Does it still count as #followcamfriday if I am not following anyone? Bucking the trend on Kong

I have been seeing a bunch of quality content coming out of the Virgin \ Hurricane area in the last few weeks. Desert season is rapidly approaching for Pete and I, and Southern Utah is definitely due for a visit. I shot this in 2019, you know, back when things were "normal". Interesting fact, if you are riding by yourself, you can't fall victim to Covid. I guess I was social distancing before it was trending.  Always stay ahead of the curve friends. 

It was well below freezing when I started this ride. After parking the van at the top the night before, dropping into Flying Monkey was more than enough to get the juices flowing. The three shots of espresso also may have had something to do with that. Just me, my trail bike, and my autonomous drone. What else does a man need nowadays... You can capture footy for the boys without any boys. So many cameras to charge. 

Kong is no joke and definitely warrants a proper DH rig and full face helmet. On my next trip, I will bring both of those things, but as they say in racing.... run what you brung. What could go wrong? Trail bikes are pretty darn capable if you ask me.  It should also be noted that racers win races, not cars. And, on the plus side,  if I knock myself out, my drone will at least capture the unpleasantness. Maybe it will go for help. Maybe the footage of my demise will be recovered many years from now, when someone finds my drone laying in a canyon, memory card intact. 

All of the riding shots in this blog are courtesy of Tito Tomasi. We rode this together a couple of weeks prior to filming this edit. Tito travels the globe to ride as many places as possible and documents the journey along the way. We first met at the Andes Pacifico in Chile, and have been friends ever since. You can check out his YouTube channel HERE if you are looking for some inspiration. Tito crushes. 

Legend has it that Josh Bender build this masterpiece. I have not seen Josh in years, but he did live nextdoor to me for a summer, many years ago. True story. I happened to break my ankle that summer and he came by to check on me each and every day and succeeded in putting a smile on my face every time. Cheers brother, love your work. 

There is a reasonably large winter storm coming in this weekend. I may just ski a day or two at Wolf Creek, because that is what you do when you live in Colorado and southwest flow starts turning on. After that, the digging will be prime in Southern Utah. The question is..... Can I fit all of my ski gear, 2 bikes, shovels, and still have room for Pete in my van? Only time will tell. Van Jenga commence. 

#followcamfriday bringing a canon to the knife fight with Noah Sears in Granby, Colorado

There is a current trend that the bicycle industry seems to be getting behind. Riding bikes with an insufficient amount of travel is now cool again, according to the Pinkbike audience anyway..... Yes, mountain bikes are amazingly good right now, and you can probably ride your 110 bike down the Whistler Bike Park, but.... Do you really want to do that? Really?

If I am being honest, we were a tad overbiked for this one. It isn't as much of a travel thing in my mind, but more of a geometry situation. Slack bikes suck to turn in the flats. There, I said it. If feels like parking my van in the "compact car" spot. It will fit, but it isn't going to feel very good...  I am less concerned with the climbing efficiency, and even less concerned with weight. But I will say that a 68° head angle just feels so much snappier while dodging aspen trees on flatter grades. All of this said, I am certainly not complaining, I will ride any bike, anywhere, and have a smile on my face. Damn these flat trails!!!! lol

I am a man who doesn't mind pushing a bit of extra weight on the climbs. It just makes you stronger in my opinion at the end of the day. Unless you are entering an XC race, there is no real reason to have a 21 pound race machine. They just aren't that fun to ride. It should also be noted that riding XC tires and wheels is a recipe for disaster if fun is your focus. But that said, a 64° enduro bike feels a bit "poochy" on the flatter bits. What is a man to do? We are so spoiled right now. These are not real problems, just bike nerd thoughts that enter my brain at times. It is a good thing for me that Noah was not on his XC bike, because he would have torn my legs off. Hurt locker situation. 

