Monumentally Afflicted

Distance -  64 miles Climbing -  5600 feet BGR (Brad's Gravel Rating)  - 45 (washboard from hell) CRF (Cage Rage Factor)  - medium+ Scenery - great Location  - West of Monument Parking - Mt Herman Trailhead General Description - This is a pretty big ride around the Rampart Range area west of Colorado Springs and Monument. The loop can be started from many different places along the way, but is described here from the Mt Herman Trailhead at the Monument Preserve. Generally, the route goes from Monument to Colorado Springs via the Santa Fe Trail, west along the Sinton Trail to the Garden of the Gods, up Rampart Range Rd past the Reservoir, then down Mt Herman Rd back to the trailhead. Scenery is great along much of the route. Vehicle traffic can be heavy along Rampart Range Rd as well as Mt Herman Rd. The washboard can be totally brutal and relentless near the Reservoir. The Loaf N Jug at GoG and 30th is a decent place to stock up on some...

Distance - 21 miles Climbing - 3300 feet BGR (Brad's Gravel Rating)  - 50 CRF (Cage Rage Factor)  - medium Scenery - great Location  - West of Monument Parking - Red Rocks Rd Trailhead General Description - A fairly long ride around Mt Herman on mostly decomposed granite forest service roads. Sustained climbing and descending with some really nice scenery. Essentially go up Mount Herman Road, take the old connector over to Balanced Rock Rd, descend past the Palmer Lake Reservoirs and return via Red Rocks Ranch. Traffic on Mount Herman Rd can be bad at high volume times (weekends), with idiot's drifting corners. The connector road/trail used to be accessible to motor vehicles until the USFS decided they'd had enough with all the irresponsible shooting, wheeling, and general destruction. The closed off section is now pretty awesome with great scenery that is usually devoid of other people. This section gets very little traffic and frequently has washou...

Distance - 17.2 miles Climbing - 1365 feet BGR (Brad's Gravel Rating)  - 45 (sand!) CRF (Cage Rage Factor)  - low- Scenery - good Location  - North of Palmer Lake, West of I25 Parking - Spruce Mountain Trailhead, just north of Palmer Lake General Description - So, you like wind, sand, and hoof prints? Well then, this might be your little slice of heaven. For the 95% of other riders, these trails can be an exercise in persistence and patience. So, why bother? On occasion, the stars align and 1 or more of the terrible triad are absent. When this happens, you get to experience riding blissful trails through the high plains with nary a soul in sight. Detailed route description Park at the Spruce Mountain Trailhead (there are several other TH's you could use, Spruce Meadows, Greenland, County Line Rd). Head west and then immediately south and uphill. Head downhill then through the tunnel under the road. Take a left and follow the trail to the Spruce Me...

Distance - 5.1 miles Climbing - 520 feet BGR (Brad's Gravel Rating)  - 45 CRF (Cage Rage Factor)  - low Scenery - good Location  - Monument / Palmer Lake - west of I25 Parking - Pothead Corner (Schilling Ave and Lindbergh Rd) General Description - This is the good stuff. A short loop through the Monument Preserve, consisting of fire road, doubletrack, and singletrack. Wander through the nice ponderosa pine and gambel oak forest. Mostly non-technical, with some loose sand, rock water bars, some roots, and one rock ramp thrown in for good measure. Loads of more technical riding around the area if you want to challenge yourself or come back w/ your mountain bike. Explore and have fun. Easy to lose the trail, but hard to get truly lost. Detailed Route Info Head west from the trailhead past the green gate. Continue to the Memorial Grove, where the road winds up and right. Continue til you can veer left up the skinnier trail (Wishy Washy). If you hit a gate,...

Distance - 16.8 miles Climbing - 1270 feet BGR (Brad's Gravel Rating)  - 35 CRF (Cage Rage Factor)  - medium Scenery - not bad Location  - Monument / Palmer Lake - west of I25 Parking - Sante Fe Trailhead at Baptist Road and Old Denver Highway General Description - A combined gravel / paved ride around the Tri Lakes area. About 75% gravel. Fairly nice mountain and lake scenery with a reasonable amount of climbing,  but nothing sustained. This loop can be started from many different trailheads around the area (Baptist Rd, Mount Herman TH, Palmer Lake TH, 105, etc). Traffic is generally light except through Palmer Lake. Finding your way through the Glen can be a challenge, with a maze of roads (sometimes one way). Detailed Description Park at the trailhead and head north on the Sante Fe Trail. This can be windy and/or sandy depending on conditions. Once you pass Palmer Lake, take a left on County Line Rd and cross the railroad tracks. Take a left on...

