Cortez/Durango Biking

Who says Grand Junction/Fruita is the only place for good biking on the Western side of the state? I found out this weekend that Cortez and Durango have some awesome bike trails to offer up as well.

On Friday we drove down from our campsite at McPhee Reservoir to Cortez, stopping in Dolores at the Depot for some mighty good breakfast burritos. Yum! Phil's World is just east of town on 160. You'll see the fairgrounds on the right and directly across from that, just past the shooting range, a red road sign that says 30.1. Turn here. You'll see a sign directing you to a dirt parking area .1 mile down the road. The parking lot is on the right and the "start" of Phil's World is across the dirt road from the parking lot.



The cool thing about Phil's World is that you don't even really need a map. You go through a gate and a well-marked path says "start." At every intersection there is a laminated map telling you where you are and where to go. There are also wooden signs labeling every trail. However, if you want a map (and it's always a good idea to have one) they are available in town at the Kokopelli bike shop.

The trail(s) are mostly rolling single track with a few uphill sections. Nothing brutal though. While they aren't the most technically challenging trails, there are a few spots where you get to drop and make your way around rocky outcroppings. Still, it's fun to just pedal and enjoy the downhill and the views!


We did the 8 mile loop which has you heading back to the trail head after Bob's Trail (I think). At the intersection with Adobo you'll head back. The whoop de whoos are unbelievable! SO fast and SO steep, but awesome fun!



On Saturday we headed to the Telegraph Trails in Durango after stopping by the friendly Durango Cyclery shop for some advice. We parked at the Horse Gulch trail head right off of 3rd Ave behind the Sonic. We started biking up the jeep road (a little steering is required) to the Meadow Loop trailhead. From here we headed out the Telegraph Trail, then turned onto Stacy's Loop, followed by Mike's Loop (which has some significant but short lived climbing). After that we headed downhill on a trail that started with a C...so much fun fast downhill I was grinning ear to ear!
The picture at the top is from this set of trails and I must say I'll be back to check those out when the temps hit 100 here!

18 Road in April

Well Sunday the BF and I headed out to 18 road for a ride. April and May are our busy months, what with all the mountain riders coming down to dry trails, so we headed out Western Zippity for something a little more off-the-beaten path. To get there, from the parking lot at 18 Road (ok, go to Fruita, head down whatever main street is, turn left onto something like Maple right by a big church and the school, then go until you come to N 3/10 road. Turn right. Turn left and go straight. Eventually you'll go about 4 or 5 miles down a gravel/dirt road and come to a very obvious parking lot with bathrooms. Stop here. Now, back to the trail...

From the parking lot you'll see a trail to the left of the lot (if you're standing staring at the side of the bathrooms that faces the parking lot...look left, you'll see a break in the parking barrier. Don't cross the road because that will take you to Prime Cut. This trail is right in the parking lot. It will take you down to the bottom of Kessel Run and out towards Zippity Do Dah (experts only) and Western Zippity. You'll go down a steep hill and see this:


Follow the arrows out towards Zippity. You'll go through a fence/gated area with a big cattle guard and up and down some hills. You'll eventually come to a fork, and you'll go left, which seemed odd to me, but whatever, that's the way you should go. This will give you a nice little patch of rolling single track for a few. Enjoy it! Next you'll turn right on a loooooong stretch of dirt road. Just take it all in stride, you've still got a ways to go! Eventually you'll turn right back onto some singletrack. There's a sign. It's pretty out there right now! See?


This goes on almost too long as you begin to long for something technical! Cross the road, continue...and then, looming ahead...you see them. The switchbacks. You'd heard about them but thought surely they were the stuff of legends. No. These make those tiny hills on Chutes and Ladders look like ant hills. Up and up and up...steep ups. Still, pretty soon you're through it and you can look back down on them:



See where the top trail is and where the bottom trail is? The bottom trail curves right through the middle there to meet the top trail. Yeah. It does.

But see, then you get good views and soon after you do hit some nice downhill...head left at the little fork where Zippity Do Dah goes right and then just follow everything down...don't turn right again to head up towards Joe's! Cross the gravel road and then turn right on Kessel run for 3 miles of awesome downhill!

Biking Season is HERE!

It's here! It's here! The 2010 biking season! And you know what my favorite thing about spring biking is? Cows.

Aren't they cute? Look how that mama cow has bangs! And the little calf almost looks like a lamb...appropriate for Easter weekend!

You can find the free-range cows in Loma usually on the back side of Mary's (where Lion's and Steve's come in) or out at 18 Road if you ride Chutes and Ladders. This weekend I saw some in Loma by the east end of Moore Fun too. I just love riding past a bunch of cows as they stare at you...I don't know why, but I do!

