. The evening was even better!

The day had been hard, we sold a lot of bikes, but felt hammered from being a "man down" in the shop. Keith stopped by at the end and asked me to go riding. I almost said no, because I was so burnt from the day, but I relented. I'm glad I did, because if I had looked at the calendar I would have realized that I had to ride! It was August 8th! I always ride on that day in celebration of overcoming injury.

Five years ago yesterday I felt a stinging pain in my lower back, and then fire down the sciatic nerve of my right leg. It was the start of the worst year of my life. A year that would leave me physically and mentally changed forever.

My girl is in the midst of her worst year. She's 10 months into it. She may not be able to open the milk carton for breakfast, or hold onto a handlebar, but she is so much stronger than I was. She just keeps on keepin on, knowing for a fact that it will be over sometime soon, always faithful that she too will ride again, just like she always told me that i would. She was right. She always is.

Seven Hours of Turkey Flats...

2009-07-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

Greg and I got a shuttle up to 7100 ft, just past Glade Park where the gravel road starts. We unloaded our bikes to the sound of thunder, and then started riding.... into the clouds.About 5 miles in we put on our rain coats, only to have the rain immediately stop. We had caught the tail end of the storm though, and the road was a mess. I let Greg lead, and he quickly showed me what lines not to take. His bike ground to a halt, tires no longer moving. I dodged left and kept moving, not having to get my shoes gunked up. A mile or so further up, the road dried out again.

Once on singletrack the conditions weren't too bad. A little slick, but not gumbo. We climbed to almost 10,000 ft and ate lunch gawking at the La Sal Mtns. I noticed this little guy and he posed for a shot in Greg's hand.

On the way back down we stopped for a few gnar gnar shots and then kept moving. Once back on the road Greg went one way and I headed back to GJ the other. I had plans to hit the Ribbon and The Gunny as well.

Heading down, the wind was blowing the wrong way. Normally by afternoon the wind is out of the west, but it was hard out of the east and making me work, despite going downhill. And speaking of that downhill, there sure was a lot of climbing for all that elevation loss? I stopped at Glad Park Store and had a chocolate milk, the energy drink of champions! I was suffering, on the pavement and into the wind on my 6" travel bike. Not really the hot set-up for road riding, but was I racing?

I finally got to The Ribbon trail. I noticed a little dampness to the soil in the parking lot but didn't think much of it. However, as I got futher down it became aparent that it had rained recently and it had rained hard. By the time I got to the wash the water was roaring. It was a grey nasty bentonite water. My bike sounded like every rotating piece was rubbing on sandpaper. I found that it was easier to keep moving if I actually rode IN the water. I kept my speed as to not get bogged down. But...one water hole was a little deeper than the rest, and a little more filled with mud. Bike stops, I keep going! Soooo, i'm laying in the nasty water, waiting for my bike to pummel me as it normally does when I fly over the bars, but it doesn't? I look up and the bike is stuck in the endo posistion front wheel deep in mud. After unsticking my bike I trudged on to the climb out. I had hope that the bentonite climb would be dry----HA HA HA. I have seen foot prints of the poor souls who have been stuck here after a rain. And I have laughed at their misfortune, I have made fun of them, and now I have been THAT GUY! The cake frosting top of the mud was slick as snot. Each shoe weighed at least 10lbs. I carried my bike so that it too would not weigh twice its normal weight. I made it out, scraped off my shoes, and rode down the Tabeguache and Lemon Squeezer to finish a fine day of mountainbiking. Turkey Flats is normally a two hour ride at the most. I stretched it a little eh?

(Greg pics, as usual, are stunning. Check out his work at http://www.bikeabout.net/)

Mary Rides, a little bit...

2009-07-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

Despite Mary's painful hand problem, sometimes one must go riding, regardless of the consequences. This was one such evening. With the threat of sore, painful, fingers for the days to follow, she went. And it was awesome!

Keith finally cleans the rock on Prime Cut. The monkey is off his back.

Gus was happy to have a pond to swim in. The recent rains have left plenty of water out there and plenty of ruts in the trails too.

The light was simply amazing as the shadows danced across the Book Cliffs and the desert below began to turn orange.

Gus and I hung back and watched the last of the sunset turn the cliffs pink. Not a bad view from aboard the bike.

And just when you think its done, it kicks one more time and then "fade to black."

Monarch Crest Trail...

2009-07-26T19:24:00.001-07:00

The Monarch Crest Trail, one of my favorite trails in the world! Noah and I took off for a quick one day blast. We left the night before, planning to run the shuttle before hand and camp up high.We got into Salida around midnight. We had already stashed our bikes and our camping gear at the top of Monarch Pass. I found the map I had pre-paid for under the steps of Absolute Bikes where the nice lady had hid it for me. We dropped off the truck at Poncha Springs and the pain began.Since we only had one car we brought my moto to run a self shuttle. It's a slick system for these high mountain rides requiring only one car. However, when we left GJ it was about 105 degrees. It didn't occur to us that it would be a fair bit colder up high. So there we are, two grown men in shorts, at 12:30 AM, on a small, blue, underpowered motorcycle climbing one of the highest passes in the USA. I was so cold that I was shaking violently causing the handlebars and the whole bike to swerve. Not to mention dodging the deer that seemed to be grazing on gravel on the sides of the road. At one point we both started laughing at the absurdity of our situation. The laughing seemed to warm me up, or maybe Noah was holding on too tight fearing for his life? I dunno?As we climbed toward 12,000 ft the rising yellow crescent moon came up to greet us as we rolled into camp. Chilled to the bone I was unable to get warm the whole night. A new sleeping bag is in order. Around 4 AM a large animal started snorting and kicking around. I was pretty sure I was going to be trampled to death in my sleeping bag by an Elk. This would be fitting as I am routinely attacked by animals when I vacation.

Well, the ride was amazing as the pictures show (All of Noah since he lost his memory card and thus, the pics of me) The ride was about 35 miles including the Rainbow Trail which I highly recommend. Its a slightly more strenuous way to get down, but well worth the effort. At least I thought so because I still had brakes, which was more than Noah had. He rides fast with no brakes!

Crested Butte, Random Photo's

2009-06-24T20:00:00.001-07:00

A reflection shot, store window...

The drive towards Pittsburgh... not PA, but an old mining town...

A friend once asked me, when I was dating a girl in college, "Does she know when to lock in your hubs?" The answer was a very quick "NO!" "She doesn't even know what a hub is." I broke up with her a few days later.

Our truck may no longer have external locking hubs, but my Mary still knows when to pull it into 4x4. It was a requirement before I married her, don't think I didn't test her.

So, this bubble blower pulled up on his bike as I was having a photo session with Mr. Marmot and said "WOW, what a cool Beaver." BEAVER?????

Got concrete on your tires? On your paws?

We woke up to snow on the high peaks on Saturday morning, Gus didn't mind.

Napping Mary in the Yellow Room of the Mountain House...

Crested Butte, 4 year anniversary!

2009-06-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

The Mountain House, as Mandela calls it. Our home for three days of relaxing in Crested Butte. Thanks to Sheri and Robby for letting us stay!Sweet Miss Mandela, she sure is a cutie!And the whole family.Crested Butte is colorful, quite a bit more contrast then down below.After dinner Mary and I took the first dirt road we could find. Of course it eventually involved four wheel drive, but the road took us to one of the most amazing dead ends I have seen. Mary made me get all dressed up (I had to tuck in my shirt) and we posed for pictures. Pretty good backdrop.I tricked Mary into NOT getting me an anniversary gift so that I could afford to buy her these. She likes them I guess, she mentioned something about prettiest flowers ever.

Crested Butte Riding

2009-06-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

New fork, same Remedy frame. The new 6 inch Revelation fork weighs an amazing 3.8 lbs. Put that with a 6 inch 6.2 lbs frame and XTR wheels and you get a 28.5 lbs bike WITH Gravity Dropper!
A lighter bike, with slightly less fork travel then I had before and skinny pizza cutter tires is not the hot set-up for a real downhill course. Of course neither are jeans and an XC helmet. Oh well, i still had a blast. Pictured below is Larry Young, our Trek rep, No flats Noah, and my self.
Whooo Hoooo, SENDING IT! On the step down, Crested Butte DH course.
Our hosts for the weekend, Sheri and Robby, live just a short ride from some of the greatest high alpine riding in the world. Robby and I got out between rain showers for a ride on Snodgrass.

Pretty typical Crested Butte, ya know, lots of annoying wild flowers and amazing views.

Pic by Robb Blyberg

Dirt! I am so not used to riding in actual dirt, soil, mud.

New Camera

2009-06-22T19:52:00.001-07:00

Pic by LTM

Pic by Mary

Rockin it on the Slickrock Practice Loop! Mary is getting good with the new camera.

