2008 May | UltraRob's Adventures

Blogging from Coast to Coast

May 29th, 2008

In about a week I’ll be in California to crew for David Holt in the Race Across America. Outside magazine once rated this as the world’s toughest sporting event. I raced in 2006. Crewing will be much different than racing but I’m not sure it’ll be easier.

In addition to crewing, I plan to blog the experience as much as possible as we go. With David being on the bike for 20+ hours a day, I expect it will be challenging.

My father-in-law loaned me his T-Mobile card for internet access while we’re on the road. I’m not confident that it’ll work well especially in the southwest where we won’t be near cities for long periods. I’ve heard that Verizon is better for mobile internet access but I don’t want a 2 year plan.

I plan on using Twitter to post some updates. Twitter allows messages of up to 140 characters to be posted. One of the ways this can be done is by sending a text message. Before I leave I plan to put a widget in the right sidebar that will show my Twitter updates.

In addition to text blogging, I’m also going to be doing audio blogging. Jott allows posts of up to 30 seconds. Not only do they provide the audio, but they also convert it to text. I wonder what they’ll think I’m saying at 3 AM. I’ve also signed up with GabCast for longer audio updates. I haven’t had a chance to do any testing with it.

Anybody have any suggestions on other services I should check out? I have a basic cell phone so there’s not much I can do on it.

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Tags: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling
Posted in Bike, Road Bike | No Comments »

2008 Kokopelli Trail Race

May 28th, 2008

The Kokopelli Trail Race happened a week and a half ago. The 142 mile race through the desert between Moab, UT and Fruita, CO is one of growing number of unsupported endurance mountain bike races. Even getting water from campers on the trail is enough for disqualification.

In the case of the KTR, there is no entry fee and no real organizer. It’s just several people that decide to meet and race. The last few years it had gotten quite big. Unfortunately the BLM thought that a permit was required. Last year they showed up and fined Adam Lisonbee $275 since he was the one that proposed the date on MTBR.

This year the plans for the race were kept quiet to keep the BLM from interfering. It also meant that a lot smaller group race it. It also went from Moab to Fruita instead of the opposite direction like last year. The race started and midnight Friday night

Kenny won this year’s race. He ran out of water and was suffering but still managed to win. His time was 14 hours and 56 minutes. Chris, who hiked Pikes Peak by moonlight with me in February, finished 2nd even after not being able to stay awake and taking naps along the way. I believe Pete Basinger from Alaska was third and another Alaskan Geoff Roes was 4th.

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Scarpa Zen Pro Mid GTX Hiking Boots

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Technorati Tags: Colorado | Kokopelli Trail Race | mountain biking | Utah

Tags: Colorado, Kokopelli Trail Race, mountain biking, Utah
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Mountain Bike Racing Returns to Colorado Springs

May 26th, 2008

Sand Creek Sports is once again bringing mountain bike racing to Colorado Springs. They put on the popular Sand Creek Series from 1993 to 2002. There will be 3 races on Wednesday nights on the new Bear Creek Singletrack. The dates are June 4th, 11th and 18th. I’m very happy to see some local week night races again.

Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be at any of the races. The first one is the night before I leave to crew for
David Holt in the Race Across America. I think I’ll still be trying to get last minute things done before I leave. The other 2 will be while I’m gone.

There will be two different start times. The first group will be at 5 PM and the 2nd group at 6:15 PM. The first wave will be beginners, juniors except Expert/Sport men, and Clydesdales. The 2nd group will be Sport and Expert categories. See the entry form for additional information and exactly which categories are in each group.

There have been some concerns about the course being short and not having many places to pass. The course is 2.5 miles long which is a lot longer than the 0.8 mile Hell on the Hillside in Manitou which was my least favorite Sand Creek course. You could pass pretty much anywhere on the Hell on the Hillside but some of the Bear Creek trail is pretty narrow.

It’s a little hard to tell from the course map the exact course since in some places there are connecting trails that are pretty close. It does appear though that the course will climb up the section of trail I worked on last summer. If you try passing through the grass on that section, there’s plenty of cacti waiting for the chance to give you a flat. The good news is that at the start the wide multi-use trail will be used for part of the climb. The sections of trail on the north close to the dog park have more places on them for passing.

