Lyons Outdoor Games brought to you by Oskar Blues Brewery

The fine folks here at Oskar Blues Brewery are stoked to be presenting the 2008 Lyons Outdoor Games May 30th, 31st & June 1st. Created 6-years ago as the Lyons Whitewater Festival, an excuse for paddling buddies from around the country to come together for a day of play in the famed Lyons Whitewater park, the Lyons Outdoor Games has grown into a world class celebration of mountain sports featuring kayaking, mountain biking and even dog events. In addition to competitions for all skill levels the Games will offer numerous clinics and exhibitions put on by some of the world's most elite professional athletes. With such a myriad of activities the 2008 Lyons Outdoor Games promises to offer something for every outdoor enthusiast. Oskar Blues will be catering the event kickoff BBQ on Friday May 30th with live music at Sandstone Park. The Dales Pale Ale / Spot Brand race team & demo trailer will be at the games offering you a chance to ride the new Carbon Drive System. Saturday night will be a party & silent auction at Oskar Blues as well. The entire weekend is a fundraiser for the Lyons Parks & Rec department, come & enjoy our parks while helping us keep them in great shape.

Dales Pale Ale supports Green Mountain Sports Velo Racing

Based in Lakewood, CO Green Mountain Sports Velo Racing team consists of 75 men and women racers. Some race competitively, some recreational. Keep an eye on the diverse group of racers ranging from Time Trials to 24 Hour races. This Thursday Green Mountain Sports is hosting a packet pickup for the Cherry Creek Time Trial Series.
We meet Saturday mornings at Green Mountain Sports to go for a training ride; leaving the shop at 10 a.m.

Oskar Blues Brewery official beer of Warriors Cycling Events

In addition to Dales Pale Ale being the chosen beer of the Mountain States Cup Series Oskar Blues Brewery is also going to be at all of 2008's Warriors Cycling events.

Headlining their events is the 5 race 2008 Rocky Mountain Ultra Regional Endurance Series. This new Marathon Endurance Series tests the stamina and consistency of the athletes throughout a five race series. Five venues from New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming make up this prestigious Series, with each event bringing a unique flavor to the fast growing sport of endurance cycling.

a few Carbon Drive System videos from 2007

nothing new but still fun & sometimes funny vids from last year I saw on youtube.com

Clash of the FIDYs, this Friday at the Falling Rock Taphouse

Hello Beery Coloradoans,

This Friday, March 28, at 5 PM at Falling Rock Taphouse in Denver, we'll be presenting a special tasting of two versions of Ten FIDY, our gentle-giant, cult-favorite imperial stout.

Falling Rock will be serving a rare keg of Ten FIDY, and an even more rare keg of FIDY that we aged in a Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey barrel for several weeks.

The beers are very, very lovely.

If all goes as planned, our entire brewing staff A-Team will be at Falling Rock to answer any questions you may have about Ten FIDY and our other beers.

It'll be big fun, with much great beer and fellowship, and some beer schwag giveaways, too.

You'll laugh, you'll sigh.

I hope to see you there.

Marty Jones
Lead Singer/Idea Man
Oskar Blues Brewery

Cult Cross Trailer & Final Weekend Approaching

Here's a sample video of the first day of Cult Cross 2008.
You still have one more chance to get your spring Cyclocross fix this weekend at the Eagle Fairgrounds. We'll see you there.

Mountain States Cup Scheduling Changes

2008-03-19 - Scheduling Changes Explained www.racemsc.com
Gravity and endurance folks take note! As most of you know, Keystone's big gondola construction project forced us to make a change a few months ago. Very recently Telluride has expressed concern over their Full Tilt event, so much so that we had to plow ahead and shuffle our schedule around without them. Adding to the mix were existing conflicts with both the Teva Games and Colorado Crankworks. These issues are all addressed HERE. The resolution is actually pretty cool from a few different perspectives.

Spot Brand Carbon Drive System DEMO at Bitterbrush Cycles

Bitterbrush Cycles in Lyons, CO will have a Spot Brand size large Demo bike available for a limited time. Stop in or give Glenn a call to line up a test ride. Before heading home stop across the street & grab a burger & beer at Oskar Blues. Enjoy!

Cult Cross Pictures & News

Cyclocross Magazine has posted an article from the first weekend of events HERE
Here is a slide show from Onsight Media who is also producing a show to air on RSN & a DVD for purchase.

In totally unrelated news my dad landed a pretty good size walley this weekend on the Fox River back in Wisco. Nice fish pops.

