KNUCKLE DRAGGERS DESTROYING THE WORLD.....REEFER MADNESS

NATE PICKLO, AT PEACE.

I'm gonna truly miss this guy. So much got done in such a short time. Many fond memories with Nate Picklo, except of course the ride to Glenwood Springs over Cottonwood Pass on "that day". I love you Nate Picklo and I learned so much watching your outlook and attitude during your long battle with cancer. We shall ride again one day.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM A2B

MY VOTE GOES TO.....

GEORGE CARLIN FOR PRESIDENT.....IF ONLY.

I'M TIRED OF A LOT OF THINGS, INCLUDING BLOGGING

SO HAPPY SHE IS GLOWING....

Fuck That.

IF YOU HAVE EVER THOUGHT OF NAMING A SONG "EH", IT'S ALREADY BEEN DONE.

TOUR DE RANTS...

What can be done? I have found it fairly uninteresting this year to watch the Tour. To be honest with you, a three week bicycle race is almost always decided over the course of about 10k of racing and this year has been no different. Nearly 200 riders start this race each year and typically there are two, perhaps three of those riders that have a chance to win the race. Day one saw one of those knocked out due to a crash. Non cycling fans have absolutely no reason to sit in front of the TV every morning watching for hours on end. Despite my interest, my wife can't believe we sit and watch this stuff every single day and thinks everyday looks the same to her as a non cycling fan, and to be honest I get it. Not much happens to capture their attention. There is some great scenery, and occasionally we get to see Chris Froome running, but this year, that's been about it. The pretenders were exposed early this year, which happens often in this race. I'm not sure what the solution is, but it would matter more if there was not one guy dominating and then simply sitting in a pace line the rest of the tour. I spend hours on end waiting for counter attacks that never come because they can't. The sprint stages get interesting with about 10k to go, and the finish is typically mayhem, but then by the end of the tour most of the sprinters decide to just quit and go home....#snoozer

YOU DAMN KIDS....WINNING RUN AT NATIONALS GETS DQ'D FOR WHAT?

Richard Finn Jr. won his age classification National Championship downhill run at Mammoth Mountain last week and got disqualified for backing into the start gate as opposed to rolling in from behind....this USAC official handled this rather poorly at the end of his run to say the least. Wow.

IF I WAS RIDING MY BIKE FOR MILLIONS, I'D RUN MY ASS OFF TOO.

WE GOT MARRIED TODAY....

That is all.....

MORE FROM NATE HILLS....SUMMIT COUNTY RIPPER.

I EAT DONUTS AND CHEESEBURGERS...YOU FOLKS ARE ALL GETTING SCAMMED.

HAPPY AND SAFE 4TH OF JULY WEEKEND...RED AND WHITE HAS ALWAYS BEEN WANTING SOME BLUE...

And now it has got some. Ladies and gentleman, I introduce to you, Red, White AND Blue.

1984 OLYMPIC ROAD RACING GOLD MEDALIST ALEXI GREWAL.....

This guy showed in both Hygiene and Niwot this past weekend for the Boulder Element Time Trial and Circuit race to help out all weekend. The guy quite simply is a character and worked his ass off all weekend to ensure a fun racing experience for all, including throwing down a beer or two from our beer sponsor Boulder Beer. The only male gold medalist on the road bike, ever.

THAT IS WHAT I THOUGHT......

I WATCH BASKETBALL PRETTY MUCH NEVER......

But every once in a while....

THINK I'LL GO DRINK A COUPLE OF MONSTERS....

I'M GOING TO OPEN AN ADULT DIAPER CONCESSION NEXT TO THIS THING....

CHRIS HORNER=MR. FUN

MAYBE THE MOST DRAMATIC ROAD BIKE RACE CRASH PHOTO EVER....

