The big news in the mountains here in Colorado is the recent destruction that is being caused by the pine beetle. A quick google search can reveal a plethora of articles which cover the subject, but a recent article I read on the subject can be found HERE.

So while on my recent ride in Keystone, I went through areas where the dead fall is quite impressive.  I angled the focal plane of the tilt shift lens in the photo below so that it is aligned with the ground, highlighting all the fallen trees into the distance.  The images below are really impressive viewed at full size; you really get the feel of what it was like to be there.

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 35mm f/2.0D @ 1/500, f/4.0, 500ISO :.

So after this point in the trip, I didn’t take any more pictures of the trails. Yeah, whatever, photographers need vacations too! For our last ride we rode the Horse Gulch area of trails that is right at the edge of town near the Ft. Lewis College side to the east. What an awesome trail network to have right in town! The trails are buff, twisty, desert type trails that were clearly made for bicycles. The kind of trails that make you realize how much riding we don’t have here in Boulder. Oh well, we have way more cute girls here, take that Durango!

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 45mm PC-E @ 1/80, f/9.0, 500ISO :.

Perched on the foothills above Durango’s west side, there is a very noticable ribbon of singletrack. It appears to be very extreme and steep. We had to do it. It is at the top of Durango’s Test Tracks area, which is a super cool, twisty, fun trail network right in town. The trail is called the Hogback. We couldn’t find any way to get up it other than to hike straight up it. It was like Fruita, except way more extreme. Check out the super gnarly line straight down the gully in the above picture!

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 45mm PC-E @ 1/80, f/9.0, 500ISO :.

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 35mm f/2.0D @ 1/400, f/13.0, 320ISO :.

We set out for our first Durango ride of the weekend to the Junction Creek Trailhead. The first thing we noticed was multiple truckloads of kids shuttling from the parking area. There must have been some sort of DH trail right in the area that isn’t on the riding maps. We set out to do it the old skool way of earning our turns. Junction Creek is at one end of the Colorado Trail which goes from Denver to Durango. The trail starts off flat and hardpack, eventually turning upward with multiple switchbacks to climb a 1000 feet or so to Gudy’s Rest. Here is Ryan doing his best impression of how Gudy rested. Durango is in the valley straight ahead.
After that we did a short loop of really cool singletrack. Quite moderate, buff, and non-technical, excellent single speed terrain, not that we were riding them.

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 35mm f/2.0D @ 1/400, f/13.0, 320ISO :.

After that loop we rode up the Colorado Trail some more, but it started to climb without much flow, so we turned around to save our legs for future rides with greater fun factor. Ryan missed the turn for the Colorado Trail. I took a picture of a tree while I waited for him. I scratched my legs up walking around in the thickets. Good times, good times.

.: Nikon D700, Nikon 35mm f/2.0D @ 1/400, f/13.0, 320ISO :.

While most of you were enjoying a three day weekend, I was working my butt off and shooting two weddings!  Lucky for me I like shooting weddings . . . ;>) . . .  and even luckier still the second one was up in Keystone.  So I splurged on a resort hotel room for myself and my lovely girlfriend and made a weekend out of it!  Part of the deal was that on Monday I would get to do an epic mountain bike ride in the mountains . . . my only high altitude ride of the year so far!

I rode the Swan River section of the Colorado Trail section between Breckenridge and Georgia Pass.  Last year we rode up to Georgia Pass from the Kenosha Pass side.  That was part of a whole mountain bike weekend and I made a photo slideshow and blogged about it HERE.

But this time I was on a solo mission so I took way less photos.  Portrait of my mountain bike by itself?  Check.  Self-portrait on the trail?  Check.  Accidental mis-timed action shot?  Check.

But this time I was on a solo mission so I took way less photos.  Portrait of my mountain bike by itself?  Check.  Self-portrait on the trail?  Check.  Accidental mis-timed action shot?  Check.

What an amazingly sweet ride.  Super smooth and fast.  There was one pretty tough section that had me pushing at times, but I was conserving my energy because I wanted to do a pretty big ride.  I thought I was saving my energy, but man, I was so ill-prepared for 3 and a half hours of riding between 10 and 12,000 feet.  On the Swan River section of trail I blew up like I haven’t blown up in a really really long time.  I could barely even pedal in my smallest ring.  But, it was worth it.  No downhill lasts as long as one when you are bonked and wishing you were done!  And when it’s some of the sweetest trail on the planet, that’s actually a good thing.  On the last stretch of climb I had to get off and collapse because I thought I was going to puke.  This is what it looked like.