'07 Final Yeti Tribe Update

Yeti has added some pictures of the 2007 Tribe Gathering that Oskar Blues took part in. Since 401 trail might be buried under snow for the entire summer I thought you might like to check 'em out HERE

3.18.08 BMA Action Alert: Betasso

BMA Action Alert!
Betasso Management Plan
Comments Being Taken by BCPOS
Two Minutes Will Make a Huge Difference

Boulder County Parks and Open Space are in the process of revisting their management plan for Betasso Preserve. With the addition of the Bnejamin property, this park has grown in size by almost 50%. This is Boulder County's opportunity to address the needs of City of Boulder residents who want a quality mountain bike ride without the use of a car.

BMA has assembled a group of members to attend the meetings, do the homework, and create recommendations that serves the cycling community.

We are asking you today to send comments on the plan. There are two ways you can do this

Option 1:

Copy the boilerplate below and send it to estrenge@bouldercounty.org Please feel free to add you own comments as you deem appropriate; making it personal does make a difference.

Subject Line: Betasso Management Plan - Comments

Don't forget to put your name at the end!

Greetings

I am contacting you today to comment on the revisit of the Betasso Preserve Management Plan. I am a Boulder County resident, taxpayer, registered voter and mountain biker that visits BCPOS lands.

I see this property as Boulder County's most significant opportunity to give City of Boulder residents a quality mountain bike experience without the use of a car. There are many actions BCPOS can take to address this opportunity:

BCPOS should maximize the recreation experience in the area deemed appropriate.
Build new sustainable singletrack trails to the North and West to the Benjamin property and connect Bettasso trails to these to create a greater experience (see Heil Valley Ranch for example); stacked loops are fun.
Create alternate access points. This gives users the opportunity to create a varied experience rather than one that is always the same. The "historic use" of the Benjamin property's social trails was part of a much greater trail system that included the use of county roads, old mining roads, forest service trails and roads, and others, that not only enabled riding from your house without the use of a car, but also allowed for a connection between Nederland and other ridding options to the West & North of Boulder. Alternate access points create differing usage patterns. These points of entry to the new sustainable trail system need to be designated as legal access points. We encourage BCPOS to eliminate parking at these points to relieve neighborhood concerns.
It is important to consider that users value connecting one trail system to another. (such as what is currently happening at Heil Valley Ranch with the Picture Rock Trail)
Shorten the gap between the Boulder Canyon Trail and current Betasso access. The section of canyon road (CO119) that cyclists have to travel is dangerous. The Pipeline Trail is unsustainable in its current configuration. Please investigate and develop an access point(s) that gets bikes off the highway and on to open space sooner.
We would like to encourage BCPOS to eliminate the day bike ban which closes the area to cyclists two days a week. Trail design does a better job of managing user conflict than restriction. We encourage BCPOS to disperse the users to reduce the conflict.
As a long term goal, BCPOS should pursue a ‘no parking’ access point from the top of Arkansas Mountain.

I am in agreement with the goals BCPOS has for this property and I thank you for considering my opinion. Please keep me informed of future developments regarding this management plan.

Sincerely,
your name goes here

Option 2:

Create your own comments and send to estrenge@bouldercounty.org

BCPOS, to their credit, has amassed a significant amount of information on this subject.

The information displays that were at the open houses can be viewed HERE

The Planning area map, and links to all other relevant information can be found HERE

Front Range Epic, Goonies Style

I've been living in the Front Range for nearly a decade since my move from Wisconsin. In all honesty, this weekend presented the most complete front range epic I've experienced. I guess there are certain details we could argue about for hours over many Dales Pale Ale, but as a general statement this one surprised us & had all the aspects necessary of a 5+ hour epic. I know what you're thinking...right, an "EPIC" from 5200 ft. in the Front Range...well, ask yourself what ARE the makings of an epic. The most relatable definition via the dictionary says: adj - very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale); "an epic voyage"; "of heroic proportions"; "heroic sculpture". It was so fun I'm not going to give you the direct route, but if your up for it ask Mikey for the old treasure map leading to the secret treasure of One-Eyed Willie. Enter the Devil's Backbone, avoid booby-traps & you may find yourself in the midst of nearly unlimited miles of front range jewels.After a 30 minute drive from Lyons we hit dirt at The Bone.Randy attempts to pass the cheese grader trap
Look out for that step-up booby trap, it's a doozy.after navigating some Blue Sky we made it to part 3, an initial view from the steeps at Horsetooth.
after playing some notes on the organ the group is allowed to pass safely through the keyhole under the rock.
at this point I guess we just keep goinganother root & rock filled trap escapedLooking out over Horsetooth reservoir, looks like the trail sign might be pointing us to a TenFidy?
after a descent that truly was a hidden treasure we headed back to Blue Sky attempting to outrun the storm
back safely, complete with a desperate ride back in the snow.

