Wow I am not sure anyone can begin to fathom the amazing pool of women we have in Steamboat Springs. Tonight we had over 50 women from various socio-economic backgrounds; work areas and skill levels attend our Steamboat Ski and Bike Kare Women’s Group Ride for Steamboat Bike Week. It was a phenomenal turn out. But we have been getting between 20-40 women each week for the past few years because the women in this town have needed more than just a weekend ride with their husbands and boyfriends. They need other girls. Tonight I met a woman on her second mountain bike ride who crushed the technical rock section because she didn’t know she was supposed to be afraid. I met another who was on a bike two sizes too small covered in bruises with a huge smile on her face because she was beginning ... [Continue Reading]
Ride Like a Girl …. Because We Are Awesome
It is the beginning of June and with that brings more Steamboat mountain bike trails opening and my favourite time, the start of the Steamboat Ski and Bike Kare Women’s Bike Group. So what better time to talk about being a girl in the bike world than now? Is there anything better than riding with a group of girls? A few years ago I would have said I prefer the company of men, but after multiple women’s clinics and ladies only rides I have come to enjoy going out on two wheels and playing with the girls. It has nothing to do with it being any easier or slower, because I have friends who happily crush the boys climbing up Rabbit Ears Pass and others who can school most men on the technical downhills at the Steamboat Bike Park. It is the companionship, the support and the stupid fun we ... [Continue Reading]
Stop and Smell the Roses
Have you ever gone out on a bike ride in Steamboat or around Routt County and smelt the roses? I mean really taken a big whiff of what the countryside has to offer our olfactory senses. Well have you? As you know I am usually writing these blogs, in my head, while on a bike ride and during one of my many wet (see last week’s blog) road rides I started looking around at the beautiful scenery the Yampa valley has to offer, and then inhaling some of the delightful, pungent and teasing fragrances to be found. One of my favourite memories as a kid was the smell of a recent downpour on the sizzling, hot black top. Thinking about it now excites me in preparation for the up coming summer where all of the Emerald Mountain’s single-track trails are open, the downtown farmer’s market ... [Continue Reading]
Bike Girl’s Rainy Day Inspiration
I have to admit most of these blogs are written while I am moving, literally moving. I think the movement energizes my creative juices!!! I can’t sit down and write in front of the computer but as soon I walk, run, ski, ride, the words start to flow. The first one was typed on my phone while I was walking to work in Steamboat. The second one was written while balancing on my trainer and the last few while I have been riding my road bike. I tried to dictate to Siri while I was riding along but between my accent and the wind blowing in my microphone she seems to get about one tenth of what I actually say. Needless to say this blog was inspired on the Yampa Valley Core Trail and on a backcountry road in Routt County. What inspires you to ride? Are you inspired to get out because it is a ... [Continue Reading]
Spring in Steamboat Brings Out Your Inner Bike Girl
It’s time .. Spring in Steamboat The mountain closed this week, my beloved board has her coat of storage wax, my skis are strapped together in my shed and I am officially allowed to jump up and down in pure excitement and scream ... IT'S BIKE SEASON. Now don't get me wrong I enjoy ski season it's what I do but I love bike season. I mean luuuvvvv. Love love love it down to my core. My body thaws after a long winter and the cold fog lifts from my brain. There is this picture circulating of a little girl riding her bike with the biggest grin on her face and the caption says "this is what bike riding feels like everyday". I am that little girl. It doesn't matter if I am on my commuter bike riding to the grocery store on the Yampa Valley Core Trail, on my brand new mountain bike ... [Continue Reading]
Cycling Family Celebrates Spring
We are a cycling family and the arrival of spring marks the end of snow biking season and the first of what I trust will be many wonderful road and trail rides in the warm months ahead. Just two weeks ago I took my teenage son for a late season fat bike ride, promising a fun descent as reward for climbing Blackmere to the quarry. A quick stop at Orange Peel had him fitted on an improbably light rental machine and before long we were cruising up Blackmere's meandering switchbacks scouting fun lines for the descent. A recent storm thwarted most of our options for single track, as the lines hadn't set up enough to ride. Leaving those for another day (and it was hard to bypass NPR) we ventured down Little Moab for a taste of adrenaline, and then gave the Nordic trails a try, finding them ... [Continue Reading]
Sharing the Road in Steamboat Springs
Cyclists in Steamboat Springs now have an even better rapport with drivers sharing their roads. The city, Routt County and LiveWell Northwest Colorado recently teamed up to enhance the local Share the Road Campaign, including a stronger digital presence to educate residents and visitors about sharing local roads and using trails responsibly. “We want to keep this message rolling,” says City Engineer Ben Beall, adding that the new campaign includes new educational graphics and posters, a new website dedicated to trail etiquette and road rules and a new Safe Roads to School map. A mini-grant from LiveWell helped create the new educational materials, which also include a biking safety poster encouraging riders to stay on the right side of the road, ride single file, use hand signals and ... [Continue Reading]