A quick NCAR ride - Boulder (pictures)

Quoted message said:

We've been having some VERY mild weather here in Boulder this winter.

Greetings from Parker.

Great pics, Chuck.

Yes, I have been riding practically every week this winter, and I don't enjoy riding in cold temps.

Yesterday did a 35 mile ride, and I, too, took on some hills just East of Parker (Colorado). My
fastest speed was a lowly 32 mph, though, so your hill must be a lot steeper!

Lots and lots of bikers out yesterday!

Someday we will have to ride together!

members.aol.comfoxcondorsrvtnsOpen ↗ (Colorado rental condo)

members.aol.comdnvrfoxOpen ↗ (Family Web Page)

Quoted message said:

Yes, I have been riding practically every week this winter, and I don't enjoy riding in cold temps.

Spoke too soon.

Just drove home (in my car) 10 miles in a friggin totally unpredicted blizzard! Took me
about an hour.

Weatherman said this morning "Absolutely no snow!"

So much for weathermen!

Now they are predicting 4-7 inches in the next couple of hours!

members.aol.comfoxcondorsrvtnsOpen ↗ (Colorado rental condo)

members.aol.comdnvrfoxOpen ↗ (Family Web Page)

Thanks for posting the trip up NCAR and good to see you are riding. I like the sequence of photos.
I'll have to think of an equivalent here in Fort Collins (for me a "Masonville Loop", further
distance ~32 miles but also less of one solid climb).

--mev, Mike Vermeulen

Denver C. Fox said:

Quoted message said:

Yes, I have been riding practically every week this winter, and I don't enjoy riding in
cold temps.

Spoke too soon.

Just drove home (in my car) 10 miles in a friggin totally unpredicted blizzard! Took me
about an hour.

Weatherman said this morning "Absolutely no snow!"

So much for weathermen!

Now they are predicting 4-7 inches in the next couple of hours!

Thank god, it's over already. That was starting to look like an upslope (major dump) by the way it
was coming down. It sure caught everyone off guard.

But hey, yeay! .... take a look. The weather forecast shows 45 - 55º by Wednesday. I'm getting in
good shape much earlier than usual this year - and glad to be dodging any long breaks in my
"regimen." I get no pleasure from rides under 40º. I'm not into high tech ($$ gear) and my body is
an untypically strong heat engine - I sweat too much, or freeze. (So, "bring it on," Dubyah. Global
warming is good ô¿Ô¬)

I'll have to document the Flagstaff Mountain ride soon. It's 15 miles (to the top and back from my
house) and involves about 1500 feet of climbing - 1300 of that nonstop up Flagstaff Mountain
(straight up Baseline Rd). That's the regular ride I do now (once every couple of days if I can),
especially when it's windy on the plains. Once I start climbing, the mountain blocks the wind
(*most* of the way).

I've got a new "mantra" into my head this year that I like to think-sing on these climbs as I can
get more aggressive with them, "no granny, no granny, no granny go!" (re: "The Little Old Lady from
Pasadena"😉

Now, ... try and get *that* one out of your head.

--
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Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO cycletourist.comcycletourist.comOpen ↗ Integrity is obvious. The lack of it
is common.
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Mike Vermeulen said:

Thanks for posting the trip up NCAR and good to see you are riding.

Thanks, Mike. I haven't toured in years, either. Been busy tending to family affairs.

But I've got touring blood surging back through my veins this year. I know I'll get out this
summer. I'm hoping I can go riding in Germany/Austria in July, but if I can't manage that (afford
it), I'm thinking of a ride around Lake Michigan --- and with this discussion about the Michigan
Upper Peninsula, that looks it would be a fine alternative. Besides, Wisconsin is just like
Germany, isn't it?

--
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Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO cycletourist.comcycletourist.comOpen ↗ Integrity is obvious. The lack of it
is common.
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Cool Pic's Thanks, Chuck Greg

Hi Folks

I used to live near NCAR and used that for a hill training - but then I spent the summer up in
Nederland and called the Peak to Peak Hwy my home. Now I'm off Diagonal & 63rd so I'm in the flats
again. I'm finding it hard to get motivated to ride. Anyone up this way need a partner ? Any group
rides for people with hairy legs (ladies excluded - I hope) ?

