Taxes for Trails

If you enjoy mountain biking, hiking or trail running, you might consider relocating to Larimer

County, Colo. 

Larimer County, centered roughly 50 miles north of Denver, stretches north to the Wyoming border and includes the northern Colorado communities of Estes Park, Fort Collins and Loveland.

Residents of this area have a strong appreciation for open space, multi-use trails and outdoor recreation.

In fact, the phrase “Taxes for Trails” might appropriately describe the region.

In November of 1995 the citizens of Larimer County voted overwhelmingly to support a quarter-cent sales and use tax to protect open space, natural areas, wildlife habitat, regional parks and trails.

This initiative represented a grass-roots effort by a group of concerned citizens who joined together to form the Help Preserve Open Spaces Initiative.

Since the passage of the tax, the Open Lands Program has successfully preserved over 43,000 acres of land throughout Larimer County to form 14 open space areas. These lands protect natural resources as well as provide valuable recreational opportunities for residents of the region.

Sales tax funds, coupled with state and federal grants, private sector donations and volunteer work, have enabled the Preserve Open Spaces consortium to acquire land, build trails, parking areas, restrooms and related infrastructure, and manage the recreational activities.
 
The concept is simple — preserve public open space in a fast-growing and densely populated region to provide recreational areas for area residents and visitors.

A desirable side effect is that the availability of trails encourages residents to exercise. Go to any of these areas on any day and you’ll find people hiking, trail running and mountain biking.

You’ll also notice a clear appreciation for nature and dedication to keeping the areas clean — no plastic trash bags decorating trees, no beer cans beside the trails, and no garbage dumped on access roads.

One of the crown jewels of the Larimer County open lands program is the Devil’s Backbone area (www.co.larimer.co.us/parks/openlands/os_devils_backbone.htm).  I hiked, mountain biked and did a trail run in this area during a recent vacation trip to Colorado.

This open space consists of 2,670 acres that parallel the distinctive rock outcroppings known as the Devil’s Backbone. Within the open space, there are 15 miles of multi-use trails that connect to other trails and open space areas.

Cyclists, hikers and runners can connect seamlessly on off-road trails from Loveland, Colo., to other open space areas near Fort Collins, enjoying grasslands carpeted with wildflowers, towering rock formations and abundant wildlife.

Look west from the Devil’s Backbone trails and you’ll see the 12,000-14,000 foot mountain peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park.

The trails paralleling “the Backbone” offer something for everyone, ranging from smooth, fast single track to rough rock gardens that challenge even the best technical mountain bikers.

Another great area made possible by the quarter-cent Larimer County open space tax is Horsetooth Mountain Park, a 2,711-acre foothill oasis located just west of Fort Collins near Horsetooth Reservoir (www.co.larimer.co.us/parks/htmp.cfm).

Horsetooth is situated adjacent to Lory State Park and Horsetooth Reservoir, two other area that attract a large number of outdoor enthusiasts. This park area is named for the distinctive Horsetooth Rock formation that forms the highest point of the park.

The 29 miles of multi-use trails in this park start at a base elevation of 5,430 feet and climb to 7,255 at Horsetooth Rock. When the spring snow-melt is in full swing, you’ll be treated to a great waterfall view at Horsetooth Falls.

Some of the best trails in the park include the Horsetooth Rock trail (steep and rocky), Mill Creek (a fun but very technical downhill), and the infamous Towers climb up a steep 4WD road.
 
Bring your ‘A’ game if you plan to ride up Towers — it’s a 3-mile climb with several 15-20 percent grade pitches that ascends almost 1,800 feet.

Local mountain bikers use the Towers climb for hard interval sessions (hammer up the climb, descend and repeat until muscle failure), and the Fort Collins Trail Runners club holds a twice-monthly uphill time trial race on the road.

Upcoming Events

• Aug. 24: Armydillo 10K and 2-mile, roadlizards.org
• Sept. 5: Road Bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• Sept. 7: Comanche Warrior triathlon, visitbigspring.com/pages/comanchewarriortriathlon
• Sept. 7: Let It Go 5K, roadlizards.org
• Sept. 14: Run to Remember, angelo.edu/asufit
• Sept. 21: Family Day 5K, angelo.edu/asufit
• Oct. 2-Oct. 30: ASUFit cyclocross series, angelo.edu/asufit

Fort Lewis College cycling team

One of the most popular summer vacation destinations for Texans trying to escape the heat is the

scenic mountain community of Durango, Colo.

