The next Master Plan meeting for Red Rocks Open Space, Section 16 and White Acres is tonight at 6:30. It is being held at the Westside Community Center, 1628 W. Bijou St. The focus of tonight’s meeting is trails.
Info on trails in the areas and other information on the Master Plan process is posted on the Colorado Springs website. The schedule of future meetings for those open spaces is also posted there.
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All 397 national parks across the country are offering free admission this weekend, January 14 through 16, to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Fee waiver includes: entrance fees, commercial tour fees, and transportation entrance fees. Other fees such as reservation, camping, tours, concession and fees collected by third parties are not included unless stated otherwise.
Camping probably isn’t on most people list of things to do at National Parks in snowy parts of the country for these free days but there’s still plenty to do in winter. Many National Parks such as Rocky Mountain National Park, Yellowstone and Yosemite are good for snowshoeing and cross country skiing.
More free National Park days in 2012
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Update: 2012 Black Friday/Cyber Monday Bike and Outdoor Deals
Alli Sports
On Black Friday they are offering 20% off all orders (including sale items) plus free ground shipping with code turkeys. Then on Cyber Monday they’ll have 30% off all regular price items plus free ground shipping with coupon code interweb.
Backcountry.com
Black Friday Sale at Backcountry.com – Up To 50% off plus Free 2-Day Shipping On Orders Over $50.
Bike Nashbar
Take 20% extra off orders over $50 including bikes and frames on Black Friday only. Use coupon code 48572. Some exclusions apply.
CampSaver
At CampSaver.com’s Black Friday Sale you can save up to 70% OFF with some great Door Buster Deals! Awesome savings on climbing gear, footwear, gloves, tents, packs, clothing and much more! Plus 15-20% OFF 20,000 items sitewide! And to top it off, these sale prices will be good through Monday.
Department of Goods
Black Friday they will have 100’s of items at least 60% off. For Cyber Monday they will have 72 items 72% off for 72 hours.
DogFunk
DogFunk’s Black Friday sale includes deep discounts of Up to 50% across 1,000’s of products. Plus they have FREE 2-DAY SHIPPING on $50 orders.
Eastern Mountain Sports
Take 20% Off (Almost) Everything at EMS.com through Monday.
GiantNerd
Get An Additional 15% Off Complete Bikes At Giantnerd.com. Use Coupon Code 15BM At Checkout. Expires 11/28/2011 At 11:59PM MST.
Half Moon Outfitters
Half Moon Outfitters is having a large sale on such brands as Patagonia, Smartwool, Marmot, Arc’Teryx, Horny Toad, Columbia Sportswear, and Mountain Hardwear. Hurry Sale ends on 11/29/11! Free shipping on items over $49! Also get 20% off on Smartwool Hats, Scarves, and Gloves when you enter the promo code wooliscool through 12/6/11.
Icebreaker
30% off all black product and 15% off everything else plus free shipping. Black Friday Only. Cyber Monday Special – Save 20% on all items in the Icebreaker Gift Guide. Plus FREE SHIPPING on all orders! Valid from 12:01 am EST 11/28 until 11:59pm PST 11/28. This offer cannot be combined with other coupons, discounts or promotions.
Jenson USA
Killer deals on bikes and accessories at Jenson USA through Monday.
KonaSports
KonaSports has 16% off bmx bikes with code XMASBMX16, 40% off apparel, sunglasses and watches that aren’t on sale with code BF40SALE and 30% off all sale items with code BF30SALE (excludes over sized).
LeftLane Sports
50% Off Ahnu Hiking Footwear And Trail Running Shoes. Ends 11/30.
MooseJaw
Take 30% Off All Vibram FiveFingers Running Shoes at Moosejaw.com through 11/27. No code needed. Get free Moosejaw e-Gift Card with any item over $99 with coupon code FREEGC. Some brands excluded. Ends 12/4.
Mountains Plus
Thanks-Gearing Sale UP TO 40% OFF at Mountains Plus. Expires 11/30!