For the folks up north, I love the road just north of Carter Lake (I think). At the bottom of that
screamin downhill - head west. The road winds and up and up to - Pinewood Lake ? Anyone else done
this one ? Is it snow covered now ?

If anyone wants to work on doing some video of these rides ( hopefuly as practice for shooting the
classic mountain climbs in the spring), let me know. I'm always looking for riders to shoot for
postcards, video, etc. All my buddies are mtn bikers.

Chuck, I rode around the top half of Lake Michigan in '95. Beautiful place for touring, but not too
many pics since I traveled solo.

You and I have done some of the same trips but I'm sure there are others here who have been where we
want to go. How about we get some folks together for a multi-trip bike tour slideshow to get us all
motivated ?

Anyone else up for a beer and bike stories night ?

cheers

Scott Murrish Boulder, CO scottmurrish.comscottmurrish.comOpen ↗

Scott,

A beer and bike stories night in Colorado front range could be interesting. I am up in Fort Collins
and have done some touring (see fietstocht.comfietstocht.comOpen ↗ for list of trips). I haven't met Chuck in
person, though I owe him a beer from a favor he did once while I was on tour.

I have done the road to Pinewood Reservoir, though not this winter. Roads further north @ Horsetooth
Reservoir/Masonville haven't been snowy, so wouldn't expect a lot of snow at similar elevation
further south unless recent upslope storm this weekend just dropped some.

I am trying a January "century of the month" ride this Saturday
(1/31), from Fort Collins to Wyoming Border and back via US 85. I will see if the weather
cooperates, as they are predicting 30% chance of snow.

--mev, Mike Vermeulen

p.s. Grew up south of Longmont and graduated from Niwot High School, so well familiar with Diagonal
& 63rd area...

Scott Murrish said:

Now I'm off Diagonal & 63rd so I'm in the flats again.

I come through there often on one of my favorite rides - out to Ryssby church and back. It's a 32
mile loop from my house. Ryssby church (Swedish pioneer church) has fresh well water in the cemetery
in back. One of the grave markers is a stone bench and I often bring a lunch.

The route is obvious. From Table Mesa I head north through Boulder then onto the Foothills highway
(36) to Nelson Road. Downhill past the Table Mountain radio telescopes and then past a buffalo herd
to 63rd. I turn back south and stop at Ryssby church (I always refresh my water supply there). 63rd
- past IBM, Coot Lake, across the diagonal and on to Valmont. From there I have a variety of ways
to get home.

I actually have a pretty good GPS track overlayed on a map of this one. cycletourist.comRyssby 4 11 03Open ↗
map.gif (the mile spacing is a little weird, but essentially correct overall? I don;t even use the
damn thing anymore. A cyclecomputer works much better. I like the track overlays, though - and the
elevation profile (except that it has gaps and spikes - but once again, gives an okay overall
picture of the elevation profile.)

Two shots on my home page are taken from right in front of Ryssby (click on "First" under the
picture window and then look at the Next two).

Quoted message said:

I'm finding it hard to get motivated to ride.

I'm going to tour this year, and every time I get out I think about that
- about being in a new place, "on the road," and that gets me going.

Flagstaff is a beautiful place to ride to this time of year, too (and until the end o May). The gate
is closed to the amphitheater, so cyclists have that section to themselves. (May be a couple of more
weeks before I can get through the snow there now, though). I love to get up there and meditate -
take a pause and breath - in and out. Let the mind go.

Quoted message said:

For the folks up north,

I've only done one ride "up north" - a century to Loveland and back (from Boulder). I also left in
that direction to go through Greeley on my way to Sterling, the Nebraska border, and beyond.

Quoted message said:

Chuck, I rode around the top half of Lake Michigan in '95.

That does sound like a great idea (if Germany fall$ through). I'm sure I'll be using DEET up there.

Quoted message said:

Anyone else up for a beer and bike stories night ?

I could be cajoled.

