i spent most of the morning cleaning and working on my bike. it has been a very dirty week, full of snow, mud, and heavy last minute chain lubes. note: it is very bad practice to apply lube to a dirty chain, it's kind of like painting a dirty surface. the lube needs to stick to the chain surface, not the dirt chunks. when you are lazy, or can't spare the time to do it right; applying lube to a dirty chain is better than nothing. my bike was so dirty. every part was caked in road grime from the hubs to the break levers.
i just bought this bio-degreaserthat works great for cleaning bike parts. it also makes everything smell like citrus including my clothes and hands. i really love cleaning my bike with this stuff. all the greasy dirty grim that was keeping my chain from moving freely just falls off. after applying this stuff i have to spray my bike with water to wash off the excess. when i'm done, my bike is clean and shiny. i highly recommend this stuff. my bike was so nice afterward. there are very few things in life more pleasing than a clean bike! i am serious, it makes me so happy to see my bike clean. after cleaning my bike i usually put it up on the stand, and walk around it several times admiring it from all directions. i guess i might be a little demented, if this ranks on my list of favorite things :)
while i was working on my bike, i decided to removed those super heavy studded tires. just so you know, one tire almost weighed as much as the whole front wheel and normal tire. also there is so much rubber on these tires that my room where i keep the tires smells like a tire shop.
as you can guess i was pretty excited to go out for a ride. i actually had other things to do today, but i was able to justify not doing them [i am very good at that]. so i packed a lunch, some supplies, and a credit card, and i was off. i wanted to head down to a place called hall ranch down in lyons. the ride down there is about 25 miles of road just to the hall ranch trail head. the trail itself is about 10 miles of serious mountain biking. i was thinking about doing just the first part of the trail, because i thought the whole trail may be too difficult, for me and my old bianchi. i would play it by ear, in any case.
i started out from my house and i tried to use the farmers trail in back of my house. i got about 100 yards into the trail and everything quickly turned into sticky-grassy-clay-mud. the mud infiltrated every part of my clean happy bike. in fact the mud was so thick and sticky, that it got jambed up behind the breaks, and actually stopped the wheel from turning. so, like any normal person, i stopped trying to go that way, and walked the bike out the same way i came. i was able to pick out most of the mud that was stopping the wheel from spinning, so i could ride again. i got out of the trail and decided to take the highway out to lyons, [this was going to be about 25 miles]. by the way, my clean bike was only clean for about 5 minutes. i apologized to my bike, because i think he was slightly irritated at me for trying to go that way.
before i started out on the highway, i plugged in my ipod and set it to my gomez collection, and started south. i usually don't use music when i go on my adventures, but i had a new gomez album that i hadn't had time to listen to yet, and it was going to be better than listening to cars zooming by. it was an absolutely beautiful fall day. i took so many pictures, including this one of some sun flowers.
when sun flowers are in this stage of their life they give off a little sense of sadness. as i stopped to take this picture, i kind of felt a little like i was looking at a grave yard, or ghost town, or something that was once full of life, and now all life is gone. it was kind of sad yet beautiful at the same time. i can't really explain it, but i guess it's just part of life. i thought it was still just a beautiful thing to see, with all the classic fall colors and the contrasting pale blue sky. i hope my picture give it justice :).
as i was getting closer to lyons, i just couldn't help but stop to enjoy the scenes along the way. it's funny, i've been riding my bikes for years. i really enjoy certain times of the year, but never really talk about the stuff i see and why riding makes me happy. however, since i started my ex-cyclist lifestyle [yes, it's not just a blog], i am able to stop during my rides, and soak in everything around me... good and bad. in the pre-ex-cyclist days, it was all about time and not stopping.
here is another one of the many pictures that i took on this trip:
pretty nice i think. at first i didn't like the power lines in front of the mountains, but then they started to grow on me. we live in a civilization, and power is what keeps us comfortable, it takes power to make the bike and camera that i ride. anyway, think it's a pretty picture. once again, it's just part of life.
when i got to the trail head, there were not too many people there. it looks like the trail wasn't completely dry, and a lot of smart/considerate people decided to not go out and damage the trail today, or else they were out this morning. in any case, i didn't want to do too much damage myself, so i decided that i would just go out and make the call when the trail got too muddy. i unplugged my ear buds and got ready. i actually got pretty far, before i started to feel badly. i did get a few confused looks from people, but it was mostly because i was riding a road bike on this trail. i actually heard one lady tell her partner.."did you see that guy on a road bike?"most of the mountain bikers that were out today, were pretty lame anyway. only one guy out of twelve actually gave me the right of way when i was going up hill. that is really unacceptable. i am going to start posting signs, or something to explain trail etiquette.
i took a few pictures while on the trail of things that i thought were pretty cool. there was still a bit of snow still on the ground, but mostly in the shady areas. the trail itself was not really covered with snow, but the melted snow was starting to make everything pretty muddy. at first it was just a few small spots, then it became small sections, then it became large sections. before this point, i was doing a pretty good job handling the trail in general. this is a very challenging mountain bike trail even without mud. i can clean it on my mountain bike, but it's usually a good day when that happens. me and my single speed mountain bike have a much harder time cleaning this trail.... but we can do it. so with this bianchi... we could do quite a bit, but still there were sections that i had to put a foot down [completely do able], and there were sections that i didn't want to do, because it may cause too much stress on my rims. then there were sections that my bike geometry just wouldn't allow. these sections were big step-like areas that would catch my chain guard and make an awful sound. on the way down these step-like areas, it just wasn't possible to keep the bike from flipping over. i never flipped it, bat came close a couple of times. all in all i was still pretty impressed with my bianchi.
