bIKE cLUB 2.0 training plan

Hello Iris and welcome to the family! What an incredible series of events, experiences and sheer fate must have occurred to bring YOU into being, you may be thinking. Rest assured none of that took place. Instead an aeons old breeding program, constantly winnowing the wheat from the chafe, the strong from the weak, the foolhardy from the merely Canadian through multitudes of generations until finally your progenitors were carefully maneuvered into creating YOU! Now, your training begins! Attached are some photos of bIKE cLUB 2.0 Operative 001 being run through the paces up here in Routt County to give you some ideas of what your program may entail. Remember pain is merely weakness leaving the body, as are farts. Good luck! #bIKEcLUB #uberancestors

Fall is a' coming!

Hope you're all getting out on some sweet rides during this most beautiful time of the year. Here at 8000' in Routt County we're hitting some great fall colors, quiet trails and sweet dirt/gravel loops near Wyoming, and training for 'cross of course!

2018 bIKE cLUB/Swift Campout drops to 0 fatalities!

Not even a single fish was harmed despite my worst intentions and a stingy hailstorm finale was the only blackspot (well, aside from some mosquitos) on a great overnighter up, up, UP Greenville Mine Rd. (worth it!) through swarms of butterflies and perfectly framed glimpses of the approaching Zirkel Mtn range, some more up on the S. Fork single track, one big down into the S. Fork of the Elk (neck deep for me after falling on my crossing attempt) to our idyllic camp spot in an undisclosed location down by the river. Heaven! Beers (courtesy of Nate and Gen) went into a mesh sack to chill in the river, swims were swum, fish were frightened away by my slapping Copper John, slingshots were slung and rocks were skipped. Eventually naps in the sun gave way to Ramen and Bs-ing to the gentle murmuring accompaniment of the creek, sleeping bag stories and snores... Day 2 Trout led us through some technical rock gardens and down to the Seedhouse campground for a quick howdy with the Hines clan before an ominous black hail storm pummeled us all the way to the Clark Store. Soaked, freezing and stung by hail we switched up ice cream for a late breakfast of steak and eggs and relaxedly dripped onto the floor as we warmed up again, plowed through some grub and said our goodbyes with Jon, Nate and Gen. Great crew, sweet trails, good times! Good times! #swiftcampout #moots #outside365

Stream-crossing! Is there anything better?

If you're up for enjoying one doozy of a crossing on the S. Fork, followed by camping out on it's banks this Sat. night then come on up to N. Routt! Welcome to camp in the yard Fri night or meet at Clark Store at High Noon on Sat. 'Bout 15-20 miles of MTB'n, then bikecamp on the S. Fork with fishing, skinny dipping, s'mores'n, etc. Ride out to giant ice creams on Sunday. What's not to like?

Day 4 Finale of Los Alfords Moab bikepacking extravaganza - "Cheeseburgers in Paradise!"

With little sleep, gritty teeth, sap-covered packs and sore bums we rolled out early for our last day of adventure, the Porcupine Rim and it's panoply of drops, rocks, ledges and slabs. Despite knocking it out of the park on a couple miles of UPS the night before we weren't 100% sure how doable the Porcupine was going to be fully loaded down with bikepacking gear, and with 60 hard miles in our legs but these last 15 miles and 3500' of awesome descending did much to make up for the hardships, slights, minor betrayals and out and out double crossing we felt the route had kicked our way to this point. What a blast and of course Trout crushed it over every conceivable obstacle while Rose and I held our own riding along the very edge of the Porcupine Rim with a precipice to one side, across Jeep blasted roads of tv size cobbles, teetering down tilted slabs and along exposed chasms down, down, blissfully down into Jackass Canyon, across mandatory hikeabikes and finally into Moab for fresh undies, gallons of cold liquids, cheeseburgers and groaningly, shakes and cones of ice cream for the drive back to CO. What a blast! We can't wait for the next one! 76 miles all told, 8600' of climbing, one splinter, no flats, one salami, a little less water than we should have consumed, plenty of food, great weather, route, views and company!

Moab bikepack fiasco Day 3 - "Potato Feet"

At 16 miles and only 2000' of climbing Day 3 of the Moab bike pack adventure was supposed to be our "easy" day but missing springs, missing pavement and a missing chocolate bar meant we still had to earn our way up from Castle Rock on the La Sal Mtn Rd. The morning started pleasantly enough with Trout diligently warding off yet another wave of invisible, radioactive zombies while a truckload of early rising hounds drove by our campsite to start a mountain lion hunt on Fisher Mesa. Note to self; Fisher Mesa is worth a return trip to check out the single track along the rim, and apparently we should be watching out for mountain lions. Day 3 started easily enough with a 5 mile paved plunge down to Castle Rock, a quick refill on the h2o (bottles only (foreshadowing)) in preparation for an easy spin up paved La Sal Mtn. Road, last encountered in reverse when Dash flatted on the descent of the La Sal Loop at Brown Phat III. Sadly easy was not to be as the road had been removed and only a bit at the bottom had received fresh asphalt, so back to the gravel road climbing, but this time with a wicked headwind to the face. Cooler cloudy weather was our savior as Spring #1 on the map was dry, as was Spring #2 and despite some cold rain showers we hit the top of the Porcupine Rim a bit parched. Fortunately we were able to bum some h20 off campers at Mason Draw, the last bit 'o salami took the sting off a misremembered, or mis-packed missing chocolate bar and we whooped it down the UPS trail for our first bit of single track on the trip en route to the Porcupine Rim campground. We inventoried water and remaining food supplies and decided we'd probably survive but Rose and I were on half water rations just to make sure we had enough for oatmeal in the a.m. In our cozy Big Agnes sleeping bags and tent we curled up early to read a bit of the ol' Jack Vance and wonder at our state of filthiness. Late arriving campers at this popular spot, and sandstorms conspired to wake us up early and often throughout the night as sprinkles of fine silt continually worked through the mesh to settle into our ears, eyes and open snoring mouths as we dreamt fitfully of the intimidating double black diamond Porcupine Rim single track descent that would be our final challenge.