throet

Thanks - met up with Andrew and Marcel behind the shop that evening to head out for a ride. Believe we rode some of the upper part of Chicken Dinner that same night, but a couple of days later we picked up that final Chicken Dinner descent you are referring to, as shown here right before hitting the river, I believe. Definitely a nice spot to own land!

Good to hear! Sounds like you'll be back on the trail by the time the cooler temps roll in. Rest up my friend and let's ride once you're back in the saddle.

Few more pics from the Salida, CO trip.

Yep it was tagged! On our initial drive into Salida we saw a bunch of them cross the road in front of us and then scale the vertical cliffs on the on other side. I was in complete awe!

Came across this big feller right off the edge of the trail outside of Salida during an evening ride. Luckily one of the guys I was riding with looked down and spotted him as the rest of us would have just kept going.

Damn dude - so sorry to hear this! Is surgery going to be required? Hopefully that sternoclavicular dislocation is popping outward and not inward!

I've ridden locally now 4 days in a row since returning from riding in Colorado, and honestly it hasn't been that bad. I rode Thu-Fri evenings and rode Sat-Sun mornings. Much easier to stay cool in the morning I think - just have to remember to bring a small towel to wipe my goggles every now and then. Also when riding in the morning I generally stop mid-ride to wring out my shirt, gloves, and sweat cap. For evening rides, I just avoid areas that are exposed to the harsh sun, like 1/4 notch at Brushy. All of my summer rides have been under 2 hours.

Yeah the descending was righteous man! Some of those downs were so long that I'd end up raising my saddle a bit just to cop an occasional seat going down. Inevitably I'd suddenly come across something janky and take a direct hit in the stones from that slightly raised saddle.

I ended up taking the cheap way out and just replaced my 30t chainring with a 28t oval ring. Very first ride we did in Colorado was this! Managed mile one OK but the grade on that second mile dirt road climb was insane. I pedaled all the way up, but had to stop multiple times to catch my breath, and my legs were toast when we finally got to the top. My buddies were riding either 2x11 or Eagle and didn't struggle too much. Did another ride later that day and my legs were still hurting. When we rode the Monarch Crest trail the following day, I ended up just walking some of the really punchy climbs at the beginning to save my legs for the full 35 miles. That strategy worked well and kept me from falling behind my buddies by too much.

Yeah definitely. They probably did that mostly to benefit me, knowing that it would take me an extra 20 minutes or so to get up that road. In retrospect, I should have just offered to head out half-an-hour earlier than the studs I was riding with, while they enjoyed their treats from Little Red Hen Bakery.

We only skipped the 7-mile dirt road climb up CR 175. Definitely plenty of choices for beer in town but we never got over to Benson's. Will put that on my list for next time!

Spent only 4 nights in Salida Jul 8-12, and wish now I had made it a full week stay. So much to do and see there! There were only two of us from Austin making the trip, and we ended up renting a decent 2 bedroom bungalow just a few blocks from the main strip downtown. Worked out well since a couple of my buddies from the Denver-Boulder area came down and camped out on the couch / floor. The backyard patio was awesome with plenty of seating and a large rack for parking the bikes. When we weren't riding, we were pretty much hanging out downtown and alongside (and in) the river. Our top spots for dining were the Boathouse and Amica's. Rides went as follows: Day 1 - Bear Creek-Rainbow-Columbine Loop (8 mi) late morning, followed by a guided tour that same evening of a few of the local favorite trails on Methodist Mtn (8mi). Day 2 - Monarch Crest w/Rainbow Trail from Silver Creek to Hwy 285 to Poncha Springs (35 mi). Day 3 - Abbreviated Cottonwood Loop that included Beasway-Rumba-Cottonwood-SweetDreams-ChickenDinner (13 mi). Each ride was spectacular and I really wished I had tried to squeeze in one more ride on Day 3. With two vehicles, we were able to run our own shuttles, which was a huge plus. The Crest was everything I expected and more! The weather was fantastic the whole time we were there, even at 12K ft of elevation. Already thinking about my next trip back, which will likely include one day for rafting or tubing and another day to make the drive over to Gunnison to ride Hartman Rocks.

Last night in Salida. Awesome 3 days of Alpine riding!

Rode Brushy between 9-11 yesterday and it wasn't too terrible. Looking forward to riding in CO next week though, and may have to plan another trip in Aug.

Glad she was able to help and sorry to hear about how much trouble this has been for you. We're booked for riding in Salida Jul 9-11 - so if you get a chance to slide down there any of those days before heading back to Tejas, let me know. We haven't finalized our ride plans yet, but will likely do the Monarch Crest Epic on Jul 10.

