The Mongolia Chronicles

There Goes My Hero...watch him as he goes

Dunno. Nothing has prepared me for the Little Man coming of age. I rode my first singletrack at the ripe old age of like 23. Dude is 5. Ripping it. Rolling it. Feeling it. Stubboarn and all that on his RIGID FUCKING SINGLESPEED. Core, to the core. Lord knows...where he will go and what he will do. Be it said, that if my regional jet to Utah goes down tomorrow, I will feel complete. Sated. Even, stoked. I got this far, and that's a miracle. God bles syou Q-Dog. And your stubborn nature and energy and lust for life. May it ever be thus.

More Stress in The Yard.....

Yes. Spring is a drug. Life is a drug. Colorado is a drug. The high country - is a drug. But our 'yard', all 80,000 acres are THE drug of choice. Bug collecting in the evening. Nice yard, Kid.

Equity

We have investments. In the fake - not worth anything - sense of the word. Like - fucking - money. Then we have 6 years of hiking and crawling and digging with the kid...and then one nite...he says..."I can find the trail, Dad"...and he does. An obtuse trail. A hard to see and barely there trail, and ONE asks ONESELF....this is the highlight of my life watching this kid find trails that I crafted while dreaming up his existence over the last 2 decades...and he just walks out the door and can follow this contorted stuff like nothing I have ever seen. Does he have a gift? Will he take this network to places we can't even imagine? I think so. I believe so. Brings some depth to all that tine in the woods. Some affirmation that a kid growing up with woods every day gets some of it in his veins. Like the pine needles in his little carrier thing when he was 11 days old and first smelled these woods and felt these woods. Hopefully they are in him for life, as I know nothing more rewarding than an intimacy with the forest.

Tacky. Silent. Perfect.

The Fog Brings Clarity. Now it's about priorities

Great day in the woods. That may be all I have to say. Today. If you can have a great day in the woods, the rest just kinda works out. Yes, it does.

Dark. Green. Teeth.

Putting the M into MANKY since 1990. Rain at the house. Snow at the top of wherever that was I rode. Back into rain. Then dry. Rolled some bizarre and HISTORICAL - um - things. Perked the imagination regarding the 100 year travel management plan and the viability of connecting EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. 2 days of rain and snow. It is time to go deep, on foot and make some progress.

Back and Forth

If the up is so fun. The down - might even be that much funner. More fun? Funnest. I bleed every time I do this 'ride'. I spent some quality time in this zone last year just trying to figure stuff out. Bled some more. Figured some stuff out. I was pleased that between the 2k of woods descending and the blank canvas I was able to come out of the forest within 10 feet of the rope swing I was aiming for. 

Thought this morning that it gets harder and harder to get in a car, anytime, as it gets nicer and nicer out. Hell, I have trouble in January. Forget it in May. Or June. Or whenever. Life is too short to drive. Simply put.

Garden. Wicked Garden.

We sauntered away from the flatlands at 3pm in the afternoon on a fine, sunny, early Spring day. Things being as they are, we seem to be riding a bunch, why not bite off 4,000+ vertical and almost 4 hours of - climbing? I mean - logic would have it that we would want to ride our bikes DOWN. People have DOWNHILL bikes - they do not have UPHILL bikes. We rode uphill. It was good and grand. Long, for this time of year, but a lovely BASE BUILDING ride, since I am training for, well, nothing at all. Other than being able to ride more. So, if I ride more, I should be able to - um - ride more. Right?

We were too fat and slow to get to The Shed (http://www.facebook.com/TinShedSports) to enjoy some Mirror Pond or Modus. so we sashayed over to Wild Mountain for some Wee Willy's and some fine food. Made it home almost before dark, and was asleep approximately 12 seconds later. Deep recon in The Acres this morning, but I can't really talk about that here.

Real Time in Real Woods

We peaked out @ 10,200 feet yesterday. Last year we tried this ride on May 18th and we got turned back @ 9400 feet by woods filled with 6 - 8 feet of solid snow. A dusting last nite to pave the way for tomorrow's EPIC (planning on riding 3-8 with the man whose name is a verb). Weekday epics. Nice and slow. The 3,100 feet of climbing yesterday felt like twice that, mainly due to the baby head chunnel of love that we ascended for nearly 90 minutes. A lovely day in the remote woods. The blowdown up high from the wind event in November is not to be under-estimated. I think we carried over 30+ trees. May. Deep breathe. May.

Tolle Rode Triple

I am really falling in love with this trail. Sometimes, you never know. Trails 'take', and get into you. Or they don't. Some you ride just 'cuz they are there. Some you ride 'cuz they connect this and that. Some, you go out of your way - way out - to create magic. This trail is starting to ride like Blue Dot rode 15 years ago. Still super tech. Tight. Swoopy sections. Rode it 3 times today. Just because. I find, riding something in both directions, multiple times on the same day, can really give a unique perspective on terrain. And possible connections. Finished off with a beer (ok - 2) at The Tin Shed, in Ned. Tin Shed sports and Salto Coffee works. Hit 'em up. Ned has a new adventure nerve center, and it is the Shed. Congrats to The Luschers, and how  lucky are we to have a place like that, and a family like them, right smack in the middle of town. Our town.