Fort Collins Bike Trails and Why They Rock!

Okay, I admit it.  The "it" being that in order for a bike ride to feel like a real bike ride I had to have a destination, an adventure, a goal, whatever you like.  For this reason, I had always viewed riding on the local paved bike trails as something to do on a mellow Sunday, on my cruiser, when working up a sweat or covering some territory was not really the goal.  I also admit I was only partially right or partially wrong depending on your world view in regards to the premise I mention above. 

I set off to enjoy the amazing MLK day weather we were having in Fort Collins with a bike ride.  Now, to make it an adventure and worthy endeavor I decided to ride the bike trails from Bellvue to Spring Canyon Park.  (To digress, any endeavor on a bicycle is worthy, I should clarify by saying a worthy endeavor that works up a sweat and leads to some gains in overall physical health and endurance).  This is by no means the entire paved trail system in Fort Collins, but it is a good chunk.  It was quite a ride and some absolutely amazing scenery for being within and in an urban/suburban area of well over 140,000 living, breathing souls. 

I chose to start my ride from the northwest most terminus of the bike trail system in Bellvue, CO, which is incidentally only yards (maybe 53 yards) from the Bellvue Bean.

 

 

Bellvue Bean Coffee Shop

The Bean is an excellent place to fuel up pre-ride or recover post-ride depending on the direction you ride.  It is also a great halfway point for an out and back from Fort Collins and it is on a bike trail the whole way.  However, in the interest of time, I passed up The Bean (one of the very few times my will power has been strong enough) and headed straight to the start of the ride. 

Yep, that is the start just 47 yards down the road from The Bean.  The trail has excellent infrastructure throughout its entire length including dedicated bridges over waterways (Poudre River, Spring Creek, etc) and underpasses for major roads.  One warning- it does not have the best signage when feeder trails enter or leave the primary trail, so if it is your
 maiden voyage take a look at a map or have one with you for the periodic consultation.  On the other hand, if you are out for exploration, don't take a map and enjoy all the little miscues that make the journey special. 

I used the Strave app to track my progress and you can see my route here. 
https://www.strava.com/rides/38273488

Basically, from starting in Bellvue and heading east and south to the River Bend Ponds area is all on the Poudre River Trail.  At that point I headed west along the Spring Creek Trail.  Including my ride to the trailhead (which was not on a dedicated bike path) and my trip home from Spring Canyon Park (again, not on a bike trail) I covered nearly 30 miles. 

If you have questions on the trails in Fort Collins, drop me a line.

Ride on,
E

Mountain Bike Video

This one is just too cool not to share.  It will inspire you to get out in the cold.  I like how happy the dog is in the video.  The people seem to be having fun too...

http://vimeo.com/35403060

Heavy Snow and Limb Removal Help

Hey Folks,

It has been too long since my last post but hopefully this information can help someone out.  The City of Fort Collins will be collecting storm damaged limbs for free.  See the link below for more information!


http://www.fcgov.com/news/index.php?id=4046

Happy Thursday!

Snowshoeing

From L to R- Dr. B, Winston, Dr. H, and Dr. S. in the parking lot on Deadman Rd.

We had a great day of snowshoeing that was quite a surprise. We initially had plans to go to a new area west of Boulder that Christi and I had never visited, led by our fearless friend Dr. S. When we picked up Dr. S and Dr. B at 8am, the snow was already flying in Fort Collins, so we thought the drive to Boulder might be dodgy. Instead, we decided to live on the edge and head to the Red Feather Lakes area.

Red Feather Lakes is about 45 minutes northwest of Fort Collins. If you have never been there, it is well worth a visit, or many visits. It really is an impressive landscape, not only for the mountains that surround it but more for the smattering of large rock formations scattered throughout the many meadows and small lakes that dot the area. These are all encapsulated in evergreen forests filled with ponderosa, spruce and clumps of aspen. Incidentally, our snowshoe route took us through some stands of aspens with some of the largest aspen trees we have collectively ever seen.