Most people associate the Durango area with scenic vistas in the San Juan Mountains, white water rafting on the Animas River, or riding the Durango & Silverton narrow gauge railroad.

Durango has another claim to fame, however, in that is home to what is arguably the top collegiate cyclingprogram in the nation at Durango’s Fort Lewis College.

While on vacation in Durango, I found some spare time in between mountain biking and road cycling to interview the staff who manage the Fort Lewis cycling program.

The Fort Lewis College cycling program, which was started as a club sport in 1994, is now considered the gold standard in collegiate cycling with 19 USA Cycling Division I national individual championships in mountain bike, road racing, cyclocross and track racing plus multiple team national championships.

Jason Pierce, an Assistant Professor of History at Angelo State University, was a member of the inaugural FLC Collegiate cycling team in 1994.

“When we started the cycling team, most of the students were already cyclists since the sport was huge in Colorado and Durango in particular,” Pierce said. “Several strong riders had chosen to relocate to Durango, and attending Fort Lewis was a great way to appear to be doing something productive while spending as much time as possible riding.”

“At the first-ever collegiate world championships in 1994, we dominated the races, putting four riders in the top 10 of the Men’s A category.”

Collegiate cycling is a club sport at a university, meaning that it’s a student organization. Students who wish to compete do so at collegiate cycling events sanctioned by USA Cycling (usacycling.org/collegiate).

The Fort Lewis College cycling club, which typically has about 120 members per year, is a unique blend that meshes a student club with professional-level coaching and equipment.

The coaching staff for the Fort Lewis team includes two full-time former professional cyclists and several other part-time elite-level cyclists who manage the cycling program and coach the male and female student athletes.

Program manager and head coach Dave Hagen, a Fort Lewis graduate, raced professionally with the Yeti mountain bike team. Strength/conditioning and ladies coach Elke Brutsaert is a former professional downhill mountain bike racer who has a national championship on her resume.

In addition to the Fort Lewis cycling staff who manage and coach the team, student-athletes are mentored by the many professional cyclists who live in the Durango area.

This high level of coaching expertise both enhances the image of the Fort Lewis program and ensures that student athletes learn from professionals who have competed at a high level in the various cycling disciplines.

“We go beyond just generic training programs for the student cyclists,” notes Brutsaert, the strength/conditioning coach. “We work with students to develop individualized programs that address strength, balance and cycling-specific fitness.”
 
Students compete in cycling disciplines such as mountain biking, road racing, track racing, cyclocross and (beginning in 2013) BMX. Many of the team cyclists will compete in multiple disciplines throughout the year.

FLC cycling team members are also able to ride top-level equipment because of support from the community, industry sponsors and funds raised by the student club.

The overall annual budget for the cycling program is in the six figures, with a combination of state funding, local funds raised by cycling club activities, and finds from sponsors and supporters.

Fort Lewis also awards 10-15 cycling scholarships each year to promising cyclists who the staff feels will be the next generation of top collegiate racers.

Fort Lewis has a rich tradition of graduating students who go on to become elite professional racers. Alumni from the college’s cycling program have ridden for top professional teams and won multiple national championships.

Academics are also important, since students have to maintain good grades to be eligible to race as a team member.

Dave Hagen, FLC cycling program manager and head coach, says that student cyclists do well academically.

“Our cycling team members are above average academically, their GPAs are fourth among all collegiate sports at this college, and we have a very high graduation rate,” says Hagen.

Hagen says that the students are attracted to Fort Lewis because of several reasons.

“In addition to the strong academic reputation of both the college and our cycling team, the proximity to world-class trails and road cycling routes in the surrounding mountains is a big draw,” Hagen said. 

“Student cyclists also come here because of the close-knit community that we enjoy with the professional cyclists who live here.”

As you drive through downtown Durango and up on the mesa to the Fort Lewis campus, you’ll see bicycles parked everywhere and students riding their bikes on city streets, bike paths or on the trails that surround the campus.

Pierce, an FLC alum and former cycling team member, notes “I think having a variety of club sports such as cycling is important for any university. All students have athletic talents, even if it’s not in traditional sports like football or baseball.”