With the group avoiding the mounting snow & safely back at the car Chad's marble bag is revealed to be full of a large mass of precious stones. Melis had replaced his marbles with the these 8% gems of Old Chub. With the value of these 12 oz gems to pay off Mr. Perkins, Mr. Walsh tears up the contract & the Goon Docks is saved from its fate of being redeveloped as a golf course. The police arrest the Fratellis, except for Sloth. Chunk tells Sloth that he can live with him and his family.

The Goonies marvel the story of their epic singeltrack hunt over Old Chub & burritos. As the ship sails away Chris, Jason, Randy & Melis bid farewell and thank-you to their front range epic.

PS: if think this is cheesy, it is. As was the movie, but you KNOW it was also BAD ASS!

Cult Cross 2008 Pics: Day 1

The Day started with the usual drive to a bike race
High elevation spring confusion, skis or bikes, or bikes or skis.

Conditions were a classic cycle cross mud/snow batter
The bike was a mess by the end of the day.



J W's territory

Bar-H Bash update on cyclingnews.com

Cyclingnews.com has updated results & a short summary of the weekend's races. They certainly gave us some love (other than the spelling of Jen's name), here's what they had to say about the singlespeed race:
"In the open singlespeed Division Alex Morgan (Hill Sports Shop) of downhill fame won by more than three minutes over David Boyd (Team Bike Lane). Third and fourth places went to Gavin Hayes and Jennifer Gersback, both of Spot Brand /Dales Pale Ale. Gersback, a downhill national champion, short track cross country national champion, and podium finisher at 'cross nationals, was riding a 29er belt drive singlespeed made by Spot Brand. What can't this girl do?"
check it out HERE

Cult Cross to air on RSN

OnSight Media will have a production crew recording the 2008 Cult Cross races for an RSN Television release in April 2008. A 30-minute program including elite women and men's race highlights will be shown on the RSN Television Network a minimum of 8 times, available throughout Colorado. A DVD will also be produced and made available for sale and an online video series highlighting the races will be created for online viewing.

Below is samples of OnSight's coverage of the 2007 Men's Colorado Cyclocross Championships that is currently airing on Comcast CET.

Maintenance, Growth & what else...Beer

With Spring weather giving us a glimmer of hope I've been able to get the bike wash set back up. With Cult Cross coming up this weekend I had to give some lovin' to the Spot cross bike. I'm not sure how you roll but when CX season is over my race rig works overtime, turning into the dirt road riding do-it-all training machine. It took a couple of times over that baby to get all that redstone dust out it, but hey at least the chain wasn't nasty!
Speaking of spring, after one round of bike cleaning we headed to Oskar Blues to kick it with burgers & beer back porch style. Can't beat flip-flops & sunshine to help wash down that smmmooooootttthhhhh unfiltered Dales Pale Ale....Yum, YUm, YUM, YUMMMMM.
You can really feel the growth at the Oskar Blues Brewery. While hanging out on the back porch long enough for a Burger & a few beers we saw 3 Semi's come through & fill up on OB Beer. If you've ever been to our little brewery & restaurant you know 3 trucks will fill that area up all quick like. The brewers & the canning crew can't wait for the NEW brewery to get finished up. I'll get you all an update with some pictures next week.


Hall Ranch is absolutely rideable & in fine form. With the daylight savings change & Hall Ranch right down the road my legs are totally blown. A few trips up & down that baby on the 32x19 & the legs start screaming pretty loudly. Nope I didn't clean it this week, gonna have to try again next week. This week is turning into maintenance week, in addition to getting the cross bikes out I had to get the drivetrain on my DPA Maverick replaced so I could join the Tuesday Night Redstone ride with gears & squish. I had a good time but it sure felt odd after being on a hardtail single speed most of the winter.

I better get going, I have lots of cross gear to dust off before I get the car loaded up. Cheers!

Washington Post - 2nd Annual Showdown of Suds

In the spirit of March Madness the Washington Post has devised a bracket for 32 beers to go head to head in Beer Madness. You vote to see which beer advances, Old Chub has a tough matchup in the first round. We are facing off with a more widely distributed & identified Samual Adams Honey Porter. To vote or to see more info click HERE

Cult Cross 2008

In a bold & highly unlikely move Cult Cross 2008 gets rolling this weekend by setting a new standard: high elevation, totally out of season, cyclocross sufferfest under a blanket of heavy Eagle Fairgrounds snow. Looks like there will be plenty of snow to dig yourself deep into a snow based pain cave. We'll be heading out to Eagle fairgrounds Saturday to find our legs & our inner yern for suffereing amongst the snow & elevation. We'll be bringing brew, possibly some whiskey & a few Spot Brand demo bikes as well. If ou think you can cheat death Saturday, don't forget these folks ain't playin'...we be racing both days yo. I guess they pretty much nailed it here: CULT CROSS 2008 - WHAT DOES NOT KILL YOU, WILL ONLY MAKE YOU STRONGER. Check it OUT!