Got in two great rides this weekend--Mary's Loop as a nice warm up on Saturday and a big ride at Lunch Loop today. Nothing new to report about Mary's except that the "obstacle" that apparently existed on the exposed single track near Pizza Point is gone. Everything is back to business as usual there.

Today's Lunch Loop ride was awesome. We headed up Pet-y-Kes because, let's face it, if you've got to climb for a while it might as well be on something entertaining! I made a few obstacles I hadn't made before--and on my first trip out this year! After numerous stops to catch my breath and one almost-biff between the turn off to Eagle's and the main trail, we headed down High Noon. High Noon can be found by riding Pet-Y-Kes to the main trail, taking a left and then immediately looking for a trail on the right by a tree. It saves you from having to climb even more to the Lemon Squeezer trail--unless, of course, Lemon Squeezer or Holy Cross is your goal.

High Noon has some fun drops--none of which I rode today, and then meets back up with the Lemon Squeezer trail for a short steep downhill (totally rideable, even in dusty weather, by sticking further right and avoiding the curve). After that you're headed up to the ridge. From there we dropped down the hill (ok, I walked down) and took the left trail over the rocks down Raven's Ridge. This ride is great, but can be challenging if you don't like drops or if you don't like knowing there's a cliff to your left. Still, it's fairly short, but going right will take you to the same places. We bared a hard right after the last drop and headed out on what I think is now called the Ali-Ali loop and then cut left out towards Miramonte. I discovered today that taking the RIGHT trail at the far intersection for Miramonte (after the big set of steps/ledges) is a much better idea than taking the left trail. While the left scares me to the point of barely being able to walk on it because of the amount of exposure, the right is no more exposed than Pet-Y-Kes and has almost no obstacles. It's completely rideable, gently rolling, and a great way to get around to the Miramonte Canyon trail. Back down the canyon, up the hill at the end, and back across the ridge for the fun fly down the main trail to the beer, I mean car.

Even though the weather hasn't been spectacular this weekend, the rain has held off and led to some awesome rides. The goal for this year is to just have fun and not get mad every time I don't conquer everything. Living to ride another day is sometimes better than trying that ledge I'm not sure about yet.

The end of the 2009-2010 Ski Season

Well the end is near. Powderhorn closes next weekend and I've gotten in 21 days of glorious skiing--16 of them at our own little ski resort. I've added to my list of black runs skied at Powderhorn and other resorts:
Powderhorn: Racer's Edge, Showdown, Equalizer, Upper Snowcloud when bumped out, Bear Claw, Diversion, Wonderbump and Cow Camp. Snowmass: The Edge. This was a great accomplishment for me to ski a black run at a bigger ski resort because I felt like I was really accomplishing things. The Edge is a great, groomed black at the top of the High Alpine lift at Snowmass. It's wide open with only 2 fairly steep walls but it gives you a super long run if you ski from the top of the High Alpine all the way back to the Alpine Springs lift via "The Naked Lady" run.

Saturday we headed up to the 'horn for 1 last day of skiing together. There were 11 inches of new powder and there was a gorgeous bluebird sky overhead. Here are some shots of us on Diversion and Hooker (the BF on Hooker). What a great ski season!







Here we are headed up the West End lift for our final run. We'll be back next year though--better than ever!

2010 Bike Season Begins!

It's official: The 2010 bike season has begun! I took Ellie the Rocky Mountain Element with many many custom features from the BF out today for a ride on Rustler's Loop in Loma, CO. I like Rustler's for my first ride of the season because it's not too long or too tough. I can warm up my legs, my saddle, my bike brain...on a nice 45 minute loop with great views of the Colorado River. Today I even had a great view of a cow as i passed him on the trail...and plenty of views of cow crap! It's cool though, I like the free-range cows, so I'll deal with dodging patties on the trail.

Along with the first ride came the first bruise and it is going to be a doozy! Rustler's has 4 sets of ledges about 1/2 way around...the first ledge is literally beside the sign telling you how to ride ledges. I've made it up that ledge several times and I've biffed on it several times. Today was a biff day. My bike tire slid out from under me when i started up and I landed on my hip. Ouch. The funny thing is, I sat up, and just sat there for a minute staring at the landscape around me and wondering if I should try this ledge again or keep going. I just sat there. Finally I got up, looked at the line I should have taken, walked back down the trail and tried again. I would have made it, but I chickened out and just stopped pedaling about half way up. That's the thing about biking...there's always something to work on, something to get better at...you can't ever be perfect at it and if you are, it's because you're just riding down the frontage road.

Skiing Season

Well it's been a while since my last post, but that's mostly because I've been tearing up the ski slopes.  I'm at Day 19 and I've got 20 as a goal, so I'll reach it this weekend!  Here are some photos from the last couple of months... 

this first one is from the "Long Shot" run at Snowmass. 