“From the ancient Greeks through the British in the nineteenth-century and up to now, people have realized the importance of educating and conditioning both the mind and the body. We need to encourage students to do both.”

Ride On, San Angelo, and remember — Fort Lewis College’s cycling program is a great example for other institutions to emulate.

Upcoming Events

• Aug. 17: Southland Shuffle, roadlizards.org
• Aug. 24: Armydillo 10K and 2-mile, roadlizards.org
• Sept. 5: Road Bike time trial,sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• Sept. 7: Comanche Warrior triathlon, visit bigspring.com/pages/comanchewarriortriathlon
• Sept. 7: Let It Go 5K, roadlizards.org
• Sept. 14: Run to Remember, angelo.edu/asufit
• Sept. 21: Family Day 5K, angelo.edu/asufit
• Oct. 2-Oct. 30: ASUFit cyclocross series, angelo.edu/asufit

August Running Events

Want to shuffle through Southland with the Road Lizards or run alongside military personnel from the Army and other branches of the service? No problem — you’ll have the chance to do both this month.

Even though the August weather will probably be typical hot, late summer conditions, area runners will turn out in droves for two of our region’s classic running events — the Southland Shuffle and later the Armydillo 10K.

Things kick off Aug. 17 with the 32nd Annual Southland Shuffle.

The Shuffle is one of the oldest ongoing running events in San Angelo, dating back to 1982. Kent Fish, his wife Anne, and their children have been on the race committee every year since the event was founded.

“In February of 1982, the newly-organized Road Lizards running club decided to set up a race calendar with a race for every month,” Kent Fish said. “As we went through the year month by month and came to August, there was a long silence with a few comments about how HOT it is to have a race in August.”

“When nobody else jumped in, we ‘volunteered’ and have been doing it ever since with a 7:30 (a.m.) start to beat the heat.”

Southland Shuffle has been a family affair from the start, with members of the Fish family creating handmade awards, marking the course and directing the event.

The race starts and finishes in Meadow Creek Park on Ridgecrest Lane in SW San Angelo with both the six-mile and two-mile courses following residential streets through the Southland subdivision. The six-mile route is an out-and-back that goes to a turnaround point located just east of Lamar Elementary.

For more information on the Southland Shuffle, visit www.roadlizards.org.

The second big running event in August will be the Armydillo 10K, scheduled for Aug. 24 in Spring Creek Park.

The organizing group is the Sentinel Foundation with Team RWB’s Tim Masshardt serving as the race director.

Armydillo will also be the first official “flag run” for the San Angelo Team RWB community. More information can be found at www.teamrwb.org.

Although Armydillo was AWOL from the local running calendar for a few years, it’s back and will be much improved for its 19th edition. Armydillo is unique in that it includes a two-mile formation run involving the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy and related organizations such as Team RWB, in addition to the open 10K and two-mile races.

Double-time at 180 steps per minute, sing out with gusto when calling cadence, stay in formation, and don’t leave anyone behind.

“After the completion of the 10K, the two-mile formation run will be held with teams from each of the services competing,” said race director Tim Masshardt. “We strongly encourage the public to come out and cheer on their favorite service to victory.

“We also encourage veterans in the area to come out and run with Team RWB in the formation run. For us, it’s not about how fast we go, but that we complete the mission as a team.”

You’ll see members of the San Angelo Team RWB community assisting with the race and also running — just look for their red RWB T-shirts with the Eagle logo.

The runners competing in the 10K run will enjoy one of the most scenic courses in San Angelo as they run through Spring Creek Park from near the marina to the turnaround point near the Nature Trail parking area on Spillway Road.

Much of the 10K route parallels the banks of the Spring Creek inlet of Lake Nasworthy with large trees providing shade in many areas.

The roads through the park are flat, but you’ll encounter a few rolling hills on Spillway Road after you exit the park’s back gate.

For more information on the Armydillo run, visit roadlizards.org.

Remember — it may be August, but you need to lace up those running shoes and come out for these two events!


