protect yourself

winter desert photos and indian creek

2011-12-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

wow it sure is nice to have a few days off to just walk around and shoot some desert scenery
these shots were taken in buckskin wash/wire pass and in the red canyon area near bryce.
i got a new camera this fall and i have to say i'm really happy with it.

after a lot of research, head scratching, and more research, i decided on the new sony nex5n
with a two lenses. a 16mill and an 18 55 micro zoom.

here are the pros and cons from owning this camera now for about 3months

pros list is much longer than the cons and i have to say that for the price, i love this camera

cost; with 2 lenses and a nice case 900 bucks/ comparable slr's were in the 1500 range
size; with the 16mm lens this camera is only slightly bigger than my old point and shoot
easy; to use and the learning curve was short
killer; image quality for a camera of this cost and size.

cons; not a big fan of the touch screen

so here are just a few samplings from last week

it was so cold in here but the only way to get shots was to have the gloves off non stop
very painful!!

testing out the b+w blue setting with some good results

in 1994 i bought the classic how to rock climb book by john long.
i read that thing front to back several times, did some bouldering, and fully intended to get into rock climbing. but then i found cycling and never looked back. over the years i've had very little interest in rekindling the climbing bug that i had found as a teenager, but i did always feel like i was missing out on something there.
that was until last spring when my good friend thad (climbing addict) suggested that we climb south sixshooter on the first leg of a bike packrafting trip around utah.(see older posts).
well we got rained out that first day and ended up crossing the colorado river over to the white rim and climbing one of the first pitches on washer woman tower the next day.
that was it for me, i was hooked!

so here are some shots from thanksgiving weekend at the creek
thanks thad!!

nevadas first climb age 8
i love the size of the chalk bag here!!

thad getting pumped on ananuki

south six shooter in the back ground from the top of easter island at the bridger jacks,brrrrrrrrrrr!!

heading up

i've always had trouble with portraits but i think this new camera is somehow helping?

summit crew

hope you liked this, as you can expect to see more of this kind of stuff from the republic of doom.
bye now

yakutat to gustavis part one !

2011-12-03T18:31:00.001-07:00

hello out there.... is anyone still listening??
my apologies for not posting anything for the last 3 or 4 months. computer issues ect...

i just noticed that you can now click on any of these photos to bring up a full size slide show. highly suggested!

lets just get back to where i left off, Alaska! part one.
i suggest grabbing a large helping of your favorite beverage, cranking up some good music, and making yourself comfortable, cause it's going to be a long ride. don't worry though, i'll do my doomdest to make it worth your while.............

these photos are from the first 5 or so days of a pretty damn sweet packraft, fat bike, trek that started in yakutat and finished in gustavis alaska in glacier bay, 11 days later.

in hindsight this trip exceeded all of my high expectations in more ways that can be described in words, but this is going to be a damn good try.

first the group and subsequent dynamics ect... was stellar.
and talk about a star studded cast of characters
roman dial
mike curiak
eric parsons
dylan kench
doom

whoa ............. good thing that plane didnt go down cause our sport( what do you call taking bikes boats and bad ideas out in the middle of the alaska nothingness just to get from one place to another?) would have very well met it's possibly predictable end...........

ok lets get to these photos
day one, anchorage, getting ready to fly south to yakutat for the start of the trip. it's raining cats and grizzlies! things don't look good , but we buy our tickets anyway, and off we go, on the special edition Disneyland plane, WTF? i think there are about 10 other people on this 250 seat jet.
so we we head straight to the back of the bus like we're on some sort of high school field trip.
perfect!

brake less fatbike chaos

yakutat, some how our elevated spirits have scared the rain away and it's perfect pugs weather when we land. we throw our bikes together and get an obligatory quick meal at the bar next to the tarmac.
it strikes me as funny that we are at a fly in, fly out, FISHING village in alaska and the only thing that they are out of is seafood! being a non red meat eater i'm left to beg the waitress for a plate of rice and veggies for 18 bucks, an obvious low point of the trip for me! needless to say i'm ready to hit the saddle and disappear for the next week and a half.

as i wasn't running any brakes... it didn't take me long to perfect the "terrain brake"

which was applied liberally due to the infinite photo opportunities!!

if you haven't already... check out mike's blog, and killer photos and video from the trip.

camp #1 lupine like you have never seen .

our first water crossing and the end of the line for anyone with out a packraft or a bushplane.

fortunately the bugs weren't as bad as i had expected. just bad!

day one and two were pretty much perfect beach riding with just enough crossings and log fields to keep things interesting.
for the most part we all had the same gear ratio eric, dylan , and i had 22x20 mike had a 24x20 and roman had a cool little two speed set up.

our first big crossing the mighty alsek river

pugs paceline, check!

part of the rarely seen fairweather range

mount elias 18,008 ft. in the distant background

mike droppin in on the biggest DH of the tour. 20 vertical feet in 1.5 seconds!

after three days of relatively smooth beach riding and minimal pushing, it was time for a change.
this is the approach up to the grand plateau glacier mostly nice bear trail with some nasty moss covered boulders. this got us up to the glacial lake that we would boat across to avoid the raging river created by the lake.
as it turned out this ended up being one of the most amazing beach detours one could imagine.

it was late and cold when we put in on the lake and we really hoped to find a beach to camp on quickly, after about an hour of paddling we found a tiny beach to land on and scratched out a small camp site.

this was just before midnight.

roman sleeping in, next to the fire.

i love the road classification on the map.

this was the easy part of a three hour slog back to the beach
we/i had a pretty close encounter with a huge bear. it hissed and charged me, but decided to make the right choice and avoid our group in the end. likely we were just to skinny and smelly for its taste.

well that's it for now.

republic of doom 2011

2011-12-03T17:05:00.003-07:00

i love the view out my window, one of the last remaining old barns in town.

ok here it is, in no particular order...
some of the stuff that i made this year.
and a few older pieces in action!

the bear creek poachers jacket, in the making

donkalope!

an unfinished hodala vest

steveZ doing some fat bike r+d/ hangtime/ wipeout!

poachers jacket in it's element

dr. jon's vest

this was taken at the top of silver chute near telluride, perfect spring skiing, hardhat not required.