I initially describe this trip as dodgy because, except for the last mile or two of the drive, we thought we may not have enough snow for snowshoeing. We thought we might enjoy a nice mixed conditions hike, but we indeed had plenty of snow. In fact, it snowed the entire time we were hiking. Our route was an out and back circuit on Deadman Road, a forbidding name, but quite a nice place. We probably went a total of 6 miles and had great snowshoeing conditions. Deadman Road is a Forest Service road that goes on for 20 or 30 miles and eventually connects with the Laramie River Road. Although I have not traveled the route personally, I believe one would be able to eventually link to roads that would wind into Laramie, WY or to Cameron Pass. I think we often fail to realize just how much public land there is in this corner of the world. We are talking lots, tons, a truckload here. Incidentally, I already have summer plans for a bike tour that will just do this, probably linking into Cameron Pass and heading back down the Poudre Canyon.

We all had a very nice snowshoe, caught a brief glimpse of a moose gliding through about 3 feet of snow like it was no problem at all, and topped off the trip with a couple of Girl Scouts on a Ski Lift (those were the names of the hot chocolate beverages imbued with some peppermint schnapps that we consumed at the Pot Belly Restaurant and Bar, another great place to visit). However, I personally believe Winston had the best time of all as he ran six times the distance we covered and enjoyed a lot more smells and then got to sleep the whole way home.

Reservoir Ridge Natural Area - aka Michaud Lane Trail

First Trail Junction and view Northeast

This place is sweet. It is exactly 9 minutes by car from my doorstep to the trailhead. I would guess it is about 20 minutes or so by bike. I ride by the turn all the time on my bike rides, but as I do not have a mountain bike I just keep on spinnin' by. I have been trail running over there lately, which is fantastic! Here are some pictures from a this past Sunday on a sunset hike with Christi and Winston. The first is the view from the first trail junction just at the top of the first little set of switchbacks. You can see northern Fort Collins and the south end of Wellington.

Deer on the Ridge

A little further south on the trail we came across six deer. Here you can see two silhouetted on the ridge line below this lone pine. It really is a very neat place 10 minutes from our house.


What would be a sunset hike without some pictures of the sunset. The sky just keep getting better and better!

Tweed Run Fort Collins

I dare say the time is upon us. A call to my fellow gentleman and ladies, scallywags and misfits, it is time to organize, improvise, instigate and pontificate upon the merits and grand delusions of tweedom. What is this jibber jabber rubbish you ask. In the spirit of the original, or at least as original as I could find with a quick spin on the great wizard of Google, I announce tentatively concrete plans for the Fort Collins Tweed Run. (***I am relatively new to this blogging thing and I do not know all of the etiquette rules to using photos from other sites, so if I am breaking them I am sorry. I used the photo from http://bikehugger.com/. I hope that suffices).

But wait dear sir, what is a tweed run? Look here, or maybe here, and just to be safe lets include a this one. Sounds smashing indeed, so when can I begin to air my tweeds to eliminate that mothball smell. Well, I say we shoot for spring 2011. Enticing details, but not too detailed, details to follow. The gist is this. Meet in Old Town, drink some tea, coffee, scotch, or whiskey (American or Scottish, depending on if you are a purist and of which puritan persuasion you may be), water, or beer and begin a leisurely ride towards Laporte, then Bellevue. Maybe a venture into the brand new, so new they do not even have a website (or maybe they just do not want a website, but here there are on the web none the less) Bellevue Bean Coffee shop for some more coffee, tea or other libation before heading in a decidedly circuitous route to our point of origin, at which point we will once again have liquid libations of one's personal choosing. May I humbly recommend something from this fine establishment. Sweet Succotash!! Those folks can produce a mighty fine pint indeed.

Cheerio my good lads and lasses.

Coffee Shop Conversations....

It always amazes me what people will say in a public place on a cell phone. Less than 3 feet away right now a woman is talking about how she is bipolar, accused of running away with a homeless man, and sitting with a man who is obviously drunk, or at least close to it. She says her family is trying to kidnap her and she is on disability. She was seeking legal advice on how her court appearance is going to go. It is not like I am trying to hear all of this, but these people really do not care who hears this stuff.

I love coffee shops. They keep life interesting.

