Bailey Grinder, CO, Sept 30th 2017

Come join us for 110km (67 miles) of mixed terrain riding through Colorado’s high country during peak fall color.

Two route options will allow riders to keep things mellow and sublime on a route consisting primarily of gravel and paved backroads, or to chose a route that adds some of Colorado’s finest flowing singletrack into the overall mix.

This will be the first year of the Bailey Grind so we’re keeping it simple.

Registration

Please RSVP here so that we can get a sense of attendance. Registration is free.

We need to cap this ride at around 60 people per insurance and courtesy to other trail and road users. If registration fills up we can’t force people to stay away but it would be best to stagger the start.

The Basics

  1. The Bailey Grinder starts at 9:00am on Saturday, Sept 30th.
  2. This ride is not a race. It is not timed and there are no prizes.
  3. This ride is self supported with water / food available at the start, at the lower parking lot of Buffalo Creek (bring a little bit of cash to donate), at the store where we join Platte River Road, in Deckers, or at the finish near Bailey. Plan on multi hour stretches before refuels!
  4. The course will not be marked but GPS files will be provided and cue sheets can be printed if you follow the maps below.
  5. This is a day to ride bikes with friends, challenge yourself, see the aspen trees turning, and sample some of Colorado’s best offerings.
  6. Bring clothing for inclement weather. Conditions change very quickly up high. A sunny morning can change to thunder snow in the afternoon with little warning. Consider bringing a headlight just in case.
  7. A cyclocross bike, gravel bike, or mountain bike will be suitable for this ride. A road bike might survive but isn’t really ideal, and definitely not on the route option that includes singletrack. A mountain bike will survive but might feel a bit sluggish out on the mellow road sections.
  8. The start / finish area is the same as the Bailey Hundo and has been generously donated by private owners. Be sure to be courteous and respectful of ALL private and public land that we ride on the 30th to ensure that we can continue to do this event in subsequent years with the good graces of the entire community that shares these lands and trails.
  9. We aren’t tracking starters and finishers. Cell phone service will be limited or completely unavailable. We won’t be out rescuing people on the course if they have a bad day so be prepared for anything, be self sufficient, and bring a friend to ride with you.

Route Options

To download maps or cue sheets click on over to Blackriver.cc below.

Route 1:

GPS File: LINK

Cue Sheet: LINK

We start in Bailey and take gravel roads towards Wellington Lake before descending through the Buffalo Creek area into Sandy Wash. The donation supported tent provides an opportunity to fill up on water and fuel before continuing out along the Platte river where the road surface varies between degraded blacktop and gravel. Mellow, undulating roads arrive in Deckers, CO for another opportunity to refuel before heading up hero dirt roads and gravel to the Hayman Burn area. Continue climbing and descending through quiet backroads and increasing stands of aspen before climbing up and over Stoney Pass. Hang on for the ripping fun dirt descent to Wellington lake and onwards towards the finish. After ride food options in Bailey will refuel tired legs and bodies.

Route 2:

GPS File: LINK

We start in Bailey and take gravel roads towards Wellington Lake before dropping onto a section of Colorado Trail Segment 3. Wipe the grin off of your face then climb up some of Buff Creek’s finest singletrack before descending the main North Side singletrack descent. Re-join Sandy Wash to the Buff Creek parking lot. The donation supported tent at the lot provides an opportunity to fill up on water and fuel before continuing out along the Platte river where the road surface varies between degraded blacktop and gravel. Mellow, undulating roads arrive in Deckers, CO for another opportunity to refuel before heading up hero dirt roads and gravel to the Hayman Burn area. Continue climbing and descending through quiet backroads and increasing stands of aspen before climbing up and over Stoney Pass. Hang on for the ripping fun dirt descent to Wellington lake and onwards towards the finish. After ride food options in Bailey will refuel tired legs and bodies.

Can you do Route 2 on a CX or gravel bike? Yes! We do all the time. It takes some finesse (and as big of tires as you’d like) but rewards the adventurous rider with an incredibly fun route where even the climbs are fun. Less experienced mountain bikers may need to dismount certain sections but there is plenty of flowing singletrack on this option.

questions? contact us through the site.

Here is a sampling of what conditions may be like on the ride. The route for this year is completely unique and not identical to these videos, but these both show the Bailey, Buff Creek, Pine, Deckers, and Stoney Pass area.

Don’t expect rugged hike a bike conditions on this ride. This one is all rideable and we were careful to make it so.

Flaanimal is GO.

I’m not going to lie. It’s been a nail biter around the lab the last few weeks. Or if we’re really honest it’s been a nail biter since early January.

At the turn of the year we found ourselves waiting. The Lab was stocked with boxes of parts allocated to two new prototype framesets that were overdue. We nervously answered emails and tweets kindly requesting a status update on the project. We set up meetings with videographers anticipating the coming need to show what we’ve created. And still… we waited.

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Is Flaanimal a good mountain bike?

Flaanimal in action on the mountain bike trails of Ken Caryl

We’ve been shouting about it pretty hard lately, but just in case you missed it, we launched the Flaanimal 3.0.

Straight away we started reading and listening to peoples’ reactions and impressions about what we’ve created. Some people were all-in from the start, with the first order coming in no less that five minutes after we launched. Thank you!

Other people were more skeptical. What is so great about our bike? Why should anyone pay attention? Could anyone trust our claims that a single frameset can be suitable for road biking, gravel riding, cyclocross, city riding, or trail riding?

Skepticism is fair. No harm no foul. But as I read through the comments one comment struck me.

“Yeah you can build a mountain bike with it, but is it a GOOD mountain bike?”

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Flaanimal 3.0 Adventure Bike. specification preview

Update: The Flaanimal is now live at www.rodeo-labs.com/flaanimal3

Flaanimals in Road Bike, Adventure Bike, and Trail Bike configurations

We promised we’d do this on January 31st, so it is time to spill the beans on the production spec Flaanimal 3.0 adaptable frameset.

Let’s start with an overview and recap. The Flaanimal adventure bike project has always been a bit of a younger sibling project to the Traildonkey. Insomuch as we never intended to release a carbon adventure bike, and then we did, we also never intended to release a steel adventure bike, but now we are.

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Evening climbing vibes

I’ve been putting in some great miles on the Traildonkey 2.0 prototype so far this year. I’ve only done three actual rides but they have all been big and up high. Treating the Donkey like a road bike is a good series of tests. Does it feel stable, stiff, and planted on climbs and descents? Yes, yes it does.

It isn’t a race road bike, but it has done really well on tarmac, gravel, ice, and snow alike.

Bonus: When road racing season arrives I’ll probably be that much stronger from pushing around a bike that has a few more pounds on it than the average road racing thoroughbred. When I race a lighter bike it’ll feel like lightning.

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