percasi with skull jacket in trav's bike shed

i made this out of an old banner from the iron horse.

yours truly testing out the chute of the muddy creek, solo style.

max looking out over the next 4 days of riding from high in the blue mnts.
i took some creative incentive for his vest from this cracked mud that i came across on the dirty devil river.

tab donation

and self portrait below(dirty devil river)

yakutat to gustavis part 2

2011-07-28T08:53:00.014-06:00

the below photos were taken in chronological order during a fatbike packrafting tour of the lost coast from yakutat to gustavis.
this collection represents approximately, the second half, and more difficult part of the trip.
lots of walking, "stumblefucking", open ocean paddling, and sketchy river crossings were the bulk of our days.
yes the bugs were bad, but they can't kill you. so in some regards they were merely a nuisance.

i would have to say that our most difficult day was negotiating the La Perouse glacier, which is two miles wide and feeds directly into the ocean. we had heard of successful beach crossings from a few sources, but that info was at least a year old, and glaciers are pretty dynamic entities.

after setting ourselves up for a low tide crossing by camping near the base, we awoke to a perfect morning, packed up, made a short river crossing in our boats, walked, and road the short distance to the massive wall of ice. there was a certain calm and quiet to our usually boisterous group. the sound of the ocean crashing into the toppled and broken ice was becoming impossible to ignore, and more and more daunting by the second. things didn't look good, but roman and dylan and i decided to have a look around the corner to see if this was even worth trying. we left our bikes behind and made the first of several dicey moves around house sized blocks of ice that were being rhythmically swamped by body snatching breakers. our reconnaissance mission was about as far from reassuring as it gets, and only because our alternatives were shitty, and it didn't look impossible, we decided to give it a go. what ensued was the single most sketchy thing i have ever attempted to date. we made it about half way around the glacier only to be stopped dead in our tracks by a semi submerged subdivision sized icefall as far as we could see. there wasn't much of a discussion about what to do next, we just turned around and started, a hasty as fuck, retreat, running when possible and trying desperately not to let the fear of what was hanging above us gain purchase on our now battered moral. it was about this time that a very insignificant glacial event occurred. there was a crisp and unmistakable sound to my right about 150 feet up. i was already jumping toward the breakers to my left when my vision focused on a van sized chunk of ice that was plummeting toward the rocks next to me. my cohorts surely have a better account of what happened next, as i was instinctively hurling myself away from the impending impact, and subsequent deluge of flying shrapnel. fortunately my terror induced bout of tourrettes syndrome lasted only as long as it took for us to gain the safety of the beach a few hundred yard away.
we escaped with our lives but now we had to come up with an alternate route.

our choices were, go over the thing, or go around it via an open ocean (big breakers) surf launch.
going over meant very dangerous unroped glacier travel with heavy bikes.
going around meant getting very wet, and potentially flipping our boats, and being pummeled on the beach by the incessant breakers.

in the end we battened down the hatches and successfully pulled off an open surf launch.
mike got his ass handed to him on the landing, wrecking one of his cameras, losing his glasses, and pretty much getting a free sand enema.
i'll leave it at that.
now make sure you take some time and look closely at these images.
as you can guess, and i can attest to.... words can never do a trip like this justice.
but it's been said that a picture's worth a thousand words.....
enjoy

boulder camp

part of the scary part...

the not so scary part...

weighing our options

icy point. looking out at some of the bays that we'd be paddling for the next few days.

classic beach side boat repair!!

sign me up!!

roman relaxing with a warm cup of dried milk after the high stakes poker that night.

if only bears could talk
hmmm "is that a puggs?!!"

this is what a quarter mile per hour looks like.

what more can i say.

utah 2011 part three/ revenge of the mud!

2011-07-04T12:11:00.012-06:00

here's part three of the utah loop that i did in may
i know i should be posting some photos of the epic that i just returned from, but if i dont get these up first, they may never go up at all.
these photos are from the rainy start of day 7 from sunset pass out to hite, up through the mud and crud to dark canyon over look camp. after a very wet and cold night i awoke to a break in the weather, my hopes were high for good riding but i was quickly shut down and had to turn back and head out to the pavement near fry canyon. camped that night in comb wash and had my first real fire of the tour. day 9 started with a great dirt road climb push out to blanding and finished with pavement slog up to my car in the blue mnts. where thad and i had started almost two weeks earlier.
mud pie for breakfast

32 miles of this stuff.

the weather eased around noon and i had some great riding near hite, and at the beginning of fort knocker rd.

the respite didn't last for long, as storm after storm pounded and soaked the road ahead of me turning things into cow shit soup.

jackpot!! dark canyon overlook, and double rainbow welcome mat!!
snapped a few shots here before darkness and storm after pounding storm blew through.

note to self.... boats make bad rain shelters!!
a morning sucker hole appeared over my camp just long enough for me to dry my soaked everything, and get my hopes of mud free riding up.

my planned route(and the only dirt route) to the blue mnts, would keep me at this elevation(9,000) for the next 45 miles. it had snowed down to 8,500ft the night before and everything ahead was going to be like this.....

i left the bike behind and trudged up to the next high point to get some perspective on the situation. this old radio tower gave me a great vantage point of what lay ahead.
1/2mile an hour for 45 miles was what i was looking at, with impending bad weather.
there was only one way to go from here, and that was back a few miles where i could exit the mud dead grip.

this is all the dried mud that i banged off my bike prior to pulling onto the pavement.

this is the tail end of another super intense storm that passed through.

hammering out the road miles, wearing every piece of clothing i had.

that's that.

stay tuned for some photos and stories from alaska!

solo bike packraft tour day 6

2011-06-10T22:59:00.000-06:00

day six just had so many high points and photo opportunities that is going to get it's own post.

basically the weather looked really bad when i got up, but i decided to follow through with my plan to hike up and out of the canyon to an old mining road that goes up river and affords fairly easy access to happy canyon, after exploring happy canyon, i'd float the dirty devil back to camp. this would take about 6 or so hours. once back to camp i'd have to ferry the bike across the river, and start riding east as far as daylight and weather would allow.
things went mostly as planned but the weather was a big factor in the day.
looking down on what i'd be floating later.

the petrified wood along this route was unreal!