Tweed Rides

I have been kicking around the notion of a organizing a tweed ride for a number of years now. I have to say, I think the time may be upon us, or at least upon us soon. Our weather is a bit unpredictable this time of year, but I think springtime may be the right time. If you live in the Fort Collins area and would be interested in a cruising along on a tweed'er shoot me an email. We could also make one happen much sooner than spring if the weather looks right. We will probably start and end at a local brewery, who knows, maybe Equinox....

What would the tinkerer do?

I just can't get this Abbey and Trippel label issue out of my head. Not to beat a dead horse, but New Belgium is my favorite brewery, and Abbey and Trippel are a big reason for my affectionate affliction. I think I am going to have to come off of the sidelines on this one and start a grass roots campaign to bring back the labels. I woke up this morning thinking about this.

Now some of you are going to say this guy is a whack job. Who cares about the labels, its the beer that matters. I agree, it is the beer, but for me the beer represents so much more. Whether consciously or not, the image of the maker of a product goes into our purchasing decisions, and subsequently, the experience we have related to the particular product. This is a very well researched topic and we could spend hours discussing corporate image, goodwill, brand awareness, etc. The bottom line in all of this is that the change in labels represents a small change in my perception of New Belgium. I liked the original artwork. I started loving Abbey and Trippel with the monks and the sirens. The bottles represented a voyage to a land I had never reached. They were the embodiment of the trip I wanted to take. I was proud of the little brewery that used a neighbors art to grace their lovely brew.

This brings me to my campaign. You heard it here first. I love NBB. The new slogan for the campaign: "What would the tinkerer do?"

Who is the tinkerer? He is the guy in this video from NBB called "Anthem". (You have to click the "anthem" link because I am not tech savvy enough to embed the video). Which beer label would he go for? Check it out.

Why New Belgium...why?

I begin this post with the following disclaimer: I love New Belgium Brewing. I strongly support their culture, all they do for their patrons, and the amazing vibe they have going. I stand for Tour de Fat, Wind Energy, Free Tastings, recycling, living green, riding bikes, and apple pie (I just like apple pie, it has nothing to do with New Belgium). Further, one of my three dream jobs involves working for NBB and I have applied for numerous jobs there with no luck yet. I hope this post does not hurt my chances, but I only write it out of pure affection. This is going to be one of those fatherly, Socratic posts, where I ask the why question. This must be like having a teenager where you are full of love, but you feel like they are going down the wrong road.

What is the source of my angst you ask (well maybe you don't ask, but you are reading this of your own free will)? The new concept and labels associated with the Explore Series. I do not know where to begin. Abbey and Trippel are two of my favorite beers. My love affair with these two goes all the way back to moving to Fort Collins in 2000. I can still remember my first taste of these divine nectars in the old tasting room at NBB (pre-expansion). They opened my naive eyes to what this combination of yeast, water, hops, and barley could become. It was like the big bang for beer. Lets face it, whatever the purists say, the packaging (see some original Abbey art here) is part of the experience. The labeling on these beers was fantastic. Artistry worthy of wall art. The monks, the sirens, true perfection. And now to the issue, and how to state it mildly. I feel like these beers have now been violated, deflowered, spoiled, tainted. Their beauty and innocence has been snatched away. Instead, the faithful are left with "The Gap" in a bottle. The new labels look like something one would see at the mall (Gap, Eddie Bauer, Gap Kids). The romance is gone. You can say it is the same beer, but it is most definitely not the same beer. The experience has changed. This goes against the individualistic ideal (or my perception of that) of New Belgium. The Tour de Fat is one, big festival of individualism. These labels are painfully not individualistic. I do not criticize the design, and am sure from a graphic design standpoint, they are spot on, but they are not hand painted by a local artist like the labels used to be. They have no panache, no beauty, no heart. I could continue, but it only makes me sad.

Further, lets talk about this "Explore" series label that has been applied to Abbey and Trippel. My personal understanding of NBB history is that Abbey and Fat Tire were the two original beers brewed by Jeff L., a co-founder and original Brewmaster of NBB. Abbey has won more beer medals for NBB than any other beer in the lineup. Sure, it accounts for a very small percentage of sales, but C'mon. Some beers are brewed because they define a company, are part of the soul. Abbey was there from the inception, conception, of NBB. Placing it in the "Explore" series makes no sense. Sure, on paper in that marketing group meeting it made sense. Maybe from a financial accounting standpoint, makes sense, maybe, but does this really make sense in the real world? You can't place the Grand Dame with the new girls.