Nantahala Outdoor Center
Monday get 30% Off All Patagonia At Nantahala Outdoor Center. Add Items To Cart To See The Discount Applied. Expires 11/28/2011 At 11:59PM EST.
Outdoor DIVAS
Receive 20% off ALL PrAna.
Performance Bike
20% off almost everything until 2 PM on Black Friday. Excludes Black Friday deals and outlet bikes.
Monday get $20 off purchases of $100 or more. No code needed.
Pro Board Shop
Take an Additional 10% Off All Skullcandy Heaphones & Earbuds at Proboardshop.com with coupon code skullcandy10 on Monday. Shop Proboardshop.com for Up to 70% Off.
River Sports Outfitters
20% off Cascade Designs-Therm-A-Rest, MSR, Seal-Line, Platypus and Tracks and 30% off Mountain Hardwear Kelvinator Jackets. Good through Monday.
Rock/Creek Outfitters
15-50% off at Rock/Creek’s Hiking & Camping Sale plus FREE Shipping over $49.
Snowboards.net
20% off skiing and snowboarding accessories through Monday. Some exclusions.
Summit Online
20% off skiing and snowboarding accessories through Monday. Some exclusions.
Tahoe Mountain Sports
Get 10-30% off all the new Patagonia Jackets, Pants and Fleece. Sale ends Monday 11/28 at midnight.
TriVillage
TriVillage is kicking off the Holiday Season with a 20% Sale from today through Monday, November 28th at midnight. Use coupon code BLACKFRIDAY to save 20% on hundreds of popular gift items for swimmers, cyclists, runners and triathletes.
If you need some gift ideas, I have gift guides from last couple years and most of the items will still make great gifts. I plan on posting updated gift ideas soon.
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It’s been called “the graying of the greens,” – members of outdoor and environmental groups are aging and younger people aren’t joining them.
A new youth-led movement aims to change that. Outdoor Nation is hosting five multi-day summits in five cities this summer to address regional outdoor issues and engage more young people in the outdoors.
Denver is one of the cities – ON delegates from around the country will be there July 22-24. Delegates are still needed – interested 18- to 28-year-olds can apply at www.outdoornation.org The 250 Denver delegates will develop action plans; the best idea will be given $10,000 to get it started. Lodging, food and activities will be covered for each delegate.
-Deb Acord
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Ahh…springtime in the Rockies. Those fuzzy caterpillar-like catkins have fallen from the aspen trees and covered my deck. A herd of evening grosbeaks have taken over my bird feeder, bullying the winter regulars – chickadees and pine siskins – into retreating and watching from the tree nearby. Hungry young mule deer, wandering in groups like teenagers looking for a good party, fill my yard at night.
There’s just one thing missing – pasque flowers. They usually show up by now, poking through the dead leaves and dry pine needles on the forest floor.
But the sturdy lavender blooms are a no show, at least in the woods near my house at 8,600 feet. What’s up with that? I know the little blooms have been spotted at lower elevations, but has anyone seen the little blooms anywhere higher in the Pike National Forest?
– Deb Acord
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The Colorado Avalanche Information Center and the Colorado Geological Survey have issued an avalanche alert:
“Public, fieldworkers, recreationalists cautioned that unusually heavy snowpack could spark larger, stronger avalanches in uncommon locations. Unusually deep snowpack in parts of Colorado’s northern and central mountains has the potential to produce dangerous avalanches in pathways that may not have run in decades, and that may run farther than they have in recent memory.”
Many monitoring sites are recording snowpack levels of more than 160 percent of average, with some with levels well over 200 percent of an average year.
An example of this hazard occurred April 30, when an unusually large and destructive avalanche struck the Peru Creek drainage near the town of Montezuma in Summit County. This avalanche destroyed large, 100-plus year-old trees as well as a high-voltage tower that was installed in the late 1970’s. This was an isolated event, but an indication of what is possible this spring.