Yamaha product shot. Taken near Hurrah Pass. Pic by Mary

Throwdown Rained out...

2009-06-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

The first "legal" Throwdown was rained out. Greg got these pictures of our practice runs, just before the skies really opened up. The last run was a slick and slimy mess.

Reschedule is for Tuesday the 9th at The Ranch. 6:30 practice time.

Dana Rides!

2009-05-29T06:35:00.001-07:00

Nineteen years ago Dana was paralyzed from the neck down in a fall.....

A couple years ago, while sitting in her wheelchair, Dana says to Mary and I. "I'm gonna ride my bike from here to South America." "Want to go with me?" "Sure! Lets do it." We said. It wasn't that I didn't believe that Dana could do it, its that I didn't think it would be very soon. Well, we better get the house rented and save some money, its not gonna be long before Dana rides up to me and says.... LETS GO!

Dana you are unsinkable, we are proud of you!

Happy Birthday to Me...

2009-05-22T06:28:00.001-07:00

Mary and I left early Sunday morning for Cortez CO. We went by way of Gateway which led us through Moab like canyons along the Dolores River. The eastern slope of the La Sal Mtns are visible making it a very beautiful drive.

We met my friend Tim from Moab met us in the Walmart parking lot in Cortez. Driving from there we used the incredibly inaccurate directions from some chucklehead on MTBR.com to find the trail-head for Phil's World. The directions should go like this--go east toward Durango, take a left turn across from the fairgrounds, you're there! How can you mess that up????

I had just a little hope that the trails would be good at Phil's World, a few friends had ridden there and said it was good. However, the trails turned out to be GREAT! I have not had that much fun on my bike in a while. The trails are built for mtbkr's and are directional. You never run into anyone and they flow like Kessel Run all day long. There were sections that were like Upper Porcupine Singletrack, and some Lunch Loop ledges thrown in as well. I highly recommend a trip down there. We put in a good 16 miles and saw a loop that would have added 5 more, plus there seems to be more on the south side of the hwy too.

The trail system sits at about 6000 ft so its a little cooler than here at home, and I would bet an evening ride would be just perfect. It was getting a little toasty towards the end, but it was mid day.

After our ride, our plan was to go to Mesa Verde Nat. Park. I had been preparing my-self for the normal onslaught of "tourons" that you normally meet in a national park. I have avoided Mesa Verde just for that reason for years. However, it wasn't bad at all, aside from the tour through Cliff Palace, where the poor ranger has to spend more time than anything talking about how to survive a 1/4 mile hike, it was an amazing experience.

Cliff Palace is the biggest "ruin" in the park. It has 23 ceremonial Kiva's which are stone circles below ground that would have had stucko roofs 800 years ago.

Spruce Tree House, pictured below, was my favorite. It had a restored Kiva which we climbed down in. Spruce Tree house had the most in tact windows. In the picture below, you can see a pictograph inside one of the rooms. It is thought to have been a lunar calendar. There would have been a floor, so the pictograph would have been able to have been painted easily.After coming down from Mesa Verde we set out to find a good camping spot. We found one near the Phil's World trail system and cooked dinner. Just at sunset, we decided that a quick ride on the smoother trails would make Mary and Gus pretty happy. Due to her hands, Mary hasn't ridden a real trail since Tucson in February and since October before that. She was ecstatic to be flowing on a sweet ribbon of singletrack. We only went about a mile, but it sure was good to be on the trail again with my girl. After our ride we decided our camp was to close to the hwy and had too many bugs, so we headed for a camping spot that we found on our honeymoon, in the mtns near Durango.We camped at 9000 ft, it was a perfect cool night, the crescent moon coming up over the San Juan Mtns at around 3 am on my actual birthday. Not too shabby!After breakfast we headed into Durango, the plan being to finally ride Animas Mtn trail, a trail i've heard a lot about, and one that pro Trek rider Travis Brown calls his favorite trail. Well, the trail pictured above and below are NOT Animas Mtn, it was an off shoot not shown on the map. However, it was sweet, fun riding through the woods. Once I realized I wasn't on Animas I turned around to find it. I found it all right, a long arduous climb with sketchy loose rocks and a barely climbable grade. From 6500ft to 8100ft I slogged in the hot sun. It wasn't what I expected, but then I remembered that I was healthy, and on my bike in the mtns, and from that point on everything was OK.Pictured below--The actual Animas Mtn trail, Durango CO.I finally reached the top. The view was worth it, looking northward toward Silverton and even our home in GJ even farther away. Time to ripp back down!Well....the descent wasn't so great. I pinched a tubeless tire on the many loose rocks, which sealed up enough to keep going, although slowly. Then I burped most of the rest of the air out of it on a switchback slowing me even further. Long climb followed by slow crappy descent. SUCK! I'm not gonna recommend Animas Mtn, but I will say I still had a heck of good day out in the world. Then Mary bought me a big fat burger back in town and my birthday was completely perfect!

Dwayne the Destroyer Makes First Run UNDER 12 Parsecs!

2009-05-20T06:06:00.000-07:00

Soooo, I made this sign, but Des said it might be a felony to impersonate a federal agency so opted not to put it up. Doesn't it look official?

THROWDOWN # 5

Dwayne the Destroyer Beats Han Solo's record time of 12 parsecs for the Kessel Run!

This is the first recorded run to dip lower than 12 parsecs.

(according to a minutes to parsecs conversion table)

Rumor has it that Dwayne was even slowed near the finish by a "tourist"

Time of 6:59

Second Place goes to Double Pinch Flat Noah! Noah killed it on his hometown course and did it without the use of gears or rear suspension!

(WINNER of the SS class)

Time of 7:10

Third Place is an amazing 4 way tie.

(in alphabetical order)

All have a time of 7:14

Blake

Brad

Eric

Landon

Fourth place is Robbie

(sharing photo with Timani)

(crashed twice and still put up a good time)

Time is 7:35

Fifth place is Killer Keith

Time is 7:39

(he's smilin' in every picture!)

Sixth place is Donal

Time is 7:42

Seventh is a tie

Time is 7:46

Alex

(this one hurts doesn't it?)

Doug

WINNER! of the Bike Shop Owner Class

(Troy, you have been called out!)

Eighth

Greg L.

Time is 7:48

(no cheesy photo this time)

Ninth

Chris B

Time is 8:05

Winner of the Female Class!

(Tenth overall)

Jesse K.

Time is 8:06

Eleventh

Dogger

Time is 8:11

Twelfth

Timani

Time is 8:20

This was the best turnout yet, thanks to all who came out to ride and especially to my official timers, Mary and Des!

Round Four, Gunny Loop Throwdown

2009-05-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

THROWDOWN NUMBER FOUR IS IN THE BOOKS!

FLYIN' RYAN TAKES CONTROL OF THE SERIES WITH 3 OUT OF 4 WINS THUS FAR. RYAN NOT ONLY WON, BUT HE SHAVED 17 SECONDS OFF HIS LAST WEEKS TIME.

RYAN C.--7:49

LANDON M.--8:05 (17 seconds better too!)

MASON K.--8:37 (42 seconds better)

(Greg is sorry he cut off your head)

Daral--8:46 (first Throwdown ever, Nice Run)

Blake--8:52 (First Throwdown, Nice Ridin' "cousin")

Keith L.--9:15 (first race run down the Gunny)

Greg L.--9:23 (Single Speed Hardtail, and finishes fast enough to take great photo's while out of breath!)

Nancy--9:47 (Winner, female category)

Trina L.--11:04 (Winner of the female over 40 category, which she made a new category for this race)

Chris B.--11:10 (Winner of the bike store owner category, much smack was talked towards Doug!)

Double Pinch Flat NOAH!--DNF--(Winner of the most flat tires ever had in one series!)

(Pic of Noah assuming the normal posistion on The Flight Of Icarus)

GUN DOWN!

2009-05-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

THROW DOWN THREE!

Dwayne the Destroyer wins his second Throwdown!

Big turnout, awesome riding conditions, and a good tail wind made for a great race.

Winner! Dwayne the Destroyer 8:02

Second--Flyin Ryan C. 8:06

Third--Comandan' Landon 8:22 (Can you see the fear in Elmo's one eye?)

Fourth--Big Guns Brad A. 8:24

Fifth-- Thunder Jarrod H. 8:27

Sixth-- No Flats Noah! 9:01

Seventh--Madd Mason K 9:19

Eighth-- Galloping Greg 9:20 (WINNER! of single speed category)

Ninth--Alex the... i'm running out of cheesy names 10:13

Tenth--Trina the mail lady 11:38 (WINNER! of women's class!)

Eleventh--Hammer of Troy--DNF (Noah passes the flat tire torch to Troy)

(Sorry, no pic)

Thanks to my furry little buddy for riding with me and keeping an "eye" on the trail.