Upcoming Events

• Aug. 15: Mountain bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.co
• Aug. 17: Southland Shuffle, roadlizards.org
• Aug. 24: Armydillo 10K and 2-mile, roadlizards.org
• Sept. 5: Road Bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com Sept 7: Comanche Warrior triathlon, visitbigspring.com/pages/comanchewarriortriathlon
• Sept. 7: Let It Go 5K, roadlizards.org
• Sept. 14: Run to Remember, angelo.edu/asufit
• Sept. 21: Family Day 5K, angelo.edu/asufi
• Oct. 2-30: ASUFit cyclocross series, angelo.edu/asufi

Go High To Get Cool?

Mid-summer bike and run workouts here in the desert when it’s 100 degrees or higher are hot, sweaty, and sometimes demoralizing.

Frequent stops are needed to wipe sweat out of your eyes and squeeze water out of your dripping headband.

Buzzards swoop down for a closer look thinking you may soon be an easy meal.

You look forward to going into the wind because it’s marginally cooler than going downwind.

On the really hot days, you lug along twice the normal number of water bottles – one or two per hour to drink and extra water to pour over your head to avoid a melt-down.

I mulled over all of this while trying to cool down after a hard workout on a recent 100 degree day and decided I needed to find a cooler place for summer workouts.

“Go high, young man,” I thought. “It’s cooler at higher elevations.”

Science tells us that there is an approximate 3.5 degree F drop in temperature for every 1,000 feet of elevation gain.

For my next hot-day workout, I headed to the top of Spillway Hill near Lake Nasworthy. There’s not a lot of elevation gain (about 130 feet) but I figured higher must be cooler.

It was a little better up in the “high country” on Spillway Hill. Based on the 3.5 degree temperature change per 1,000 feet, it was about half of a degree cooler (.46 degrees to be exact). Not much, but here in the desert every little bit of summer cooling helps.

One half of one degree wasn’t quite what I had in mind, so I googled the elevation of some favorite Texan go-to summer destinations to see if I could identify where that mythical cold-day-in-you-know-where might be for future hot weather workouts.

My first fantasy workout trip took me to the Texas Alps resort  of Fort Davis, which sits at about 5,050 feet above sea level.  That’s 3,206 feet higher than San Angelo so when we’re at 100 degrees the temperature there should be about 89.

Fort Davis sounded better than San Angelo but still not nearly cool enough. My quest-for-the-cool took me further north to the mountain community of Ruidoso, New Mexico which is at 6,920 feet.  The heat (or lack of) looked better there – the 5,076 feet of additional elevation compared to The Oven on the Concho resulted in a calculated temperature of 82 degrees when San Angelo is at 100.

Still, 82 degrees can feel warm during vigorous exercise so I decided to go for broke and really get up above the tree line. The logical choice was the top of Pikes Peak at 14,114 feet, which would be about 12,270 feet higher than the Cactus Hotel parking lot.

Pikes Peak appeared to be the perfect “no-sweat” summer workout location with the altitude-adjusted temperature estimated to be about 43 degrees cooler than San Angelo.

I could live with wearing a light jacket during mid-summer workouts when it’s 57 degrees instead of 100 outside.

The only problem with the go-high logic is that there’s an inverse relationship between cooler air at higher altitudes and the amount of oxygen available in the less-dense air.

You can breathe well but sweat a lot here in the desert, or be cooler while gasping for air in the high country.

After thinking long and hard, I decided that the best mid-summer approach was a compromise between being cool and being able to breathe.

I went home, turned the air conditioner on full blast, hopped on the stationary bike, and cranked up a video of people cycling on high country mountain bike trails.

Looks like I found the perfect cool place for summer workouts in the desert, and -  I won’t need the supplemental oxygen tanks after all.

Remember – you have to be creative to survive summer workouts here in the desert. 

Upcoming Events

• Aug 15: Mountain bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• Aug 17: Southland Shuffle, roadlizards.org
• Aug 24: Armydillo 10K and 2-mile, roadlizards.org
• Sept 5: Road Bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• Sept 7: Comanche Warrior triathlon, visitbigspring.com/pages/comanchewarriortriathlon
• Sept 7: Let It Go 5K, roadlizards.org
• Sept 14: Run to Remember, angelo.edu/asufit

Is San Angelo Becoming a Healthier City?

Is San Angelo, Texas and the surrounding region becoming healthier? Are we developing a community-wide culture of wellness that focuses on healthy lifestyle choices?

The answers are yes, no, and not sure based on different indicators.

One healthy city indicator is the number of fitness activities that take place. Based on that indicator, the answer would be “Yes.”

