Tuesday, December 31, 2013

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.

Monday, December 2, 2013

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.