Montezuma's Revenge 2000 And The New Belgian Brewery

Folks from the New Belgian Brewery, Diamond Peaks Mountain Bike Patrol and IMBA TCC2 posing after looking at trail possibilities in the back forty.

We made it through another Montezuma's Revenge (A 24 hr mountain bike odyssey) finishing 5th overall and completing 9 loops in 26 hours. IMBA's advocacy and ITN wizard Dan Vardamis also did great this year, finishing in the top ten. For this race a good crew is essential, they take care of everything; including food, clothing, lighting, wheel changes, bike maintenance and moral support. Kathy, Daryl, and Jenna kept me near the lead for the first 10 hours. Later that night, stomach problems set me back towards the middle of the pack but friends brought me around with a special fruit concoction. In the end Thane Wright was the men's winner and Monique Merrill won the women's division. Thane inspired us all, by racing under his brother's name Christian Wright. Christian has Cerebral Palsy and is confined to a wheelchair. Kathy planted the seed for Thane years ago when he was discussing whether or not to do the race again. Kathy's encouraging words were: " do it because you can!" Thane certainly did; he gained the lead after the first hour and held it for the remainder of the grueling race. He finished the 9th loop and got well into the 10th before intense rain and lightning dissuaded him from the high alpine crossing. Christian (Thane) rode over 140 miles and climbed over 24,000 vertical feet. The Fourteenth Annual Revenge was another success and we're all looking forward to more pain and suffering next year!

While in Colorado we presented two slide shows of TCC success stories from around the world. We did one show for 20 folks from the Boulder Off-road Alliance and the other show was at the new REI mega-store in Denver. The shows inspired many people including BOA's new executive director Dirk Vinlove. Dirk invited us on a couple of land manager meetings near Boulder. At Betasso Preserve we did a walk with several people including Daniel and Therese from Boulder County Parks and Open Space. We also went for a ride with Dane of Eldorado Canyon State Park who is looking at a multi-use trail link between Eldorado Canyon and the ever-popular Walker Ranch. There may be many new exciting possibilities for cyclists in Boulder; thanks to Dirk's enthusiasm and BOA's tenacity.

While surveying the back forty of New Belgian's Brewery in Ft. Collins we found lots of potential trail features and some fine leather goods.

In Ft. Collins we met with Christina and Nate of the New Belgian Brewing Company, they have a 35-acre lot that may be donated for a public mountain bike park. The abandoned lot was once a beet farm and has also been used by previous owners as a holding area. We found many trail possibilities on the property such as berms and mounds, which could be used to provide relief and slabs of rock that could give technical challenge. 14 people including volunteers from the Diamond Peak Bike Patrol surveyed the area looking for attractive features, coming up with many fun ideas. It was wonderful to see a small company giving back to the community, especially with property values being so high in Colorado. Hopefully we'll be back next year to help with trail construction and we're curious to see what Cristina does with that old pile of cowboy boots! Next week we're off to Durango.

Joey and Kathy, TCC2