Noah and I filmed this a while back, before the Colorado wildfire situation had escalated. Grand County is taking it hard currently. Despite recent snows, the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires are continuing to burn. If you are interested in donating to fire relief in Grand County, GO HERE. Several hundred buildings and residences have been destroyed, with many being displaced and evacuated.  A HUGE thanks to the people fighting to keep our public lands from burning. 

Fall was short-lived this year. We are now in that holding pattern that I like to call "drinking season" . As if I needed an excuse. Drinking Season sets in when snow closes the high country to riding, but doesn't produce enough white stuff to actually go skiing. With no major storms headed our way in the foreseeable future, the current foot in the alpine will be the snowpacks first and most stubborn weak layer. It always is. But that is a different story for another time. I am headed to the desert. Drinking Season.

#followcamfriday riding Herman Gulch with Jank Master James. 

Definition of Jank- Awkward, lacking flow, nonsensical trail construction, almost unrideable, not intended to be ridden smoothly on a bicycle. Jank. Trying to make sense of ridiculously eroded, and over-used hiking trails is an art. Live for it!

Of course, this trail is a 100 year old hiking route and was never intended to be ridden on a bicycle. That said, I have ridden a trail or two in my day, and this one has to be the most abused, and best examples of over-use, and lack of maintenance in the state. Maybe that is why I love it so much. It's close proximity to I70 has left this as the easiest option for hikers to get into the "forest".  Covid had exacerbated this trend. 

It is worth noting that as of October 21st, this trail and the entire Arapahoe and Roosevelt National forests are closed to prevent the further spread of wildfire.  Humans can't be trusted unfortunately and are banned from the woods. Basically, the entire Front Range is closed currently, so you are going to have to wait till the spring to give this one a go. Props to the people fighting the fires in our state and protecting the land. Please check into the local restrictions if you intend to ride anywhere in the state right now. Interesting times, to say the least. 

I prefer to ride this one from Jones Pass, but there was a closure in place on the CDT at the top of the divide due to the Williams Fork fire. So many fires.... We did this as an out-and-back, and it was still worth the effort to unlock the jank. Herman Gulch is basically a pile of anacondas with some gravel and rock mixed in. My happy place.

James is always keen for an adventure and keeps his hydration levels in check. Especially before stacking it to flat. Hydration is never more important. Herman Lake is likely very cold in the background. I do not recommend that you put your body into it. It does however make for a tranquil moment amongst the rocks.

You will notice that the aspens in this picture are devoid of leaves. This is due in part to the high winds the state has been experiencing for the last 2 weeks (also the reason the fires are spreading rampantly), but mostly due to the fact that winter is just around the corner. Colorado is setting up for a reasonable winter storm this weekend and I would be surprised if the alpine is rideable again this year. And so the cycle goes. Make the most of it friends. I am stoked to ski. 

#followcamfriday riding Suicide in So Cal with my homies from Worldwide Cyclery.

Strange as it sounds, this was my first time anywhere near Southern California. The crew over at Worldwide Cyclery was stoked to show me one of the local classics, Suicide. 

Just a touch of smoke and pollution make for epic sunsets. Health levels aside, this was one to remember. Jeff Cayley, owner of Worldwide, grew up around here, pushing his DH rig up this track to bang out laps. Now we have bicycles that pedal to the top and ride down faster than an a proper Dh rig from 10 years ago ever could. My how times have changed.  

Jeff and Jared enjoy tequila as much as I do.
​You can check out a podcast that we recorded while I was at the shop HERE

I also recorded a video for the Worldwide Youtube Channel in which we talk tech and, wait for it.... Drink tequila. Would you expect anything less? Watch the video HERE

I will have to come back and visit again when there is some moisture present in the ground. Most of the forest is also closed due to the wildfire situation, so another trip is definitely in order when things settle down a hair. 2020 par for the course. I'll be back!Perhaps if the global travel ban is still in order this winter, I will make some time to come here and train.

That afternoon light though.... Nothing better than running trains with the boys. 

