March 22, 2009

  • Poudre Canyon

    Seems like forever since I have posted anything here.  I was out of town 2 weeks ago for a funeral and then last weekend I just went out by myself for a  Single Speed ride.   Neither of which I will blog about.

    3 weeks ago  Ron, Norm and I did the Poudre, Buckhorn loop.   This ride is usually a pretty popular one, but with many of the Breakfast Club Crew either leaving town,  Joining other Bike Clubs  there weren't as many takers as in  previous years....   I wonder if the Breakfast Club is suffering from the Curse of the Flying Tigers?    So let me digress a bit.  Many years ago I rode for a local NJ team known as the Flying Tigers.   The team was very popular, and we groomed many good riders, many of which left the team as soon as they got noticed by bigger teams with more $$ and Status!   The  Tigers sorta became  "Farm Team" so to speak.     In many ways the Breakfast club has done that.  There have been quite a few talented riders that joined this group, that didn't have any experience riding in a group.   After learning some good habits from the BC crew they left for other bigger clubs....   In any case the Flying Tigers no-longer exist!....

    So back to our Poudre ride.    I'll just give the highlights.    Ron did most of the work with Norm and I contributing when we could.   Norm hadn't been on his bike in 7 weeks due to a crash on the TTH ride so he was just testing his legs.    Ron kept the pace fairly brisk until our group started to splinter up the Pouder.  If there were more "Big Engines" there I am sure that I would have gotten caught in the melle, but with only 3 of us there was more co-operation.

    We  did  stop on the way up and ended up talking to the owners of one of those little shops along the way.  It's the one with the MTB on the roof.   They put it up there to show that they were  bike friendly!   We had a nice chat about bikes and Mandolins etc. while we ate...

    Finally we made it to the Stovie Prarrie turn with that long 5 mile 8% + climb.    Ron pretty much checked out after the 1/2 mile point.  I was in no shape to go after him so I just settled into a brisk rhythm.   Norn at this point had gotten a 2nd wind and was able to climb with me to the 1st false summit.    I was surprised how strong he was after not being on the bike for 7 weeks and having a hard day of skiing the day before!  

    We regrouped at that interstion  of Old Flowers road.    From there we took the Buckhorn back.   Norm was getting a bit weary/leary on the descents  so we let him go ahead of us (Never to be seen again until we got to Ron's house).   I noticed a large hop in Ron's rear wheel and it turns out that it was cracked!   From this point on we didn't take any risks on the descents. 

    Buckhorn... Masonville Past HT moutain park and the rest of the hogbacks.   We see Norm waiting at the entrance to Ron's neighbor hood.   We stop at Ron's get some more water and head back to the FCHS...

    A good time was had by all.  Bummer about Ron's cracked wheel!    He had  another one on order anyway so I guess the timing was right.