:: Weekend warrior ::

Been a busy weekend, Erin is in Vegas till tomorrow, checking out what is new in the Eyewear industry, and I was home. Thought I would be able to get on the bike a lot, but plans changed late in the week.
My office is moving and we were expecting snow this weekend... great. We were asked to come in on the weekend and get the move done. I was in the office till about 3:30, and decided to attempt a ride up Meadow mountain. From the parking lot it started to drizzle, but I thought nothing of it. Made the sloppy 5 mile climb and decided to take it easy and forgo the single track, and just flipped it back down to the truck. Good thing, it was FREEZING coming down, numb fingers and toes and covered in cold mud, not very enjoyable. The single track would have been fun, but slippery roots and rocks with numb fingers didn't seem too great to me.

Today I woke up to no snow so I headed out to Eagle... It was AWESOME. About 55 degrees and mostly sunny. It was really dry in eagle, makes me wish I headed there Saturday instead of the Meadow mountain mud feast I chose. Here are some picts from this weekends rides. Eagle had some great views of all the fall foliage. Only about a month left of local rides, the snow might not be here, but the cold dark afternoons tend to lead to shorter rides.

Oh, my new Spot single speed is great.
Also, check me out (colorado sighting) I'm famous, haha, thanks Barry.

:: Fall Fruit(a) ::

Heading to Fruita Colorado tomorrow at the butt-crack of dawn. My friends from Denver headed up last night and have the camp site secure. I will hopefully get there around 9 in the morning, just in time to join them for the first ride of the day.

Fruita is a mountain biking mecca. Super nice single track, not really a lot of sustained climbing so you can get in a lot of miles without killing yourself. It is also possible to do multiple days and not be spent from the day before, although Advil and a couple beers definetly cure the pain, and saddle soreness.

Here is great link to see the awesomeness of fruita. Here is a video too.

Well on further bike news, I cracked my Niner frame last week and have a new "tang" (warranty) frame all ready for the trip. I have a couple rides in already on the new frame and it seems to work well, real well actually. Here is a shot of the new color... cool right.

As well as the new Niner, I might be getting my Spot Bike as well. maybe. I would love to have the single speed for fruita, it would be great. If I havent mentioned it before, Spot single speeds use a carbon belt instead of a chain. check it out here and here.

Well I will try to post some shot when I get back, I am excited to see the guys, but I am NOT a good camper, but I make due. It all stems from bad boy scout experiences, I don't know.

:: talk to you all soon ::

:: Nice weather, Long rides, Great music ::

Had a long 40 mile ride saturday, from home to Lost Lake Loop, Buffer Creek, to Vail Village. Lost Lake isn't my favorite ride, but wanted the miles so I put up with the rocks, the views and weather were worth the pain. Hit up Oktober Fest (some of you got the text messages, i sent) for some brats and beers.


Sunday Erin and I headed down to denver to see my ultimate favorite band. Hot Water Music... awesome. Drove down for the day. (Those Oktoberfest beers weren't treating me well, thanks Erin for putting up with me, I think the chinese actually helped?) We headed back up the hill after the show, getting home at 1:30a.m. so I'm pretty tired, but a great weekend regardless.

:: bye ::

:: Fall is here ::

Hey all. Sorry it has been so long. Erin and I have almost completed our wedding tour of the summer. With a final trip out to Chicago via Michigan for some family time for Erin. We flew into Detroit from Vail to see our God-Child and the rest of the Schneider and Mckeown families. We hung out for a day, and packed up the Yukon for the road trip to Chicago. Chicago is always fun, I think it is my favorite city, just so midwest. We made the trip with Erin's parents that were invited to the wedding as well. Stayed at the Talbot hotel, walked around downtown, shopped (I love Penguin clothing now), drank, ate, all good things. It was hot, real hot, maybe that is one thing I don't like about Chicago, that Midwest humidity. ouch.

It was a great weekend and seeing family always makes it hard to leave. Erin and I alway wonder if we should move back to be closer to family... it's hard living so far. We miss you all.

Back in beautiful "humid-less" Colorado, and the weather is just amazing. Fall is coming in quick, it's sweater and jeans weather after 6p.m. Been on some amazing rides after work, the sunsets have been breathtaking. That brings me back to the moving back to the east to be with family... it would be hard to move from such an amazing place. We live in a place where people come for vacation. Some people will never get to see the sunsets I see or ride the trails I ride. That is amazing to me. I absolutely love living here. So a request to all family... move here, retire here, come enjoy this with us... Please.

:: Much love to all, and make plans to visit soon ::

:: One gear is all you need! ::

I think i'm addicted. I finally sucked it up and raced the final local race at Beaver Creek on my Single Speed 29er. IT WAS AWESOME Very painful, physically and mentally, I have never wanted to quit a race after lap one as I did last night. The first lap was just hard, I had nothing, all the espresso and gels and blocks I took just didn't help me on the first lap. But coming through the start/finish to begin lap two I felt way better, and attacked the first climb of the second lap. I noticed on my watch that I was through lap one at around 35 minutes which wasn't bad for the 5.6 mile loop with 1378 feet elevation gain. Even the early rain at pre-start proved to help me out a bit, a lot of the other riders with geared bikes were having shifting issues due to all the mud gunking up their drivetrain. So I had that goingfor me which was nice.

I knew I was dead last in my category, but this was personal, I wanted to finish riding the entire course. I did! and I am very happy. Throughout the race I thought I was 20 minutes behind, but I finished less than 4 minutes off the back and only 10 off the winner. I consider that a success.

My friends did well again in their prospective classes, BillyBarry finished third in expert, and John took fifth in sport... Animals.


The after party was fun, free beer and tacos at Coyote. Prizes were handed out to series point leaders, bike frames were raffled, it was a good time.

All results here.
All pictures here.

The race season is pretty much over for me. I might do a Mountain State Cup race for the hell of it. Other than that I am looking forward to the fall and some Fruita and Moab riding for sure. I am also thinking about some Cyclocross racing!!!! The CultCross series is a local one held in Eagle, pretty cool. Which also means... NEW BIKE! NEW BIKE! hehehe hahaha.

:: See Spot Bikes ::

If there would ever be a team that was created for me I must say it is Spot Bikes they are out of Golden Colorado, making some Kick ass 29er bikes. Their single speed is super sweet using a carbon belt instead of a chain (pushing the industry, that's what I like to see). Personally I absolutely love the longboard 9, a geared bike but set up 1x9.

I have been chatting with (and probably driving this guy crazy) Gavin, and he was cool enough to make a sweet offer to me to be on their team. I was STOKED! I told him I would be an awesome advertisement for him, a lot of guys ask what I ride (being 6'4 and 230 lbs.) and my opinion means something I think, If I ride it and don't break it, it is Quality. Now by "team" I don't mean pro racer guy, I would still do the local Vail series, a long with other stuff I already do, But I would be sporting their brand. You dig? I will have to pay for this equipment, there in lies the rub, I need some cash. But serieously It would be very cool and I would be way excited to be on this team,

Well hopefully I can sell one or two of my present bikes and procure the funds to get a sweet Spot bike, we shall see.

Oh, to add to the greatness of this team, their major sponsor is Dales Pale ale (Oskar brewing) my favorite beer! Old Chub!! come on you freakin kidding me!
Here is there bike team blog, I visit daily.



Anyway, that is what is up with me

:: Peace out! ::

:: blokt at it ::

Blokt has updated his site with some great work, check it out.

nice work Brotherman