This was our experience today. Just enough tech to keep you alert, but nothing to cause any real exertion. Plenty of shade for most of the ride too. Rode for a few hours starting at 10am. The 85oz of fluid in my Osprey pack was enough to get me through the ride, although I had a bottle with me as well. Overall it was a really pleasant ride and worth the trip. Some really spectacular views from some sections of trail. Reservations are still needed, but we were able to snag those online yesterday afternoon.

I've ridden Flat Creek Crossing many times but never Pedernales. Honestly all I'm after tomorrow is a couple hours of exercise. If it turns out to be not that great, I won't be terribly disappointed, and I'll have one more local trail system to check off my list.

I'm going to be riding Pedernales for the first time tomorrow morning - starting at 9:30am. Hope it's not on the top of anybody's heat stroke list! Around here it makes sense that Walnut Creek would be the best place to ride in the summer, but I couldn't say what would be the worst. I know for sure that I won't ride City Park in the summer, partly due to level of exertion required and partly due to horseflies ripping your flesh apart. Likewise I have no interest in riding LGT in the summer. Personally I try to avoid direct summer sun exposure between 10 - 6 on any trail regardless of how fast I can move. Brushy has been fine so far this year in the mornings between 8-10.

Speaking of Double IPAs, first time trying the BoomBox and it was quite good. Chased it with an Axis. Life is good!

Gave noob @Lacch another tour of Brushy today and a couple of things came out of that. First, on Peddlers he asked me how it was that I was speeding through the berms effortlessly while he was trying to hammer through them to keep up. I mentioned that somebody on this forum had offered a cornering clinic at Peddlers in the past, but for me, anything I've learned has come naturally. All I could really offer was to set your speed ahead of the turn and trust the berm without braking. My technique is to weight the front wheel and drive it through those turns, but I recall that others on this forum have said the opposite works for them. Of course with any cornering, bermed or not, learning to balance through a turn vs. steering through it is essential. Once we moseyed over to 1/4 Notch, Lacch observed that I was "gliding" through rock gardens while he was "pounding" through them. I tried to describe a couple of concepts. One is unweighting the bike, meaning that I'm either putting my weight forward and pulling the bike through stuff, or putting my weight back and pushing the bike through stuff. For me it's hard to describe when to do what because it just seems to have come naturally over time for me. The other concept I tried to describe was using your body as a lever, meaning instead of yanking up every time you need to clear a small ledge or obstacle, you instead are pushing your feet forward with your weight back, while simultaneously pulling back ever so slightly on the bars. I had to point out as well that while doing so it may look like I'm seated, but I'm actually hovering over the seat by maybe only 1/2 inch. I have nothing against study and practice, but I do believe that if you have any sort of athletic ability, much of what you need to know comes naturally over time with just dedicated hours on the trail and the trial-and-error efforts that go with that.

At Pluckers, I get the Bleu Cheese Chicken Cobb minus the tortilla strips. I'm not a Keto person, but I'm thinking it might qualify, unless the dressing knocks it out. It's quite good with grilled chunks of chicken, lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, bacon, sliced avocado, bleu cheese chunks, and topped off with bleu cheese dressing.

This sounds like exactly what I would be looking for over a weekend of park riding. I love watching guys on YT bomb massive gaps on machine cut jump lines, but that sort of stuff is just not for me. What you're describing here though is appealing and might have me removing my full-face from the items for sale thread! We might even want to be thinking about a boys trip out there over the coming year.

This has me thinking about my upcoming Colorado trip. I'm wondering if I'm better off without my Rimpact inserts during my trip. Would hate to have to hassle with trying to transport a sealant coated section of foam in my pack. Besides, the reduced weight would be an advantage on those long ass climbs. Generally on rides like those far away from home and medical aid, I'm going to be picking my lines carefully regardless.

Sorry @Lacch had I known this, we could have just put that 27.5 tube in that I was carrying in my pack. Apparently I falsely assumed only a 29in would work for your 29 inch tire. Suppose that lack of knowledge cost you a full ride and me a chance to demonstrate an on-trail tube install. Lesson learned there for sure. Regarding the CO2 cartridges, I always carry 2-3 when carrying a pack. No sense risking a misfire with only a single cartridge. I also carry bacon strips, extra valve cores and valve core tool, a presta-schrader adapter (works better with my CO2 pump - especially with shorter valve stems), and a couple of plastic tire tools. I also carry spare chain-links for 10-spd, 11-spd, and 12-spd (used to ride all three regularly) and a multi-tool.

I rode from 9-10:45 with no problem handling the heat / humidity, and hardly saw anybody out there except for on Picnic. Rode Snail, Rim, DD, Picnic, and Mulligan. Also ventured up to the top of Dave's Ditch and discovered that the plunge down is dry enough to be safely ridden. Definitely finding that the key these past few weeks for me is pacing myself, and giving only 90% on features vs. 110%. Max heart rate today was 155, with Avg at 125.