looking down on the happy canyon drainage.

happy canyon is one of the most photogenic and difficult to access canyons in the dirty devil area and this is what the weather was giving me when i finally got there.
basically if you know anything about canyon safety and flash floods, this is a perfect example of when not to go into any slot canyon. if that storm hits while you are inside the narrows you are dead, end of story.

i did manage to run into, and out of, the very first part of the narrows to snap a few shots.

in the end i made the right decision to stay out of the canyons that day.

funny when the driest place around is in your packraft!

after a very peaceful few hours on the dirty devil river, the weather broke and i had a great lunch before the impending ALL up hill ride to sunset pass.

great views of the henry mnts. and lots of fresh snow on the pass that i'd squeaked through the day before.

just when you feel like you are really in the middle of nowhere.... there's this?
whats with all the welded panels on the windows? looked like some sort of 1950's A Team project.

i guess it's worth mentioning that i was the only person out there. saw zero people this day.

tuning in the weather channel..............

rain likely, with widespread photos ops.

the sun was going down, the rain was moving in (for the 26th time) and the temps were in the 30's when i made it to sunset pass. rained, sleeted and blew hard all night.

stay tuned for day 7! revenge of the mud!

solo bike packraft tour

2011-05-27T21:58:00.000-06:00

i'm going to try to keep the words to a minimum, and let these photos do some talking.
but what we have here are images of the first 5 days of a 9 day solo mision around southern utah
dates may 13th thru 17th.
starting on the green river at hardscrabble bottom on the green river.
after 8 miles or about 2 hours on the green i took out at millard canyon in the maze.
the end of a very little used road at the north end of the maze.

sunset and the end of day 1, was amazing and very welcome after 10 hours of mostly climbing on the bike.

day 2 consisted of an early rise to beat the "crowds" in horseshoe canyon
hiked down to the big panel ( via the deadman trail) and had a very peaceful time in the canyon.

this storm came out of know where and had me hightailing it out of there!

didn't seem to bother these two though....

my back pack is under and attached to my bike for a 4 mile hike across the canyon to avoid the 40 mile washboard alternate route.

will someone tell the park service that the washboard prevention program is not working on the maze access road! got pretty pounded along this part.

just the beginning of the wind and rain storms that would haunt me for most of my journey.

the end of day 2 , still pushing my bike through unreal scenery.
look close and you can see the road winding through that red desert.

camp and temple mnt. on the back side of the san rafael swell.

day three started with the discovery of this old mining camp

some very favorable lighting, and some really cool old work boots.

left the bike behind again and did a sweet canyon loop through ding and dang canyons.
a few stemming, to avoid getting wet, problems, but over all straight forward canyoneering loop.

lunch consisted of white knuckle down hills, epic hike a bikes, and unmatched scenic vistas.

whoa.. a rideable section!!

not so rideable....

scary.... was rethinking my choice of a helmet free tour.

afternoon consisted of a very long...... 14 mile hike to the tositch butte area and the put in for the chute. which i would float the next day.

had to put out a few fires along the way.

the muddy creek!! a very welcome sight after a long long hike across barren desert.

day 4 and the last time i'd see the sun like this for the rest of the tour.
so after not sleeping very much the night before....dawn broke and it was time to boat the chute.
it was kind of like getting up christmas morning as a kid (so excited), the unknown, what would be under that tree, ect..... but this xmas morning could be a bit different. i wasnt sure if i had been a good boy, and was a bit worried about santa(the chute) giving me a royal ass kicking!
once you enter the chute, you are in a (hopefully) boat able slot canyon, with no way out for several frozen miles.
all went well and i made it out alive.

no turning back after this corner.......

a refreshing open area with sun, and the biggest cottonwood i've ever seen.
look close at the flood debris in some of those lower limbs.
at least 20 feet higher than the current river level.

got back to my bike, picked it up, and continued down stream for another few hours to the factory butte area.

a less than ideal take out

factory butte, the henry's, and a bitch ass head wind .

ended day 4 at the old dump in hanksville, under rainy, and heinously windy conditions.
it was a rough night.

day 5 started with this sweet view of the pass in the henry's that i'd be riding over.

i wore most of the clothing i had for the 5 hour climb to the summit, and got snowed on for several hours, but it honestly wasnt as bad as i expected.

first one through

the "cowboy route" out of the henry's down down down to poison springs rd.

the dirt route under highway 95. for all you purists! NO PAVEMENT

ahhhhhhhhhhh the dirty devil river and day 5 camp.
this was the first day that i stopped before dark and it was a welcome respite after the big snow day over the henrys.
of course it rained on a off all night and morning but we'll cover that in my next post!
days 6 thru 9, when the weather actually got bad, i mean realllll bad!

spring utah loop, section 1

2011-05-23T08:30:00.000-06:00

you could say that we are having a late or even long spring? but i believe it would be more accurate to say that we are having a long winter! perfect time for a bike, packraft tour of utah!

a brief tour description : 12 days, 4 rivers, 1 bachelor party, via bike, packraft, and feet. areas of interest include, the maze, white rim, and horseshoe canyon districts of canyon lands np, san rafael swell, ding and dang canyons, the henry mountains, glen canyon nra, the blue mountains. wind, rain, snow, sleet, hail, and a bit of blinding sun. the weather was.... well.... see above photo.

so here are some photos ect from day 1 through day 3
thad and i got and early start and were on our bikes by 8 am, we were also wearing everything we had with us! i think thad did a pretty good job is not letting me see him shivering but i think he was.

early start was a blessing!
here's the rig i'll be rolling with for the whole tour, minus the climbing gear stashed in the pack.
i was able to keep my bike clean for about the first .5 miles of this 500? mile trek.

indian creek trail, highly recommended! but don't go the other way, unless you like walking.

well after a very awesome 3,000ft vertical single track descent, the first of may rain storms reared up and shut us down from climbing south six shooter.
all of a sudden that 15 extra pounds of climbing gear just got really heavy!