a pretty cool thing happened on the way back to the trail head. i actually ran into a rattle snake! it is so weird to see a snake this time of year. it must have been hibernating, and some how got disturbed and was out soaking up the sun, trying to get some more energy for rehibernation [caution, made up word][another caution, i know nothing about snakes]. it was crossing the trail, and there was a lady stopping people on the trail so they wouldn't run over it. it was really huge [greater than 3 feet] and greenish color. after the initial shock and wonderment, i finally had the wear-with-all to get my stupid camera out and take a picture of it. unfortunately it had already made it way over to the bushes by the time i had it in the field of view. because of my lame picture, you can't tell how big it actually is. i didn't want to put my hand next to it for comparison purposes. so you'll just have to take my word for it. i hope he gets back to sleep in time :) in the mean time, for the rest of us.... keep your eyes open. you never know when you'll run into a rattle snake.
yes these pictures were taken on the same ride, on the same day. even when i look at this post, it doesn't look like the same ride to me. this trail has a lot of open desert like areas, and some wooded areas. it is probably one of the best trails in boulder county.i made it back to the trail head, even though i was out of water. i had a 32oz nalgine bottle when i started, but that wasn't enough. i didn't want to eat any of my food, because i thought it was going to be difficult to eat with out watter. besides i wasn't too hungry yet. i wasn't suffering too much since the ride was mostly downhill, and i wasn't working too hard at this point.
after safely getting to the trail head, i headed back down to lyons. btw, the picture at the top of this post is from a bike trail that runs through lyons [i put it at the top of the post because i thought it was the prettiest picture i had]. the bike trail in the picture, is mostly gravel, and meanders along the river. it's a pretty nice ride. there are houses along the trail and a few people were out walking their dogs. the trail was very pretty and flat... it was a very nice section of my ride.
out in the river someone made these rock structures, which were not really neat or anything, but they were unquestionably attention getter's. if you are not paying attention, they kind of look like sculptures of people, especially the big one in the center.
i stopped at a gas station in lyons to get something to drink and i actually founds some great bargains. they had power aid on sale two for two dollars. i know that any supermarket in the city, will have a much better deal, even with their regular prices, but for a gas station in a small mountain town... 2 for 2 was a great deal. oh! and i also bought two king sized almond snickers. just in case you haven't tried the almond snickers, they are the best candy bar ever. oops, did i just call it a "candy bar"? i meant, energy bar! i've kind of gotten into a habit of buying one at the end of my adventures, so i was over joyed when i found them one sale, for 2 for 2. good thing i had my panniers, because this would have been difficult to carry with just my jersey pockets.
so i packed up my food and drinks, fired up my ipod, and started heading back home. it''s been a long day and i really wasn't too excited about the long highway ride back home. i had a big shoulder to ride on, so i sat up reached into my panniers and started eating my food i had packed. it was really cool. i just just reach back pull out my burrito and start eating it while i ride. most cyclist will snack on an energy bar or energy goo while they are riding.... an ex-cyclist will snack on a burrito and chips, while he's riding :). i was pretty proud of myself for a while. shortly after i finished my burrito... i developed a really bad side ache :(. it didn't last long, but it made for a pretty uncomfortable few miles.
after the pain went away i was heading back home on the highway, i was still about 8 mile from home when i noticed these stupid birds flying over those dead sunflowers. there were so many of them, and they were flying in this really cool helix formation, it looked so neat, that i stopped to take a picture. right when i got my camera out, they all landed... and there was no picture to take. i waited for a few minutes, but they never flew in formation again. i did take a picture of some of the birds taking off... but it doesn't look impressive [i will send it to you if you ask].
as i was putting away my camera, a super hero flew by on his lightweight, carbon "bike". i tried to not think about it, but couldn't help to get that old feeling that i had to show him... i guess i am kind of like a dog and a stick. i can be all calm and normal, but if you show me a stick my ears will perk up and i suddenly nothing else will matter. i wasn't going to chase him, but he wasn't getting too far away, and with every hill i was getting closer and closer. i ended up chasing him for quite a while. i would get really close on each hill but i would loose distance with the flats and downhills. this went on for about 5 mile until i finally caught him. i really didn't want to catch him, because if you catch someone you either have to pass them, or make friends and ride along side them. it was really awkward, i didn't want to make friends, nor did i want to pass him, because i would have to stay infront of him. frankly i was already on the edge, and couldn't wait to stop. i decided to pass him, but right after i passed him he turned off another direction. it took everything out of me just to catch him. my legs are so sore right now. i'll bet tomorrow, they are even worse. but i beat him!!! [i really have to stop competing].
after he turned off i could rest... and rest i did. i just idled back home.
it was such an awesome day. here is my final picture:
feel free to use it as you desktop :)
ride stats: 50 miles of road. 8 miles of dirt rock and mud. 4-5 hours.
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