Tour de Hood (first installment in a series of gravel ride descriptions)   Distance - 7.2 miles Climbing - 875 feet BGR (Brad's Gravel Rating)  - 28 CRF (Cage Rage Factor)  - low Scenery - meh Location  - west of Monument, near the Mt Herman Preserve Parking - Pothead Corner (Schilling Ave and Lindbergh Rd) General Description - A short 95% dirt road loop through the neighborhood roads near the Mt Herman Preserve. A decent amount of sustained climbing. Plenty of optional detours to explore. Mostly good dirt roads that are sandy and loose in the summer, and sloppy and muddy after snow or heavy rain. Fairly exposed when windy. Detailed route info Park at Pot Corner and head east. At the first intersection, stay right on Schilling. Take first right on Vincent. Take first left on Vandenberg. Veer right onto Doolittle. Hit the pavement (gasp), go left/right (essentially straight) onto Doolittle Take first left onto Rickenbacker and after a s...

It's been abnormally warm and dry here in Colorado, so I've gotten out for a lotta rides. I'm already up to 22 outdoor rides this year, which is a healthy amount for the 30th of January. Since Salsa's announcement about 1.5 years ago, I've been jonesing for a Salsa Spearfish. I'm convinced that 29ers make a difference for me, and the lure of a full suspension 29er has been strong. Well, Bikeman has a closeout deal on last year's Spearfish frame, with a Rockshox Reba RL and a nice headset for $1199. I couldn't resist! Here are the build specs: 18" Salsa Spearfish frame Rockshox Reba RL fork Cane Creek headset Carver MyTi handlebars Titec titanium seatpost WTB seat Magura Marta SL front brake Avid BB7 rear brake RaceFace Dues crankset (22/32/42) SRAM cassette SRAM Attack shifters (9 speed) FSA PF30 bottom bracket Stan's 355, WTB Laserdisc Lite wheels XT front derailleur XT rear derailleur Geax Saguaro tires Total weight is about 27.5lbs. I t...

So, I had a great time on the Ring the Peak Plus trip. Nick and I rode over 82 miles and climbed more than 13,000 feet. The first day was brutal, with over 7000 feet of climbing. I didn't realize how heinous the climbing was 'til I saw my GPS capture of the climb. No wonder I was soooo spent at camp that night. We found a perfect campsite, with a view of the lower slopes of Pikes Peak. My Golite Shangri La performed flawlessly during the crazy overnight thunder and lightning storm. No bears pillaged our food, which was a concern of mine after Nick's bear encounter from 2 weeks ago. We woke up to a beautiful day and got off to an early start. After about an hour of spinning up hill, we encountered some guys doing the RTP trail in a day. We let them pass and shortly thereafter I was surprised to catch back up to one of them. Unfortunately, my bike started acting funky. I thought it was chainsuck, but it was much more. A broken chain and twisted derailleur hanger. ...

Getting ready to Ring the Peak with Nick. We plan to take a fairly casual 3 days to complete the trip. I've done a few bikepacking trips in the past, but used old school racks and panniers. For this trip, I've significantly updated my setup. I have an F3 Designs seatbag, a Revelate Designs Tangle bag , a Revelate Designs Sling and drybag, and two Salsa Anything Cages with dry bags attached. In addition, I'm carrying a Wingnut Hydration pack . I've tried to keep the amount of gear on my back to a minimum and I think this configuration will do that. My Wingnut only contains the things I'd take on a normal ride (water, snacks, tools, rain jacket, etc). I've had the bike out for a couple test rides, including a decent amount of singletrack while fully loaded at lunch today. The setup seems very nice. Certainly way nicer than a rack and panniers. The bike behaves in a very normal, unloaded fashion, only requiring a slight bit more input for small direction...