due to the questionable weather we had the place to ourselfs, and this single tire track in the sand would be an often repeated visual as i continued the rest of the trip.
we always tease thad about being the guy with more shtuff on his bike that anyone, but this was too much!
the tamarisk jungle, looking not as bad as it could have been.
good thing because thad's lawn mower shit the bed up the canyon a few miles back.
the put in at the mouth of lockhart canyon on the colorado river.
thad's first bike packrafting experience. i couldn't have slapped that smile off his face even if i'd wanted to.
reason # 363 (or so) why packrafting is THE WAY. it takes about an hour, or two if you dilly dally to go from lockhart canyon to lathrop canyon via a packraft, and it would take about two days to ride all the way around through moab (the only other way to get there). basically you have a portable, packable, bad ass, and fun, bridge in your pack. totally ninja.
so the take out on the white rim side had this picnic table with "hay duke" already carved in it.
we took it as a sign to not sweat the rangers and just camp there! all was good.
question? if you got to a bachelor party rendezvous on the white rim 6 hours early, would you?
A: sit around getting a sunburn, thinking about how your friends were already drinking all the beers.
B: sit around getting a sunburn,wishing you were in one of those jeeps getting tossed around like a rag doll for the next 100 miles.
C: drop the bikes and head for the first tower, to use some of that climbing gear you just so happened to have packed in with your broken lawn mower. hoping that your friends were saving some cold beers for you.
D: turn around and go home.
hmmmm.

thad had heard about a patch of grass on top of one of these towers that was getting a bit shaggy.
but we didn't find it, nor did we find the conquistador's gold, but we did have a lot sweet views!

sorry ladies but this one's getting married. lucky gal too!
i have to say darren, that your bachelor party ride was super sweet and i apologize for not taking any photos along the way but i was trying desperately to save batteries for the rest of my impending journey.
fortunately thad's narcolepsy chose a safe place to strike. he swears it's never happened while leading a 5-10 pitch. hmmmmm
well all jokes and sarcasm aside it was a real pleasure to be able to have such a great partner on the first part of my spring(winter) epic and i was considering how much pushing it would take to get thad to continue on with me for a few more days? all in due time. the hook was set, and i think if thad's a really good boy may be santa will be bringing him some inflatable freedom this winter!

fort bottom on the green river. very worth the trip down to this old cabin and native lookout tower. also a very easy morning packraft trip from hardscrabble camp on the white rim.

well thats it for section one but lets recap the route
started at foy lake in the blue mnts. took the indian creek trail down to newspaper rock, then did a rainy and windy pavement timetrial over to lockhart basin, following it down to the colorado river, crossed there, it's about 1.5 miles of paddling. took out at lathrop canyon and climbed to the white rim, continued counter clockwise on the rim and a final camp with the bachelor party crew at hardscrabble camp on the green.
section two starts with 8 miles of paddling on the green river from hardscrabble taking out at millard canyon in the maze, and continuing on for a 9 day solo mission.
more on that and photos will be forthcoming.

2011 southern utah loop

2011-05-09T09:34:00.000-06:00

sneaking off to the desert tomorrow for a 13 day bike, packraft, climbing, expedition.

this tour will include most of the aspects of the trip bailey and i did last may, but this year i'm adding in a climb of the north six shooter tower on day one, a bachelor party for a great friend on the white rim, days two and three, and then setting off for the next 10 days solo.
highlights along the route will be horseshoe canyon, the chute on muddy creek, some slots in the san rafeal swell, bull pass in the henry mnts. the dirty devil river, a climb to the top of the block, and hopefully lots of random exploration of the elk ridge area near and around the dark canyon wsa.
i should have some great images upon my return.
untill then..........

lower dirty devil flash tour!

2011-04-12T20:55:00.000-06:00

seventeen years ago i passed over this very bridge for the first time.
i was on my first bike tour, solo, green as could be, riding a 1980's derosa that was about two cm too small for me with borrowed touring bags, a retro fit fanny pack with a shoulder strap and my bed roll attached.
i was sun burnt, thirsty, and completely hooked by my experience.
this was also my first glimpse into the desolate and mysterious reaches of southern utah.
a place that i now consider my backyard.

it's early april in southern colorado and it's snowing like a mother out....
my first inclination is to, think snow, as they say...
but i've been watching the dirty devil river levels lately
my new packraft (with custom bike tie downs) is ready for a test run, and my ears have been sand free for way too long.

the southern stretch of the dirty devil runs from poison springs rd. about 20 river miles to it's confluence with the colorado river(now the begging of lake powel).
this is a rarely run river due to it's normally low water levels and remote location.
as this is a solo mission i'll be parking at the take out, and riding my mountain bike with all necessary gear to be out on the water for two days and one night.
its a 26 mile pavement climb to the beginning of poison springs road

after two hours of pavement i'd seen only a handful of cars go by

sand dunes and swamps, this is poison springs rd. 16 miles down the wash to the dirty D.

after one little hike a bike at the bottom of the road you are treated to a killer view of the dirty devil drainage
go go gadget boat....
took about and hour to transform from bike mode to float mode.
plenty of time to nurse a cold beer and get psyched up to launch into the canyon.
once you push off here you're in it, with no way out but the planned exit, which is a day away under all the best conditions.

non uscg approved pfd...but it is a 29'r tube.... more volume right?
i love how deceptive the light on the river is here.
looks like a big ass river, but its about 6 inches deep across this whole area.
looks so crisp and clear, but "she's a dirty devil"!
i had to get out and drag my boat for a while at the end of the day after the sun went down.
this was a very cold and unhappy situation, one that i was hoping not to repeat, the next morning when the temp would be just above freezing.

morning light
one of the many super overhanging walls

stopped at an unnamed slot canyon midday.

the only real rapids of the day
pumped up that tube pfd, but this thing looked and sounded worse than it was.

got to love the b+w

picked up a dead scrub bouquet for my girlfriend
full circle. i new from the moment i passed over that bridge 17 years ago that i wanted to see the rest of that canyon some day. it only took 17 years
the muck at the take out was honestly not as bad as i'd expected.
only sank up to my knees, and kept my footwear!! sweet
untill about 10 years ago this was all under the waters of lake powell, hmmm

crux move of the day
so here are some stats if you are planning to float this.
180-130 cfs
day 1 42mile ride to the put in. 26mile pavement climb, 16miles of dirt road downhill, the road is Very sandy. the ride took a solid 3 hours
paddled for 6 hours the first day

day 2 paddled for 4 hours, hiked a slot canyon for 2 hours, and paddled another 4 or so hours, and was on the road back to durango by 6pm

