Commentary

Tuesday Coffee Talk - Are you a Double Track Hater?

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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Coffee talk Tuesday heads over to our dirtier cousins of cycling, the MTB community. Tuesday Coffee Talk allows all of use to engage in community related topics and share your 2 cents worth

First off, I'll make this clear from the very beginning, I don't mind single track and if it's there I'll gladly ride it, but why do so many hate double track?

Many mountain bike purist share a mantra of "more single track" and that mantra seems fine but when you mention adding some additional double track they sometimes look at you like you said you wanted to build an interstate where they dream of single track. Shouldn't this mantra be "more off-road trails"? Some of my favorite rides takes place on double track, Switzerland trail, Boulder rez trails, White Rocks and Rollins pass. For myself, I'm just glad to be off of the paved road so whether the trail is 1 foot wide, or 3 or 6 doesn't matter to me at all. And adding more double track shouldn't be that difficult since much of our mountains are already filled with double tracks of the old mining days. Take for example the old road from Boulder Canyon (near Red Lion Inn) this trail would connect Boulder Canyon to Flagstaff or the soon to be Boulder Erie trail that will make for possible 40+ miles of nearly uninterrupted double track trail. So what am I missing here, why is double track so terrible?

Bicycle Colorado supports us while Boulder has no BRA

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I've been saying this for years, Boulder needs a BRA. Last night I attended the BMA spring fundraiser at Rembrandt Yards. Besides the fun, BMA does a lot for the mountain biking community in building trails, gaining access, working with officials on trail issues and enforcement and more. But where is Boulder's BRA for recreational road cyclists? Some have said it is not needed because road cyclists do not have the same issues that mountain bikers have, largely such as trail access.

Why I love Colorado Cycling!

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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Sometimes in the bustle of life, the details of issues or the general stress one can lose focus on the wonder that surounds us and how wonderful it is to be a cyclist in Colorado. Take a moment to reflect on all the great aspects of Colorado Cycling and please share is use why you too believe Colorado is such a great place to be a cyclists! Is Colorado Cycling perfect? No, but I accept it with it's blemishes and issues and know that everyone is pitching in everyday making this a better place year after year for cyclists. Thank you Colorado!


Why I love Colorado Cycling!

  • We currently have the US Pro Cycling Challenge in our state
  • 1 of 3 Platinum Cycling City in the USA and a few Silver level cities as well
  • Contry's only indoor velodrome and a Olympic one with another velodrome completed this summer
  • Home of 2014 CX National CX Championships and a few UCI level events
  • Countries greatest outdoor bike park
  • Home of more Oberstar awarded schools for biking and walking than any other state
  • Home of one of the nations best sport medicine hospital for cyclists
  • Great bike sharing programs in Denver and Boulder

Labeling in these Political times

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Independent, Green, Purple, Organic seaweed leftist, etc.

In this year of elections everyone is trying to be labeled or or avoid getting labeled something they don't want to be. Back in our world of cycling there's the ever so recent videos of "Sh$t Cyclists say, (or was that just roadies) then Sh$t Mountain Bikers say (but are those guys really mountain bikers?)

So let's get labeled, what are you, make the stand and vote

Tuesday Coffee Talk - Has Boulder Open Space gone too far?

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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Today Open Space officials announced they are going to crack down on illegal parking at trail heads and will be confiscating mountain bikes when riders are caught riding on trails not allowed for cyclists.

Full article at the Daily Camera

"The open space board has talked in the past about fines in general, and one of the issues that got us considering it was the overflow of parking along Eldorado Springs Drive at Doudy Draw and South Mesa trailheads," said Allyn Feinberg, an open space trustee.

Feinberg said the popular trailheads are often overflowing with vehicles on the weekends, with cars illegally parked along the road.

USADA wins the Snails Race

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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Going for some low hanging fruit today, doping. We're beating that dead horse until it's glue. Coffee talk discussion gives me the chance to rank and you a chance to fire back with your 2 or 4 cents.

Finally Joe Papp was sentenced for 3 years’ probation, 6 months’ house arrest by the Federal Government and 8 years sanction by USADA. His list of customers was what got local pro cyclist, Chuck Coyle suspended for 2 years and it's been rumored that his lists holds nearly 180+ domestic cyclists names and the majority are not pros. Originally busted nearly 2 years ago, he was going to get a much worse sentence but "his sentencing was delayed while he cooperated with federal and U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) inquiries into his former customers and others."

[Commentary] Meanwhile many of his former customers may have moved on from cycling as they haven't yet been called up for a pro team. According to my watch, Chuck Coyle is one of a couple "customers" that have been busted. Given that it is possible that some riders have or will be moving on, how can USADA suspend someone who no longer participates?

On a positive note, USADA has been getting results
- Florida Master cyclist takes 2 year suspension
- Another Master cyclist busted

It is unknown if these riders were on Papp's list but it is possible that USADA had a reason to test them

So are you satisfied with how the Joe Papp story has played out?

Coffee Talk - Learn to Drive your bike vs. Learning Cursive writing

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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Today's coffee talk looks at the importance of children learning how to drive a bike. Coffee talk discussion gives me the chance to rank and you a chance to fire back with your 2 or 4 cents.

So how has cursive writing improved your quality of life? Has this skill made you healthier, live longer, give you more energy? What about cycling, it's probably has given you more energy and made you healthier and chances are if you use this resource correctly you might even live longer. Are you agreeing with me so far? Every year elementary children learn cursive writing spending hours learning how to make each letter correctly and with their pencil (no quail pens, the reason cursive was used). Yet very few schools spend the time teaching their kids the life skill of how to drive a bike.

Boulder Valley School district does just that with their BLAST Program. Teaching the children how to drive their bikes is a life skill that can lead to healthy transportation options and doing it safely.

Everyone reading this was probably taught how to write cursive writing but very few of us ever learned how to drive our bikes and no place is this more apparent then if you visit any college campus as you witness cyclists really unaware of how to operate a bicycle safely. For me it wasn't until about a little over 5 years ago I learned this concept yet I had been cycling for over a decade before that. Sure they know who to ride the bike, they have the whole balance thing down along with shifting gears but knowing how to ride a bike in traffic is foreign and scary.

So maybe it is time we take school resources and dedicate them towards healthily life skills. What do you think, Is learning to drive a bike more important than cursive writing?

Coffee Talk Tuesday - Measuring Growth in the sport of Cycling

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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Today's Coffee Talk Tuesday Discussion deals with measuring the growth of the sport of cycling. This is a hot topic these days with all the categories and possible USAC merger.. Give us your 2 or 3 cents on this topic!

This weekend I had an awesome time of not driving 60 minutes to watch the USGP race but instead saw the live streaming from cyclingdirt.com. While watching, one of the commentators (not Peter Webber, but the other guy) mentioned something about how you can see how the sport is really growing when you see riders like Yannick Eckmann be such a successful rider at only the age of 18.

Yannick is a great rider, he finished 5th on Saturday beating big names in the field and coming back on Sunday to also do well. If Yannick continues to improve like he has then I very much believe he could be the next Ryan Trebon, J-Pow or Tim Johnson.

But does Yannick's success = growth?

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