Still having fun at +20 hours! Well, I think my race season is done... I did (part of) Vapor Trail last week and 24 Hours of Colorado Springs this weekend. Vapor Trail was a bust. I had a chest/head cold leading up the race, but it seemed to get better in the couple days prior to the start. Guess I wasn't quite ready, as I suffered mightily while breathing heavily at high elevation. My pace was way slower than expected and, at about mile 65, I noticed that my throat/chest were wheezing or whistling with every deep breath. Pulled the plug at Monarch Crest, about 75 miles into the race. Lessons learned... Vapor Trail is wicked hard. Major sections of hike-a-bike. Listen to your body, and don't try to push things when sick. I need to figure out how to better dress for changing temps and conditions. All that insane hike-a-bike may (just) be worth the massively fun descent from Granite Mountain After VT, I got off my butt and went to see the doctor. I should have done this e...

Got out with Nordby and Keller for some incredible new trail riding. Woohoo! Nice to see the continual development of opportunities in the area. My technical skills are feeling really good right now. Feeling a bit like the good old days, when I could roll through just about anything. I'm hoping that with some tapering, my endurance will feel the same way in about 13 days. Had some stomach issues on today's ride, which doesn't bode well for fueling at Vapor Trail. Not sure what is up. I switched to Perpetuem from Sustained Energy a couple weeks ago. Not sure if that is the issue, but my stomach was feeling pretty sour by the end of yesterday's ride. I may have to switch back to Sustained Energy if I can't get it figured out. I know my stomach is fine on that for 18 Hours. I do find Perpetuem easier to drink, though...

Well, my original plan to race at 24 Hours of Colorado Springs is looking unlikely (surgery in the family requiring travel). So, I got looking around for other ways to put my training to good use. One week earlier than 24 Hours of Colorado Springs is a race that I've always wanted to to, but haven't managed to plan for or train enough to consider, the Vapor Trail 125 !!! So, I pinged Absolute Bikes and they actually had a couple spots still open and I'm in! I'm pretty psyched to have the opportunity to participate in the race, especially since I feel fairly well prepared. The VT125 is known as one of the hardest endurance races in the US. 125 miles, most of it at high altitude, with 20,000 feet of climbing. Whoa! Looking at the course description and elevation profile is a bit scary. Tpak did this race the initial year and says it is awesome. Much better than going around in circles for 24 hours. :-) The race starts and 10pm. I'll ride through the night a...

Got out for some flat out climbing up Rampart Range Rd today. Did over 3200 feet of climbing 1 hour and 30 minutes! For the first 5.5 miles of the climb, I tried to keep my heart rate in the 150's. For the next 4.5 miles, I turned up the effort but tried to keep it below 170. Then, for the last 1.5 or so miles, I just went flat out. I miscalculated a bit and thought I was doing 11.00 miles. Turned out to be really 11.30, so the last 0.30 miles was some pretty serious suffering, mentally and physically. I feel pretty lucky to have an 11 mile dirt road climb near work and a 10 mile dirt road climb near my house. Leaves little opportunity for excuse making when it comes to climbing ability. I took a look at my ride data from the past month, and I've done over 42,000 feet of climbing. Wow, I don't think I've ever hit that much in a month before. Hopefully, all that climbing will make the Falcon Trail climbs feel surmountable in the 24th hour of racing!

For a while now, I've been mapping out a dirt route between my house in Monument and my cabin in Park County (near Trout Creek Pass). Today, I decided to do an out-and-back of the first section of that route. Up Mt Herman Road, north on Rampart Range, then west over to Highway 67. On the map, it looks like 309F is a logical choice. However, the Pikes Peak Atlas shows the road as being gated... Well, upon descending 700 or so vertical feet, I verified that it was indeed blocked off and signed ("guard dogs") even. Took a look at the map and realized I could bushwack about 1 mile to the north and hit Hotel Gulch Rd, which would then take me west to Hwy 67. Worked out fine. Easy bushwack and passed some nice cabins along the way to Manitou Park, which is really nice. Old CCC buildings which now appear to house weather and forestry research crews. Oh yeah, passed a flaming and unattended campfire just above the upper entrance to Limbaugh. Nothing like open flames on a ...