2 days 1 night 0 people

this would be a much more reasonable trip if done over 3 days and 2 nights, but i wanted to know if it was possible to do it in 2 days. it was, but it wasn't a very leisurely tour.
also i wouldnt attempt this with much less water that the average of 150 cfs that i experienced, unless of course you like dragging your boat.
i did the uper section last year in may with and average of 50 cfs and it was great but we dragged our boats for half the distance (which is really f'in hard) .
good luck!

the Bear Creeek poachers jacket

2011-03-27T21:10:00.000-06:00

there's a situation where i live that (in my opinion) involves the forces of good vs. evil.
these forces are very easily lumped into us vs. $. or more directly put....us vs. someone that wants to make money by pressuring us via bottom feeding real estate moves.
let's make it perfectly clear, we're not falling for this bullshit.
i made this jacket to reflect the aforementioned ideas, and i'm pretty sure that it does the job quite well. basically the jacket has a full, to scale, topographic map of the disputed area where myself and a lot of my-our friends ski.
it should also be mentioned that the jacket was created this year as the republic of doom showcase piece, for the telluride aids benefit fashion show, which was a huge success, smashing all fund raising records from past years!!

ducking ropes is so 2010!!

doom 2010

2011-01-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

i think this post will be heavy on color not words.

hooded vest for steve Z
inside of the telluride aids benefit donation vest
the process
product testing...

doggie vest!

for vulture cycles

aids benefit jacket

my pugs
russ's pugs with front end scabbard
glen doing some product testing

stay tuned for a killer 2011
the end.

mid december san juan packrafting

2010-12-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

this is my answer to the fact that we have no snow in the san juan mountains yet.
three day hike,bike, packraft tour of the san juan river.
day one: push, pull, carry, drop, drag bikes 1200vertical feet down into the canyon bottom

i didnt know it, but this was about to be the most gnarly downhill hike a bike i'd ever done.

yes glen down there...
glen isn't too keen on heights, but the option of turning around kept him going!
i'll just throw this little warning out there in case you are planning a repeat of this trip.
dont try this in december if the weather is looking anything but sweet! there is very little sun in the canyon bottom in december, the weather forecast was calm with highs in the 50's but it was pretty damn cold on the river!
these snow blower gloves i picked up on the way out of town suck for boating.
the first of many, stop, empty boat, try to warm up breaks

looks all warm and fuzzy, but we were pretty much freezing.
not sure what happened to this guy, but he had some pretty nice doom gear.
taking advantage of the small amount of sun we had

take out junk show /try to let your gear dry out as much as possible before you stuff it onto your bike.

glen demonstrating the fine art of taking your bike for a walk

an early morning veiw or the san juan from near camp.
great camp, sheltered from a westerly wind, with a natural kitchen table too.
we finished day two here after paddling most of the day and then pushing our bikes up and out of the canyon bottom for about an hour or so.
the road is perched on a high shelf above the river for many of it's 40 or so miles back to our put in.
about to walk our bikes downhill again

we did ride our bikes a little bit...
i promised glen that i'd get a least a few shots of him actually riding his bike.

ouch... freshly graded roadbed=slow painful progress

the only vehicle we saw in three days

workin for the weekend

2010-12-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

just another case of posting, post, post, post adventure.
this little jaunt took place in mid september after a long week of driving my ass all over the san juan skyway, chasing work.
long weeks on the road call for at least a few well earned days on the bike.
in this case i was able to ride home from the telluride area, instead of doing that long and often boring drive to durango. i just wish i could commute this way every day!

friday beer thirtyish

looking for a place to camp at dusk
a word of caution to all those tempted to sleep in sweet old run down cabins like this, dont do it!
these things are crawling with haunta virus, which can kill you, dead!
steer clear of these tempting shelters, the stars are better from your sleeping bag anyway.

saterday 630 am very frozenish

sunrise on hermosa creek! wow this is a must do!

couldn't resist a good ride up the new extenda ridge trail with glen, but i did cut it short to finish these killer belts for sscxwc in seattle.

punk rock!

2010-11-19T06:26:00.000-07:00

in an effort to stay consistent in my blogging habits i will now post about things that happened several months ago.
if you've been following this blog for some time you know that jon and i did a grueling desert adventure across southern utah back in may.
what you dont know is that i left my brand new surly touring rig in page AZ to avoid having to fly with it.
here's how i got it back
august firstish...; so i was kind of missing my bike and the weather for the durango area was rain, rain, and more rain.
i called vance at the bike shop in page and asked him to lock my bike up out side of his shop so i could pick it up later that evening(midnight).
the next morning i put in a new bottom bracket and fixed a flat on the side of the road , and i was on my way.

the weather was looking pretty bad but i had two days and i was going to make the best of it damn it!

this is snow flats road near the comb wash. looks like i'm going to be alone today!
ok the weather's looking really bad... but it's not 100degrees and there's no bugs.
which is very typical at this time of year.
i was a little worried when the road started to look like this.
looks like russel may have been here 25 years ago...
exploring old roads and looking for a place to camp for the night near the grand gulch area.
didnt find any great camping here and it was raining pretty hard so i just kept riding.
after several more hour of sandy muck slogging, i found it! the ultimate never used cowboy camp with a view!

and rainbows too

good night
good morning

day 2 looking pretty sweet. i'll be riding down in that valley in a few hours

i think it took me 8 minutes to get down to the bottom of the moki dugway!
scary fast

valley of the gods
taking a much needed shade break before the final pavement push up to the car and the end of this little desert exploration tour.
although very short, this was a great loop with amazing weather, and scenery. perfect for a quick desert fix!

hole in the rock road

2010-08-04T21:03:00.000-06:00

due to the intrusion of lake powell, coyote gulch now marks the end of the escalante river.
i'll refrain from making any "political" remarks regarding the legitimacy of said lake.
coyote gulch and crack in the rock would be our river take out, and the beginning of our hardest day yet.

