It's Cyclocross Time...Are you ready?

Steamboat Brewers Festival

Blue skies & fantastic weather made for an amazing fall day of brew & music. The leaves had turned yellow & orange making the day that much more striking. Local band Jebus warmed up the crowd for White Water Ramble’s version of funk-ass-bluegrass-jazz-jam while brewers poured beer after beer. The musical set was complete with a saxophone & the crowd getting down to a rippin' version of Billie Jean.

We arrived on Friday to a pretty cool scene, a helicopter was slowly dropping gigantic lift towers for the new Christie Peak Express lift. Take a look here for the more info and a video.



Since the whirlybird was already airborne & we have such BIG READY BEER we thought it would be nice of them to give us a lift, they agreed.

2007 Hall Ranch Challenge comes to an end.

The first annual Hall Ranch Challenge has come to an end. We had almost 500 entries!! There were fast riders, slow riders, funny riders, many riders….but most of all…… there were riders. That is ALL this challenge was about. Ridin’ bikes. We gave away over 500 beers! Below are the results and the cool prizes awarded to the winners. A big thanks to Maverick Bikes, and Bitterbrush cycles for the cool schwag. Support your local trail and brewery.


Eric Zilling wins for most miles logged. Homeboy earned Free Beer for a Year, an Oskar Blues Racing Jersey & a Hydration Pack courtesy of Bitterbrush Bikes.

Gavin Hayes set the bar for the fastest lap, we believe he was the only sub 50 min lap. He won a Kelty hydration pack, Maverick SpeedBall Seat Post, T-shirt & Socks.

Bicycling Magazine Gives a shout...

to the Yeti Tribe gathering & to Oskar Blues.Check out what Bicycling Magazine said HERE

Heil to Lyons Trail Project 10/6/07

Just a reminder that we will be working on the Heil to Lyons connector trail on October 6th. Please sign up if you can, Oskar Blues will be providing beer & food to volunteers. Here are the details:

Date & Time:
10/06/2007, 8:30 AM
Location:
Heil Valley Ranch
Sign up:
BMA Signup HERE
Event Description:
We'll begin construction of the long-awaited connection from Heil Valley ranch to Lyons.
We're looking for folks to spend the morning creating new singletrack. We'll provide tools, lunch, refreshments, and swag.
We have to limit the project to the first 100 volunteers, so please follow the signup link to register.

Fall in Colorado

The only way to enjoy Monarch Crest. Thanks Debaser!

Telluride Blues & Brews

WOW, what can you say??? Telluride on it's own is one of the most powerfully beautiful places on the planet, add 53 breweries, top-of-the-line bands & a fantastic group of people all searching for the same thing & you get one hell of a good time. The brewery rolled into Telluride Friday evening as the festival shows were finishing up. We made sure everything was set in the House of Brews & headed into town for the first night of Juke Joint celebrations. Las Montanas played host to one of the famous Burnside family members, Kent. Kent continues to pour the Burnside family's version of electrified Delta Blues into the future. To be honest we missed most of the festival music on Saturday as well, the Grand Tasteing took all of our attention until all the fine folks had drank us out of all the beer we brought. Thanks to all of you who joined in our fantastic day of beer pouring & ass shakin'. The fine folks seemed to really dig the Dales Pale Ale & Old Chub, we did have some people dissappointed that we didn't have enough Gordon to go around. After we gathered our bearings from the tasteing the music highlights started with a gondola ride & the Juke Joint scene at the Telluride Convention Center. JJ Grey & Mofro played the Austin City Limits festival earlier that morning & made a bonzi run to Telluride to provide their deep fried funk to the accepting audience. Any thoughts of a travel hangover where quickly conquered as the saxophone solo 10 minutes into the set left everyone with no choice but to get down & dirty. After riding that funk to the end we headed back down the mountain with a heard of good people to catch the end of Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes. Johnny plays Electric Cello & the dirty notes are not afraid to throw a mix of music at you that's simply unstoppable.
Last call came & went & the final late night show opened the doors @ 2:00 a.m. Eric Lindell's Soul Roots Movement rolled into town just in time to make the late start. Eric's one of my favorites on the list & although road weary they again didn't disappoint. Finally we hit the festival as nothing but beer drinkers & music seekers on Sunday. By this time I had made 10,000 trips to the House of Brews tent and Dales Pale Ale line seemed to be pretty consistently long. A great group of local beer drinkers had befriended us by the final day & they secured the first row for the Gospel Hour in the rain. After the late night before we made it to the festival to see the thick list of New Orleans bands warm up the crowd for the final encore of the festival: The Black Crowes. As Chris Robinson said: "It's great to be back among the mountain people, we brought Rock n' Roll for you!" The set would prove that comment to be an understatement, lord did they rock. Sporting Luther Dickenson on rhythm guitar the Crowes threw down a smoking set. That set left us with one more shot at musical salvation: Fais Do Do. This was the perfect encore for the festival & for the summer season in the town of Telluride. The Sheridan Opera House provided another amazing setting for Bonerama & The Radiators to funk the hell out of the closing party. Yep, that's right the bands played together, testing the limits of how much funk can fit on one stage, in one building & at one festival. Mark Mullins led that group into a version of "War Pigs" that may have peeled the paint straight off the walls. Thanks to everyone for sharing this special event with Oskar Blues Brewery, we will be back next year!