Thanks to Doug B. for timing this event. It's hard to time an event that doesn't even exist.

It's a JOKE!

2009-04-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

I guess I made the post below sound WAY to real. I apologize to those who thought I really did get sponsored. I'm flattered that so many of you thought that I was actually talented enough to earn a "team" car. Also, I realized after the fact, that the Wisconsin plates on the car made many of you think it really did come from Trek Corporate, it was just a coincidence. Many thanks to the rich guy who parked a burnt orange Corvette in the Bar M parking lot and left his bike rack down for me to put my bike on. I'm really glad the alarm didn't go off. Anyway, to those of you who know me from the pre-bike days, you know I would have asked for a Mustang, not a Vette!

General Motors and Trek to Sponsor me this year.....

2009-04-20T18:27:00.001-07:00

Since the Trek/VW race team recently disbanded Trek has been looking for a new automotive sponsor to fill the void left by Volkswagon. Despite talks of GM's financial crisis they happily stepped up to the plate to take care of Treks more talented racers transportation needs. I am the happy beneficiary of this new deal. Pictured below is my Trek Remedy with my new matching Corvette, custom rear mount bike rack included.

Talking with Trek sponsored racer Ross Schnell recently about his new race deal, he was proud to show me that SRAM had kicked in some blingy matching orange derailleurs and Crank Brothers hooked him up with snazzy orange Iodine wheels. Well frankly I'm not impressed. My sponsorship deal is head and shoulders better than his. I am sure my strong results in the Throwdown race series helped me to attain this new sponsorship.

And in other news we rode Goldbar Rim today! Yea it was pretty sweet.

Above: Merrick takes a digger. More of a SPLAT actually. It was very ugly as his bike just stopped and he kept going.

Blom drops into the Portal View point.
Merrick drops into the Portal View Point.

I had a good day out there, dabbing only 11 time the entire day. Cleaned the uphill, and cleaned the Portal! YAY! No wonder they gave me a new Corvette!

THROWDOWN TWO!

2009-04-14T21:26:00.001-07:00

Brad rips it for Greg's "shot of the week."

Despite some crazy windy weather and threat of rain another THROWDOWN is in the books. Flyin Ryan was sick so we were all gunning for his last weeks time of 5:05. We came close!

Winner this week with a smoking time of 5:07 is Mason K.

Second, with a much improved time of 5:09 is my-self.

Third is Brad A. with a time of 5:13 and this weeks cover photo.

Fourth was Killer Kieth L. with an ugly crash at the base of the Widow Maker. He still improved his time despite the digger! 7:19

Better weather and a different course next time.....

Captitol Reef

2009-04-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

Temple Mountain at the heart of the San Rafael Swell. Picture by Mary.

Mary is taking some really cool tree shots lately. So, despite having a motorized beast on the back of our truck, we quickly left The Swell because there were so many ATV/Moto chuckleheads ripping around. Our hope was that they would all be leaving late Sunday, but most seemed to be planning on a Monday holiday too. It looked like a trailer park, because apparently folks can't camp anymore without a TV, AC, or a DVD. Gone are campfires and tents in favor of all the comforts of home. And, gone too is the experience, ya know, camping?And camp we did. After driving 50 miles out of the way for gas (man I love Utah) we headed up and over some pretty tall mountains to drop into 3 awesome little towns near the entrance of Capitol Reef Nat. Park. Bicknal, Loa, and my favorite, Torrey UT were in a line as we dropped back down towards the cliffs of Capitol Reef. We found a perfect campsite nestled in some rocks which sheltered us from the wind. It was a darn cold night, but our new two person bag works perfectly and can even fit a Gustifson if needed. Sunrise turned the cliffs pink as pink can be.Before breakfast Gus and I headed up a trail near camp. I was quickly in heaven as I realized it was an old mining trail blasted into the rock. I was having dreams of someday riding my bike down it and connecting to this trail by way of the distant slick rock I could see in this far away view, pictured below. We drove through Capitol Reef like good tourists and even stopped at the visitor center and some marked view points, like "The Goose Necks" below.

It was quite a good trip and we packed a lot into only 1.5 days off. We for sure will be going back. There is a lot of rock out there to explore.

80's Night Re-Visited

2009-03-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

If we were an 80's Punk Rock band the above shot would be on our "record" cover.

These pics were just too good to not post. Thanks, (or no thanks) to Dave Nash's fish eye lenz.

These two guys are only Gay for one night a year. At least thats what they tell me.

Notice how cool my 1989 Nike Force shoes are? Really, they ARE COOL!

Whoops, thats a nipple shot, I thought this site was rated PG-13?

THROWDOWN RACE REPORT....

2009-03-25T06:59:00.001-07:00

Flyin Ryan wins yet another Throwdown! Free Lunch trail proved to be more difficult than any of us expected. It's a hard trail to go FAST on. Greg was out grabbing what shots he could in the fading light.

Group shot below of those who dared to THROW DOWN, except Brad who forgot about the race. As usual it was not without carnage. Troy took a hard digger leaving some ugly gashes and swelling on the shins, and Noah, managed to only explode ONE tire this time. We now change his name from Double Pinch Flat Noah to SNAKE BIGHT NOAH!

Times are as follows...

Flyin Ryan: 5:05

Snake Bight Noah: DNF

Jared the Thunder: 5:32

The Hammer who is Troy: DNF

Comandn' Landon: 5:33 (ONE FREAKIN SECOND!)

Keith the Killer: 7:54

Micha the peeing Heeler Dog: 7:54

Thanks to Mary for timing and waiting in the cold!

Oh yea, and none of this really happened, because Throwdown doesn't exist.... right?

MARCHing along!

2009-03-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

Bull Canyon, Moab UT. This was about 3 weeks ago, and I was in the middle of being sick as heck, but it was a great ride anyway. We ended up riding all the way back to town, roughly 28 miles. Not a bad early season ride. Riders are Keith, Tim, Nancy, and Anne The sun set behind the Henry Mtns as we picked up the truck to drive home. Just another average desert sunset.Blue Tires?????????? Who would have thought they would actually look cool? Well, Mary of course! Adelaide the Amsterdam shows off with the Colorady River as a backdrop.

Above---Mary glad to be out riding, even if just a little bit.

I got this great shot of Greg out on the Gunnison Bluffs trail a week or so ago. Just another average desert sunset. LOL!

Rabbit Valley--- On a more cross country ride I managed to find some stuff to jump off of. Keith, Greg, Trina and I had a great ripp this day, and an even better burger afterwards!

5 in a Van

2009-03-02T20:42:00.000-08:00

After leaving Sedona we drove as far as we could through "The Rez." Near Kayenta AZ, Travis began weaving so we pulled over for some sleep. It was bitterly cold and sleeping in the tent sounded really bad. Sooo, we all scrunched into Travis's van. Yes, Noah, that is a seperate sleeping bag between Nancy and I. Missing from the photo is Travis, and Gustifson who slept warmly beneath our feet.

We awoke early driving through Monument Valley at sunrise.

Notice the houses at the base of the rock. Perspective?

And thus ends another 3 weeks of Arizona bliss.

A stop in Sedona....

2009-03-02T20:12:00.000-08:00

On our way back towards home we stopped in Sedona for a late afternoon ride. Travis and Nancy met us there. They were working over the locals trying to get some secret trail info. They succeeded in getting local ripper "Chewy" to ride with us and show us a trail. Trail name? Dammed if I know? Me, near the beginning of Dammed if I know?

Sedona is like Moab and Zion morphed together. Or, as a buddy put it, "A snooty little town where a national park should be."

Notice the size of the wee little bikes at the bottom of the photo.

The descent from the high point of the trail was an absolute blast. I can't wait to go back now that I know what to expect.

The video below is of a very steep roll in near the end of the trail. What you can't see in the video is a log booter jump after the roll in. SWEEEEEET!

Pump Trackin it....

2009-03-02T20:03:00.000-08:00

After a sweet tear down La Milagrosa we ended up at John and Emily's for some Pump Track action.

Chuck D in the corner.

Travis VanDenBoost shows us how to rail a corner.

Thanks to John and Emily for the sweet eats and a good warm fire and place to play.

And then we rode our bikes.....

2009-02-22T20:39:00.000-08:00

Every year I'm in Tucson I get a photo of my newest bike with this car. The car never changes, my bike always does.Getting ready to ride, loaded and un-loaded seems to be the most difficult part. Waiting, still waiting.Maybe I'll ride a wheelie while I wait. Hmmmm. Yea, that sounds good.Well I guess it was worth the wait, because we all finally ended up here.

There was a little 80's night left over from the night before. The girls, and me--in pink----wearing some sweet shades!

Next day. Bugs Springs to Milano Basin to La Milagrosa! To intense to stop and take many photos of ride action.

