Category: Uncategorized

On the last day, several groups split up and did their own thing. Some hit Mount Crested Butte, others did another backcountry ride and a few did both! Matt and Lisa ended up taking the day off the bikes and checking out Judd Falls just above the tiny town of Gothic.

On the second to last day, GORC piled into our respective vehicles and arrived in Gunnison, Colorado about forty minutes later. Today was a treat… Hartman Rocks!

On what was the traditional GORC rest day – Wednesday – someone came up with the idea of attending the free Pinnacle Race Series held at Mount Crested Butte. Featuring both a cross-country and downhill event, costing no money, and get this, free beer and food at the finish, it was a no-brainer for the race kids

Anyone who rides a single speed long enough will soon find themselves looking for replacement cogs and chainrings. I had since moved to a splined hub about a year ago and found swapping the rear cog to be much more friendlier.

Yesterday I went out to Greensfelder to see how the forest was holding up and to preempt any downed trees in case the work week picked up. I threw on the Dakine Builder Pack with chainsaw (not included) and rode Eagle Valley onto the Northern end of the Green Rock to cut out a known downed tree.

Back in October or so Surly Intergalactic HQ dropped some photos and a dribble of information concerning their soon-to-be-unleashed do-it-all 29er bike – the Ogre. Recycling many of the attributes of last year’s 26″ Surly Troll touring trouble-maker, the Ogre also bought the big boots and would roll off the production line as a 29er.

Unlike seeing them in person and trying someone’s setup, reading about bar setups on a blog is about as useful as reading how to exercise – oh, you’ll get book smart and maybe even entertain yourself (how?) but in the end you’ll still be wondering what it feels like to ride in a size medium legging with these here Woodchippers (number 2? version 2? … it has the number 2 after woodchipper, that must be better!)

Somehow I managed to get off work early and to my house by 2pm. I’d explored in my truck and by satellite imagery some far roads out west and today was the day to ride the loop I christened the Franklin County Foothills.

The third Missouri Gravel Grinder event of the yearly winter gravel series took place near St. James, Missouri just south of Meramec Springs State Park. To everyone’s surprise, over 70 riders made the trek from all over the state to attend the Joe Dirt ride on Sunday, January 15, 2012.

Three weeks ago a simple post was placed on the GORC site from Jim Davis who was cross-linking a blog post from Team Virtus. Until that post, I had not heard of this adventure race team. Turns out Bob Jenkins was part of this crew and he had thrown the idea of a Berryman Social Ride into the wind – then it took flight.