 This is simply an amazing photo and sequence of images from the finish of the 2016 Iron Horse Bicycle Classic in Silverton this past Saturday. The entire race we were getting reports from the local radio station follow car that these five riders had been attacking each other since early on Coal Bank pass. It stayed together until the finish and the long gradual uphill finish, nearly 1.5 miles long and straight was shaping up to be full of drama. Ned Overend (5 time winner) along with Todd Wells, Ben Sonntag, Payson Mcelveen and Christopher Blevins, whi the weekend before had one a World Cup Mountain Bike race in Germany lined ti up and started the sprint from way out, maybe 400 meters. about 50 meters from the finish, Blevins began to come around Mcelveen and something went terribly wrong. Speculation there was a touch of wheels sending Blevins into this violent crash over the bars and head first into the pavement in front of a stunned crowd as well as myself who was calling the finish. It was a terrifying crash. Thankfully, Christopher walked away with a squished helmet, broken glasses and some cuts and bruises, nothing major. He will be back soon. Payson Mcelveen took the sprint over Sonntag and Wells and Overend got caught out behind the crash....amazing imgaes from the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic staff.

ELK 1, TOURISTS 0

SOME A2B FOOD FOR THOUGHT....

WHERE #BURMS BELONG....AND IT'S GONNA BE A GOODIN IN DENVER.

#Burmania....the Denver Ruby Hill Bike Park is gonna be pretty large fun.

THE GRAND JUNCTION OFF ROAD

Travis Brown discussing tactics and strategy prior to the elite fields starting...

 Men's pro field winner Todd Wells explains how he got away very early and rode solo to victory and a $5000 paycheck. He leads Ben Sonntag by 45 seconds heading into Carson City for the final race in the series and a potential $10,000 bonus for fastest combined time in the three Epic Rides endurance events...Rose Grant was kept honest by Alexis Skarda on the women's side. Alexis is now at the elite level, and aint going nowhere.

Images from Kenny When, Stan's No Tubes

WHY ARE SKI TOWNS SEEING MORE SUICIDES?

Read this....a very good read indeed and the reason I had to get out.

Why Are Ski Towns Seeing More Suicides?: On a sunny morning in late February, Tom Slocum, a 57-year-old ski bum in Telluride, Colorado, walked up Tomboy Road, a popular hiking route that winds above the north side of town. An avid athlete…

AND THIS

A QUICK TALK ABOUT THE LIBERAL ANTI GUN LOBBY....

I have a very good friend that was the victim of a random, drug related, wrong address, wrong person stabbing last night. This person was stabbed by three assailants as they entered his house even though he was not the person they were looking for. He is one of the coolest, nicest people on this planet and a tremendous mentor for children and adults alike.  He ran into his kitchen and grabbed a knife to defend his family. He was successful and received serious wounds during the altercation and he is going to live. For all of you anti-gun liberal left wingers who think that guns are the problem....this image above is one of many guns I own. If three people try to invade our home, they will all leave this planet with souvenirs from this weapon. I do not own this gun to harm anyone, I shoot targets with it a few times a year. I also own it to defend my home and family. I'm not into meth heads breaking into my home and trying to stab me to death. That is all.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE CHRISTIAN VANDE VELDE COMMENTATE ON TV FOR THE ATOC.....

Why not just have Lance Armstrong do it? I'm so sick of the double standards in professional road cycling, it's just a bunch of crap.

MULTICOPTER WAREHOUSE FOOTAGE FROM CASTLE ROCK RACE THE MAC #3 LAST WEDNESDAY...

MultiCopter Warehouse in Castle Rock has a huge selection of both drones and accessories....check em out.

PRIMAL COLORADO BIKE EXPO STARTS TODAY AT 3PM.....MILE HIGH STADIUM.

THE GRAND JUNCTION OFF ROAD IS COMING! MAY 20-22. SUPER FUN WEEKEND ON THE WEST SLOPE OF COLORADO.

SOME DAYS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS....

When it comes to eating corn...

RIDING ALASKA, ABOUT 15 YEARS AGO.

About 15 years ago I went to Anchorage to fish and see the sights. I also dug up some gear and went for a bike ride. It never got dark. It was the Summer Solstice. I caught a big Salmon on the trip, but that is another story.

DOG AS A SICK....

Two weeks ago while visiting my 89 year old mom in Florida, I got sick. It has been some kind of super funky virus to deal with. Z Pack and prednisone kind of shit. What's worse, Anna and my mom got the crap as well. It's been two weeks of basically coughing my fucking head off. Coughed so much and hard I pulled and abdomen muscle, a great joy. Every time I cough I aggravate that bastard. Must be Legionares or some other exotic Florida thing. If you watch the above picture long enough, I will cough on your face and you will be the next infected case of the Zika Legionares Csars plague. Keep staring.