Over the past 12 months, there were over 40 organized events in our area that involved cycling, running, walking, and related activities.

In addition, the number of people who show up each day to run or walk on the KOA loop in south-west San Angelo continues to increase and more vehicles are being spotted with bike racks installed suggesting that an increased number of people are pedaling their way to fitness.

The responses to a small local survey conducted recently also provide some insight into the Healthy San Angelo question.

Only one-third of the survey respondents indicated they felt San Angelo had become a healthier city over the past 10 years, with almost 50% of the responses indicating “not sure.”

Respondents also suggested that our city had improved somewhat related to a culture of wellness, that fitness events and organized wellness programs had grown in numbers, and that area hospitals were doing more to promote wellness.

On the down side, respondents noted that fitness infrastructure and community-wide wellness planning had not improved significantly over the past 10 years and that community leaders were not engaged in promoting community wellness.

One survey comment noted that “There is a solid and supportive group of health and fitness minded individuals who actively work on a mostly grassroots level. Commitment and support from community leaders, general attitudes towards pedestrians and cyclists, and infrastructure improvements are not very good.”

The healthy community picture is also bleak if we look at our region (Tom Green County) compared to state and national data.

Data from countyhealthrankings.org shows that we rank 197th out of the 232 counties in Texas based on health behaviors such as smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, and excessive drinking.

Our region is more obese than the national benchmark (29% vs. 25% nationally), has more adults who smoke (25% compared to 13%), and our residents exercise less with 26% of our region physically inactive compared to 21% inactive nation-wide.

The bottom line is that we need to significantly improve the healthy lifestyle factors for our region. To make progress toward that goal, we need to study other cities that have become healthier and mimic what they have done.

The American College of Sports Medicine recently ranked the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis-St. Paul as being the healthiest and fittest cities in the nation for the 3rd straight year. That ranking was based on a matrix of health behaviors such as smoking, exercise, obesity rates, chronic health problems, access to health care, and health-enhancing environmental factors such as parks, recreational facilities, and walking trails.

Walt Thompson, a professor of exercise physiology and chairman of the advisory board that created the national American Fitness Index (http://americanfitnessindex.org/), attributes the health and fitness success of the Twin Cities region to infrastructure that supports a healthy lifestyle.

"What Minneapolis has done brilliantly is put their resources where residents can use them effectively to maintain a high level of physical activity," says Thompson. “We really believe that if people don't have the environment to exercise, they probably won't."

The AFI Community Action Guide, also published by the American Fitness Index, highlights several critical factors that positively impact health and physical activity in a community.

Those factors include having committed leadership (both figurehead and actively-engaged), a community-wide coalition with a shared vision and goals, a needs assessment, an implementation and evaluation plan, and on-going advocacy that educates decision-makers within the community.

The jury is still out on the question “Is San Angelo and the surrounding region becoming healthier”, but there are indicators that show minor progress in some areas.

A recent article by Toby Cosgrove, MD, noted that by the year 2020 half of all Americans will likely suffer from one or more chronic diseases with the majority of those health issues being weight related.

“We cannot simply control health care spending without addressing Americans’ weight”, says Dr. Cosgrove. “We have to create incentives to keep people healthy through programs that encourage wellness and prevention.”

For San Angelo to move forward and become focused on wellness and prevention, we’ll need a community-wide wellness coalition, a comprehensive ‘Healthy City’ plan, funding to implement that plan, and – most importantly – leadership from our top elected and appointed officials.

Maybe, just maybe, we’ll reach the point someday where our city council members bicker about not having fitness and wellness items on the council’s meeting agenda.



Upcoming Events

 - July 27: Goodfellow Traithlon, roadlizards.org
 - Aug 1: Road bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
 - Aug 15: Mountain bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
 - Aug 24: Armydillo 10K and 2-mile, roadlizards.org
 - Sept 5: Road Bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
 - Sept 7: Comanche Warrior triathlon, visitbigspring.com/pages/comanchewarriortriathlon
 - Sept 7: Let It Go 5K, roadlizards.org
 - Sept 14: Run to Remember, angelo.edu/asufit

Unsung Heros

The most important people in San Angelo’s fitness community are the unsung heroes who work quietly year after year to “keep the lights on” as they organize fitness activities, mentor new participants, and direct or volunteer at events.
 