In addition, the Colorado Geological Survey warns that the heavy snowpack combined with a rapid warm-up could also lead to substantial mudslides and debris flows. For instance, similar conditions in 1984 led to more than 40 mudslides and debris flows in the Vail Valley. More information is available at Natural Resources Conservation Service with a map showing federal NRCS SNOTEL data on snowpack.
Backcountry advisories are available at the Colorado Avalanche Information Center through May 30.
-Deb Acord
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I got sweaty palms just watching this video.
This is what highliners do when they get bored. They create giant swings in the Canyons of Moab.
I’ve bungee jumped twice and got pretty disoriented. It seems like it would be easy to slam into a canyon wall but maybe they rocks aren’t as close as they appear. In any case it would be an extreme adrenaline rush.
Related Links:
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One of the highlights of my summers as a kid was going on road trips to national parks. Just last week we were at the Grand Canyon and showed it to our kids for the first time.
The last couple years the government has been having free days at national parks and monuments. Last week Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the free days for this year. The first days are this weekend including Monday, Martin Luther King Day.
Park and monument entrance fees, commercial tour fees, and transportation entrance fees are waived. Other fees such as reservation, camping, tours, concession and fees collected by third parties are not free unless stated otherwise. Many national park concessioners will have special offers.
Mark your calendar for these fee-free days in 2011:
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It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone. I don’t make New Year resolutions but I’m looking forward to new adventures and goals in 2011.
As we move into the new year, let’s take a look back at the top 10 most viewed posts on UltraRob’s Adventures in 2010. Interestingly the top 3 spots were the same as in 2009.
Jure Robic, an amazing ultra endurance cyclist, was killed during a training accident on September 24th. Reportedly he was training for the Crocodile Trophy and hit a car head on while descending a narrow road through the forest near his home in Slovenia. He won the Race Across America 5 times, more than any other male.
This post is from 2009 when Jure Robic dropped out of RAAM with 54 miles to go because he and his crew felt that he was given penalties unfairly while Wyss wasn’t given penalties when they felt he should have.
Wendy Lyall used Katie Brazelton’s entry in the 2009 Leadville 100. It may have gone unnoticed but Wendy finished 2nd in the 40-49 age group although she was 36. They were both charged with felonies although they plead guilty to lesser charges. At least one and maybe both of them lost their jobs because of it.
The movie made of the 2009 Leadville 100 when Lance Armstrong won was released on DVD in the spring of 2010.
A list of 100 mile mountain bike races for 2010. I plan on posting a list of 2011 dirty centuries soon.
Last winter within a couple weeks in 2 different cases a skier was found dead in tree wells. This post explains what tree wells are and how they can kill skiers.
When I broke my derailleur cable in the Black Hills of South Dakota in the summer of 2009, I visited Rabbit Bike in Hill City to get a new one. The owner had a Livestrong tattoo on his calf.
Since Lance Armstrong raced the Leadville 100 in 2008 and 2009 and the Race Across the Sky movie, there’s been a lot of interest in the race. The main Leadville 100 mountain bike FAQ page was the most popular but a couple of the sub posts also made it into the top 10. How to train for the Leadville 100 and the best bike for the Leadville 100 were in the top 10 but I grouped them with this post.
After not having a GPS on my bike or a computer at all on my mountain bike, I upgraded to the cool Garmin Edge 705 a couple years ago. This post has my initial thoughts on it.
The question I’m asked most about cycling is why do cyclists shave their legs. The 5 reasons I posted continue to be very popular. I also answer some questions in the Cyclist Leg Shaving Questions and Answers post.
Related Links
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REI is giving away $100k to outdoor non-profits. They have a list of groups they’re donating to. Our local group is Trails and Open Space Coalition.
Customers determine how much each group gets. For every person that checks in to a REI store that has a local non-profit it is supporting, that outdoor group gets $50 (originally i was $1. The updated info is here). Only one check-in is counted for each person. If your local REI store is on the list and you have a smart phone, go make sure they get their share of the money.
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