we'd been making alot of jokes about "rest days" during the trip, mostly due to the fact that before we started, i told jon that we'd have some down time, and maybe even a "rest day" if things were going according to the rough schedule i had set out.
needless to say we hadn't been doing much resting.
i knew that the exit from the escalante river was going to be pretty hard but the day we happened to be there just happened to be a wind, dust, rain, and snow storm of monumental proportions. definitely not a rest day!

our day started with 4hours of boating, and breaking down our boating gear.
then trudging up a 1000 high sand dune with bikes strapped to our grossly over loaded packs, after that we would need to rope our gear over crack in the rock. honestly the easiest part of the day.
once on top of crack in the rock, the real fun began.
an overland trudge with a sand blasting (literally) wind that just got worse as the day progressed.
once we got to the 40mile bench trail head we dropped our bikes, only to have to do it all over again. back down to the river to get the rest of our gear, food, and, water, then back up into the wind which had somehow gotten worse.
once we had all our stuff at the trailhead we proceeded to hide behind the largest vehicle there in an attempt to put our bikes together in the blinding sand and dust storm.
it was getting late and riding bikes(even if into a heinous head wind) sounded like heaven on earth.
i think we peddled about 100yards before hitting the newly drifted sand on the road.
so we pushed our 80lb bikes for a few hours/ or about 1.5 miles......
when we were finally able to ride the sun was going down and we needed shelter badly.
the wind was ripping, it was about to rain, and there was nothing but wind and sand on the darkening horizon.
by some act of mercy the wind calmed( a little) and we found the only tree for many miles, and made camp in the dark.

the tree saved our asses but that doesnt mean that either of us slept much that night.
it rained and blew hard till dawn.
we woke to fresh snow down to within a few hundred vertical feet of our camp.
it does not snow here on may 23. but i t did and it was so crisp and beautiful!
we put on all the clothes we had and set off on hole in the rock road. lots of wash board.........
snow........

saw some wild horses
left hand collet canyon

gear repair
our last camp before descending into the lower reaches of the crotan road, and page AZ.

our last day of riding was totally on par with the rest of the trip.
about a 80 miles of dirt road, zero cars.....

escalante river section

2010-08-04T18:58:00.000-06:00

after an easier than expected trudge into the unknown, we finally reached the elusive escalante river and all its impossible glory. how a river of any kind, found, scratched, and eroded it's way into such inhospitable terrain is beyond all human reason and reality. but i am here to attest to it's very real existence.

upon reaching the water jon and i began vigorously breaking down our bikes, and rigging our boats for three days in the heart of the escalante, pausing only to be stunned by our surroundings, and too stuff handfuls of greasy potato chips into our sunbaked faces.

once we rounded the first of many contorted twists and bends, there would be only one realistic way out, at crack in the rock. i figured this would require two or three days of hard paddling and dragging at times.
all other exit points would be for emergency only, and would likely be super impossible hard.
perhaps you have been on a river trip before? plenty of down time, chillin on the boat, cracking beers, maybe playing a guitar?
the escalante is a whole different piece of water that demands 100% of your attention, at all times. due to the very remote nature of this place, even a minor accident could turn into a serious situation.
not huge a amount of water, or gnarly rapids, just lots of small strainers caused by constant rock fall from the cliffs above.

breaks were so good.
they mostly consisted of, stretching out from the small boats, using a huge amount of sunscreen, and just trying to take in as much of the place as one could in the short amount of time that we had. i could honestly spend a lifetime exploring this area, but we only had a few days.

food tasted so good down there, but a little rationing was in order, as we had just enough snacks to get us out, and i knew that the river exit would be the hardest part of the escalante section.

a short and well deserved section of flat water.

eddying out to empty out our boats. lots of rubble to navigate.
perfect

even more perfect...
this is just above our last campsite on the river, at the mouth of ichabod canyon.

the final curves near stevens arch, just before the take out at coyote gulch.

next section, crack in the rock and beyond.

over the henrey's

2010-08-02T19:59:00.000-06:00

after three days of battling our way down the dirty devil, jon and i were looking forward to some serious bike riding, even if that meant a 7 hour climb. which of course it did!

the first few hours of that climb were very sweet canyon double track on the poison springs road.
lots of puddles, stream crossings, and shade made for an amazingly easy climb out to our only major road crossing (highway 95, in the middle of nowhere). after an uneventful crossing of said highway we took the first unused dirt track headed west and got real friendly with the granny gear.

unused, untracked, and unbelievable dirt tracks were the special of the day.

still climbing.......
there was a pile of snow in the trees here, and i did throw a snowball at bailey.
pretty sure i missed.......

after topping out on pennellen pass we enjoyed a pretty long DH on the west side of the henries, scared up a buffalo, and camped amongst these grand cedars.
another peacefull day with the roads and trails totally to ourselfs.

our morning ride started like most days, with epic empty dirt track.
so glad to be digging up our food and water cashe!!
if this bus could talk??

next section
the escalante river...... stay tuned

2010-07-07T08:46:00.000-06:00

days three thru five/ the dirty devil river/

day three started with a nice unloaded,cool morning ride down a little side road outside of the maze. i wanted to make sure we were on the right track before taking all our heavy equipment downhill any further.
a few miles down the road and i ran into a group of technical slot climbers breaking camp, and to my relief, they assured me that we were indeed, on angle springs rd.

this shot gives a pretty full view of the terrain we'd be navigating for the next few days. first trick was making our way down into the dirty devil basin. although it looks like a small drainage/ wash, it's actually deep enough to base jump into. we didn't see anyone doing this, but we heard stories of base jumpers in the area, from the aforementioned climbers.
after floating/ dragging our boats for two and a half days(can you say 35 cfs?!) our route would take us up and over the henry mountains in the distance.

ran into a great retired couple from santa fe at our put in, on the dirty D. they grilled us heavily on the details of our adventure, while we rigged our boats, and prepared for a few days on the river.
i'm pretty sure they thought we were completely f'in crazy when we told them we were planning on floating down this puddle with all our gear, in boats that we'd basically just pulled out of our pockets. but by the time we were paddling away they could be heard saying "i can't believe you guys are doing this.... that's so fucking cool" and " i wish i was going down that river with you boys".
looks like a real river but it maxes out at 6 inches deep.......
which we found to be the minimum need to paddle with all our gear......
which means we walked A LOT.

