Bugs…

Fact:  the Rocky Mountain pine beetle will decimate 98% of all lodgepole pine forests in Colorado.  As sad as this is, it is old news all the same – the devastation has been occurring for decades and it is at every turn in the trail…

 

The good news is that Grand County (home of Mountain Command Post (MCP))  saw 0% growth in beetle kill last year.  (Meaning, it’s done its damage and has moved on).  If you haven’t been up to the central Rockies in a while, it’s truly a site to see. 

 

 All is not lost, though; there are of saplings, aspens, and other trees filling in everywhere you look.  This sweet little section of singletrack was clear-cut just two summers ago - and is already simmering with color… meadows-in-the-making…

 

 

 

On another note, it’s funny who you come across - during the most obscure section of our ride just the other day we had a chance encounter with 2009 National Champion Heather Irmiger doing some recon of her own…

 

 

And so we stopped and chatted for a bit.  Seems the Horgan-Kobelski/Irmiger household claim their own Mountain Command Post just around the bend, which makes me feel like I must be doing something right…   We shared a few “locals-only” trail secrets and headed our separate ways over the damp forest floor…

 

 

I’ve been busy collecting footage all summer long for my “Quarterly Musical Montage” (QMM) and the AV department is busy at their editing booths.  Here’s a preview… (sound)

TwoWheeledWorld_2010Preview from TwoWheeledWorld on Vimeo.