New Ride – meet Thunderbolt

As part of my 2017 plan for awesome and frequent mini-vacations, I have now a proper mountain bike. meet Thunderbolt.  I still love my fatbike, and we deserve a final winter snow in Denver soon. The Fatbike when fully rigged without water it weighed in at 42 lbs!  But I rode this to Moab, Fruita, Durango, Dunes, and more. It is a great touring platform for winter trails exploration, but I rode this entirely through the 2016 into 2017.  In fall of 2016 I ordered in another wheelset for winter riding. Terrenes with studded tires.  A real pleasure, if you have snow and ice.

But some Jeffco trails kicked my ass. At my trip to Mt Falcon, there was not much satisfaction to take in vertical and technical trails on the fatbike.  So weeks of research, planning has resulted in Thunderbolts appearance. Suffice to say, that issues with riding colorado mountain trails are not the fault of the bike, but rather the rider.

Yes, excessive, but this is a great tool to access Jeffco trails, Buffalo Creek, and numerous Colorado trails with steeps and rocks. Basically every trail west of Front Range. I have cause now to revisit trails that have challenged me in the past. I am eager to get it to Staunton State Park, and take the big loop there. Here are excellent trail switchbacks that can be tackled successfully by bike. These are steep but rather wide paths that appear to be previously groomed. These are climbing challenges and they payoff big. At over 9,300 ft altitude, the lungs are gasping to recover. Pacing is important to avoid burning out your energy, and suddenly lacking in needed oxygen.

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS UPDATE:
This additional hour of light at the end of the day is allowing daily rides after work hours without much darkness. With my new Thunderbolt, I will be riding nearly everyday- Oh yeah

TUNAGE: Bon Jovi
Revisited a local trail with no snow this time. Explored a key finger trail to it’s termination.
First attempt at videography off the bike using a handlebar mount. I need to study image stabilization more.