Above, Nancy on Bugs Springs.

80's Night? Or Photo's of Gay People?

2009-02-22T20:09:00.000-08:00

Yea, thats us! Rockin it OLD SCHOOL! Mary is dressed to kill in a one piece jump suit with purple leotards, a pink belt, and jelly shoes. Credit goes out to the movie "Road House" for inspiring her hair. I'm rockin in BLUE Calivin Klein jeans,tight rolled, my sleeves rolled up and a hot pink shirt underneath. AND! Unseen in the photo are my 1989 Nike Force Shoes with air pockets! And to top it off the the original Oakley Blades! YO ICE, LETS KICK IT, ICE ICE BABY, ICE ICE BABY, TOO COOL, TOO COOL!

Who is that boy in Jacques Pants? Underage and LOVIN IT!

Scotty Gray dot com and Dave Nash show some island style.

Nikki and Nancy, lookin HOT! Too bad all the boys are GAY!

Merrick and Eric the Ferret prove my point!

Mary's Birthday, Dogs, A Bike Race

2009-02-20T20:07:00.000-08:00

Mary got me all dressed up for her birthday. We had a nice dinner at her favorite place, Mimi's Cafe.

Gustifson has a new little friend. Jake, or as I call him, "whine bag." Jake climbs in bed with us in the mornings and gets Gus pretty jealous. Gus has even taken to whining to try and get what he wants.

The 2009 24 hours in the Old Pueblo. Team Scofflaw rides again. This time I was riding instead of wrenching, taking the place of the fallen Jacques Hadler. The course was smooth, fast and really good for people who like to mash the big ring. I hate smooth trails, I only go fast down hill, and I haven't used a big ring in 5 years. Not looking good for Team Scofflaw.

Picture before Lap one above, and me running to the start of lap one.

I had a good first lap, only 4 min behind Nikki, our fast female rider. We were in 5th place through the day, and then we imploded. As I left on my night lap Nikki was throwing up, and Dave was about to also. My night lap was fun, I was going fast, feeling good, then my legs just turned to mush. Climbing the final climb i was in my granny, getting passed by everyone. No one was there to greet me as I came into the tent. Eventually Scotty and Chris turned double laps through the night as I slept, trying to keep it alive. I awoke at sunrise to all of our bikes in camp. No one was riding. Team Scofflaw had become Team Implosion. We were done.

I want my money back....

2009-02-11T17:57:00.000-08:00

I didn't take all this time off work and come this far south to ride in SNOW! Luckily snow doesn't last long down here, this was about all that was left on a ride to Chiva Falls. The falls were roaring as well as all the creeks on the way down. Some were knee deep. Gus would tear into them FULL SPEED AHEAD! He was diggin' all the water and cool temps.

Mary joined me for a hike before I took off for the falls on my bike.

Pretty nice day, wouldn't ya say?

Star Pass

2009-02-09T07:41:00.000-08:00

Went out to Star Pass the other day. These trails are classic Sonoran single track.

First ride on my new TALAS fork. BUTTER!

I climbed to the top of this mountain on an amazingly technical climb. Too bad I was alone and have no witness to tell storys of my remarkable tech climbing skills. I'd love to see someone with more fitness attempt to clean this climb.

Have I mentioned to anyone lately that the Remedy is the BEST bike ever made! I know I go on like a broken record about it, but it gives up almost nothing on the climbs and descends better than bikes with 2 and 3 more inches of travel. VIVA LA REMEDY

We beat Greg to Patagonia....

2009-02-06T18:36:00.000-08:00

So, my co-worker Greg Luck (www.ridetotheride.blogspot.com) is headed to Chile, South America, and might go as far south as Patagonia. Not to be out done, Mary and I headed to Patagonia first, Patagonia Arizona that is. The picture above is of our camp, from atop one of the Patagonia Peaks.
Gus and I had quite a little adventure. We started up on a whim, I didn't even put on jeans, which in Sonora is a good idea. My legs were stinging from the scraping of the pokey desert plants, but luckily I had some leg warmers in my pack and put them on. We made the top in about an hour, I waved at Mary below and she acknowledged by waving back. I noticed while sitting on the cliff at the top, that below the cliff band there was very little vegetation. If Gus and I could get down the cliff we could "walk" back down. Well, getting down the cliff with Gus was absolutely scary. Lucky for me he obeys every command and did exactly as he was told or we both would have fallen. At one point I arrested his downward fall, it was the only way, and he trusted me completely.

Once we reached the bottom of the cliff band I was shocked to realize that the slope had no vegetation because it was too steep for any to grow on it. My view from the top had skewed my depth perception. It was a scree field most of the way to the bottom. It was like surfing on rocks. Finally we popped out about 500 ft BELOW camp, making my "short cut" quite dangerous and substantially longer.

The picture above was taken very near the bottom where vegetation took back over.

Mary was starting a camp fire and dinner when we trudged back into camp. I had forgotten bread so our hot dogs got dumped in with the pork and beans. Quite a good mix actually. Half way through dinner the sky got all hot and bothered and started strutting its stuff. Not a bad sunset.

The wind howled all night and Border Patrol trucks kept driving by our little slice of wilderness reminding us that thousands of illegal immigrants were struggling through the hills around us, probably wishing they had worn jeans to keep the pokey plants off of their legs too.

We drove back north after breakfast to Kentucky Camp, an old mining town from the 1800's. The hills around it are laced with singletrack, part of and IMBA epic route. Mary's hands were not feeling it, and Gus was tuckered out from the day before, so I went on a solo ride. These trails make up part of the Arizona Trail system.

(Bleeding Tree) Anyone know what this tree is, or why it is half red? Cool photo I thought?

Above is the handle bar view of the butter smooth trails running through the high grasslands below the Santa Rita Mountains. The ride was twenty two miles, which was all I wanted this early in the season.

Sunburned

2009-02-03T18:57:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the trip down to Tucson. Above is Monument Valley from a long ways away at sunset. It was a beautiful drive, as usual, through MV.We camped near Flagstaff at 7000 ft. Some snow, and a temp in the morning of 22 degrees, however, it was around 85 degrees in our sleeping bag according to my watch.

Below is my brand new Fisher Hi Fi Carbon on its first ride. She is 26.5 lbs with a Gravity Dropper post. Lightest bike I have ever had. She's so dang light she's a bit skitish, or it could be i'm not used to riding on the ball bearing rocks of the Sonoran desert.

First ride was on the new Black Canyon Trail near Black Canyon City. This is a must ride! As Noah said in his blog, "it will blow your mind all over your face." It is perfectly built and made to flow. It's easy to find, just off the interstate.

The pics and video below are from today. Mary has been struggling for some time with her hand tendinitus. This was her first ride since October. She had me prepared to just take a casual ride, and then she freakin dropped me! Right off the start she was hammering and I was struggling to keep her in sight. Thats my girl!

Ice Storm

2009-02-01T21:31:00.001-08:00

Headed home to Missouri last week to see the family and my good buddy Nic Nelson. We got a bike ride in out at Glade Top Trail, just hours before the ice storm hit. It wasn't much of a ride, it was actually a chance to work on Nic's bike, in the woods, while freezing cold. First, Nic flatted, then he broke my pump. I used duct tape to make my pump barely work, and then we both had one more flat each, along with losing Nic's brake pads. Pretty typical Big Nicky Styles bike ride, i'd do it again in a heart beat.

Nic's boy Lucas says "CHEESE"

Mary snapped these pics of some of the ice on the trees.

And I took the one below.

Pre mountainbiking blast from the past. Yup, thats me, circa 1998. Sadly thats not a down puffy jacket, its all me, all 180lbs!

From left to right, Me, Big Nicky Styles (Nic Nelson), Old B (Brian Beeler) and my underage little brother Jaron, now a Border Patrolman.

Drink of choice----Old Natty Light!

Fantasy Island

2009-02-01T20:57:00.000-08:00

(THIS POST IS OUT OF ORDER FOR SOME REASON, THE ICE STORM HAPPENED FIRST, AND THEN WE WENT TO TUCSON AZ.)

Went for an evening rip out at Fantasy Island. It was quite a nice evening for February as you can see from the thermometer at the trail-head.

Mary, Gus and I hiked in earlier in the day, and then I rode back out later on.

Here are cool pictures Mary took of some lime green Manzanita. (I think)

And below is a little sample of dodging poky plants at Fantasy Island. Pretty speedy for only having one hand on the handle bar.

Travis Goes to Copper Canyon

2009-01-15T19:36:00.000-08:00

Below is a trip report from Travis Vandenbrooke. He was the only one that actually made it to "Copper Canyon 09." A trip I planned after coming back from New Zealand. We couldn't get our schedule to work with his, so he went without us. He's only 20 years old, and he is far more traveled than I. Enjoy his story.

