bIKE cLUB: March 2008

Friday, March 28, 2008

Monday, March 24, 2008

Happy Easter from the slopes

No chocolates or candy this year but next time we'll show up for the egg hunt early and score some goodies. All you have to do to take part is accept that a man rose from the dead (yes, like a zombie) but instead of eating brains he disappeared in a poof of holy smoke. Oh it would also help if you could believe that he'd be psyched to be constantly surrounded by crucifes, the torture device he died on...fun! Let's eat some chocolate! Really can't we just go back to celebrating the equinox like the basically decent pagans we are? May pole anyone?

Monday, March 10, 2008

Obesity is good in some cases

North Fork of the South Platte near Bailey, CO

Happy Birthday brother!

From your very favorite band. No, not 311, not KISS either I suppose. Could it be YES? Buckethead? F. Zappa? 1st correct guess as to the Crossbowmakers very favoritest band wins a pair of argyle Moots socks signed by Juan Simmons (pictured)

Hired Trout handlers

Nice visit with Jeff Black and Elizabeth have us thinking about riding in CB in July...and wondering if the melt will kick in fast enough to clear the high country trails by then? Even in regular snow years we watch the trail reports anxiously in the weeks before our 4th of July visit, and plan on seeing a couple drifts up high. This year could be interesting unless a warm dry April is in store for CO. Here in Steamboat it is 2-4' deep in front of the Moots factory while on this date last year there was bare grass. Desert riding anyone?

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Cropduster

Highroller survived a long trip deep into the Dirty South of Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas and only got cropdusted with poisonous chemicals twice. Here is a shot of the local kamikaze swooping UNDER the telephone lines to dust a field of cotton, pretty amazing flying skills as at the end of the field the pilot would basically do a stall/roll into the wind and turn around on a dime. Living in CO and now the hothouse of Steamboat Springs it was pretty interesting to see the differences in real estate values down south. I saw maybe 500 abandoned houses/properties/farms, just trees growing up thru where the livingroom roof used to be as I drove from Little Rock to Birmingham. The monoculture of a lot of the agricultural area didn't make for very scenic farms either, fields of soy or cotton as far as the eyes can see and then a big pyramid shaped cotton gin every 50 miles or so. Did see Jim Henson's birthplace and some nice neighborhoods around Jackson, MS and Birmingham, AL, a bunch of wild turkeys, opossums (opossi?) and more catfish and bbq retaurants then you could shake a stick at. Spotted a total of 3 roof racks and 4 recreational bike riders in over 1800 miles and 6 days of travelling so you can probably guess what the bike culture was like in a lot of the area. Did visit a couple of good bike shops and a great bookstore in Oxford, MS called Square Books if you're ever in the neighborhood... Highlight though was watching a migrating flock of starlings headed north blacken the sky for a good half hour, just millions of birds swooping in huge swirling flocks trying to find a roost for the night. As darkness fell the trees looked like they'd been dipped in sprinkles there were so many birds on them.