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Secrets of Agate Creek

The Toyota pickup truck pulled into the big parking lot at the top of Monarch pass and the four of us piled out into the cold mountain air. I saw a thin sheet of ice covering the puddle at my feet and I stepped down on it. Cracks formed and water seeped through with a satisfying crunch.  Cliffy pulled a knit beanie down over his ears and said, you guys still think this is a good idea? I’m gonna be so pissed if we freeze to death. Each word puffed a small cloud out in front of him. Relax, it’ll warm up, I said, my teeth chattered, once we get moving.  Kevin lifted the mountain bikes off of the padded tailgate and we leaned them against the Tacoma. Each of us started running through our own pre-ride checklists. For this trip we were switching out much of our standard mountain biking gear for warmer, thicker stuff. Instead of biking socks and my Vans I wore thick wool socks and light, waterproof hiking boots. My normal bikepack was swapped for a larger pack normally used for back...
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Recent posts

Dropping in and throwing ladders

  When I started writing this blog my business card simply read, "Bicycle Enthusiast Extraordinaire." But times have changed my friends! Now on each imaginary card I'm handwriting in a second line that says, "and Firefighter 1." Some people my age train to run a marathon, others go back to school for advanced degrees. Middle age is the perfect time to add a new line to your business card, so I'm adding firefighter. But this is still a bike blog so for this post I will try to provide some clumsy  parallels between fire fighting and mountain biking.  Obviously there is the thrill seeking aspect, the adrenaline rush. Then there is the camaraderie, the feeling of belonging to a subculture, an interconnected tribe. I will also add the concept of 'embracing the suck' the feeling of looking up a trail and seeing only climbing. The mindset of pulling all your thoughts into one simple goal, keep going. I haven't experienced much true hardship as a firefig...
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I'm going through changes

There’s an old joke. How do you know if a firefighter is at your party? He’ll tell you. So how do you know when a firefighter is writing your bike blog? Well, I’ll explain. See, I was mountain biking one day...and I had an epiphany. Something about hucking a carbon 29er at an awesome bike park with an awesome trick jump has allowed me to keep progressing as a fifty year-old dirt jumper. 2025 kicked off strong and I was starting to think about tricks I could dial in this year. I remembered that I used to have a decent bar spin, but I haven't done those since I had a bike with a Gyro. I stopped by my LBS and talked it over with the owner. To allow my bars to spin around he picked out an extra long brake line and added in a new extra long cable and housing. The parts would be about $75 and I could bring my bike in and he'd help me do the swap. I said I'd be back. That's when the epiphany happened, I thought, "Do I NEED to do bar spins?" I know I would get them. ...
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When did mountain biking become great?

 Yesterday I joined a birthday ride to celebrate a good friend's 45th. He rallied six of us into an epic day that went off perfectly. The local dropped expert trail knowledge. Every rider stepped up to new and intimidating challenges, and the guy who always crashes had a spectacular OTB right in front of me! Back at the trailhead beers and hotdogs galore were waiting for us. For the next several hours the hotdogs glistened and biking stories were told. Everyone crushed the techy ten mile ride so I was surprised to learn that most of the crew had started mountain biking during or just before Covid. Me and the other Gen Xer were the only lifetime riders.  A few hotdogs in, one mustached millennial posed the question, "So when did mountain biking get good?" It's a great question. Especially if your first bike is a carbon 29er with a dropper and a 1x drivetrain.  The other old guy started describing a specific point in full suspension development but I disagreed.  I decl...
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What we pass on

 I was fortunate enough to meet some friends for a Valmont riding session the other day. I've known Jesse since the pre-child days and now both of us are fathers. My girls are both skilled bike riders but they really accell at the sportsball activities. They have inherited the gene for team ball sports from their mother. Jesse's son on the other hand is a cycling prodigy. He flows with incredible style over the biggest jump lines or across the finish line. At one point Jesse and another dad split for the slopestyle line and I went with the boys over to the trick jump. I may have mentioned before that I believe tricks are an important aspect of jumping bikes. I just think if you're going to jump bikes, why not do some tricks? The alternative route for progression is to just keep jumping bigger and bigger jumps and this can lead to a plateau with severe consequences. To me a cool trick on a medium size jump is more impressive than a dead sailor over a massive jump. Basically,...
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