So my mom, dad and I drove my sweet red van down to Mexico after Christmas. We arrived at Douglas on Sunday morning only to find that there were no mexican insurance places open. We then opted to drive over to Nogales and see if we could find an insurance place that was open there. We did.

We crossed the border, made it about 20 miles, we then got stopped at one of the army checkpoints and found out that I never put the 2007 registration paper in the van. And the 2008 license plate sticker was going to expire before we got back to the states. We were going to try and bribe the guy to let us go, luckily he was nice and he just let us go anyway.

We proceeded down to Guaymas, and checked out the beach. It was cool. After that we drove over to Creel and hung out for a while. We decided that since we went Batopilas a couple years ago, that we would go check out Urique. It was a crazy drive, we drove for a really long way on a gnarly dirt road, we got disoriented and drove in circles in some town for a while. About that time it was getting dark so we decided to stop and head down in the morning. The next morning we continued our really long bumpy drive. For the longest time we didn't drop down. We knew that Urique was at 1800', but we stayed around 8000' for a long time. We finally started heading down, I took my bike off and started riding down the road. Shortly after that I round a corner and stoped. There I am standing above a roughly 3000' vertical cliff and I can finally see the town and the river and the steep, rough, road switchbacking below the cliff and continuing down the rest of the mountain. It was pretty spectacular. The road down into Urique is longer and more of a descent (you descend over 5000' all at once) than the road into Batopilas.I began my sweet downhill ride with a jacket and long pants. Closer to the bottom, I got really hot. At the bottom of the canyon I'm going to guess that it got up to 80. Urique is cool, a small town with an airstrip right in the middle of town. It took me a while to realize what the rutted, bumpy dirt road actually was. I think the only thing that gave it away was the tattered remains of a wind sock. Dad wanted to go explore an area up the canyon, we made it about 2 miles to the first river crossing. It was a rocky descent down into the river bed, and there was some water that looked shallower than it was. My dad and I wanted to go, my mom didn't. We tried it, we started in, I wanted to keep my speed, my mom kept saying stop, and my dad kept saying go slower. We evidently went too slow because about halfway we got stuck. So we're sitting in the Rio Urique with the exhaust and most of the rear wheels under water, my van has pretty good ground clearance, and the water was within 1/2" of flowing into the van. Luckily the river was super rocky not sandy. We tried unsuccessfully to pile rocks to try and get out. After a few minutes of rock stacking, I took my bike off and rode back to town looking for someone to come pull us out of the river. I got directed to the policia and they told me it would be 25 min, and to ride back to the van. By the time I got back someone had pulled out the van and my dad was backing out of the river bed. This still left us with the task of making it up the really steep, rocky bank. The first try, we got the van up on 3 wheels, I was scared for van. The second try I got out and stacked rocks, my dad got more speed and still barely made it, flinging those rocks I had stacked right back at me.

The drive back up was pretty steep and you had to watch out for other people bombing back down the hill. We made it back to Creel for new years eve, it was actually strangely calm, the most exciting thing happening was the guys driving around town with the subwoofers blaring classic mexican music. New years day, started the long drive back up to Utah, these trips are always shorter than you want them to be. It was cool though, and we discovered a whole bunch of cool things and places.

Pritchett Canyon Winter Ride

2009-01-13T20:56:00.000-08:00

Another beautiful day in Moab. We climbed up Pritchett Canyon, Keith,

Greg, Gus and I. I was getting sick, again, and I got worse as the day went on. Oh well, its hard to have a bad day out here. We stopped and played on the rocks. Gus did the same drop I did, and then jumped back up it! My dog HUCKS big!

Above is the ultimate poser shot, as Greg says, "look at the arch."

We made the saddle and had some lunch, but not after I fell down a wall of slick rock. Check out the video, which Greg edited and we sent to Trek, pleading for a new "all mountain" shoe.

http://www.bikeabout.net/ZExtra/BikeaboutSite/Video/090111PritchettFall.mov

Mt. Garfield

2009-01-07T19:44:00.000-08:00

Mary, Gus and I decided to get out from under the inversion cloud hanging over GJ today. We climbed up Mt. Garfield. Gus was leading the way running like a crazy puppy. It's so good to see he feels well in his older years.

On the way up, we were actually hiking through the inversion cloud. It was cold and icy down below at the truck.We finally broke through about mid way up the climb. It was amazing, clear and sunny with bluebird skies. Gus just had to get in our little cave rock photo.

There are levels to Mt. Garfield. Who knew? From town it looks like a sheer cliff. But what we found were flat levels like this one. It was a nice break from the relentless steepness we had been hiking up.

Up top there was a warm southern breeze blowing. We shed the jackets and hung out on the edge overlooking town. The climb is 2000 ft, in only two miles. Nice day off.

New Years Day

2009-01-04T17:36:00.000-08:00

The above image is currently front page at http://www.mbaction.com/ME2/Default.asp CHECK IT OUT! Tim showed us the "Owl" panel on the way up Amasa Back trail. I had no idea that it was there.
After years of doing the "Berm" drop to the left of this line I finally nailed the actual "Super 8." Not doing this drop once cost me a race win, as I lost to Andy Adamson during a race we had years ago. (assuming I would have beat him had i done the drop????)

It had also been many years since I had been out to Pothole Arch and the wall ride just before it. I sessioned it a few times for Greg's camera. WAY FUN!

After the ride we headed to The Diner for the second time that day. The entire Over The Edge crew was there so we hung out and ate some dinner with them. Noah had forgoten to invite me on their ride, but the trail we rode was WAY more fun anyway, right Noah???

The sunset leaving Moab was typical. It lasted for two hours and made me want to move there, buy a McMansion on a hill, visit said house twice a year and complain that to many people are moving to Moab. Damn Sunsets!

Horse "Deep" Bench, SNOW RIDE!

2008-12-22T19:23:00.001-08:00

You don't see this lot empty much anymore. We figured it was because we were the MOST hardcore folks in GJ, or that maybe we were the dumbest. I tore apart this snow berm twisting the throttle on my big bad Trek Remedy. BRAP!This was our first ride with Nate and Sarah. What's a snow ride without a snow angel?

On the North slopes the snow was deep. We were busting through what looked like two other guys tracks. The wash was pretty open as were rock outcroppings on south slopes.

Do anything FUN this year?

2008-12-21T18:09:00.000-08:00

A year in review, with pictures! Mary and I have had a lot of fun this year. Thanks to all the friends who were along for the rides. I planned to use only TWO photo's from each month of the year. I failed in February, which was our trip to New Zealand. It was a tough call on some months as we had a plethora of adventure pictures to choose from. I hope 2009 brings just as much fun. There were so many of our friends who were injured this year or struggled with sickness. I hope that 2009 is the year we share the trail WAY more.

January,

Mark Landblom throws some mud on about the only ride we got that month.

Sovereign Trail, We all stare out toward the snowy La Sal Mtns.

February,

Mt. Aspiring Nat. Park, New Zealand. The other side of the world!

Glacier, Mt Aspiring Nat. Park

Milford Sound, NZ

March,

This is a Greg Luck sequence shot of me racing the first Thursday Night Throwdown of the year.

My 1970 Schwinn Le Tour, Fixed Gear on the "Fixie Friday" night ride.

April,

A drop on the Flat Top Mesa Loop down near Olathe CO.

Mary on Zion Curtain with Laura Bowen trailing. We met Laura in NZ.

May,

This shot of me was on the first of quite a few epic rides Greg and I did this year, a ride we call "The Book Cliff Traverse." This one was about 8 hours.

Yes, that's me too, have I got style or what? Down Town Bike Festival trials competition. I lost to Andy Adamson who was able to pull off the same moves as I, only he had a WHOLE bike.

June,

Greg/Landon Epic # two. Another sequence shot of me on Wags Way, a "route" near Moab.

Mom and Dad came out from Missouri and saw our house and bike shop for the first time.

July,

Sun Valley Idaho, Imperial Gulch Trail. Mary and I spent a week in the Sawtooth Mtns staying with our friends Kira and Chris Gray.

Epic # three. Ants Basin/Fourth of July/Fisher Creek. Little Travis V, Chris Gray, my self, and Mary Mo. Snow in July!

August,

We finally got a ride in the high country of Durango CO. Weather had conspired to thwart all attempts in the past few years. We sure missed Des Garmin on this ride. It was with her we were weathered out the year before. Trail is Dutch Creek to Hermosa Creek.

Toward the end of the month, Mr. C. Boss Brown sent us to Wisconsin for the Trek Dealer Show. I rode with one of my hero's Andrew Shandrow and stood next to Lance Armstrongs race bikes.

September,

We had another Throwdown race, this time down Holy Cross trail.

In June we set a record at the bike shop and our reward was Boss took all of us to Crested Butte for a weekend. Picture below of Mary smiling on Deer Creek trail.

