Guest Post: Colorado Downhill and Cross Country Trip, by Mark Tingwald

Wallride on the Valhalla Trail in Snowmass, Colorado

Last summer my brother and I took a trip to Snowmass, Colorado to ride at the ski resort and in the mountains around Aspen. The plan was to drive down to Los Angeles to pick up some friends, then road trip straight to the resort and get a hotel room for a week of riding and fun. I was excited to take on some more challenging, rocky terrain that we don't have here in the Bay Area and test out the new Rohloff hub the Cycle Monkey crew installed on my Felt Virtue Ltd. My plan was to ride the Felt at both the downhill-oriented bike park and on a longer cross country loop, and I was looking forward to seeing how it would perform on both.

Our trip started in Berkeley, where my brother and I loaded five bikes into my van. After getting the bikes packed we made the trek down to L.A. to pick up two more friends and four more bikes, and then went straight through to Snowmass.

Riding a drop on the Valhalla trail.

Phil's Point Reyes Fatbike Adventure

The sand dunes at the end of Limantour Spit provided plenty of panoramic views.

For the Thanksgiving weekend my family headed just north of San Francisco to Point Reyes National Seashore to do some hiking, explore the beach, and of course eat plenty of turkey among kin. Knowing that Point Reyes has mile upon mile of trails and coastline, I took my Pugsley with me to put it through its paces on a long beach ride. On Thanksgiving Day, after stuffing myself with stuffing and taking my requisite nap, I started scouring maps of the area to find the longest stretch of uninterrupted beach to ride without any cliffs blocking the way. I mapped out a decent 20-or-so mile ride and planned to set out the next day during the afternoon low tide.

This coastal fire road follows the coast south for a few miles.

Neil and Phil's Muddy Santa Cruz Trail Riding Trip

Neil at the Demo Forest trail map. 

This Thursday, Neil and I headed down south early in the morning to ride the famed trails of Santa Cruz. We were itching to get out on a proper ride and had been watching the weather all week, waiting out a rain storm for a chance to hit the dirt. There was no rain in the forecast Thursday, but with the storm the day before it looked like we’d be hitting the mud instead. That was fine by us. Some of the most grin-inducing rides we’ve ever had have been in the sloppiest conditions imaginable.

We decided to ride Soquel Demonstration Forest State Park (A.K.A. Demo Forest), which we prefer to the trails above the UC Santa Cruz campus because of the abundance of jumps, steep berms, and other trail features it offers. We drove through the San Jose morning traffic, pulled onto Highway 17 through the Santa Cruz mountains, then drove down a little country road, eventually parking on the side of the road in a secluded section of the woods. Stepping out of the car, we realized everything in the forest was dripping wet, we were surrounded by puddles, and it was breezy and overcast. We thought this should make for some interesting trail conditions.

One of the few flat sections of trail.

Phil and Tyler's November North Bay Camping Trip

Tyler's Surly Krampus and Phil's Budnitz No. 3, just before heading over the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin.

Tyler and I, two of the newest members of the Cycle Monkey team, are big fans of bike camping. We often spend downtime at the office dreaming up fatbiking trips and road tours to tackle someday. But for a more immediate thrill, we headed out into the North Bay on a recent weekend for a bit of Rohloff-equipped bike camping. We were excited to get out for a full weekend before the weather got wet, and had been looking forward to the mini-tour since we had planned it just a few weeks before.

The plan was to take the BART train from the East Bay to downtown San Francisco before pedaling over the Golden Gate Bridge and north to Samuel P. Taylor State Park. The park has a popular campsite in a big redwood grove, and the ride there has some of the most beautiful and varied scenery that the Bay Area has to offer – rolling hills, dense forests, waterfront bike paths, and ritzy neighborhoods were all on the route.

Joining us was Cycle Monkey friend Bishnu, who is the roaster at our local coffee shop and quite an experienced bike tourer himself. Tobe, one of the mechanics in our Monkey Lab, was to join us later that night at the campsite. Our motley crew had quite a range of bike styles, packing lists, gear-carrying setups, and pedaling paces, but we all had the same goal: getting outside the city, packing on the miles, and simply enjoying the weekend.

The whole squad: (from left) Tyler, Bishnu, Tobe, and Phil.

Big Mountain Riding: Neil & Xan's Tahoe Trip

Neil (right) and Xan before heading down the trail.

Neil and Xan loaded up the van early one morning this fall to do some riding around South Lake Tahoe. Henry, a friend of Xan's, joined us for the trip. The goal was to ride the famed "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" trail, officially called the Saxon Creek trail. This would be Xan's first ride on his new white Rohloff-equipped Ventana Zeus, a 160mm travel trail bike with 650b wheels. It was also an opportunity for Neil to get away from the office and have some fun after a busy summer. Neil brought his Lenz Sport Lunch Box, a 150mm travel 29'er, which has proven to be a very capable bike over the past few years.

The bikes all loaded up and ready to go.

NAHBS 2014 Denver

Cycle Monkey - NAHBS from MarkSimon on Vimeo.

We're back from two weeks on the road getting to and from Denver for the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. The show went well, and it was good to meet everyone who stopped by the booth. The video above gives a virtual tour of our booth. The show had more vendors this year than ever but not quite as many attendees, due in part to a snow storm on Sunday. We had our usual display of Rohloff and Schlumpf cutaway models along with two belt drive-equipped Rohloff bikes on trainers to test - a Co-Motion Divide and an Independent Fabrication Steel Delux (which was also outfitted with a Schlumpf Speed Drive for the show). We also had a sampling of custom wheels and our new high-tech P&K Lie truing stand.