More Spring Brook Loop Photos!

Well, folks, here are a few photos I took from the ride to add to Rich's posting. Did not have time to drop them into photoshop so hope the raw images are bearable. Great day out and a nice addition to the West TSA for sure on top of the new Flat Irons Vista Trails, Dowdy Reroute and so on! The trails just keep coming. Enjoy and thanks to the City for giving us this opportunity to give input as some of the first bikers on the trail.

Folks showing up and enjoying the bagels and coffee Dean brought for the gathering.

Herschel rode his bike to the TH from Boulder

Dean giving everyone the plan of attack and introducing the other City reps.

Jon heading up Dowdy road towards the Flat Irons Vista Trails

Dean heading out

Another shot of Dean on the Dowdy Road

John Daily with a nice view of Mickey Mouse wall


John and Jon riding along--look at Jon's sweet Walt Works fixed gear.

A short meeting at the Spring Brook spur to divide the group and ride both directions

Mike getting read to head out. First group is in the distance riding across the wash. Steve and Dean tape up a sign to let other users know that we are doing a training.

Meadow section and a great view into Eldorado Canyon


Mike and Andria with a view to the North

Andria enjoying the fast meadow just before entering the trees.

Mike giving the thumbs up--he must be enjoying him self!

Final group shot but wait, who is that off on his cell phone? At least he made it for Rich's camera.

Trail is scheduled to open December 2nd. Maybe we can have a group of us there to patrol and see how the public takes to the new single track.

Spring Brook Pre-Ride

Boulder City folks took the BMBP on a ride of the soon-to-open Spring Brook loop. Around 14 Patrollers attended, rode a lap each way and gave feedback to the open space officials. It's a beautiful loop with stunning views of the Flatirons.

Picture Rock Pictures!

A few pics from the opening yesterday!


A big turnout!

Can't wait to ride!

And they're off!

Nice evening for a ride!

Hercsh climbing!

John and Dave ready for more.

Another happy trail user!

Thanks for all the hard work Mike!

Sure is nice up here.

John having a great time!

Good night Picture Rock, be back soon!

Picture Rock Pre Ride/Training for Bike Patrollers--Sept 20th

See the note below on a pre-ride of the new Picture Rock Trail where Michael Bauer from the County will be educating the Bike patrol. We will hit Oscars afterwards for some social spirits and food. I plan to ride more after some food, possible Elk Meadows so please come join! JP



Bike Patrollers,

in preparation for the grand opening of the Picture Rock Trail at Heil Valley Ranch, we will conduct a training ride Boulder County Parks and Open Space.

When: Saturday September 20th, 9:30 A.M.
What: Training Ride for Picture Rock
Where: Northern Trail terminus off of Red Gulch Road

Carpool info: Since there is limited parking, we will arrange carpools from the Bus Stop in Boulder and also from Airport and Nelson in Longmont. Those will meet up at 8:50am and be on the way to Lyons skatepark by 9am. We will then meet at the Skate park and ride to the Red Gulch TH. Meet at the skatepark at 9:20am!! Please leave comments on the blog if you want to arrange carpools or use the Google group. Skate park is on the NW corner of 4th and Railroad Ave--see this link.

This is a specially offered training ride with Boulder County, offered only at this time and day. Barring that, as with any closed trail, please do not ride Picture Rock until the opening.

We will see you at the trail head, ready to ride, at 9:30am on Saturday, September 20th.

Michael Bauer
Boulder County Parks and Open Space
http://www.bouldercountyopenspace.org
5201 St. Vrain Road
Longmont, CO 80503
(office) 303-678-6219
(cell) 303-818-0615
(fax) 303-678-6178

Picture Rock Opening--Patrollers Needed!

On Monday September 22nd the Picture Rock trail will be opening. Boulder County is throwing a small party that afternoon starting at 4pm. Patrollers are needed to help that day with the opening and be there to provide support to new users. This is a great way to show our involvement to the public and the County and be there from the beginning to make a difference. Also a good way to be on top of the possible user conflicts and avoid the initial few months of the Dowdy Draw incidents.

Please attend the preride on Saturday Sept 20th to get a sneak peak at the entire new trail at this post (Picture rock preride). More opening details below:

Put it on Your Calendar

September 22, 4pm in Lyons

Picture Rock Trail Grand Opening

Come join the Boulder County Commissioners & BCPOS Staff for a ribbon cutting ceremony, and a ride immediately after.

The details right now:

• Park at Planet Bluegrass
• Ride to the NO PARKING access point along Red Gulch Road.
• After the ceremony and ride, return to Planet Bluegrass for a catered party provided by Oskar Blues... BCPOS is going to to this right!

Free First Aid/CPR Training for Bike Patrollers October 12th!

Hey everyone, long time waiting but Boulder County has stepped up and is offering us a class for the Fall. This is a great way to finalize National Mountain Bike Patroller status and also to just refresh your first aid skills. First come first serve--RSVP now! JP


It is confirmed...a Fall 1st Aid and CPR class.

When: Sunday, October 12
8:30am - 4:00pm

What: First Aid and CPR class - 12 spaces.

Where: POS Building Prairie Room training rooms
5201 St. Vrain Road (south of Hygiene, between 75th and Airport on St. Vrain)
Longmont

RSVP: Matt Bruce
303-678-6216
mbruce@bouldercounty.org

Class will be filled on a first come basis.

