durango: just a happy little bike town

durango is a bike town... there is a long history of cycling and biking that all centers right around this little town in the mountains of colorado.  this little post is all part of my "get out here and visit" scheme so i hope it works.

first things first a little history lesson:

durango practically invented mountain biking.  björn might argue that he and his childhood buddies actually invented mountain biking in the 80's when they would ride their normal bikes on the dirt bike trails behind his house.  but really a man named ned overend kind of invented mountain biking, he started in the early 80's.  its even rumored that he once owned the house that björn's grandmother now currently owns as a rental property and it is in this garage that he built or modified the first mountain bikes.  im not sure about all this but it sounds good and i think he really did live there.

anyway he went on to be in the first mountain biking videos (they were videos back then) and winning many many mountain biking competitions.  he was even in the first mountain bike race video which is called "Battle at Durango: The First Ever World Mountain Biking Championships"

So mountain biking is pretty awesome here in Durango, we actually have sent a few people to the Olympics for mountain biking including Todd Wells who is in London now.  He placed tenth overall.

But what about road biking?!  well well well, let me tell you a story about a little bet two brothers made one day back way back when... better yet I'll copy this from the Iron Horse Classic website...

The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic was the brain child of Tom Mayer and his older brother Jim. Jim worked as a brakeman on the D & R G W railroad which had run the steam powered locomotive between Durango and Silverton since the 1880's. Tom was a young bicycle enthusiast who grew up alongside the tracks to Silverton. Tom challenged Jim to a race to Silverton. As the train came by the house, the steam whistle screamed and Tom climbed on his trusty steel framed 10 speed and pedaled up over the rim of the old volcano and descended into the caldera to the mining town of Silverton. The train takes a shorter and easier route, but with limited speed, so it is truly a race between man and machine. When Tom became strong enough to win, the bragging rights were his, and the whole town knew it.

suiting up for the race.., björn didn't even wear bike shorts, just his
camo shorts and a themal shirt

powdered donuts, the breakfast of champions

headed out on the trail on jake the snake, björn's kona crossbike
(he didn't even put road tires on...crazy)

michael looking like a pro

aunt kim and friends mike and joe road the quarter horse- 25 miles to purgatory
the ski resort up the valley

looking good but they have only gone about 500 feet

last high five for luck

citizens tour cyclists

the two winners (at least in my book) in Silverton

Pretty cool a race between a train and some bikes, and now every year for the last 41 years cyclist have raced the train to Silverton.  This year Björn and my Uncle Michael entered the citizens race.  Michael is an avid cyclist, he rides to work every day from Longmont. Colorado to Boulder, Colorado, so I would say he is in pretty great shape. Björn on the other hand had only riden his bike one time in 2012 before hopping on the saddle for the Iron Horse.   With over 6,600 feet of ascent and a total elevation gain of 2,756 feet its no easy race! 

Both of them finished and I was happy to drink a beer with them in Silverton! 

A recap of the 2010 race the 2012 race doesn't seem to be available yet

Durango also boasts numerous bike clubs, and groups throughout town from the kids Durango DEVO, a cycling development program to the church of the high pines, a group that rides every Sunday morning in God's church of nature. 

And finally, all of you might be able to see a little bit about Durango next weekend on NBC.  Forget the Olympics, NBC is covering the US Pro Cycling Challenge and guess where it all starts this year!  Here in Durango!

I have been told that you may be able to see a little piece on Durango on August 19th in the mid- afternoon- more details as I get them!

The US Pro Cycling Challenge is the premiere US bike race.  Riders must endure huge changes in altitude throughout the 7 stage race through the Colorado Rockies.  It is one of the most challenging races out there and certainly the most challenging in the US.  It has tons of excitement with the leader jersey changing hands daily and many thrills and upsets! The first stage starts out here in Durango, riding through town and up to the mesa which is home to Fort Lewis College, then down and out of town toward Telluride over one of the more challenging mountain passes, Lizard Head Pass.

route map for stage 1

There is of course a ton of excitement here in Durango this week leading up to this race.  There will be many fun events, bike races, concerts and fun!  Its pretty cool to be here in Durango during this time, I think Björn and I are just thrilled that our house is in such an awesome little town!

life in durango

i thought i would do a little mini-series about durango, you know the place we are building the house!!  i figured since sooner or later we will be at least semi-finished, or at least finished enough to have guests, that i should start enticing ya'll to get out here and check out not only our house but this kick-a** town that we get to live in. 


if you didn't gather already durango is in the south west corner of the state of colorado.  this little map kind of gives you an idea of the location!  

and just so you don't think i am the only one who thinks d-town is a cool place look at this:

Men's Journal names Durango as "Put Your Outdoor Life First" in their April Best Places Issue.  Here is what they have to say:

"The high-desert city, cleaved by the Animas River and perched 6,500 feet high at the stoop of the San Juans, has just enough oil and gas, ranching, and clean tech to support a handful of coffeehouses doing fair-trade brews, four microbreweries (seriously — it’s the water), and fine community arts and theater programs in an Old West downtown. The presence of four-year Fort Lewis College lends an additional cultural boost, but Durango is also decidedly laid-back, the kind of town where a shopkeeper is likely to lock up early and post a gone skiing sign when fresh powder falls at Purgatory, just 24 miles away."