This was my first trip out of Colorado since Covid. It was a bit strange, if I am being honest. I was self contained in my van, but still, things just felt different. Maybe this is just how LA always feels. It's probably less crowded now, thanks to Covid, but there is still an inordinate number of humans everywhere. I was passed by 100 Teslas while I was cruising at 80 in the middle lane. Complete culture shock, coming from small-town Colorado. 

That's good roost. 

#followcamfriday on segment 8.2 of the Colorado Trail with James Weingarten.

Fall happened amazingly fast in the high-country this year. It seemed as though the window of aspen color was shorter this season. The alpine still has a pleasant color to the ground, but it won't be long until these mountains are covered in snow. I am looking forward to some skiing in the coming months. It's not worth fighting the seasons. All you can do is make the most of what you have in front of you. 

I have always ridden Searle as and out and back, starting at Copper Mountain and climbing up to about 12,200, before sending it back down. The upper bit of alpine singletrack is nothing short of amazing, and well worth the 3000ft grunt to get up there. 

Janet's Cabin is hidden in the forest, as the trail rises above treeline. We stopped, searching for snacks, but the place was locked. This is a popular hut to rent in the winter, with skiing opportunities right out the door. It's way too nice to be just sitting up here locked in the middle of the woods. Very strange. 

The kinnickinnic was glowing in this particular section. Visually stunning, to say the least. Kinnickinnic. Say that ten times fast...

Somehow, James and I managed to each break a spoke within about 30 seconds of trail. No sooner had I wrapped mine around another one and carried on down the trail, than James immediately matched my effort, breaking one of his own. In all of my years of riding, I have never seen two spokes break on two different bikes in the course of 50ft of trail. Reasonably amazing.  I guess that is a testament to the terrain and how hard we are actually pushing these bikes. 

Bring back Slalom!

Just meadow-skipping along. The lower section of Searle is nuclear-fast with amazing sight lines. Hold on tight and jump over sharp things. Rules of the game. You will know when you do not adhere to the rules. 

Get out there this weekend! Our time in the alpine is limited. There is no time like the present. 

#followcamfriday fall color extravaganza continuing from Breckenridge, Colorado with James Weingarten. 

It seems as though every time I ride in Breck, I find myself in the alpine on Miners Creek or a section of the Colorado Trail, or Wheeler. That said, the town trails are amazingly fun in their own right. Throw in some peaking aspens, and it doesn't get much better actually. 

You will notice that James is wearing his down coat. Winter is rapidly approaching friends. Make the most of these crisp fall days. It won't be long before we are pursuing different sports in these mountains, and I am traveling to ride my bicycle. 

I am currently in Southern California, working on a project that will see the light of day in the coming weeks. It is well over 100 degrees in the shade. The contrast, going from this, to sweating my ass off is surreal. From down coats to the the beach in a couple of days. How strange. 

Found some jank. Choose your adventure wood situation on B Line. I took the skinny, James took the high line and we both rode the drop. Some sort of synchronized ballet shit. 

When people think about mountain biking in their dreams, I would imagine that this sort of scene is what they are looking for. Blasting through a tunnel of aspens on aptly named, "Aspen Alley". I wonder why they named it that.... This is as quintessential Colorado as you can get. I mean, would you just look at it. James loved this section so much that he needed to ride it on his back wheel. #backwheellove 

So grab yourself a PSL and get out there this weekend. The fall vibes are strong and these trails are not going to ride themselves. I am currently researching pumpkin Old-Fashioned recipes. Fall is in the air. 

#followcamfriday sprinting around with Noah Sears in Winter Park. Who knew that there were XC trails hiding in the woods near the bike park? #ionlyridepark

Wait a minute. So you are telling me that there is a perfectly good chairlift right over there, but we are going to pedal our enduro bikes around on flat XC trails in Winter Park. I feel like I don't even know you anymore, Noah Sears. All joking aside, I actually was unaware that there is a vast network of highly engaging, mostly jank, but very worthy "XC" trails located in close proximity to the chairlift. I learn something new, every day. 

