Skip to main content

Old Man Winter

 
 It takes a special kind of rider to log 50 or 100km in the middle of winter no matter the weather. Luckily for us, we have an event right here in Boulder county that allows you to do just that. The Old Man Winter Bike Rally is an event where road, gravel and singletrack riding all converge in one fun and challenging course. This event started in 2014 and has returned each year to showcase the variety of riding we have right outside of town. Whether you consider it a competitive race or a supported ride just depends on your mindset going into it. Personally, I think it's only a race for the first one hundred finishers, then for the rest of us, it's a matter trying to make it to the end of this epic ride with a little dignity left. Two courses are available depending on what you feel like tackling. There is a shorter 50km course with a lot less climbing or a 100km course that winds up and down some of the canyons above Boulder. 
   Everyone who enters can score cool raffle prizes.  Also,  keen-eyed riders can pick up small, plastic snowflakes hidden on the side of the course, and trade them for prizes too. No matter how you finish, everyone  feels like a winner at the end of the race when they sit down with some warm food and a cold beer. 
   There are few races where a starting line will include such diverse riders as the OMW. The crowd combines road bikes and cyclocross bikes, but also fat bikes and a variety of mountain bikes. Since the ride includes pavement, gravel roads and rocky singletrack, there is no ideal bike for all of the sections. Spoiler alert though, cyclocross bikes always take the podium. The OMW has expanded to include a run as well. It takes place February 9th 2020 in Lyons, Colorado.
   I've done this race a couple times, and each time I felt it was my duty to add a little ridiculousness.  I believe that every event like this is going to have at least one guy who takes it way too seriously. So, in order to counteract that one guy and provide some balance, I need to enter the event and clearly not take it seriously enough. For the inaugural event I convinced my friend Danny to join me and tackle the 100K course. We rationalized that the best bike for the ride would be a cyclocross, or possibly a light, hardtail mountain bike. That's when we decided to go with a  tandem roadbike.
   I regaled Danny with tales of how fast the bike could go on flat paved roads, so it should do fine on steep hill climbs and washboard dirt roads. We got plenty of funny looks at the starting line, I guess we got plenty of funny looks throughout the whole ride. Several of the climbs proved to be too much for us. Basically we looked like two guys taking their bike for a walk.
Eventually we made it out of the hills and into the dirt roads around Hygiene, from there we charged back to Lyons bedraggled, yet victorious. In the years since, I've used the tandem again, but only for the 50K. It works out much better this way.

    The ride has great support, with rest stops right where you need them. Flaggers make sure everyone stays on course and the after party is a welcome sight as you roll through the finish line. The Old Man Winter is a production of Adventure Fit. This is the company responsible for awesome events like the Urban Assault Ride, The Burning Can Beer Festival and the summertime race known as The Gold Rush Rally. Adventure Fit has been creating events across the nation since 2002. These days, instead of hauling gear to different cities every summer they are focused on events right here in our neck of the woods.
   Do you like beer, tacos and Luche Libre wrestling? Go check out the Boulder Taco Fest. Or maybe you want to sip beer and watch local racers bomb around an obstacle-filled short course on coaster brake single speeds? Then check out the Klunker Crit. Josh Kravetz is one of the founders and president of Adventure Fit. He lives and breathes cycling and can be found riding all over the area. Some days he's on a road bike, other times he's slinging dirt. If you're really lucky you might even see him drifting sideways down Lookout Mountain Road on a big wheel. As a cyclist, he knows how to put together a great event with a great course.
  Give it a shot as a rider, or come visit the staging area at the start/finish line. There will be music and beer as well as food and sponsors tents. Also watch for other fun Adventure Fit events throughout the year. For videos and more info on the Old Man Winter find it on Facebook or go to oldmanwinterrally.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

You only have to be the best until the best show up

   a tabletop   I still make dirt jumping part of my life.  There’s really nothing like it. I've been doing it for twenty years now and I kind of feel like I've earned my place. I love pushing my bike into the line-up.  I always greet the other riders just to check the attitude. A dirt  jump session should be an inclusive and positive scene. It’s one of the few times in life that you are really putting yourself out there. It’s not like a party or work or any situation where people can talk about how good they are. Nobody fakes their way through a dirt jump line.      I have a mantra I use at the park. You only have to be the best until the best show up.   And I love it when the best show up! Kickass riders are awesome to watch. I can usually spot one in the drop-in line as I roll up. They won’t wear any gear except a helmet.       It’s great when the best riders are fun and friendly. Sometimes they’re not. That’s fine. If a guy is throwing down sick tricks he  can be withdrawn

Full face Helmets

  It’s good to set limitations for yourself. Pick some sort of qualifier and tell yourself that this is a rule you need to live by and your life will be better for it. Here’s a few examples, ‘no caffeine after noon’, is one.  Or, ‘Never drive more than 10 MPH over the speed limit,’ Another good one,  ‘liquor before beer’. Just basic limits that help keep things in check.   I certainly don’t believe that my life will collapse over one early evening mocha. I just don’t want to do it every night. It’s that moderation thing. I heard that Marilyn Manson is a strong believer in moderation. Apparently Mr. Manson does drugs, but he keeps someone close to him as his drug handler. When the handler says, “that’s enough for tonight,” Marilyn rolls his two different colored eyes and grumbles, “fine.” He respects the prearranged limitations.   When I was a year or so into my freeriding phase, I realized I needed to set some limits for myself. Some of my friends were dead-set on making each stunt

Working in a bike shop Part 1 The Tube Shortage

   Bikes are so hot right now! The global pandemic has brought massive popularity to a thing that many of us already knew about. Bikes are cool. Riding Bikes is fun. It's conceivable that social distancing has killed many sources of recreation that people had come to rely on and enjoy. Obviously bowling isn't a sport, but it did provide entertainment to many people, and now bowling alleys are closed.    It would have been great if bowlers had taking the sport back to it's rough and tumble roots. I'd be interested in watching some gritty, underground 'street bowling.' I picture it in an abandoned warehouse run by bowling gangs. But that didn't happen. Instead everyone in the country said, "Hey don't we have some bikes still in the garage? We should ride those." or even better, they said, " You know, I think I'd like to try mountain biking, that looks fun!"   And so the Golden Horde was unleashed on an unprepared cycling industry. B