You’ll rarely see these folks clamoring for attention, but their contributions to our local cycling, running and triathlon activities are a big part of why our growing fitness community is successful.

Let’s put the spotlight on a few of these individuals and give them a shoutout for their ongoing contributions.

Kent and Anne Fish have been mainstays in the local running community since 1981 and are the “proud parents” of the Southland Shuffle, a 6-mile running event that’s been on the Road Lizards club calendar for the past 32 years. They put on the Southland race every August and even create unique awards for each year’s event.

In a 2007 interview for a newspaper article, Fish noted that they’ll keep that race going for years to come and that their motivation for organizing the event hasn’t changed much over the years. “It’s fun just to give back to the club,” he said.

Local cyclist Kyle Olson has been one of the leading advocates for off-road cycling and related trail infrastructure in the San Angelo area for the past two decades. He leads group mountain bike rides on local trails in San Angelo State Park and the Twin Buttes area, coordinates monthly trail work days to help keep the state park trails maintained, and is also a frequent “bike patrol” volunteer for running events such as the trail running series and other races.

Terry Shaner, a longtime San Angelo runner, served for multiple years as the president and vice president of the Road Lizards running club after retiring from the Army in 1995. He served as the club’s president for so many years that he’s informally known as the President Emeritus of that organization.

Over the years, Shaner directed or started local running events such as Run in the Sun, Hustle with Your Honey, the Retro Run, Run in the Moon, the SARL Halloween 15K and, most recently, the Shamrock River Run. He was also the race director for Run in the Sun in 2007 when it first became a Texas 8K State Championship event.

Dionnie Hoelsken (aka “the Cycling Nurse”) is a local go-to person for triathlon and mountain bike newbies who want to learn proper bike and swim skills before taking on a mountain bike event, an off-road Xterra triathlon or an adventure race. Giving back to the sport she loves means early morning and late evening sessions at the pool, swim beach or mountain bike trails as she coaches cyclists and swimmers.

Hoelsken knows what she teaches, having qualified for and raced the 2012 International Triathlon Union off-road triathlon world championship as a member of Team USA. In addition to swim coaching, Hoelsken is an experienced mountain bike racer and spends her spare time helping coach the San Angelo high school mountain bike team.

Pat Barton is another San Angelo athlete who has made significant contributions to both the running and triathlon communities. Barton served as the race director for events such as the former YMCA half-marathon, assisted with numerous other events over the years and most recently headed up the group that planned and implemented the Lake Nasworthy triathlon in 2008. Barton has served as the coordinator and race director for the highly successful Nasworthy triathlon every year since its inception.

Fitness instructor and cyclist Christina McBride hasn’t spent as many years in San Angelo as some of the people mentioned above, but over the past few years she’s spent countless hours organizing rides and events and forming teams to compete in mountain bike, triathlon and related events.

McBride’s community resume includes triathlon coaching, organizing and codirecting the Loco Lizard adventure race, creating the MAC Racing-Concho Bike cycling team that qualified 12 riders for the 2011 USA Cycling National Mountain Bike Championships and serving as head coach for the San Angelo high school mountain bike team she helped to create.

Last but not least, let’s pay tribute to all of the unpaid volunteers who turn out week after week to help with cycling, running and multisport events. These volunteers are rarely recognized for what they do, but without their efforts, our local fitness events would not be possible.

Remember — the unsung heroes are the backbone of our fitness community.

Upcoming Events

• July 25: Mountain bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• July 27: Goodfellow Traithlon, roadlizards.org
• Aug. 1: Road bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• Aug. 15: Mountain bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• Aug. 24: Armydillo 10K and 2-mile, roadlizards.org
• Sept. 5: Road Bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• Sept. 7: Comanche Warrior triathlon, visitbigspring.com/pages/comanchewarriortriathlon
• Sept. 7: Let It Go 5K, roadlizards.org
• Sept. 14: Run to Remember, angelo.edu/asufit

Dirt Road Riding

Nice dirt road

Picture a nice dirt road in the country, wildflowers blooming in the bar ditch, fresh country air, and very few motorists in sight.

Now imagine yourself pedaling down that road enjoying the rural scenery and lack of traffic.

Dirt road cycling events, more commonly known as Gravel Grinders, are rapidly becoming a favorite type of bicycle touring and racing.