heading off to...

the 14th annual Telluride Blues & Brews festival. We're packing the vans as we speak...or post. Come check us out as one of the most breathtaking venues in Colorado hosts brewers & musicians from coast to coast. Our beers will be featured in the House of Brews as well as during the Grand Tasting.

BFR2

Lyons local Redstone Cyclery will be putting on the 2nd edition of their Big Fall Ride. For more details check out this link to the redstone underground & be in the know.

Happy Birthday Mary, 70's Style

No Races = Big Rides

With the Mountain States Cup season behind us we headed to the front range high country for some soul searching.

Wild Turkey Opens 9/14

I recieved this fantastic email today. Thanks to all who played a role in getting this trail created & open. Take a look at one of our days working on the trail HERE. Don't forget about the upcoming trail work day on October 6th - see you out there, cm

> Subject: Wild Turkey Trail will open to all on September 14
> Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 11:29:20 -0600
> From:
> To:
>
> Hello dedicated trail builders,
>
> Good news, the Wild Turley Trail will be open to all hikers, bikers, runners, and equestrians on Friday September 14th. Come enjoy the dramatic views, dense woods, and open meadows along this new trail.
>
> Over the past year, 283 volunteers have donated a total of 4,811 hours raking tread, moving rocks, and spreading duff to help open this new multi-use trail. On behalf of Boulder County Parks and Open Space, I would like to thank you for your continued dedication and hard work.
>
> More opportunities! Be a part of the first trail building project that will connect Heil Valley Ranch to the Town of Lyons on October 6th, from 8:30-1:00. Parks and Open Space will again partner with Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance for this project. For more information and to register, please look at the BMA HOMEPAGE>
> Happy trails,
> Matt Bruce
>
> Volunteer Work Project Coordinator
> Boulder County Parks and Open Space

one last labor day ride

We headed home from Keystone for one last labor day ride on the front range. Check out some of the images HERE & HERE.

Keystone Climax

The 2007 Mountain States Cup season came to a climactic end at Keystone Mountain Resort over Labor Day weekend. Overall series champions were crowned & celebratory beers where cracked. Here's a quick rundown.
Yeah Baby!
Jay Henry going blow to blow with McConnel Franklin in the exciting STXCThe rest of the Pro men try to follow.Franklin! Jay did get his revenge on Sunday.Katie Compton prepares for Cyclocross season by crushin' it single stylee.OB Favorite & Expert Winner Monique HeinThe Spike girls always stop in for a cold one after suffering.Cheers!'Nuff SaidLyons local Conner gettin' after it.Another Lyons local on his way to the BIG WIN!Ross Milan kickin' it between runsAhh yeah, it's that time!
Sam gets the goods
Happy Trails!

A great finals weekend in Keystone had big wins & some nasty losses. Oskar Blues homeboy Wade was one of the loosers, although he did go home with some hardware. Unfortunately for him it was in the form of plates & screws in his arm after over boosting the final kicker of the DS. Good luck on a quick recovery man. A G3 event at Angel Fire, NM in October is the only remaining stop on the 2007 calendar. Don't worry folks...the fun never stops as we set our sights on the Cyclocross season. See you out there!