Author Archives: Troy Rarick

Cima Veronese… November 2, 2008                                           Riding in the hills of Valpollicella to my surprise I knew today would be great and I was packed the night before and I had my bike and gear ready. I stashed a banana in my pocket and was off by 10 AM headed north into the wine country we know well as “Valpolicella” . I rode across the foot bridge leaving the old city; the one built in 100 BC. I ride up the hill after and was at an intersection wondering which way was right when a serious cyclist rounded the corner from my right to my straight ahead and I said “that must be the way”. I followed… he saw this… I chased although I was still trying to warm up so I  didn’t really chase-chase but all you know what I mean, we always chase a little (WINK). He was really […]

It’s time for my annual trip to ride a bike somewhere wonderful. Its a bit late this year to be riding in the Alps but I’m excited as usual for the prospect of new places and new roads and new wanderings in my life. IN the next few days I’ll try to put up a few words about whats going on in the midst of… well; the actual goings on… I’ll try to filles some reports, I know Im horrible at blogging but I hope it’s because im busy actually living it. Sorry, I’ll try to be more interesting…

I knew it was coming; I’d ridden this trail before. This rock garden always messes with my confidence and causes me to start stressin’ about it mildly even a mile before. Funny how the internal battle rages and sets up the outcome of the events to come. I rolled along talking to my self about not being psyched out or being too occupied with this thing… ”just ride like you know”. I roll along; dodging cactus and flicking amongst other rocks and obstacles and even jumping of this and that. Feeling pretty calm about the approaching moves, I add another element to my internal debate; ”you know, there is that line jumping in from the right”… Oh great; now I’m supposed to be all stressed about that pressure? I’m only a few hundred yards away at this point and I didn’t really need that challenge, who is this A-Hole speaking […]

I havent been bloggin’ much and I wont be long winded now either. In July I love to be in the Alps or some Italian small town sippin’ coffee with my bike. In January I look forward to our annual shop trip to Arizona and the ledges and rocks of the Sonoran desert. In September and October; I cannot imagine a better place to be than here in Fruita Colorado. People tell me I should see the fall colors back east and I’m sure they’re right. But the way things shake out here this time of year, I am hard pressed to journey anywhere else. The fall here brings cool nights (almost cold at times) and a very few rain showers that leave us with perfect trail surfaces under 78 degree sunny skies with the warmth of the western sun lighting up every cliff and rock and river view in […]

Happy Birthday Brad! Ljubjianna is cool Ljubljana is the home of our hosts Adrej and Ziga and our last day riding with them would be today. We planned to meet at 5pm and that gave us the day to explore the city, as we had hoped. This city that sits along the banks of the river bearing it’s own name. The old town sits on both sides of the river with the thousand year old castle keeping watch above. The river is lined with outdoor bars and restaraunts and very firendly people. We ate fresh strawberries from a local grower and met great folks as we shared ad rink along the riverside. Awesome town, one of my new favorites; warm like Budapest but so much smaller and thus warmer and more reachable. Go here… We spent the day riding around town and playing on the abundant urban that seems to […]

Our second day in Slovenia and another mountain to climb. This time we drive a few hours south to an area near the Adriatic and the Italian border. Another ride, another mountain to climb and another great day. This is getting to be addicting; we park in a really cool little town settled in early roman times maybe and inhabitad by 50 people or so. We park right in town and get ready to ride; within a block we are on gravel and soon we are climbing again. It’s a bit warm today and the usual Slovenian 100% humidity is in the air. Hey, it’s why we have small chainrings right? We climb for an hour again almost all in the little gear. It’s 100 degrees almost at the base but a bit better at the summit overlooking the Adriatic and Italy and Croatia. As we’ve learned of the secret […]

Heading South from Salzburg into Slovenia offered a morning of scenic driving through the Alps, into Italy for a moment and then up over a pass into the Julian Alps of NW Slovenia. Wow… Just over the border and at the base of the pass, we entered the little mountain oasis of Bovec (pronounced ”Bo-Vets”) Our new local friends were waiting for us at our hotel and we turned around from scenic drive to goin’ riding in about 10 minutes. It was worth the rush for what lie ahead on our first ”Slo” day… Drivin’ to the start of ride; what a perfect way to meet new friends; Andrej and Ziga and (oops I cant remeber their names-thanks for driving us). We drove just a short chat south of Bovec (say ” Bo-Vets”) and turned up a pass nearly to the Italia border. A short way up this pass road […]

Day Two – Salzburg to Leogang Austria – it was my responsibility to find the good riding in the Austrian Alps near Salzburg. I had searched the web and asked my europe contacts and even tried to get some info out of Hans, but in the end I still wasn’t sure where to go. It seems that there’s a lot of classic euro road/mountain biking, these wide cinder paths that are called ”trails”. So I filtered all the info I had found down into the sure bet and at least a hope of some skinny rocky tracks and it pointed us to Leogang… now I point you to the same… There’s not much info and even when you drive off the main highway and into the town some 45 minutes south of Salzburg. As you drive in through a small sleepy community, you are still wondering; what the heck did […]