BY THE TIME THIS VIDEO WAS OVER, I SHIT MY PANTS 13 TIMES....

CATCHING UP TO THE WHISKEY...

It's been a very busy couple of weeks all while being basically on the death bed sick, but it's done now, so let's catch up, if I may. My fiance and myself took a trip to Florida to visit my 89 year old mother. It was a lot of fun and we occasionally took a break from eating while we were there, but it was some damn good eating. 

I even went swimming a couple of times because we were in Florida and it was hot outside.

The night before we all started to get sick, including mom, and we all still are sick a week later, we went to see the Panther-Islanders round one playoff game. The Islanders won in double overtime 2-1. It was a pretty awesome game and the rats were spared being thrown on the ice for the last time of the season.

We went to this cool new trail head in the Everglades, which is a 27 mile gravel loop you can ride your bike on, and watched the sunset. We saw some alligators and a bunch of birds. There were some bugs there too.

These ducks swam by one day. It was a big deal.

This is a good place to golf, and a really good place to bass fish and it is in my Mom's backyard.

We had to fly around some big storm clouds on the way back to Denver, they looked very cool from the airplane.

I tried the brand new train ride home from the airport. The train broke and it took me two hours. It was really cold and I coughed my brains out getting more sick. It was not as much fun as I thought it was going to be. Maybe next time.

Then I flew to Phoenix and drove up to Prescott for the Whiskey 50 which should probably really be called the Kaolin Cosmos comedy hour. He never stops the entire weekend, which is good, because I was still sick all weekend.

A lot of people raced their bikes, near 1800 on Satirday

It rained and stopped and rained and stopped all day Saturday.

I ate as many In-N-Out burgers as I could in three days, which was many. They even delivered us lunch on Saturday, Animal Style. It was awesome. Now I'm back home in Colorado, and we are all still sick. The end.

Dave McElwaine captured this image of my high five to Ben Sonntag as he wrapped up his 50. Second place behind phenom Howard "the sniper" Grotts earned him a check for $3000.

5 DAYS OF NOSTALGIA IN FLORIDA....

Upon wrapping up 5 days visiting my 89 year old mom in Florida, I had some time to roll through some of the piles of very old photos that are in boxes around her condo. I've seen pretty much all of these photos over the years, but this was one I do not ever remember seeing in the past. It was in a big box of miscellaneous photos piled high and deep. This was our back porch in New Jersey when I was just a young kid, along with our Beagle whose name was "Giant". Looks like I've got a mouth and handful of Oreo cookie here and our dog is in some type of box.....this may have been our milk box because in those days we had fresh milk delivered to the house via milk truck. It really wasn't that long ago. Giant looks bummed about the photo op. I'm sure he was fed graciously for his efforts, he always was, he was a really fat dog as I recall. He was a cool dog.

A PROMOTIONAL VIDEO FOR MOUNTAIN BIKING....

Wait till the Wilderness kooks get their hands on this one....what a fuck up.

NOW THAT I'M HOME AND HAD TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT.....

This was the best damn snow I've skied in 33 years on the East Wall at Arapahoe Basin. Huge shout out to Ski Patrol for getting this open WHILE I WAS THERE AND STILL ALIVE TO SKI IT! Bottomless, blower POW. 

ANOTHER VAIL PASS DICKBAG

STOP FUCKING SNOWING IN MY YARD...

And breaking our trees, god damn it.

However, keep fucking dumping snow in the mountains...tis the season for SHRED.

THIS IS BASEBALL

 Since I've been living in Lakewood, I've always wanted to ride my bike to Coors Field and watch the Rockies play and hopefully win. Today, with good friend and bike builder Dave Mires who made the trip down from Minturn, we did it. About an 8 mile ride each way, relatively flat, and upon arrival to Coors field we found a bike valet area fenced in and supervised for the entire game that is absolutely free! It is manned by a gentleman in a wheel chair who you can slip a couple of bucks when you check out at the end of the game. It is absolutely wonderfully awesome.