Let me close by reiterating my love for NBB, one of my most respected companies. I only ask these questions out of love. My hope will be that someone at NBB may read this (although only one person has every commented on my blog, and that was a friend, so the odds are slim) and realize how brilliant these comments are. They will invite me down to the brewery, hold a press conference announcing they are bringing back the Abbey and Trippel labels, and give me a lifetime supply of Abbey and Trippel. Hell, while I am dreaming, maybe they will present me with a cruiser bike and the keys to the brewery, but maybe pigs will fly out of my ass. I would be happy with the Abbey and Trippel labels back, with the Gap labels burned in a flaming bonfire (I would settle for recycling as it is more environmentally responsible, but I do like a good fire).

Trip V

My friend Andy is a brewer at New Belgium Brewing here in Fort Collins. The brewery has this little competition where anyone working at the brewery who is interested can submit a concept for a dream beer they would like to brew. Well, Andy is a very cool guy and he came up with a very cool concept for an extremely tasty beer. To get your beer selected I believe you must provide a narrative and a list of ingredients that would be used to make your concoction. This is fun, but this is also serious business. There are some serious creative types at NBB and they take making great beer pretty seriously. I do not know all of the selection criteria but I do know that you have to impress the Brewmaster of Brewmasters to get selected. All this means, you can't be a slouch and your beer better be able to ante up.

This beer is also pretty special because it is brewed at Elysian Brewing Company in Seattle, which isn't that special if you live in Seattle, but what it means for us in Fort Collins is that we do not get any shipped here. Luckily, Andy was provided with 4 22oz bottles for his preview and I got a tasting from one of those bottles. Boy Howdy, was it good! In the nose one picks up hints of chocolate and cherry, with a very pleasing golden brown color in the glass. The flavor starts of a bit subtle then finishes with a nice vanilla flavor once swallowed. Author's note: I don't know all of the technical beer terms for tasting, but I taste alot of beers. Bottom line, Andy brewed up a really great beer even if I can't describe it properly.

If you can beg, borrow or pay appropriately for some of this stuff, do it! You will be happy.

Bikes and Birdhouses

My dad was big into birds and birdwatching. It seems he was always standing at the kitchen window watching the birds at the feeders just at the edge of the woods. I enjoyed seeing them too, but I appreciate the concept more now that I am older.

We recently hung a bird feeder just outside our kitchen window. For the first 5 days, not a single bird, I mean not one. In fact, the running joke had become, "Hey look honey, no birds at the feeder." Then one morning I was having my coffee and I saw a low flying bird by the back window. I thought could she be going to my feeder. Sure enough I glanced out and there she was...our very first customer. And just like that the flood gates opened. After the first bird, a black-capped chickadee we had another 5 to 10 birds in 20 minutes. It was pretty amazing.

I think that is what makes birdwatching so much fun, the complete lack of control. You hang up a feeder and whoever shows up, shows up. Sure, you can buy seed blends that favor certain species, but ultimately, the birds decide. We have no control. It's not like an aquarium where you get to choose the fish you want. No fish "just shows up" in an aquarium. Birds at the feeder are a whole different game. There are the typical birds one expects to see, the nuthatches, chickadees, wrens and finches, oh and the occassional flicker, but there is always the unexpected. Best part...you have no control. Now that I think about, a bird feeder is a lot like life. You fill it up with education, friends, family, experiences and hang it out there and that is about where your control ends. After that, who knows....

Oh, I did build a birdhouse yesterday and I didn't get to bikes, but I have been riding.

J-O-B Hunt....

The saga continues....do you ever feel like you are stuck in the middle of a three book trilogy when you only meant to commit to a one book story? Welcome to the world of job hunting in the biggest recession of my short lifetime. Lets be clear, this is not whining, just a way to vent, or exponge excess energy from the mental coffers I call the treasure trove of my mind.

