Going around the West side of Green Mountain but with a different perspective.

My first foray back into the mountains since my broken clavicle last month. Felt great to get back in the saddle and spin out some climbs. Today was a trip to Mount Falcon and a ride on the upper trails, most of which I had never been on. This ride was another brought to you by the Denver Bicycle Touring Club. Turnout was a little low but the temps were perfect. I had to wear a long sleeve shirt as the temperatures were around 59 when we first took off.

These videos are all taken on the upper trails of the park.

This is a continuation of the previous video.

We followed this short climb up to what was called the Summer White House. Turns out there was what was going to be a Summer retreat for U.S. Presidents. It was never completed but would have had an impressive view of the mountains. It is hard to tell from the video but the house sits on the edge of the mountain and it is a long way down to the valley floor.

More singletrack at the top. Unfortunately, I left the title on the video for way too long and didn’t even notice. Oops.

Weather.com has a new site that just came online. It features videos submitted by users and it suppose to show extreme sports. I submitted a video a couple of weeks ago and by chance it is now featured on the front page of the site. The site can be found here. ( I have no idea how long it will remain on the front page)

Unfortunately, they compressed the hell out of the video and it looks like crap. So if you surfed here after seeing my video, the original unmolested version can be found here:

Lair of the Bear 1

Part two of the video is located here:
lair of the Bear 2

Miracles do happen. I fractured my clavicle 45 days ago and thought that meant the end to my riding this Summer. Fortunately it appears Fat Tire beer has healing properties. Today was my first day back on the mountain bike so I headed down to the local trail just South of Parker. Little or no pain during the ride means my riding isn’t over after all. Another absolutely beautiful day in Colorado just made the return back even better.

This first video is the beginning of the loop at the top of the mesa going clockwise.

This is a great loop if you are looking for a lot of climbing followed by a fun rocky downhill back to the car. Park at the trailhead of Apex park and ride north on the bike path into Golden. Take a left in Golden on the road up and over Lookout mountain. A mile or so up the climb you will see the beginning of the singletrack. Follow this all the way up and over Lookout mountain. Once you reach the visitors center at the top, you take the road down the back side of the mountain. This will eventually take you by the upper portion of the Apex trail. Take this singletrack all the way down to the bottom where you car is located. Be careful on this loop, especially the Apex section, as there can be significant traffic, both cycling and hikers.

Click the pics to see the videos.

Bergen Peak is located just North of Evergreen Colorado. From the South parking lot, it is a 2000′ climb to the top. The climb is continuous with very few areas to catch your breath. The view from the top is awesome and the downhill back to the car can be technical and rocky depending on which route you take. A group of us rode to the top and I took a few pics. Unfortunately it was foggy from the previous days rain, so the pictures don’t do the view justice.

Now for the downside of the ride. This was my first time on the mountain and I was not familiar with the terrain. Three of us left the group so we could see how fast we could make it to the bottom. Things were going well, up to the point where in the midst of numerous switchbacks, there was a moderate dropoff. No problem, right? Wrong. What I did not see was a rocky outcropping about shoulder high, right where the dropoff was. I was concentrating on the trail when my right shoulder met the immoveable object. I hit it hard and went over the handlebars, landind on my hands, knees and head. I did a body check and realized that the crash did little damage but the whack to my shoulder by the rocky outcropping hurt. I figured it was not separated as I was able to move my arm but it did hurt like hell. I managed to get back on the bike and work my way down the last few miles to the car. The longer I rode, the more I realized that something was not right. Every bump sent a schockwave of pain through my body. My suspicions were confirmed when I tried to lift my bike back on my roof rack. Something was definitely wrong. I arrived home and laid down for a while before talking myself into a trip to the emerency room. The X-ray confirmed my fears…

Diagnosis: fractured clavicle. Looks like that will end my mountain bike fun for a while but I will be back.

White Ranch is located just a few miles Northwest of Golden, Colorado. This open space provides a number of trails and all the climbing you will need if you pick the right route. The terrain is rocky and some of the climbs may require a dismount as they can be steep and have numerous water bars. It is a great place if you are looking for something a little more technical, at least when it comes to climbing. A well planned loop comprises well over 10 miles and can take anywhere from an hour, to two hours and change. The views are phenomenal throughout as you look down towards Golden and the Front Range.

Click the pics to see the videos.

I was finally successful in installing the latest Ubuntu release on my Sony Vaio. (see my earlier post here.) I have to admit that I had significant problems trying to upgrade from Edgy Eft to Feisty Fawn. The recommended upgrade method would not work no matter how many times I attempted to upgrade. The upgrade manager would time out or give multiple errors when retrieving files from the repositories. I ended up having to download the ISO image from the Ubuntu site and burning the image to disc. Being nervous about it, I did not eliminate my Edgy installation and now have a Vaio that boots into either Windows XP, Ubuntu Edgy Eft or Ubuntu Feisty Fawn. Now that 7.04 is installed, it is running smoothly. Now I just need to work on installing the programs I need to make it more functional. This is an older computer and only has a 60 gig hard drive so having it partitioned into 3 separate OS’s just won’t work. I will probable have to go back and uninstall both Ubuntu builds and reinstall the 7.04 onto a larger partition. Right now I have XP taking 30 gigs, Edgy 20 and Feisty 10. I do not need excessive storage space as I edit all my media on my MacBook Pro and store it on external drives but 10 gigs is just a little too tight for my liking. If I just knew how to uninstall the Edgy Eft and give that space to the Feisty installation, I would have less of a challenge. Unfortunately I may have to spend some time with Google searches to figure out if that is even possible.

Click the pic for a full size picture of the Feisty Fawn screenshot.

I finally had the opportunity to check out the trails in Vail this week. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and my riding was minimal. Took a couple of pics before the snow blew in and muddied everything up.