June Bug

Yes, that sounds right. Geer Trails are out in the sage brush. Awhile back a guy named Keith Evans bought 40 acres in that area and developed his own trail system on it. I *think* those trails connect to the Geer Trails. Will check it out when we are out that way this summer. Back in the day, Edward Abbey referred to Cortez as the "Shit head capital of Dipshit County, Colorado" as in extremely retrograde rather than progressive. There's still that element for sure, but Cortez has always been a tourist town (Mesa Verde National Park!) and they are now working hard to emphasize the recreational aspects of their location, especially mountain biking.

Small cell with heavy rain moving through the area right now. (8:46 am, Saturday). Last night, only misty/light rain.

Cortez is developing a nice little townie trail system on the north side of town called Geer Natural Area; I think it connects to other trails and the city has swapped some property on the west side to add another trailhead. You can get 9 miles of trail out of it. I have't ridden it but it sounds like the Cortez version of Walnut Creek. Geer Natural Area There's also an eccentric little bike shop in Dolores called Lizard Head Cyclery. It's a solo proprietor shop, where he tunes skis in winter and does bikes (builds them, repairs them, sells them and races them - road and mountain) in the summer, adores his two cats (who are always in the shop) and really, really likes guns and target shooting.

Probably 4" + in the Walnut Creek area.

I'll be happy to help out on Saturday and Sunday at race central with the merch tables, as in the past. Looks like people have already signed up for those spots. If so, I'll be glad to do other stuff, like *cough* course marshal. And YES, we'd like a trailer slot at the developed camp loop if any are still open! Please let me know.

Too funny! I'm assuming a Harry Reems subtext? The adventures of his (Payson's) mustache will have it's own webpage soon. Or maybe it's his bike (Trek 'Stache). https://www.paysonmcelveen.com/the-adventure-stache

Payson McElveen has set a new record time on White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park. It's actually the White Rim Road, a bladed dirt road near Moab, ridden by tons of normal human mountain bikers as a 3-day tour. Payson's new record is 5:45:16. From Pinkbike: Payson McElveen Crushes the 100 Mile White Rim Record (keep scrolling down for some great photos). Payson grew up in Austin, and then went off to Durango to Fort Lewis College and is now a pro racer.

Harbor Freight is having a sale. The flyer also has a 20% off coupon, good through the end of April. The US General tool chests are on sale from $159 and on up to a 44" x 22" double bank tool chest on sale for $449. Santa went to Harbor Freight and bought one for Crusty for Christmas 2017. The drawers pull out and close smoothly; it's sturdy and very handy and has casters, so you can roll it around. Some assembly is required. Santa looked at a lot of tool chests (Sears and a few others) and the US General were cheaper, better made and sturdier. Just go to harborfreight.com and put "US General tool chest" in the search bar and it will bring up all the tool chests on sale. You can get catalogs and the 20% off coupon on line.

Tinker is 58 and apparently focuses on marathon distance races now.

Ned will never be dead. He has never stopped riding and racing; CX, fat bike, mountain bike and now gravel have all been in the mix, and maybe did triathlons for awhile (can't remember). Also, there is the eponymous Overend Mountain Park trail in Durango. His birthday is August 20 and should be celebrated by the tribe. Add it to your calendar.

wingnutgear.com/shop The original pack de derriere with shoulder straps. I though they had faded away, but they have a current web site with numerous iterations of the Low Rider System.

Yes, exactly. A popular trail heavily used by mtn bikers and walkers -- a wonderful resource created by volunteer labor. To imply that the public "wasn't reimbursed" is pretty damned galling.

From Bicycling.com: Congress Just Handed a Big Win to Mountain Bikers It passed a public lands act that would protect and expand mtb trails. Trump is expected to sign this bill into law.

Will use the Crtl + Shift + V option for Chrome in the future. BTW, in the original post, I didn't paste any text. I just typed it out from the original.

The entire trail system won't be nuked, but apparently large swatches of it will be destroyed to create flood control basins. March 6, 2019 Popular Anthills Biking Trails to be Destroyed in the Name of Flood Mitigation <snip> Perhaps most galling is language used by the Flood Control District in a memo and noted by Swamplot: Large sections of the popular Anthills Mountain Bike Trail, which the district notes "were built on publicly-owned land without written permission and without compensation to the public" will be cleared, though a portion that sits between the 2 westernmost basins will remain.

I'm deducting points for white socks. I guess we know now that it's early march and the snakes are out in AZ.

Yes, High desert hot. Keep in mind the elevation is about 6,200'. As cxagent noted, that combo of heat, super low humidity and elevation can really suck the moisture out of you. But, high desert can be pleasant in the very early mornings, even on the hottest days. There is also the Boggy Draw riding area up above Dolores. Zero tech, flowy trails in the Ponderosa pines and a favorite for locals in the summer because it's much cooler. And speaking of flowy trails and Ponderosa pines, we really like the riding in the Zuni Mtns, up above Fort Wingate, not too far east of Gallup. Hilso Trailhead (parking area, map, bathroom) is very close to the Forest Service's Quaking Aspen Campground. Link for info here. Boggy Draw and the Hilso Trailhead trails are great if you have people in your group who are not so much into the tech and prefer cruising around. The Zuni Mtns may be an interesting area to watch; they are in the planning process of putting in many more miles of trails. If you go to Gallup via I-40, you just head due north on Hwy 491 and you end up in Cortez.

Couple of things about Phil's World. Later in the summer, it gets brain-fry hot by the afternoon; early mornings are better. Some of those soils have super high clay content when even a little wet, but everything dries out fast. Kokopelli Bike and Board's website has a trail conditions page and shows current conditions at Phil's World: https://www.kokopellibike.com/trail-conditions

Pam LeBlanc did a two-page story on Spider Mountain and the *chair lift from Taos!* today (Austin American Statesman) with lots of pics.

The last few times either coming or going from Durango/Cortez area, we used New Mexico Hwy 550 from Bernalillo to Aztec. Nice wide highway and super fast, even though NM speed limits are on the lower side. Hwy 550 goes right by the turn off to the White Mesa trails; as you go through Aztec, you can hit the Alien Run trails.

Agree with AB that this would be an item for a multi-day bike packing first-aid kit, when assistance and urgent care centers are far, far away.

This came across my Twitter feed, and it even has a mtn biker going over the handlebars. Or here's the actual web site. https://zipstitch.us/ This would be super handy in a first aid kit. We have both butterfly closures and the wound closure strips, but I like how you can ratchet down the little zip things after you center the tape part.

Fact: dirt contains bacteria that makes humans (and mice) feel good. The original research comes from mice exposed to Mycobacterium vaccae, a friendly soil bacteria. The impetus for this research came from beneficial results for cancer patients treated with Mycobacterium vaccae. Soil Bacteria Work In Similar Way To Antidepressants Snip from this very interesting article: Riding bike to Hyde Park Gym to work out today.

Should we declare a park emergency and take $$$ from the ARR trail maintenance budget? We don't really need to do that, but it would get the girdling done faster. And I forgot to mention: Ligustrum must die.

ETA: Opps, Didn't realize this had already been posted upthread: Got this email today saying that Performance has had an 11th-hour reprieve and is the same but not the same. I just googled wondering what had happened to Bike Nashbar. They were owned by the same company, but kept separate as brands. They were consolidated in August 2018, using the same warehouse, but still functioning under their respective brand names. I'm surprised they don't just make it all one brand, like PerfBar or NashPerf. (I keed, I keed). My impression was that products were equivalent price and quality.