So, here is the irony. I am sitting in a coffee shop doing a bit of job hunting when I overhear the following snippet of conversation from the table just next to me. The table is occupied by two woman, one of whom is trying to recruit the other into some sort of a startup business venture. This conversation has progressed for 45 minutes, and while I am not intentionally listening, one does hear bits here and there without intention. Now, the interesting bit. One woman is apparently married to a person that I recently interviewed with for a job that I would have really liked to have gotten. How small can the world be?

Other than the like of immediate employment, life is progressing smashingly. Family- great, Health-great, Friends-great, Job-well, I am sure it will be great soon.

Dr. Seuss

"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple" Dr. Seuss.

These are indeed profound words of wisdom. I would also add that the simplest answers are often the most difficult to implement. There is an old adage about taking the easy road versus the road less traveled and lets not forget the high road. On these roads one may find the bridge over troubled waters or the infamous bridge to no where, but I digress.

Life often seems full of complex problems, but most have a simple, albeit difficult answer. The one exception in my mind often involves the classic no win problem. Where your actions are going to cause pain for the parties involved in the problem no matter which solution one chooses. These, are the truly difficult problems.

Ultimately, if we have our health and our family everything else is small potatoes.

On Firewood...

The new house we have has a perfectly quaint wood burning fire place. It is about 35 inches wide by 33 inches tall and has an earthy, greenish brown tiled surround. The tiles are about 4 inches square and looked to be hand cut and glazed. Centered above the firebox are three griffin heads, with two above and one below forming a triangle on a large center tile. They add a very distinctive look and I find myself staring at those giffins quite frequently. The fire grate fits the firebox quite nicely, and the back of the grate is taller than the front. This extra height is adorned with a sun motif, similar to many I have seen above doorways or windows on homes close to the water. Actually, a house down the street, not close to water at all, has a sun above their entrance, so what do I know?

I have built maybe 10 fires in the fireplace thus far, mostly with wood that was already stacked in the back yard. I believe it is wood from a large cottonwood tree that was removed from the back yard a few years ago. The large hole from the stump is still visible just off our patio. The wood seems to be seasoned well, and after splitting, it has burned well. The fires are fairly hot and the wood does not create much popping or cracking. However, I am about out of the cottonwood so I am searching for a new source and recently bought some pine from a local "earthcycling" business. I was planning to go with my neighbor and cut some beetle kill pine, but we just haven't made it yet and I am not sure we will. I will cut some wood soon, but in the meantime you use what you can. Now, this pine I purchased was already split, but it did not seem very seasoned to me. Sure enough, it has not been the best burning wood thus far. It pops and hisses, reminding me of a cat at a fourth of july fireworks display. Every time you are starting to relax and close your eyes, CRACK, BIFF, POW, like the old Batman tv shows. I have come up with a bit of a solution. I use a piece or two of my remaining cottonwood to get some good coals and then throw on a piece or two of pine. This seems to be working and keeps the pine from slowly burning out.

This whole experience really got me thinking about firewood. A hundred years ago I would bet that every man, woman and child had an opinion on what kind of wood to burn for different purposes. They knew the merits of each species, from quick lighting, to steady heating, to good, low burning for cooking. In fact, I bet every person could build a respectable fire and keep it going throughout the evening. Probably also knew how to properly stoke a fire so there would be embers for relighting the next morning.

I grew up burning wood for heat in the winter, but we did have an oil furnace for backup to keep the pipes from freezing. There were numerous occasions though when the furnace pilot light went out and we had to rely on that old wood stove to keep us warm throughout the night until Mr. Price could come and relight the furnace. I also remember sleeping by the wood stove on really cold nights because our upstairs would be too cold for comfort. It was fun to drag out a mattress and throw it on the floor by the fire. We would pile the stove up with slabs of white oak and shut the stove vents down so it would burn low and slow all through the night.

It is hard to get oak out here in Colorado unless you want to pay an arm and a leg. Plus, buying local wood is the right thing to do, especially when we have millions of acres of beetle kill pine. It just means I will have to hone my fire management skills just like the old timers. I am sure I will come up with the right combination and method for keeping a good pine fire burning.