October,

The leaves were changin and I headed out one morning to ride Kannah Creek from the edge of town, shuttle up with friends, ride down the trail, and then ride back to town. A big day!

Later in the month I guided the "Guides," (Escape Adventures Mountain Bike Guides) on some sweet Rabbit Valley trails. Below is Dave Gove on Western Rim Trail.

November,

Greg and I guided the Trek Moab Fall Demo, in Moab. Three days of shredding, riding with fast dudes. On the last day I took a digger and cracked some ribs. Image below on Slick Rock bike trail.

With painful rib's, I had to do some walking for the first time this year. I explored the arches of Rattle Snake Canyon, just Gus and I.

December,

Three weeks healing, then two weeks of sickness brought Mary and I to the cold of December, and on Main Street, Grand Junction that means ICE SKATING! Only Chris Brown could think of this and then make it happen.

This is a pic from the last ride I did before the snow fell. A moto ride near Bangs Canyon. Bitterly COLD!

Its been a great year, thanks to Greg Luck for letting me poach his pictures. Check out more of his work at http://www.bikeabout.net/.

Blue Heeler Or Red Heeler

2008-12-18T18:35:00.000-08:00

Fun with photo editing. Oh man, the snow has flown, I am bored!

From Redneck to Rider

2008-12-07T17:40:00.000-08:00

Its been a little tough at work lately. Mostly crazy people coming in the door. But, every now and then certain people make me realize why I sell bikes, why I sell this sport. A tall, lumbering guy came in the other night. He looked like a construction worker. He told me he was thinking of doing a triathlon and might want a road bike. As we talked I found out that a year or so ago he took up running. He had weighed 300lbs but now looked fit and athletic, still a big guy but by no means fat. However there was no hiding that he was not long off the hillbilly boat. We talked more and he told me story's of getting in shape, and how at one point a cop had stopped him and interrogated him as to "who" he was running from. The cop didn't believe his story of training for a marathon. He mentioned how he used to honk and scream at bikers on the Monument, but that now his whole view has changed. He bought a new Trek 1.2 Road bike yesterday. Welcome to the club.

This February will be my 9th year on the bike. I started on a 24 inch wheeled Walmart Next. I pulled the seat post out until only an inch was still in the seat-tube, trying like crazy to give my legs some extension. I put on a "comfortable" gel seat from Walmart. I pushed it more than I pedaled it. It rode me more than I rode it. But I kept riding. I lost weight. I gained perspective. One is not bound to a motor.

That bike still hangs in my parents barn back in Missouri. I thought of it this winter as Mary and I were riding in New Zealand. It was a perfect spring day. I was riding through a cow pasture, it was green, it was warm. Just like those first days on the bike. Riding because you love it. So cheers! to my little yellow walmart bike. You lasted just long enough to change my life.

Dusty Trails to Nowhere...

2008-11-17T18:26:00.000-08:00

More rehab for the cracked ribs. Gus and I took a trip to..... can you guess? Moab? Monument Valley? Nope, just good ole Gateway Colorado, only 45 min from home. I did manage to stray into Utah for just a bit though.

Only in Utah can a state line sign be nothing more than a metal pole with words welded to it.

Some pictures of rocks. I really like taking pictures of rocks.

Gustifson was digging the day out. Sixty degrees and sunny, not bad for November.

I followed a road which turned into a jeep road which turned into an ATV trail which turned into a motorcycle trail which turned into a hiking trail. I got the truck as far as the motorcycle trail and Gus and I hoofed it from there. I was sure it was going to a mine or a stellar view, but we just hiked up to a dead end of scrub brush and cactus.

And then as I turned around to go back I got my reward. We had climbed high enough to see above the plateau and get a peek at the back side of the La Sal Mountains. It was worth it after all.

Rattle Snake Canyon

2008-11-11T15:56:00.000-08:00

I've lived in GJ for three years and until today had never been to Rattle Snake Canyon, the highest concentration of arches out-side of Arches Nat. Park.

There is good reason why not a lot of folks go there. It's quite long and hard to get to. The jeep road in is perfect for weeding out the wanna-be's in Hummers.

The hike in takes a while also, its kind of a boring hike through Juniper scrub along a big escarpment of rock. Its the kind of trail that makes me want my bike, so I can cover it quickly.

But once you round the edge of the rock wall you enter another world, full of red rock and towering arches. And not a parking-lot in sight! Had Arches Nat Park been left like this place it would still be.... well, a REAL National Park, instead of a National Parking Lot.

Despite being a Tuesday I still met one couple on the trail and two guys were somewhere behind me. Lots of people these days, I guess I'm one of them too.

The above arch is the last one you come to on the trail. I was dreading the walk back and looking for a place to scale the walls and get up to the level above. Gustifson is a good climber but he isn't a spiderdog. If we could get up and through this arch it would save us about a 3 mile hike. It was about this time that the two guys caught up with us and, can you believe it, they had a rope!

I tied Gus's collar on really tight and I tugged on the rope while one of the other guys pushed. About that time Gus's collar came off and Gus lunged upward seemingly not to need our help at all. Apparently he is a spiderdog, or it was the guys thumb that was just too close to Gus's bum hole that made him jump up so fast. What ever happened is between Gus and that dude, but he made it up the vertical 4 ft slickrock wall.

Once on top we quickly found the upper trail and easily hiked back to our trucks with views like this of the Grand Valley to the East.

This was my first day of "rehab" since I bruised my ribs. It sure is hard work taking it easy!

LTM

Random Photo's from Trek Moab Tour

2008-11-08T20:32:00.000-08:00

Trek group coming down "The Notch" on LPS trail.

Sunset from Sovereign Trail on Monday night.

View of Klondike Bluffs from Sovereign Trail.

Tim Walsh on Slick Rock Practice Loop.

Artsy (meaning out of focus shot I toyed with) shot of me on Slick Rock Trail.

Same

And more of the same.

Greg Luck in the aero posistion on Slick Rock trail.

Riding through the pot of gold. Slick Rock Trail.

Wet Slick Rock is about as cool as it gets.

Rain on the way to Moab.

Trek Fall Demo Tour--MOAB!

2008-11-06T18:27:00.000-08:00

Greg and I arrived Sunday to scout some new trails, but the rain had arived first. When it rains in Moab that means SlickRock Trail is where you go.

Thanks as usual goes out to Greg, who makes me look far better than I really am. Check out more of his photo work and adventures at http://www.bikeabout.net/

Monday started with a quick run up to SlickRock with the Wisconsin crew of Trek Engineers plus Jill the inside rep. I think all were impressed with the fairly above average views and riding they encountered. After the SlickRock demo a much bigger group of us headed out to Sovereign Trail to ride some sweet Moab singletrack. I really enjoyed the pace and vibe of the group.

Day two weather was looking rough, but as of morning there was only some high altitude clouds on the peaks of the mtns and plenty of wind. Not bad for November. The ride was Lower Porcupine Singletrack (LPS) to Pocupine Rim Trail. Most of us shuttled up to LPS while others road the whole loop and met us in the middle of the trail.

The girls on this trip weren't bashfull about letting everybody know how much fun they were having.

It was about here in this picture time line that Lee Jones took a digger. Larry and I cleaned him up and put him back on his bike. Lee was a great sport for letting us take pictures and finshed the ride like a champ. Everyone should leave Moab with something to remember the ride. Lee's happened to be stitches.

The wind was strong and the lead group was WAY fast. Its tough to be the guide and to barely be able to keep up. The lead group hammered me all the way until the singletrack with Semi Pro Joe (a former Moabite) leading the charge from there. The Porky Singletrack was in great shape following the rain, tacky and washed of sand on most of the rock. It's so awesome to be in a train down this trail with nearly 10 guys in line at full speed. I came into The Wash near the end and there at the bottom was my nemisis, the chest high wall on the other side. The wall that I had never cleaned, the only move that has left Porky uncleaned by me. But Tuesday the 4th was my day, election day and the day I finally truly cleaned The Wash. Not only that, Kyle, also on a Remedy, followed me right up it and we just kept on truckin. Thanks to all who rode and to all the Trek folks that made my bike a reality. It was my first run down Porky on my Remedy and no bike I have ridden has ever preformed so well. Porky is my measureing stick and the Remedy is hands down the best All-Mountain bike made. Viva La Remedy!

A lot of folks had to leave early on Wednesday, but a smaller group of us made it out for a chilly Amasaback ride. This is what you missed if you had to leave early.

It was just above this point on the trail that I got a little out of control on a high speed jump. I was way crooked in the air and doing an un-intentional superman seat grab, but the only grabbing was being done with my chest....on the seat! I heard a pop and skidded to a stop on the rock with the wind punched out of me and a serious pain in the ribs. I made my typical moan and groan sounds and painfully got up and finished the ride. A big thanks to the guys who held back on the pavement into town and paced me in. I needed the help.

