It took me 4 ultras and around 5 years to realize that running just isn’t for me anymore. So I spent the rest of the summer of 2021 searching for a road bike. Not the most ideal time in history to be browsing the used bike market, but I wasn’t really in much of a hurry. One day after casually scrolling through Craigslist, I found a fleet of Lemonds on sale up in Loveland. At first, I thought it was a scam given there were so many available under $1,000. But I decided to give it a shot and made the voyage up north to check out a few in my size. I’ve always rode Treks growing up so I figured Lemond would ride similar. Plus they are classics with some sex appeal. The outfitter was “I Know a Guy Bicycles” and he runs his refurbished bike shop out of his garage. I tested out a 2006 Lemond “Alpe d’huez” and it fit like a glove so to speak. To be honest, I didn’t have much to compare to at the time, as I had been riding a steel REI urban commuter I had bought 10 years before, so I didn’t have anywhere to go but up. Keep reading…
Between spring skiing, the summer race season and spending a lot more time on the mountain bike this year, I had somehow not hit a single new thirteener dating all the way back to October of last year. So now being into late-August it was time to finally get down to the San Juans and hike a few peaks. As Steve needed to be in Durango the following evening, I drove down and met him for dinner in Ridgway before we motored over to the Thistledown Campground above Ouray. Keep reading…
With the High Lonesome finally in the rearview and to kick off the month of August, Anna-Lisa, Jax and I headed out for a route in the Gores that’s sort of evolved into a bit of a local classic in the Snow Pass loop. We’ve made it an unofficial goal of ours to visit every named lake in Eagle County that can be reached via a trail, and this loop happens to collect three of them in two completely different drainages. Keep reading…
The Skyline Traverse above Boulder, CO is about as iconic of a trial running route as they come. The route collects the five major peaks which sit above The People’s Republic: South Boulder Peak, Bear Peak, Green Mountain, Flagstaff Mountain, and Mt. Sanitas. These five mountains cover the entire breadth of the city and the route takes an obvious and natural course to link up the full set. When you combine the city-wide presence of these 5 peaks plus the A++ trail system in the county’s open space, it is an all-too natural link up for a complete tour-de-Boulder. Read more…