Decided to do the early morning Monster Commute again. Got out the door just before sunrise and headed through the Preserve up to Mt Herman Road. Stopped for a quick stretch and found a funny little sign that says "NEED RIDE UP THE MOUNTAIN" on one side and "NEED RIDE DOWN THE MOUNTAIN" on the other side. Cruised up Mt Herman Rd in the cool morning air. Way up high on a slight downhill, I heard some crashing through the woods. Looked over and saw 2 elk flying through the trees! I have never seen elk on Mt Herman Rd, so I was not sure I had really seen elk. About a half a mile later, what crosses the road directly in front of me? Another elk! Wow, very cool. Hit Rampart Range Rd and headed south towards Woodland Park. I almost took the wrong turn again, descending to Woodland Park, but realized my mistake and headed the correct way. Cruised past Rampart Reservoir, enjoying the magnificent views of Pikes Peak and then descended all the way to Garden of the Go...

After a bit of a break last week due to work related travel, I'm starting to get some decent mileage and time on the bike. Did 53 miles yesterday, mostly commuting , with some Falcon Trail added into the mix. Had to bunny hop a snake on Sante Fe Trail. That freaked me out a bit. Probably shows in my heart rate graph. I rode Flow/DLS on Monday. That trail is really starting to grow over with all the recent rain. Super technical riding, though. Rode a pretty quick loop through Limbaugh on Sunday evening. Felt really good on that ride. And, on Saturday, I did a screwball ride through Spruce Meadow. Forgot my bike lock key, had to return home to get it, then drove back to the parking lot. Then, I used Spot to find my dad/Lianne, met up part way through the ride, then proceeded to have cleat issues, and finally, Lianne got a flat. Jeez! Today is a commute to work day, plus a trip back and forth to the chiropractor. I should get in some decent mileage, but it needs to be c...

Had a nice big misadventure today! Planned to do Log Machine to Schubarth, and then come out via Deadman's Gulch. Followed 307 to 313, which looked right on the Pikes Peak Atlas. Somehow I ended up at the end of 311, where I followed a faint trail east into the woods. Ended up in the Hell Creek basin, then did an unbelievable bushwack down the mountain. A seriously character-building ride. My planned 3 hour ride turned into a 5.5 massive sufferfest! I have never gone through so much dense scrub oak. It was so bad, that I employed a cycling technique I've never used before: Bike Tossing! When the scrub oak gets too thick to get both you and the bike through, raise the bike overhead with both hands, proceed to launch downhill as far as possible, then use both hands to bushwack through the bush to your bike. Repeat ad nauseum. I managed to finally make it down the mountain. I think it took 80 minutes to go just over one half mile. Ever heard of a Spot II Satellite GPS ...

Decided to put in a real effort today, going up Blodgett, Across to USAFA, and back to work via the Sante Fe Trail and Woodmen. 14 miles and 1885ft of elevation gain. About 3/4 mile of hike-a-bike to increase the suffering factor. Good times! Actually, really good times, considering I did the whole loop in 1:20. I got passed and dropped like a rock by 2 roadies on Centennial. Surprising, but motivational.

Planned to do a quick ride through Limbaugh at lunch today. Started out well, cleaning the trail all the way up to the road (first time ever, I think). Cruised up the road and to the drop into Limbaugh. LOTS of gun fire. Got my attention and I augered in on one easy right hander. Oops! Picked myself and back up and continued into the meadow which was full of flowers (not quite peaking yet). After passing a pile of nice flowers, I thought I should stop and take some pics. Aacck! Where's my camera? I remembered throwing it in the outside pocket of my hydration pack. The pocket with no zipper. Oh man, and I have a meeting I have to get back to. I decide to just forget the old camera and continue downhill, then realize the camera has family photos from vacation. Ugh, better turn around and do some fast climbing. I figure I probably lost the camera when I crashed earlier. So, after 400 ft of elevation gain, I find the camera, right where I crashed! I couldn't believe...

8 weeks 'til 24 Hours of Colorado Springs at the United States Air Force Academy. I 'spose I should get my arse off of the couch. Got out today for a very nice 2 hour ride. Up Mt Herman, down Mule Trail, across Colonel's Revenge, through Black Pearl, down Flow Dog and 715 back to the house. Good stuff. Seemed to be working a bit harder than I should have, but that is probably due to being below 1000ft for the past 8 days.