Woodburners have a special place in my heart, and if you spend some time in front of one, you will never look at a gas fireplace again without lust in your heart for a wood fire. Heck, a wood fire is the reason the fire truck came to my sixth birthday party, but that is another story....

Coffee...

Coffee is one of those beverages that no little kid seems to like, or at least it used to be that way. When I was little, I did not have a single friend that even thought about drinking coffee. Coffee was bad stuff. But now, I see little people toddling up to Starbucks and sucking down a double venti machiatto crapbucket all the time. I just don't get it. But I also did not know a single kid that was allergic to gluten.

I digress though. Coffee is a fantastic beverage. It wakes you up, keeps you focused and provides the occassional stomach ulcer. Much like beer, there really is a wide discrepancy in flavor and quality and you sometimes get what you pay for. Some brands are hyped a little high, while other great ones seem really happy to stay right below the radar. I don't really know the ins and outs of coffee roasting and how important the whole process is, but I bet someone who really knows there craft is the difference between good and great. My current favorite coffee is the Bean Cycle Blend by Bean Cycle Coffee here in Fort Collins. I like a strong coffee and this fits the bill. The coffee is great, but I also like their packaging, the fact they are big into bikes, and I can buy the coffee at Beavers Market just around the corner. It costs me $4.95 for 1/2lb and that seems pretty fair.

Job Hunting

What a mix of anxiety and frustration. I sit searching the internet job sites every day for possible jobs only to feel like I have wasted time with nothing to show for it. You would think that two Masters degrees, one in Ecology and a second in Business Administration would make me a pretty marketable commodity. Well, no such luck. I think I am doing something wrong. Maybe I am being a little picky about jobs, but I really am at a point in life where I want to be doing something I feel good about and not just pushing a pencil in middle management.

Thanks for letting me vent. Now, if you know of anyone who needs a highly skilled, very creative and energetic employee to build and grow a company let me know.

Happy Monday!

The Blob

I went for a run this morning. It was a nice run, except for the feeling that I was wearing a fat suit. I have been working on my MBA these past two years and I am finally in the home stretch. Lots of hard work and extra hours are about to come to an end (9 ½ weeks left, but who is counting). The downside of all of this hard mental work is that my physical work has gone by the wayside. I seem to be in that perpetual state of just trying to get started. One week I will get in two runs and a bike ride and start to feel better, only to be followed by a week of no exercise at all and a return to sloth. Getting started back to working out is always the hardest part and I feel like I have been just getting started for the last 19 months….

The weather has been amazing here in Colorado the last week. Highs in the 60’s and 70’s. This is made all the better by the fact that the eastern seaboard is mired in a snow storm with lots of white wetness on the ground. Oh, I am sure we will get another big snow this year, but for now I have to gloat a little.

Beer....

What do people normally do on a Monday morning when they have an imposing deadline looming over their head? Update a blog they have not posted to in nearly a year with a post about beer. Perfectly rational and reasonable. Came across the blog Beervana, the Blog this morning after seeing an article on Dr. Wort himself. Looks like a great place, and since I will be in Bend, OR near one of my favorite breweries, Deschutes Brewing, I will have to do some research.

Hit New Belgium on Saturday and was it packed, but it was still a great time. Always enjoy talking to the great folks there, and enjoy drinking their great beers FOR FREE even more. Grand Cru is still available at the brewery and is a true joy, my personal favorite beer they make. However, Abbey, Trippel, and 1554 are all very close seconds and can take the lead depending on the social situation and culinary pairing.

Well, back to the deadline.....Happy Monday!!

Quote Board

I really have to start keeping a running quote board. This one from my good friend Julee is the funniest thing I have heard in nearly a week.

"I told Banks yesterday and he nearly fell out of his canoe van." You have to know Banks for this one to really hit you, but man oh man, is that funny. Banks is a great guy full of expression, and I can just see his eyes widen, his mouth flare into a big old grin, and hear him say, " Oh man, REALLY....."

I haven't seen Banks in years, but that doesn't matter. Best thing about friends really, you dont have to see them for years and they still can make you smile.

Happy Wednesday!