This makes sense – unpaved back roads get you off the busy highways away from vehicles and the semi-improved dirt or gravel roads are more pleasant to ride than rough mountain bike trails.

All you need is a good network of unpaved ranch roads, a sturdy bike, some wider-than-normal tires and you’re ready for a great cycling adventure.

Cyclists have been riding unpaved roads since bicycles were first invented - in fact, gravel grinders are a throwback to the early days of cycling when riding was done on unpaved horse-and-buggy routes.

One of the most intriguing early dirt road cycling trips in our region took place in the late 1890s.  San Angelo residents Rhodes Baker and George Allen completed a 12-day, 425-mile bicycle trip that took them from San Angelo to Sonora, Del Rio, across into Mexico and back through Rocksprings to San Angelo.

This ride was undertaken in hot July weather on rough wagon roads, with all of their gear (including fly fishing rods) strapped to their bicycles.

Fast forward to today and events such as the Dirty Kanza 200 in Emporia, Kansas, the Gold Rush Gravel Grinder in South Dakota, the Durango Gravel Grinder in Colorado, and the Appalachia Gravel Grinder Series in the southeastern US are attracting riders who want to do long distance cycling events on dirt roads.

In a generic sense, gravel grinder rides are a hybrid of long course cyclocross races such as the 3-Peaks event in England, mountain bike marathon events, and races that emulate the European spring classics events with courses that go over cobblestones and rural farm roads.

Gravel road cyclists tend to be adventurers who seek out interesting off-the-beaten-path routes away from traffic over terrain that is more fun and challenging to ride than paved roads.

Dirt or gravel roads can be ridden on almost any type of bike if it has a sturdy frame and tires that are somewhat wider than what’s normally used on the road. Some dirt roads can be ridden on normal road bikes with 700 x 28 or larger tires, and sturdy touring or cyclocross bikes with 700 x 30c or larger tires will work well on any unpaved road or even moderate trails.

Mountain bikes will get the job done as well, although they are usually slower on routes that combine paved and unpaved sections.

Some bicycle manufactures such as Kona and Salsa have also started building bikes that are specifically designed for dirt road riding. The design parameters for the dirt-road-specific rigs include a more relaxed and stable geometry, frame clearance for wider tires, road bike wheels and tires that will stand up to rough roads, and disc brakes.

In the San Angelo area, dirt road rides are just starting to garner some attention.  Two routes that have been completed by local cyclists are the Lake Loop around Twin Buttes reservoir and County Roads 411/412 in Irion County.

The Lake Loop route is a combination of pavement and dirt that makes a complete 30 mile circle around Twin Buttes reservoir. It starts and finishes in Middle Concho Park and includes a crossing of Spring Creek at the rocky ford just below White’s Dam. This ride is about 50% dirt and 50% pavement, and is detailed at mapmyride.com/us/san-angelo-tx/twin-buttes-lake-loop-with-dam-crossing-route-18139500.

In Irion County, roads 411 and 412 near Mertzon make up another good gravel road route that follows a 34 mile out-and-back course over dirt roads. This ride starts and finishes at the intersection of CR 411 and Arden Road and goes through some rough oilfield and ranch country with enough hills to make you work up a sweat. This route is posted at mapmyride.com/routes/view/226310267.

West Texas has hundreds of miles of gravel roads waiting to be rediscovered by cyclists, and vacation trips to the high country in places like Colorado and New Mexico will give you even more opportunities to explore back county dirt roads.

My personal favorite is Old Fall River Road in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. Although it’s a comparatively short 11-mile section of one-way uphill-only dirt, this gravel route includes switchbacks its way through some of the most beautiful country in the Rockies as it climbs to Fall River Pass at about 11,800 feet above seal level.

Gravel grinding is an adventure waiting to happen, so drag out that map, start looking for rural dirt roads and explore some back-country routes.

Upcoming Events

• July 14: Lake Nasworthy Triathlon, roadlizards.org
• July 18: Mountain bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• July 27: Goodfellow Traithlon, roadlizards.org
• July 11: Road bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• Aug 1: Road Bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• Aug 15: Mountain bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• Sept 5: Road Bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
• Sept 7: Comanche Warrior triathlon, visitbigspring.com/pages/comanchewarriortriathlon