The general rule of thumb is, if it looks like a meatball, it goes. Until it doesn't.... When you see a meatball, pull up and hope for the best. If you are a vegetarian, you might have to look extra hard to see the lines. Either way, this one left me hungry and desperately thirsty. I was in the mood for Italian. Later that night,  we ate pizza. 

Bonus points for wall-riding a meatball. This trail reminded me of playing Hungry Hungry Hippos as a child. A small reward, every couple of feet, on trail. Be careful not to miss any. The hippo needs to eat. Let the hippo eat. 

No jank XC trail is complete without some sketchy high-speed wooden features. This is par for the course. Too bad it wasn't raining, things may have gotten more scandalous. You can tell by the motion blur of the colorful aspens in this photo that we were not going at a low rate of speed. 

Jankzample number 2. This time we go slow. This time we survive the skinny. 1981 Canada, North Shore called, it wants its skinny back. If I am being honest, I actually have much love for the skinny. You can't not laugh while riding this beast. Amazing bit of trail history. Know your jank history.

This meatball is accessed via a jank plank that broke a bit as Noah bravely negotiated this technical section. This line is more dangerous than mentioning politics at the dinner table. That first plank seriously broke under Noah's amazing torque on the uphill. I was lucky to survive this one. 

I guess this will have to do. Hard on the eyes, the season they call, Autumn. Between the smoke in the air and the aspens peaking, this ride was pure fire. Get it? Always stunning, mother nature. Love your work. Now for some meatballs. 

#followcamfriday taking on what I would consider to be Sedona's most dangerous line with Lars Romig. 

Some things were never meant to be ridden on a bicycle. Cathedral Rock Trail definitely falls into that category. Although it is technically legal to ride, I certainly cannot recommend that you go and ride this one. Sedona has a great number of wonderful mountain bike trails to choose from. This is not on that list. 

Lars has been thinking about this one for many years and had ridden most of the sections, just never the crux. There is just something special about linking the entire "hard" part together in one go. The game of chess comes to mind. With one notable difference. It is relatively hard to die playing chess. 

Simon Bosman gets credit for the first descent of Cathedral in 2016.  His ride was so remarkable at the time that it ended up on the evening news. To our knowledge, no one has attempted the line since, and with good reason. It is highly dangerous. Lars is the second person to clean this beast of a line. To be clear, I still have one small section to ride before I can claim a clean on this bit. I rode the "crux", but couldn't quite get my head around a section at the top. I'll be back. 

The hard part, pictured here, is definitely a consequential maneuver. If you fall to the right, you will be taking a helicopter  ride, directly to the hospital. 

In order to pull this off, we got up at 5am and began our hike to the top. No, it is not rideable on the climb. Cathedral is one of the most popular hiking trails in Sedona and is normally riddled with tourists. This trail is absolutely impossible to ride with random people hiking all over it, so we got an early start and were rewarded for it. This short section of trail is a conga train for most of the day. Early bird gets the worm. 

The saddle of Cathedral has been in 1 million instagram posts and is basically the most cliche' shot in Arizona. People in today's society feel social validation from posting this sort of thing. It is almost a contest in these people's brains to post all of the iconic locations and make others feel jealous in the process. What a vain existence. Almost as bad as posting selfies every day. To be clear, we do this sort of thing for the challenge, and personal growth that comes from overcoming fear, not for the "summit shot" or to make our friends jealous on their cell phone. This is all about the mental challenge for us. Nothing more. 

Well, personal challenge, and the beautiful sunrise that we got to witness without hoards of Iphone wielding tourists, gawking about on the ridge. Just us, our bicycles, and the sunrise. What a way to start the day. The top of the saddle is definitely a special place and I definitely get the allure. I will say though that with 50 other people standing up there, it is hard to appreciate in the same way as standing up there alone. 