I raced most of the old Sand Creek Series races and they were always a good time. Most of those races were also on Wednesday nights with a few on the weekends. I finished 2nd in the series 3 years in a row in the Pro/Expert category. I just could never come up with the series win.

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Scarpa Zen Pro Mid GTX Hiking Boots

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Tags: Colorado Springs, mountain biking
Posted in Bike, Mountain Bike | No Comments »

County Commissioners Consider Selling Parks

May 25th, 2008

The El Paso county commissioners are considering selling some of our great parks because of budget problems. They are proposing to lay off most parks employees and close 2 nature centers. In 2003 the county parks had $2.3 million from the general fund and with their proposal it will have nothing from the general fund.

This coming Tuesday morning at 9 AM the Board of County Commissioners will take public comment on the proposals. If you can’t make the meeting, you can also contact your commissioner.

Here are the details from the Trails and Open Space Coalition

Board of County Commissioners Work Session, Tuesday, May 27, 2008, 9:00 am, 27 E. Vermijo, 3rd Floor.

The BOCC will take public comments on potential budget cuts for 2008 at this work session. As we all know, the county is facing a severe budget deficit. Part of its solution will severely impact the county parks department. This is your opportunity to show up and express your opinion on the proposed cuts.

Essentially, the proposal will zero out the general fund support for parks leaving the department to survive only on a small lottery allocation and developer fees. This would save approximately $560,000. In 2003, the department was operating with a $2.3M general fund budget.

Here are the proposed cuts:

Lay off 5 general fund full time staff members ($168,000), close Bear Creek and Fountain Creek Nature Centers including laying off 5 full time staff members ($170,000), cancelling all landscape contracts and trying to do the work internally ($67,000), further reducing operations by $155,000, laying off 5 lottery full time staff members ($110,000 – not part of the $560,000).

They have also been asked to review the potential sale of park property.

We have a spectacular county park system used by thousands of residents and visitors. Losing this number of employees will take away years of experience that cannot be replaced. The department will become a maintenance only department operating in essentially a caretaker operation. Is this what we want? No.

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Tags: Colorado Springs, hiking, mountain biking
Posted in outdoors | No Comments »

2008 Ride of Silence Report

May 24th, 2008

Wednesday night I participated in the Ride of Silence to honor those killed or injured while riding their bikes. I barely made it there after the TOPS meeting on the White Acres/Bethany Baptist Church parcel. We had a group that was close to 40 riders. We rode slowly around the downtown area.

We had a few people waving and cheering us on. Unfortunately I think they just thought we were out for a ride. I think we need to have some kind of banner that tells what the ride is about. At one point an old hearse drove past. A couple of us thought that would make a good lead car with banners telling about the ride. We had a couple rude car drivers not wanting a large group of bikes on the road but even they weren’t too bad.

Here’s a couple more ride reports from around the country

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Technorati Tags: Colorado Springs | cycling | Ride of Silence

Tags: Colorado Springs, cycling, Ride of Silence
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TOPS Meeting on White Acres

May 22nd, 2008

I did make it to the TOPS Meeting yesterday for the presentation on the White Acres/Bethany Baptist Church parcel near Section 16 and Red Rock Canyon Open Space. The church is interested in selling the property. It seems there is a developer that is interested in developing about 25 lots plus town homes along Gold Camp road.

There was a short presentation that included pictures of the area. The TOPS committee has had some discussions about only purchasing the area along the hogback or ridge and allowing development along Gold Camp. Although I think the ridge is the most important piece, I really don’t want to see any development on that land.

If you don’t know where that land is, it is near the 5 way stop where 26th street drops into Bear Creek Canyon. It is the land along Gold Camp Road to the right if you’re headed into Bear Creek Canyon. It extends up and over the ridge. You can see a
map of the parcel on the county assessor’s parcel info.

The key thing about the property is there’s a trail that runs along the ridge that connects from the old landfill road to near the Section 16 parking lot. This allows for some bigger loops with trails in Red Rocks Open Space and the Section 16/Intemann Trails. There are some great views from there. The pictures I’ve added are from late in the day in November so the lighting isn’t very good.