The second one is a nicely groomed "Racer's Edge" at our own Powderhorn Resort.  They were testing a new snowcat!

Here's another 

Powderhorn shot from right where Diversion/Lower Snowcloud and Hooker and Hooligan are over on the West End.

This is, I think, Pyramid Peak...from the top of the Elk Camp Lift at Snowmass.

The next one of me skiing is a black groomed run at Snowmass-"The Edge" up on the High Alpine Lift.The last one is the view from the Big Burn lift at Snowmass.

Moab Winter/Sun 10K

I may look like crap in this picture, but at least it was for a good reason!  December 5, 2009, I ran my first 10K (6.2 miles).  Never in my life did I think I'd run...especially not 6 miles...but I did, and here's how I did it.

My buddy Lynn (with the peace sign/bunny ears going on) said to me back in October, "Hey Julie!  I'm going to run this 10K in Moab in December...do it with me!"  I thought to myself, "well self...you've been saying you were going to give running a try...this will give you a reason."

So up I signed.  I invested in a good pair of running shoes after 2 runs in old Merrell hiking shoes.  Adidas Supernovas worked for my big feet with a tendency for blisters.  Fortunately I was already in pretty good shape.  I bike, I backpack, I ski...so my legs were strong and my lungs could hold air.  It doesn't matter though, because nothing can prepare you for running.  It's unlike any experience unlike any other exercise.  Before you know it you're gasping for breath and your legs will barely pick themselves off the sidewalk.

That's when you realize, "OH.  I have to focus on my breathing."  That's what I did anyway.  I ran my two miles.  I focused on a breathing rhythm, which also helped me to even out my pace.  I ran 3 miles.  I did the same thing--focused on breathing, focused on pace.  I ran a 5K with Lynn for a great program, Girls on the Run.  I finished it in 37 minutes and I was pleased with that!  It certainly wasn't fast, but I did it!  I'd never raced before.  

I love the feeling of teamwork and how everyone is relaxed (at least at the back of the pack) and joking.  I love starting out and the excitement that goes with it.  Yelling, "Less than 3.1 miles to go!" after 5 steps, or "Less than 6.2 miles to go!"  I kept training, even sometimes on the DREADmill when it was cold or dark...

Then came the big test.  The 6 mile predictor race with the Mesa Striders.  6 miles...I'd only done that once before...on a treadmill.  What if everyone passed me?  What if I was dead last?  What if I got lost on the course out in Orchard Mesa?  Those of us predicting more than 60 minute times lined up 10 minutes early and started off down B 1/2 Road.  Lynn was ahead of me but I kept my steady pace and just ran.  The first 2 miles are always the worst.  I think of all the reasons this is ridiculous.  All the reasons I should just stop.  And then the two miles are over and I'm zoned out and following a small group of people.  Then i hear it:  thump thump thump!  The fast guys come flying past me!  5 1/2 minute mile paces!  Foomp foomp foomp...and they're gone.  "Good job!" they yell.  "Nice going!  Keep it up!"  They're so encouraging to those of us who are just getting started.

In the end I wasn't last in that race.  6 miles in 72 minutes.  I ran for 72 minutes.  

Finally the big Saturday arrived.  The race we'd been training for was in sight.  It was cold and cloudy and I debated between wearing long underwear or leaving them behind...I opted to leave them behind and instead covered up everything else!  Gloves, hat, windbreaker...we got to the start and Dan took our pictures all pumped up and ready for the race!  Lynn and I lined up well behind the 9:00/mile marker, leaving room for even those 10 minute/mile people ahead of me! The countdown began..."Four, three, two, one, GO!"  A wave of people swept down the hill from the Moab Golf Course.  Back in my  neck of the woods we joked that this slow jog heading out was perfect!  Soon though everyone was absorbed in their own thoughts, routines and pacing...down the hill, around the corner, down another hill, 1 mile down!  

"Only 5 to go?  I got this licked!"  Two miles down!  YES!  "What the F is that?  A Hill?  An UPHILL?"  I'll admit I made it halfway up running and then I walked.  Everyone as far as i could see was walking it.  I picked up the pace again at the top and made it to mile 3 in 34 minutes...just as Marty Wacker was finishing the race.  Fast bastard.  No seriously, he's super fast and he deserves to win!  He's super nice too!

When I finally made it to the finish line I was SO happy.  I ran and I ran and I ran.  I made it in 70 minutes and 40 seconds...almost 10 minutes behind Lynn who ran her best time ever too!

Running.  Who'd have ever thought it?  It hurts, but the feeling of accomplishment it so great...almost as great as conquering an obstacle on a mountain bike.