Pete looks nervous here. He can feel the energy. Pete is smarter than Lars and I, so he opted to stay in the Ranchero for this one. Be like Pete. Stay in your Ranchero. 

#followcamfriday speeder bikes through the aspen forest with James Weingarten. 

There is currently snow on this section of trail. The leaves are not quite turning yet. Hopefully the weight of the snow does not cause them to all fall off before they get to show their colors this year. Seasonal confusion is definitely setting in. I am never one to complain about the weather, but missing fall would be a bummer. There is just something about blasting through the golden aspens that does it for me. Call me crazy.

There is a chase scene in Star Wars when "speeder bikes" are being ridden at ridiculous speeds through the tight forest. Any time that I am traveling in excess of 30 mph through the aspens, this classic scene comes to mind. Now we just need electronic lazer shooters and lightsabers to go with our electronic drivetrains and seat posts. Technology is finally catching up to Star Wars. 

Green room in full effect. Just a couple more weeks and this will be blindingly yellow. I can only imagine how fast you could go if you actually knew this trail. The robust foliage keeps the speeds in check for the out of towners. 

It is advisable to come as close as possible to these posts in the trail. If you time things just right, as James did, you can actually air past each one, narrowly avoiding death in the process. Danger-man James is always keen to up the ante, and make an otherwise mediocre section of trail more dangerous than it should be. And that is why we love Mr. Weingarten. Legend. 

The aspen corridor on Game Creek rivals the tree sections on Doctor Park. The perfect pitch and amazing sight lines are conducive to speed. If you lay off the hooks for a few seconds, free speed is gained. You actually don't need a drivetrain for this one. My kind of trail. 2500ft down, 0ft climbed. 

Rumor has it that there is a new bike park near the bottom of this thing. Minturn just opened a brand new, public bike park in town. What a time to be alive. Maybe the snow will melt, the leaves will turn, and Fall will proceed as normal. It's not time to go skiing quite yet. 

#followcamfriday riding my favorite section of natural trail in Crested Butte with fellow Yeti Cycles athlete, Sarah Rawley

Between the amazingly dry trail conditions and the wildfires burning around the state, health levels are definitely diminishing. It turns out that riding for 6 or 7 hours in these conditions is suboptimal for my well-being. This ride was amazing, but it felt mostly like smoking a pack of darts. Health and vitality, yay. I am still coughing up dust from this one. It was worth it. 

Sarah Rawley works for RockShox in Colorado Springs. There is no better weekend getaway than a trip to CB to escape the city. This also happened to be her birthday weekend. Another trip around the sun. Another year wiser. Cake was eaten, wine was sipped upon, bikes were shredded. Perfect weekend. Minus the smoke. Sarah picked an ambitious ride, considering the conditions, but when your birthday occurs, you get to pick the route and sandbag everyone. Well played. 

As the saying goes, "if you ain't hiking, you ain't biking". I definitely cannot recommend that you climb Double Top to get to Waterfall. Truth be told, there is actually no easy way to get there. Perhaps that is why it this one is special somehow and stays so good. "Nothing worth doing is easy." Another appropriate saying that comes to mind when I think about riding Waterfall Creek. 

Soon enough this aspen forest will be glowing yellow. This is hands-down my favorite time to ride in Colorado. The temperatures cool, the tourists retreat, and the hills come alive with color. There is just something magical about the fall in CB. I always feel fortunate to be riding local when the trees are popping. This is mountain biking in its purest form to me, and what motivates me to ride the most. Stunning and humbling somehow. 

This was my first rip down Middle Cement Creek. Some recent trail work had this section running mint. Sarah fell down once, but after riding for 6 hours, that sort of thing starts to happen. 

Classic Crested Butte. Just another winding ribbon of singletrack, heading down-valley through the aspen forest. Trail Perfection. This is the stuff of dreams. We are very fortunate to have these experiences. Now, if it would just rain....