 We got there early and hung out in the bleachers...

 Dave got the finger test upon arrival and had to give up the goods.

No Matter, the Rockies bombed the Giants 11-6 and we all rode our bikes home smiling.

2016 PARIS-ROUBAIX

You may want to watch this recap of Sunday's Paris-Roubaix a couple of times, this is just pure joy and a celebration of our sport.

I DON'T RACE MY BIKES VERY OFTEN ANYMORE....

But when I do I usually have a pretty good time despite my age and level of suffering. I also like to "race" my bike regardless of what is going on. A solo attack on the technical dirt section at the end of lap 3 of 4 busted up our field, and though it did not stick, it was to be in the mix for a while. I ran out of bullets on the last short incline to the finish line and watched a dozen or so riders blow by me. It was a lot of fun...a lot. 

On a much more serious and broken hearted note, good friend and fellow age group racer Lauren (Larry) Mclaughlin passed away yesterday after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. Pardon my English, but this has been one fucked up couple of years with regards to the loss of friends and significant illness all of who were very young and healthy. I'm not sure what is going on, nor do I want to know, but these things do not seem to make much sense at all. All lived healthy lifestyles, all fell too soon or became ill and are sick. The number of friends I've lost in my old mountain digs is to be honest quite astonishing, from a bunch of bizarre stuff. Tell those you love that you do and do things you enjoy, take some time away from your busy life and breath, do something fun, tomorrow is no guarantee. Most importantly remember this.....

Hugs not handshakes.

JUST IN CASE YOU ARE HAVING A SHIT WEEKEND....

#NOBODYGIVESASHIT

Really

IF I HAPPEN TO SEE YOU OUT RIDING WHILE I HAPPEN TO BE OUT RIDING....

And you are riding in a kit I recognize or I happen to recognize you and you do not wave back at me or say "hey" or something cordial....you will automatically be entered into the A2B Bag of Dicks, no exceptions. You may even get a call out at the next race I announce as being the biggest dick in the bag.

BIGGEST BALLZ OF ALL....

Who's got the biggest balls of them all? This guy does. These balls couldn't even fit in a gunny sack.

IF YOU HAVE 6 MINUTES OF YOUR LIFE TO WASTE....HERE YOU GO.

GOLF

Golf is a great game, I used to play a lot, a whole lot. I was pretty good at golf, now I suck and I'm going to try and get pretty good at it again if I can help it. Golf is inexpensive here in Denver. It was very expensive and over priced where I used to live. Let's play golf.

I played today with the guys from Christy Sports. We had a lot of fun. I hit a bunch of crappy golf shots, and some really good golf shots. I was +4 on the back nine, and +44 on the front nine, such a great game.

SAGAN FLANDERS

In case you missed the beast beat up on the former beast....here you go A2B followers. Enjoy this monumental effort.

And of course the race highlights...

WE WENT TO A PARTY AT THE PEPSI CENTER LAST NIGHT, AND A BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN CONCERT BROKE OUT

The Boss spent a lot of time in the crowd last night...what a show.

Last night was a bit of a  renaissance for myself and Anna as we got on board the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band train and went for a 4 hour non-stop ride to glory of years past. It was a pretty special eve with THE BOSS, they all are if you have ever had the chance to see him perform live.

The day started with a ski at Winter Park, I get free passes to ski the place and had never been there before to ski, ever. In 33 years of skiing hard in Colorado I'd never visited the place. It was a powder day. Great snow but the mountain is laid out super funky and there is only one chair there worth skiing in my mind and that was not that super spectacular. Getting around the place is a bit of a nightmare on the hill and I'm not sure how a beginner to intermediate skier would fare there what with all the poling required to get around, it's substantial and a snowboarder's nightmare..but we had some fun and some good turns.

We then buckled up our seat-belts for THE BOSS and he did not disappoint. I wept shamelessly all the way through "Thunder Road" as the nostalgia took over the best of me and the 34 song eve wrapped up with a super high energy set of Born to Run, Dancing in the Dark, Rosalita, Tenth Avenue Freeze-out, Shout and wrapped up the eve with Bobby Jean. It was spectacular.