"Deadhead Tribute Tour"

After saying farewell to my buddy Dennis "Deadhead" a few weeks ago I left on my 2 wheeled singlespeed wonder on the ride that I had hoped he would be along for, unfortunately it didn't work out that way for his schedule & I fully understand that with the stress of moving & starting a new job.

Anyways, what was to be a mixture of dirt/gravel roads quickly turned into this road above, what's an adventure cyclist to do? EXIT, STAGE LEFT!

find some pristine cow trail & start bushwacking through the hills...UNTIL

...I was forced to drop back into the dreaded dirt road/mudslide, this is where it got interesting for the rest of the decent

I finally hit the level valley floor again & decided a safety break was in order with a pull of Maker's Mark from the Surly "safety" flask, yes Dennis, right back there in those trees to the right of that flask is the elusive hobo camp we were to hang out at one last time, it will be another time when & if you ever visit these desolate wastelands again. That pull of Kentucky's finest was in honor of YOU my friend, with a tear in my eye!

with the safety break tribute drink out of the way I got on some more sketchy gravel road along the canal as the sun was setting to point it home 12 miles away

a time to reflect on a great friendship with some great cycling miles over the last few years

looking north as darkness was falling I couldn't help but remember our ride through those very hills up there a couple of summers ago which ended up at the Windy Gap for burgers & beers & wonder if our next ride may end up at the Hot Tomato Cafe in downtown Fruita for pizza & beer, here's hoping on my part!

Thanks for the miles & memories Dennis, at least the local ones here that I can re-live with many of my future rides & here's to our future rides together when I come west or you come back east, CHEERS BUDDY!

GO AWAY WINTER!

Farewell for now my friend!

Some people judge their life's wealth on material things, others judge it by their family & friends, that's the category I fall into. Now if you judge my wealth by the number of friends I have, I'm very poor because I don't claim to have many close friends BUT the quality of those friends is VERY HIGH, making me a very wealthy man!

My friends are usually like-minded individuals with whom I share common interests with & the first time I met Dennis, we seemed to just click! I believe we met out at Potter's Pasture maybe in '04-'05 & this guy was rockin' a singlespeed bike, COOL, as I myself had my eye on one & ended up getting it in the spring of '06, all the while still meeting up with Dennis on occasions to grind out a few miles at Potter's, or perhaps some skinny-tired road miles up to Lake McConaughy & back or north to McPherson Co.

or perhaps it was a last minute whim to go race the Dakota 5-o with NO training on my part, but hey...hell yes I'll go as it was time spent with a GOOD BUDDY riding bikes, drinking a few beers & having fun! The real reward for that race was having Dennis waiting at the finish line with a cold PBR for a LOOONG time as, well, I think I hold the record for the longest finish time in the history of that race, BUT I FINISHED!

The gravel road rides, the last minute poaching of a day of RAGBRAI, didn't matter WHAT type of bike riding we did together as it's all good between friends.

Well, Dennis has pulled the plug on western Nebraska & was loaded up headed west yesterday & called me to meet up & say good-bye, ironically I was 10 miles west of home starting another one of my off the wall adventure rides so I waited for him to come by to say our farewells, was glad we could hook up one last time for sure, even if we didn't get one last ride in together.

I say farewell for now as Dennis says he'll be back to visit & ride more miles with me, but more than likely it will be ME that wants to go & visit him in his new digs, you see, Dennis has moved to Grand Junction, CO, NEED I SAY MORE! So, farewell for now my friend, but I can assure you we will spin tires together again & I wish you & your family ALL THE BEST!

Today's gravel ride...

...not quite pudding, more like angel food cake!

this fencepost snowman was in his element as it was plenty cool

a new little windmill that I've probably rode by 100 times & never bothered stopping to take a pic, that dark line behind it is a UP railroad track so my next goal is to get a pic of a train going by the windmill

as usual youth kept the pace a little on the high side

I didn't do to bad to hold my own...for an old guy!

weapon of choice, the faithful Karate Monkey, tried & true

and now...our national bird!

had to stop for a fuel stop by the river bank & that little thermos full of hot chocolate really hit the spot, thanks to my folks for getting that for my birthday last month, VERY HANDY!

the perfect spot for a re-fuel stop, beats a Quick Stop!

a little less than favorable conditions for gravel riding again but worth trying again & bumped the miles up from yesterday & with Lane along for company it was another good day of memory making

Gravel "pudding" road tour

this is basically the type of track I left today for the whole ride!

the backroads were LESS than favorable for riding today but I had to try it anyways

fenders would be good for this stuff

still working on that windmill/sunset shot, same windmill, different sunset!

the shadow shot turned out fair

Happy New Year!

Let the miles & smiles begin!

When the Furnace Man comes to town...

"A man must carry on"

Bikes, beer & bourbon on a canal cruise!