Just this last October Outdoor Magazine named Durango as "The Next Big Thing"  quoting that its amazing network of trails, Colorado's largest national forest just to the North and the town nestled into some of the most beautiful mountains in the country makes it a place to be.

a birds eye view of the animas river valley
(this is just 4 miles north of our house)

Durango have been on lists for Money Magazine as one of the best places to retire, Backpacker Magazine quotes it as being one of the best places to raise an "outdoor" kid, no doubt because of the incredible access to so many outdoor activities its hard to even name them all.  From, kayaking, snowboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking, you name it Durango has got it.

Even National Geographic Adventure recognizes Durango as an Outdoor Mecca in its Where to Live and Play issue.  

So over the next couple of weeks I am going to try to highlight all of the great things about this little Wild West town.  The locals probably won't appreciate it, they like to keep people in the dark about their little slice of heaven, but I think there is plenty to share, come visit, just don't move here- we don't want you!

Opinions: The Animas River Dilemma

The following article appeared in The Durango Herald on Sunday February 12, 2012.  It was written by our friend and neighbor, Sam Burns, concerning the Animas River Management Plan and the craziness that is the 33rd street river put-in.  This area is just about 500 feet north of our new house so Björn and I have taken an interest in the development and management of this area.  Durning the summer months our quiet neighborhood street becomes a carnival of rafting buses, tourists, and individual tubers.  While many river users are respectful and wonderful, there are also many who are not so neighborly.  Our street fills with cars, people changing in our front yards and even using our property as a restroom or trash receptacle.  

Durango Parks and Recreation has held several meetings in the last few months in order to get the input of the community to come up with a river management plan.  Björn and I have been involved in these meetings as we have a desire to see our put-in developed to work better for everyone but also to preserve valuable riparian habitat and to encourage respectful use by everyone.  As you can see from Sam's article the commercial rafters have pit themselves against adjacent property owners in order to create drama and a rift between the two groups.  The next workshops are this week and I hope that we can attend to make sure our voices and ideas are heard!

The 33rd Street put-in, just up from our house via Jane Gurstenburger

A shared asset

Access not only societal issue with Animas River

In a recent Opinion piece by (“A river runs through it,” Herald, Jan. 15) Andy Corra, owner of 4Corners Riversports, pits public interests against the so-called private concerns of neighborhoods and citizens adjacent to the Animas River. This is unfortunate.

It is an overblown argument based on the narrow concept of “recreational access” to the river, coupled with an attempt to make private property owners the enemies of river users. Corra’s arguments are unfair, uncollaborative and unneighborly. We believe most people are not in favor of turning the river banks, the meadows, the streets, and the riparian corridor into a wide-open, unsupervised playground.

As residents of this community, we are not merely interested in property rights. We are also concerned about traffic safety, healthy recreation, conservation of natural resources and acceptable social behavior as measured by the norms of a just and inclusive society.

Nevertheless, we are not interested in dozens of noisy buses with trailers piled high with rafts, loud music, rigging crafts in the street, open containers and overcrowding of selected put-ins and take-outs. Discovering the river as Corra suggests is quite acceptable, but let’s not surround the Animas River with a carnival-like atmosphere.

Furthermore, when did safety, peace and quiet, healthy, sustainable behavior, and neighborliness become mere private-property interests? If we are not mistaken, all those concerns have clearly been and still are in the public interest. If they are not, why do we insist on parking and traffic rules; on not locating liquor stores near schools; on adequate seating capacity at public entertainment venues and other appropriate guidance of social behaviors?

Rather than demonizing those us who have legitimate concerns about overcrowding, turning a neighborhood street into a commercial venue, and exceeding the capacity of an important natural asset, how about considering us as a part of the public, also?

The concerns that have been portrayed by Corra as only private-property interests are not merely about access to the Animas River of squeezing high volumes of vehicles, aquatic equipment and staging activities into limited spaces, some of which happen to be amid long-standing neighborhoods on virtually dead-end streets, as is the case at the 33rd Street put-in.

The craziness at the 33rd Street put-in
 via Jane Gurstenburger

The Animas River Corridor Management Plan is a new opportunity to work in a collaborative manner to arrive at positive solutions that serve broad public interests in sustainable recreation opportunities, as well as healthy neighborhoods and the natural resources of the river and its environs. Let’s try to work together, by not painting the legitimate social concerns of people who live along the river day in and day out as narrow-minded and selfish.

Enjoy the Animas River as we all do. Take pleasure in all its attributes, and respect all the public interests. In which case, we will all be better off as a community, and the Animas River will be sustained for a thousand years.

Sam Burns is a resident of Animas City near the Animas River put-in off East Third Avenue north of 32nd Street. Reach him at burns2 @frontier.net

Snowdown Recap 2012

As I wrote a week ago, Once Upon A Snowdown came to Durango.  Björn and I were able to participate in a few of the activities and we even scored tickets to the last show on Saturday night of the Follies.  The show was fantastic, so funny and creative!  I had such a good time that I told Björn that next year I would love to be in the show!  

Images via The Durango Herald

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good morning sunshine

we are building a house.....


it hasn't really sunk in yet, björn & I have been throwing around ideas for designing & building a house in durango, colorado for months now.  im sure many of you are tired of hearing about this 'so called house' & not seeing any results. 


well the time has come & after many months of the city of durango toying with us about the purchase of the piece of land we intend to build on, we have said 'forget it' we are moving full force ahead


so without further ado, we hope you enjoy our little ramblings & we hope to:


- keep all of our friends & family updated on the progress of the design & construction of our little house


- to relate to everyone things that inspire us daily, everything from architecture & design, to fashion, books, movies & music


- to inspire our readers to take chances, do things yourself & challenge your abilities because this is what we are doing everyday and it is fantastic!

Animas River- Durango, CO