BMA Sufferfest 2008!

make sure to "display images" , special thanks to McDavid!

Get your Labor Day crap out-the-way and come play with the big boys & girls at SufferFest 2008 - September 6th & 7th. End of Bike Patrol & general BMA thank you Bash. If you’ve got the cojones and the chutzpah, got the attitude for the altitude... check it out & register here.

Also we need a bunch-o-help with morning-of tasks, shuttling stuff & setting up camp, etc. Thanks to Sue Butcher & Eleanor Needy the support stations are womaned but as this is the first annual… numerous things need coverage.

Also, also we need to borrow or have donated any of the following items:

· Portable gas grills

· Big water coolers

· Portable generator

· Paper plates, cups, platters & compostable utensils

Contact Hersch to lend a hand or hook us up with stuff… all vols get a pair of killer BMA bike socks, our eternal thanks & all the free beer & food you can fight for!

Rescheduled for October Social Trail Ride in Nederland

Come on out and join me for a social ride on the Nederland trails now that patrolling has come to an end up in the NFS. Weather is turning colder and high country rides can start to get limited. We will ride slightly outside the patrol boundaries and enjoy possibly some new single track for some.

This is a fun ride with a "tour de Ned" for those that do not want to temp fate on the Sufferfest ride that same day. My wife will be joining, so bring yours or your significant other so we can all meet each other and enjoy the day! We will ride for a few hours, regroup as needed at all trail junctions and then head over to the campout at the Beaver Reservoir for food, spirits and catch up with the Sufferfest riders! Camping is still an option too there if you bring your gear. Hope to see many of you there and have a great time!

Details:

Where to meet: Caboose parking lot in downtown Nederland by the grocery market. 9am bus should get you there just before or carpool up from the Justice Center Parking lot @ 9:45am.
When: 10:30 am Saturday September 6th, 2008
Bring: Your bike, your companion, lunch, and water.

Please rsvp to John Perry if you are coming to this fun ride! More details posted here as the week goes on. Let me know if you have any questions!

happy hour at Avery Brewing Co.

Happy Hour
Avery Brewing Co.'s tasting room
5763 Arapahoe, Unit E
Monday, August 25th
5-7pm

Our friends at Avery Brewing Co. want to reward you for a hard season of patrolling by throwing a happy hour event at their tasting room, and we're excited to take them up on the kind offer. Avery will provide the beer, BMBP will provide the pizza, and you'll provide the good times. We'll also be passing out more tubes, a slew of SRAM PowerLinks (donated by Performance Bicycle), and those nifty reusable zip ties we talked about so many moons ago!

We'll also do a little something special to recognize some of the patrollers who have put in big effort (to date - the season is not over!) for the Boulder Mountain Bike Patrol.

This event is just for BMBP patrollers, so leave your crew of hard-drinking buddies at a different bar and meet them after 7pm. :)

Birthday Patrol at Hall Ranch

Well, worked on my bike yesterday to get ready for the San Juan Hut Trip from Silverton to Moab and needed a test ride anyway. Plus its a feel good when you are riding something so fun on your bday and volunteering at the same time! Not my normal ride for a bday epic, but since I leave on the trip Saturday--no need to make epic too early. Headed out to Hall and had the place mostly to my self. Did help out a couple from Florida that were a little in awe at the rock garden. Storms started to develop in the distance but overall great morning and my bike worked perfectly. Here are some quick pics. You can see the storms develop over the laps I did at the top. Nice Blue Sky looking West on the loop.

Looking back East--nice blue sky day..or at least it seems.
Longs and Meeker in the distance--not many clouds yet.
Bike Tracks on the Closed to Bikes trail--not good to see--not just one set, but several sets.


This is me, in case we have not met! One more Westerly Pic after a few laps--clouds formed quick!
Ride on!

Mud Lake "patrol"

Mud Lake is not a priority for patrolling -- but I was up there with my girlfriend Ivete on Sunday 6/29 and had my sign in my pack, so what the heck...

The most interesting contact was running into a very nice woman and her daughter who had 3 llamas. We had a great discussion about her encounters with mountain bikers -- all positive. She said while we're technically supposed to yield, she'd prefer if we just carefully ride by. Llamas, as opposed to horses, are not easily spooked. It didn't even matter whether we pass above or below the llama, if on a slope. I said it would be best if the rider would communicate with her, and ask her preference. She agreed, and said 95% of the time that is what happens...then they end up having a conversation like we did, about llamas, wool, where'd they come from, why are their necks so tall, what is that purring sound he's making...

Anyhow said our goodbyes and she was very appreciative of our patrol work.

Bike to Work Month at Heil Valley Ranch

I led a ride at Heil Valley Ranch for Bike to Work Month, and why not also call it a patrol? A small group of 5 people, but we did get a ride to and from Boulder in style - via the mighty fine biodiesel bus of Crispin + Porter + Bodusky, and got plenty of strange looks when arriving at the trailhead.

Lots of mountain bikers out on the trails for after-work mileage and everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather and great temperatures. The trail is pretty dusty, with actual sand pits in a few parts of Wapiti, bring on the rain!