Thanks to Tim Walsh and Greg Luck for helping me guide everybody. Thanks to Dax and Josh for bringing out so many Trek and Gary Fisher bikes for everyone to try. Big thanks to Larry and Garby, the Colorado and Utah Trek Reps for putting on the event and keeping us fed and having fun. A big YEEEHAAAA for next year! Ouch, that hurts my ribs!

Kannah Creek

2008-10-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

Kannah Creek. It's a big nasty downhill ride, with lots of rocks and well... lots of rocks. I had plans for an easy road ride, but Gary stopped by the shop and tempted me to ride my mtnbike, which never takes much. However, I didn't want to give up the "workout" I would get on my road bike so I decided to ride out to the lower trail-head, catch a ride up the Mesa, bomb the trail and then ride back into town. Yea, that sounds great!I just couldn't get up early enough to ride ALL the way from the house, so Mary dropped me off near WhiteWater and I started my cold slog into the wind. The Cottonwoods are in full Autumn color. Gorgeous!We were all prepared for some serious cold weather. What we got was long sleeve jersey weather, perfect for rippin downhill at speed. There were even some bugs out to remind us we were still on the Mesa. The log skinny section was attempted and ridden by most in attendance, nice work! Above, Marissa cleans it like a champ.

Paul, pictured above, was on his game the whole day. We traded leads pushing it hard and challenging eachother to keep going faster and faster. I look forward to riding like this more! Nice Run Paul!

To all who aren't pictured, I am sorry. I was just having too much fun to stop and take pictures. For 11 people to have only had 2 flats and bent only one derrailure hanger on a trail that rips bikes to shreds I say, Bravo! Nice work!

Mark in the rocks.

Brian Doss rides the log.

Thanks to Jen for helping me push back home on the hwy. I ended up 40 miles on my bike and I was hurting. Thanks for the pulls.

If any one else has pictures send them my way and I'll post more. Leila???

Guiding the "Guides"

2008-10-26T06:50:00.000-07:00

I had to start our two days of riding with a trip down the Ribbon Trail. The moonscape like rock is unique to Grand Junction and for people who have never been here before it is an amazing experience. Dave Gove and Jaques Hadler are professional guides and do this for a living. Its a treat to get to show them trails they haven't done. Mr. Gove and Mr. Hadler pose 3000 ft above GJ.Gove hucks his Foes.Below, Gove cleans the "Toilet Bowl." Actually he dabbed a foot above this point, right in the center of the toilet. Gross!This was my first ride on my Rock Shox Lyrik fork since it lost all rebound damping on Gooseberry Mesa. I had installed a warranty rebound damper a few days prior. The rebound worked great, unfortunately the compression side blew up near the bottom of the Ribbon leaving me with about an inch of travel for the rest of the day. NOT HAPPY WITH SRAM'S QUALITY CONTROL! Mr. Hadler nearly twisted his derailure off and Mr. Gove was whining about his bald rear tire so we called it a day early and went back home to wrench and then go out to dinner. (thanks for dinner guys)Day two's weather looked rainy, but the temp was perfect. Having two bikes allowed me to continue riding. Mr. Tim Walsh came over from Moab and met us in Rabbit Valley.The Eastern Rim was great, lots of ledgy stuff and technical moves.The lighting was really cool as rain would fall from the sky but not hit the ground. After the Eastern Rim we ate some lunch and headed down Trail 2 to the Western Rim, a completely different type of ride, smooth fast and flowy with great views of the golden cottonwoods in the river valley.On the edge is the best way to describe the Western Rim trail. Pictured above, our bikes on the very edge. We ended the day tuckered out, putting in about 28 miles off-road. Good Stuff!

Rollin' FX style

2008-10-15T20:21:00.000-07:00

I finally got a chance to take my new Trek FX out on a real road ride. I set it up with my hottie Kysrium Mavic wheels, Thomson Stem and Seatpost (of course), and the part that makes it so dang comfortable and handle so well, the On One Mary Bars. I have a Mary at home, and one on my bike!For those of you who have not ridden the Colorado Nat. Monument, well, your missing out big time. The "Tour of the Moon" as it was called back in the 80's when people raced here, is a climb of about 2000 ft in the first 4 miles. Once on top it is a paved ride litteraly only a foot from 1000 ft cliffs.

I rode on top most of the way until I reached a gravel road that leaves the park. This road takes you higher and up to the tiny town of Glade Park. Since I was rollin FX style (not on a squirmy, ill-handling, neck hurting, scared of a pebble road bike) I took great joy in leaving the pavement and putting together a loop that most of the roadies never get a chance to do because they might scratch their BMW jewelery.

The gravel didn't last long and soon I was on a very high stretch of road I had never been on before.

It was about this time that I started to bonk. I hadn't eaten much for lunch so I was really looking forward to a stop at the Glad Park Store. Its not the Pioneer Store in Protem Missouri, but its not bad. Their prices are high and they made me spend at least 5 dollars or they wouldn't run my credit card.

Sitting at the store I decided I was whooped and that I would take the quick way down, but as I rolled closer to the turn off for Little Park Rd, I veered right and took the longer way with more twisty turns. As usual a headwind kept me from attaining warp speed, but it was still a fun descent. From my house up and back down it was about 4o miles. Next time I'm gonna put on cross tires and ride down the Ribbon instead. That would be the perfect FX style road ride!

Happy Trails

2008-10-08T16:50:00.000-07:00

Gus and I rode the Eastern Rim Trail this morning out in Rabbit Valley. It was in the 50's and a perfect day for an old dog to go on a ride. Gus was dressed in his best, a sun reflecting Loui Garneau T-shirt.Oh how the seasons are a changin'The trail conditions were perfect today, the weekend rain leaving the sand packed and the dirt tacky. The Eastern Rim trail is becoming more and more fun as the dirtbikes spin the soil away from the drops making them bigger. I found the bottom end of my Fox Vanilla quite a few times.And whats a blog update without me staring out across a "desert wasteland."Gustifson found his perfect spot along the trail. It was beginning to warm up and this "Gus Pond" was just what an old boy needed. We hung out here a while and let the world float by.After lunch I dropped Gus off in Fruita to rest. Noah and I grabbed a bite to eat and headed out for a Horse Thief ripp. On the way back we explored some slick rock riding and a chute that Max road the other day bridging to the Rustlers Loop. I want to go back with my Remedy and my full face helmet and ride this line. It looks really cool! Happy Trails!!!

I've got great news....

2008-10-05T18:25:00.001-07:00

I just saved a ton of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico, and even better than that check this out.
http://www.imba.com/news/news_releases/09_08/09_05_usfs_policy.html

Manti La Sal Mountains Gold Moto Ride

2008-10-04T19:15:00.000-07:00

I spent the last day of September in the La Sal Mountains above Moab during the most amazing time of the year. Cliff Kootz led a group of us on a maze of awesome singletrack through some of the most amazing aspen groves on this planet.
We started the ride on jeep roads well below the mountains on the eastern slope, between the La Sals and the Uncompahgre Plateau.The yellow aspen's covered the mountains like a golden fuzz. The sun would come out from behind clouds and illuminate or spotlight ceartain areas. Amazing!The riding is really good up there, very lightly traveled moto singletrack just tight enough to make ya work for it. I found out my desert width handlebars need a little trimming.Lunch was at a great spot overlooking the southern group of the La Sals just below the shoulder of Mt. Peale.

Dust Puddles in Arizona

2008-10-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Mary and I left for Vegas and Interbike last tuesday night. We camped in the mountains near the intersection of I-70 and I-15. We awoke to the first frost of the year, on our sleeping bag. The morning wakeup looked like this.

Interbike was good, just a little too much PRODUCT! I think I have had enough sales pitches for the year. We put in two days and then left the city that smells like urine, and headed to a place that does not smell like urine, Gooseberry Mesa, one of my favorite places on earth! As soon as we set up camp I headed out for quick sun-set ride. Not a bad view from the bars of a sweet Trek Remedy.I didn't go to far out due to the fading light, so I played in what is called "Gods Skate Park" Gooseberry is pretty much one big skatepark linked together with singletrack.

After a good nights sleep on the windy edge of the mesa I stumbled out of the tent to the view of Zion on fire.

After breakfast we headed out to the edge of the mesa to a trail we hadn't done before called the Windmill trail. This was a great start to the ride as it was a mellow climb along the edge.

Gooseberry just gets better the more times I go. There isn't riding anywhere else like it, not even Moab.

Did I mention that the views from the Mesa are, well..... Pretty Good, if your into that kind of thing.