chugging water moments before digging up cache #1

no words can describe how amazing this place was, at that time............

jon unsuccessfully attempting to find a wireless connection at the take out on poison springs rd.
very much looking forward to riding bikes the next day.

nowhere part two

2010-07-06T10:33:00.000-06:00

nowhere part two
elephant hill to page AZ in 12days
via surly karate monkeys, alpacka rafts, and thrift store shoes.
vital stats
months of planning
three food and water drops( could have gotten away with two)
riding: 1% pavement 99% dirt
boating: 2.5days dirty devil, 2.5 days escalante river, lazy crossing of the colorado.
walking: lets just say alot! the dirty devil was very low and we ended up walking and dragging our boats for about half of the 2.5days.

notable gear
osprey tallon 33packs, grossly over loaded at times.
alpacka rafts, got heavily abused and showed no sign of wear.
old man mnt racks, simply the best.
surly 29'rs, perfect, black, and tufff.
revelate (epic)designs, could not have been a better match for this trip.
republic of doom, jackets and pants, light and stylish, perfect for when the paparazzi were mobbing us.
durango cyclery, hooked up all necessary bike love.
back country experience, provided all that random sweet gear that we were to cheap to buy ourselfs.

thank you thank you sponsors!!

days one and two are featured in the photos to follow.

a long and gnarly walk down the the colorado river
idyllic landing

looking back on the hike out, morning day two
we had to do this hike twice that day
riding out through the maze

breathtaking all day.......................

taking a break at the top of the flint trail.

by the end of day two many things were apparent
we were in the middle of nowhere and only going deeper.
this was going to be really hard.
and we would be super f'ed if those food drops were not intact.

stay tuned for day 3 ect....

red white and blood

2010-07-05T16:05:00.001-06:00

it only takes a moment to go from this to........
this!

not sure what hurt worse, the blood pumping out of my leg, or watching my bike flip uncontrollably out of sight down a scree field?
fortunately my friends were able to recover said bike.....
although it did receive some pretty good damage, i was able to limp it and myself out of the woods.

nowhere everywhere part 1

2010-06-21T20:49:00.000-06:00

ok people as promised
here is the beginning of my photos words and rantings from may 2010
drum roll please......................................................................

part one is needles district at it's best

part one isnt kansas anymore

part one is smiles

part one is one of the best damn guys in the whole world

and part one is not letting me load more pictures right now......
stay tuned, ugh....

2010-05-26T09:16:00.000-06:00

as you all know jon and i have been out on a very killer very different kind of tour for the last two weeks.
i'm sitting here in page az after completing the last leg of the trip yesterday.
unfortunately this is going to be a very short post .
a: because i lost my digital camera on the burr trail, and i have no digi photos to tantalize ya'll.
b: i'm paying for this computer by the second.
c: being inside is making me very antsy.....

to sum it up the trip, route, people, scenery, and luck were all on our side, and made it to page a day early...

yesterday as we finished another 24 hour stretch of the trip without seeing a single person or car, we reluctantly pulled into big water and hit the pavement for the first time in two weeks.
after only two miles of this disconcerting pavement experience we saw more, cars, people, and garbage than we had over the last two weeks of desert travel. and we call this "civilization"....

stay tuned over the next few weeks as i did take alot of blacka nd white film on the trip that needs processing
cheers friends

t minus 24hours....

2010-05-10T12:55:00.001-06:00

some gear prep shots.
expect lots of photos of this trip in early june!

shweet sponsorship updates

2010-04-27T20:46:00.000-06:00

it's sunday may 9th, which means we leave in less than two days!!

ok people..... here is the official sponsorship hype machine

bike's were a major issue, my buddy stout heart cycles is making me a bike but it wont be finished for the trip.... due to the fact that they are small and i gave them no warning...spot brand my sponsor for the past few seasons couldnt come up with a geared frame for me, but they tried damn hard! enter SURLY.....after just a few frantic emails from yours truly, surly was down with the trip and shipped us two (black as night) karate monkey's, and they are perfect for this trip. the do all, beat it up and put it up wet, and still wants more the next day, work horse bike!

icebreaker! we have wool head to toe, let it snow snow snow.....

osprey packs
local way cool packs. we will be running the super light talon 33's and the new talon hip packs.
i hate riding with a huge pack but due to the nature of this trip it will be essential for us to bear some of the weight of our gear on our backs and not just our bikes. these packs are light but very versatile. perfect for the long hike a bikes we will encounter, and small enough to strap to our racks if necessary.

speaking of racks....
old man mountain racks are the best out there!
it's the one do it all rack, that after having and beating for 8 years shows no sign of fatigue.
due to our bike indecision i had to request different hardwear from old man mountain three times, and they fired off all necessary nuts and bolts, asap and with a smile!
the last rack you'll buy, until you get another, for your other, bikes.

epic designs
eric parsons is the !@#$#%
i'm not sure what we are getting yet but i bet it's going to out live me!
want something made by epic people, for epic everything, this is it!
*update, we got our frame bags and handle bar bags on friday!
thaks eric i cant wait to get these things dirty!
alpacka rafts
i cant say that they are sponsoring us necessarily, but let's just say i live a few miles from alpacka HQ and this trip would not be happening without the huge inspiration and help i've received from sheri. water just looks so different now.

durango cyclery
i pretty much told russel that he was sponsoring us, and he said "cool doom".
thats just how it is there.
i had our surly frames shipped there and dropped off a box of parts and viola, next week i'm riding a new bike! durango cyclery forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

back country experience
just a hop and a skip from the cyclery
they are kickin down some demo products for us to smash, should be sweet......................
*update, got serious kick down of food and other essential supplies, thanks ben!!

king cage
ron andrews is the man, hands down, best bottle cages out there.
i'm convinced that ron can build anything out of metal!

thad ferrell
as with all trips requiring gear, a trip to thads closet of radness is inevitable.
thanks thad

a huge thanks also to tim (captin colorado), for dropping me into some pretty hairy airstrips, and getting us out alive after burring tons of food and water drops.

republic of doom
thats me, um well i guess i'm making some pretty nice water proof gear (see extreme product testing) and retrofitting some old panniers into something that can actually be used.
also planning 99% of this painfully hash trip, if you don't find the upcoming trip photos and blog postings to your liking, perhaps some daytime television would be more your style?

thanks sponsors, we love you!!!
* updates, ok we need to give out alot more sponsorship love here.....
i hand picked everyone of these sponsors due to the high quality of their product, and the fit of those products in relation to our specific trip needs.
the list of sponsors noted above are the only companies i approached about our trip.
needless to say, we have been met with an overwhelming amount of support, and this trip would not be happening without it.

now it's time to ride!

extreme product testing

2010-04-05T20:54:00.000-06:00

i think that these photos, pretty much say it all
new green jacket can go anywhere!
and yes we really did ski that....................

getting the bird!