I'm in the beginning stages of creating a Boulder area cyclists' web site (cycleboulder.org - I
haven't even uploaded a home page yet.) I'd like to include a message board, mainly for locals, ....
for riders seeking riders, ride info, routes, and "bike stories."

But first, I have to try and earn some money for my summer plans.

--
*****************************
Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO cycletourist.comcycletourist.comOpen ↗ Integrity is obvious. The lack of it
is common.
*****************************

Quoted message said:

(see fietstocht.comfietstocht.comOpen ↗ for list of trips).

I don't read other cycle trip stories much, I skim the "contents page" and see what might interest
me. But one thing that really sticks with me is when you decided to have your head shaved at that
temple in India. Now *that* is being "out on the road." I really wanted to be there, too.

Quoted message said:

I haven't met Chuck in person, though I owe him a beer ...

Cool :-)

Quoted message said:

I am trying a January "century of the month" ride this Saturday
(1/31),

The weather certainly did not cooperate.

I'm hoping we hit 40+ by tomorrow so I can get in a ride.

--
*****************************
Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO cycletourist.comcycletourist.comOpen ↗ Integrity is obvious. The lack of it
is common.
*****************************

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I am trying a January "century of the month" ride this Saturday
(1/31),

The weather certainly did not cooperate.

Nope. I still did a subset of the ride. Here is a report I wrote up for a different forum. I'm going
to try a February "century of the month" along the same route. Target date is 2/14, but will see how
the weather looks like. Still remember one of your ride photos being near Rockport on US-85.

Slip Sliding Away, A Ride that wasn't:

Following is a quick tale of a ride that wasn't. The idea was simple, try riding a "century of the
month". For a variety of reasons, this didn't happen earlier so my target was Saturday, January
31st. Weather forecasts early in the week started iffy (30% chance snow and breezy) and became worse
by night before (60% chance snow). The route I had chosen was Fort Collins, CO to the Wyoming border
roughly following I-25 on frontage roads and then looping back via US-85. While flat, the risk was
large open (windy) areas near border as well as climb to over 6000ft. This part of I-25 is
occasionally closed due to winter storms.

Neverless, weather in Colorado can be fickle and I didn't want to be scared off only to discover
weather forecasters got it wrong. I started from home at 7am and rode to nearby McDonalds where a
friend might meet me. He wasn't there so started north through city of Fort Collins towards
Wellington on CO route 1. Sun briefly illuminated the mountains before more overcast set in.
Temperature about 30F, south winds, ominous looking but still dry. I rode my TE with bright yellow
body sock and was still toasty warm.

Roads don't have large shoulder, but light traffic and good visibility made for good riding the
first 17 miles to Wellington. Very light snow flakes were drifting down, but nothing was sticking.
Small town of Wellington was active with people about at the shops. This was first planned stop
since not much after that for 20 miles to the Wyoming border, and also since my feet were getting
cold. As I took a break and read the morning paper, snowfall increased and started sticking.

Weather forecasters had been right, and decided it would be wiser to turn around than get myself on
slick roads in middle of windy blizzard snow. As I followed frontage roads back, I did find myself
in midst of some of those conditions: headwind blowing snow in my face, forming clumps of snow in my
beard and clouding over my glasses. The road was fully white with 0.5" accumulated and icy slick
spaces where cars had driven. Fortunately only about 10 miles to outskirts of Fort Collins and it
did get slightly better as I rode.

I chose highway with wide shouldered roads and then decided to take our bicycle path for last 6
miles. Here I had my second fall on the bike since I got it last September. This one on a fully snow-
covered concrete path. I was rounding a moderate corner and before I knew it, the bike slide out and
I was on my side in middle of path in body sock. Nothing hurt other than pride and I dusted myself
off before riding again (more slowly this time). I did slide one more time but caught myself. Was
home by 10:30am after a fun ride of 34 miles though not the century I had tried to ride.

I will have to declare January's as having only a "metric century" given a 78 mile ride I did on New
Year's Day. Weather can still get ugly here, but try again and see if can have a February "century
of the month".

--mev, Mike Vermeulen