All told the ride took us around most of the entire edge of the mesa which I had never done before, about 15 miles. We ate some lunch and decided to pack up camp and go look for a new trail system called Little Creek. I had bought a map from the new OTE Hurricane bike shop and the girl there had given me directions, allthough I am pretty sure she had never actually been to Little Creek Mesa. Well here's to giving directions when you've never been there, kind of a re-payment for when I used to give advice on trails i'd never done in Moab, sorry about that folks!Mary luckily talked me into getting a full tank of gas, which for me, is most of the time too much trouble. I think deep down I kind of like the danger involved in running out of gas. It makes for good stories, like that time in inner city East St. Louis when we finally found a station under the big "Trust Jesus" sign, oh how I digress ( see, you want to hear this story don't you?) Anyway, we start out on a perfect Utah road, lots of washboards, rocks, ledges and the opening of many gates. We were scouting the edge of Little Creek Mesa, looking for an "obvious" road up onto the thing.

We drove on, and the road became dusty, not a normal kind of dust, a thick blanket of powder beginning to accumulate on the bikes, the truck and all of our gear in the back.

Notice in the above picture how far away the road is taking us from the mesa we had hoped to climb up onto. We found a sweet oasis out there in the desert. Had the truck ran out of gas this place would have saved our lives, but thanks to Mary and her "smart thinking" there would be no such death march/drinking out of a cattle tank story to tell.

And the road went on, and on, and on........ And we opened more gates.....

By now its pretty obvious we aren't going to find the Little Creek Mesa trails, but this road was so long and had such potential for getting us really disgusstingly lost and stuck I was enjoying it. This brings me to part of the title of this post. What is a "dust puddle"? Well, put a bag of flour in a pothole, make it level with the road so that you can't see that there is any hole there at all. Now, hit it with a truck at 40mph, POOF! You just made your-self a dust puddle!

And we drove on....

Eventually the dreaded dead end happend. Luckily, Jethro Tool wasn't home at the time to come out with both barrels blazing. If this bailout thing fails, this will be my spot of choice in the event that the world goes all to heck. I can live here with 15 kids, and 20 head of cattle. And since its Utah I can pick up a second wife on the way out to help with the raisin of the little "workers", I mean kids. (Mary says if I post this I am in serious trouble or something, but her voice trailed off into something like bla bla bla bla....)

We found an alternate road that kind of headed south east, which was kind of the direction we wanted to go, and kind of towards the Grand Canyon which might have proved to be hard to cross in out little Toyota truck. So far it had been a beautiful sunny day. I had used 4x4 a few times to get across dry washes. It would be a disaster if it rained, and caused a muddy flash flood. No chance of that, right???

Well, luckily it did not rain, and after about 4 hours we saw a trail of dust in the distance. It was a more traveled gravel road with someone driving on it. We took this road heading back north and came to pavement, then the pavement ended again making us think it was kind of toying with us. We eventually popped out in......Arizona. Whew! After that kind of drive we decided to head for Marys brothers house in Manti UT for a shower and some rest. I rested the next day by going on a sweet shuttle run down the Patton Trail. YEEE HAAAA

Grand Junction Bike History Video

2008-10-01T20:09:00.001-07:00

Rachel Brown put together a video explaining the history of the Highwheeler Bike that hangs on our wall in the bike shop. Its about 14 min long.

http://gjcity.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=6

Haypress Trail Video

2008-09-28T06:55:00.001-07:00

Check out a little video Greg put together of Keith and I rippin Turkey Flats and Haypress trail.
http://www.bikeabout.net/ZExtra/BikeaboutSite/Video/index.html

Grand Mesa Moto Epic

2008-09-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

How epic can a ride be when you got an engine? Well, if you let me read the map there is a good possiblity that the day can run long. After installing (welding) passenger footpegs to my moto frame Mary and I headed off for the high country of Grand Mesa. It was quite warm when we started so we decided to only wear long sleeve jerseys and to forgo our jackets. Hello? At 10,000 ft, even in the sun its chilly! Mary, being smarter than me, had worn two jerseys and since I was catching all the wind she let me wear one of hers undernieth mine. Kind of tight?

The problem with riding double on really techinical trails is that you can't stand up, so your butt and back take all the abuse. We were wearing out by the time we reached the "blue" trail on the map that meant "jeep road." The "jeep road" was going to be an easy cruise back to the truck right? Well of course not, it was harder than the trail we had been on with nasty rocky climbs and one seat deep creek crossing. It was exhausting and the sun was getting low in the sky and my summer gloves were letting my hands get cold.

It was about this time that we met some hunters who waved us down. There 73 yr old friend had been missing since 10 am and they were wondering if we had seen him. It was only a few hours from dark. I hope they found Jack, if not and if not ever, then I hope I get to expire in a place as awesome as the remote country of Grand Mesa. Jack, I hope your sipping on some hot coffe back at camp laughing at your buddies for getting so worried.

We found the truck after about 60 miles, we sampled Colbrans little "Chillin Cafe" and headed for home tired, and well fed. So pretty much it was just another normal weekday for Mary and I.

Nissan Tests new Sedan on the Kokopelli Trails

2008-09-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

I was out riding the Koko trails today and at the furtherst point away from the hwy I came upon a strange sight. A family Sedan sitting at the end of Lyons loop! It looks like they had plenty of "energy drink" to keep the driver at peak performance. Nissan learned that skid plates may need to be an option on newer models.

New Zealand Trip Photo's

2008-09-14T19:16:00.001-07:00

If you never saw the photo's from our NZ trip check them out here.

http://www.beansoup.org/gallery/main.php
They are under the heading "The Monhollands go to NZ"

"Little" Travis goes to Paris

2008-09-13T20:50:00.000-07:00

My friend Travis Van den Broeke is only 19 and is already WAY better traveled than I. Here is a copy of the email he sent me and some of his sweet pics. This kid ROCKS! LTM

I'm going to do a little trip report here, like Landon does.

My trip to Paris was sweet. I traveled for 2 days (including the time change) and had to sleep in the SLC airport and had a 7 hour layover in Detroit. But finally, I made it to Paris, my uncle Jacques and tante Nicole came to pick me up, it had been so long they didn't even recognize me, my mom had told them to to look for a kid with a big green backpack, that's the only way they found me. They have a freakin sweet place just outside Paris in St. Germain en Lay, its only a 20 min RER (subway) ride to downtown. They ended up giving me the driving tour and showed me what I should look at for the next couple days. I proceeded to do all the classic tourist stuff the couple days, the Eiffel tower, the louvre, sacre' cour, the grand and petit palais, etc.

I was supposed to immediately leave for Lyon and from there the french alps, but scheduling conflicts and weather only allowed me a couple days riding in Lyon, with my buddy Bill who I met in Whistler. He let me use his sweet specialized enduro though, and we rode some good trails. I rode the TGV (really fast train) from Paris to Lyon, its over 500k and took less than 2 hours! I have found out that the transportation system in the USA sucks majorly. After my to short excursion to Lyon, I went back to Paris, I went with my uncle, mom and brother (they came too but after I did, because my trip had to be shorter) to Brugges, to visit grandma and various other relatives. I spent a couple days there checking out the city and catching up with people who hadn't seen me since I was a little kid, luckily there was no cheek pinching, but in Europe they do the 3 kiss thing, left cheek, right cheek, back to left cheek. You don't really kiss though, you just touch cheeks and make the kissy sound. That's where I lift my mom and brother, I had to go back to Paris to catch my plane the next day.

My trip was WWWWWWAAAAAAYYYYYYY too short. I am already planning for next year. I am going to go for 5 weeks and ride at least 4 of them. Another buddy of mine, who some of you might know, Andy the ticket scalper, spent 4 weeks riding around the alps with bill, then got hurt doing a megavalanche race. So he flew back early, his trip was going to be 6 weeks. So now I'm just dreaming and saving money so I can go back and ride next year. Later, Travis

Dwayne the Destroyer Wins Holy Cross Hellion!

2008-09-11T07:41:00.001-07:00

A rainy Wednesday left our dry, parched trails in primo condition. The sun had been out just long enough to make "hero dirt," as Jerrod called it, for our racing pleasure. Greg was their for this event with helmet cams, and manning his trusty camera. Unfortunately neither video cam worked, leaving us with only two photo's of the race.

Below are a list of times, thanks to all who came out to play, it was great fun. I'm smelling a re-match in the future as I am sure Ryan, Brad, and Troy will want a crack at Dwaynes time!

Keep Rippin,

Landon

PS Thanks to Matt who chucked his race time to pick up all of Jerrods yard sale items that were flying out of his camelbak. No thanks to Greg for leaving it open!

Dwayne the Destroyer 12:11

No Flats this Time Noah 13:41

I'm having a yard sale Jerrod 13:46

No Commandon Landon 14:41

Matt the Sweep (no time)

2008-09-10T20:56:00.000-07:00