There were only 5 people there including me to comment on the White Acres/Bethany Baptist Church parcel. All were in favor of it being purchased for open space. A couple said they thought some development was alright. I made it clear I didn’t want any development.

Jim Yount from Medicine Wheel asked if people could comment by e-mail since he hadn’t been able to notify people until yesterday. The committee said they would welcome email comments. They should be sent to Chris Lieber. Send me an email if you would like his email address.

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Tags: Colorado Springs, hiking, mountain biking, White Acres
Posted in Bike, Hike, Mountain Bike, outdoors | 1 Comment »

Today TOPS to Discuss Land East of Red Rocks Open Space

May 21st, 2008

White Acres, which is owned by the Bethany Baptist Church, adjoins the south end of Red Rock Canyon Open Space and the east side of Section 16. It is between 40 and 50 acres spanning the hogbacks and is visually prominent from the east as well as from many places in Section 16. The popular informal trail which links the Lion Trail in Red Rock Canyon Open Space to Section 16 trails crosses White Acres.

This informal trail is part of my favorite loop in Red Rock Canyon Open Space. It is a narrow trail along the top of the ridge over looking the city. I can’t get Blogger to let me add the picture I have of the trail but it’s the bottom picture in this post from November.

The Church is now interested in selling White Acres; and an application for TOPS to acquire the property has been submitted. There will be an update on White Acres at the TOPS Working Committee meeting this afternoon, Wednesday, May 21st. It would be a real bummer to lose this pieced of land to development.

The update on White Acres is scheduled for 5:15 PM and it would be a good idea to arrive earlier in case other agenda items are shorter than scheduled. The meeting is in the Parks Department building, 1401 Recreation Way, in the Palmer Room. I’m not sure I can make it out of work in time to make it to the meeting, but I’m going to try.

To get to the Parks Department building, take Uintah to Glen Street just east of I-25, go north a block on Glen, then go west a block on San Miguel. San Miguel bends to the north and becomes Recreation Way. The building is on the right an about a block. You can also get there from the I-25 Fontanero exit by heading east. You then have to turn right onto Recreation Way.

Update: I just found out that a developer is interested in that land. They want to put in 25+ lots plus town homes along the road.

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Price: $268.44

Scarpa Zen Pro Mid GTX Hiking Boots

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Tags: Colorado Springs, hiking, mountain biking, White Acres
Posted in Hike, Mountain Bike, outdoors | No Comments »

Earnings Being Donated to Fat Cyclist Fund

May 19th, 2008

Update: Susan passed away on August 5th, 2009

Update: During the month of June 2008, earnings are being donated to the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

As I wrote last week, today and tomorrow, May 19th and 20th, I’m donating the earnings from the cycling and outdoor gear search (actually all of this site) to Susan’s WIN fund.

For those that don’t know the story, the Fat Cyclist’s wife, Susan, has been battling breast cancer for a long time. It seemed she was doing fairly well but recently she started having some problems. Test revealed the cancer has spread to her brain Her doctor said she has tumors spread through her brain like dandelion seeds. The doctor has given them very little hope.

There are over 180,000 product listings from over 50 online stores in the cycling and outdoor gear search. I get a small commission if you buy something after you click through from this site. No matter whether you’re into cycling, hiking, water sports, skiing or some other outdoor activity, there’s gear for you. If you’re looking for bargains I’ve just added 2 new pages. There’s a page with the current top cycling and outdoor gear deals and another one with just the cycling gear deals.

If you don’t have any gear you need to buy, you can still help out. You can donate directly to the PayPay account (no longer active) that has been set up for the family. Also the new Fat Cyclist jerseys go on sale today at noon central time. The proceeds from these jerseys will help the family.

Fatty is still thinking of other people even with everything going on. He’s putting together a raffle to raise $10,000 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. You can read how to enter the raffle part way down this post.

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Price: $268.44

Scarpa Zen Pro Mid GTX Hiking Boots

Price: $159.94

Hi Tec Penrith Mid Jr. WP Hiking Boots

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Tags: cycling, mountain biking
Posted in Charity, Site News | 1 Comment »