2010-03-28T21:20:00.000-06:00

rollup hoodie
rolled up, tear off sleeves

twas a classic spring day in the 4 corners area today
perfect for spending the cold morning at home finishing my new prototype jacket.
removable sleeves, and a rollup hoodie.
upon completion, i jumped on my bike for some real world testing.
thats when it happened.......
i got the bird..........
not the finger, from some idiot redneck, as you may expect around here.
no not that at all
let me add some more content to this story buy saying that for all the clothing i make, this was the first thing i've made for myself in over three years.
thats pitiful.....
so i'm out enjoying a great ride, and its windy, perfect testing weather, and thats when it happened.
from out of the sky swooped a big raven, and he let one fly....
direct hit on the shoulder of my new green jacket. a huge bird shit! see above photo.
i immediately reached down toward my bike mounted pellet gun holster to find it empty!
damn probably would'nt have shot him anyway.....
when i got home my house mate (who is very spiritual) told me that getting shit on is a great omen.
well either way i found out that gotex is pretty impervious to more than one thing, that can fall out of the sky.

southern utah packrafting bike TOURture

2010-03-23T18:26:00.000-06:00

the dirty devil
the dirty devil from above
the boat

welcome to my new obsession
on may 11th or so, jon bailey and i will set off on a very unconventional traverse of southern.
utah.
stating in canyon lands needles district we will ride, hike(carry our bikes), and float through the most remote and rugged parts of southern utah, ending in page arizona, 16 days later.

some expected highlites along the way include but are not limited to, scorpion attacks, huge rides on rarely used roads, lots of sun, jaw dropping landscapes, hayduke, and fame and glory......

what we dont expect to find out there includes but is not limited to, cell service, pavement, water shade, people, cars, the man.

the short version of the route is this
hike down to the colorado river and float across to the maze district, this will be very hard and take a full day.
ride through the maze(one of the least visited np's in the lower 48) to the dirty devil river(rarely boated due to it's remotness and lack of reliable water)
after 2 days on the river take out on the poison springs rd. also rarely driven.
approach and cross the henrey mnts.( the last mapped and explored mnt range in the lower 48)
connect to the burr trail and make our way down to the end of moody road(you guessed it, the most remote place in the grand staircase of the escalante)
hike 7 miles down canyon to the escalante river and float for a few days
take out at coyote gulch( this will require ropes and alot of cursing)
ride out on hole in the rock road
over the kaparowits Plateau down the lower end of lake powel
with a final paddle across the lake near the damn dam to page
from there i jump a plane to portland for the ten year anniversary
of the west side invite!!yay

here is a short list of our bad ass sponsors
mostly local for a reason!
alpacka raft/ mancos colorado
osprey packs/ cortez colorado
durango cyclery/ durango
republic of doom/ mancos colorado
old man mountain/ santa barbera ca
epic designs/ alaska
surly/mn
these sponsors are so cool i'd buy their stuff even if it sucked/ but fortunately they also happen to make super killer gear.

and then i got a packraft...............................

2010-02-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

ok those of you who know me, wouldnt ever think of me as a boater/river dude, right? right!
boats are big, heavy, and slow, not my style....
well dont get your undies in a bunch, i havent sold the farm yet.
but i have to say this little green machine is going to be my new, epic trip secret weapon!
5lbs of body and bike packing sweetness, and it rolls up to the size of a small tent.
yes it's an alpacka raft, and these little beauties are made by a cool little company, right here in mancos. do your self a favor and check em out.

there is a certain , super top secret trip being planned so stay tuned for details as the arise!

stay tuned

FASHION SHOW PREP

2010-02-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

a sneak peak of some of my offerings for the 2010 telluride aids benefit fashion show.
here it is. the latest lady's cut from the republic.
of course any custom design can be put on top of the new (lady's long jacket), this is just what i came up with for the show.
a pinstripe theme with a bit of motorcycle jacket flair.
a very one of a kind jacket, i suppose i could make more but they would have to cost wayyyyy too much!

skullzzzzz new for 2010

2010-01-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

with a name like doom you'd think i'd be bones deep in the skull business, right?
wrong! and i'm a bit embarrassed to admit that this is my first skull jacket ever........
but have no fear, republic of doom fans, skullz are here to stay, and bound to to get even scarier and deader as i dig deeper into skullville!!
stay tuned......................

bernina 950 and subsequent sweetness

2010-01-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

western style collar, in effect.
pretty cool inside out!
the pin stripe theme strikes again. the top has a really cool decending box kind of look which is hard to see with black on black. the above photo gives you a better idea of what the pattern looks like.
finished product, cowdoy boot style vest.
just messing around with settings, and getting used to the new machine
the start of a vest. i was thinking mc escher style.....

a little history while the video loads
this machine has been on my wish list for years, and it's finally here.
unlike most industrial machines the 950 can do a wide zig zag stitch and 20 different programs, similar what you see in the video. at 2000 stitches per minute it's twice as fast as my already quick straight stitch machine, and way more versatile. what you are seeing is just the beginning of what this machine can do.

what i do when i'm not blogging

2010-01-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

i was thinking pin stripes
and this is what happened
this is the telluride aids benefit fashion show jacket and thought process
i'd love to tell you to go get tickets for this amazing show but it's long since sold out, just make sure you go next year. for details go to www.aidsbenefit.org

republic of doom blog launch!!

2010-01-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

welcome to the republic of doom, and my first blog post ever..........
i feel like i should type something special or historic?
but it's going to go something like this
!!!!!!!!republic of doom@blogspot.fuck yeah.com!!!!!!!
stay tuned,please.