What up with Jut Rut

Wow. Life is good. The Right Place Right Time Tour has us currently hanging in Durango CO kicking it with two of the greatest people on the planet. CJ and Rachel and their new little one Peri are feeding us and keeping us clean with the help of a real shower. The Hermosa trail drops right into their front yard and Bruce and I are in Mtn Bike Heaven. The rains came a few days before us and the trails are better than I have ever seen them in my three previous trips to this beautiful place. We are blowing with the wind at this point and going with what feels right. We opted to skip Crested Butte and had a killer ride in Gunnison CO at Heartland Rocks instead due to heavy rains for the past few days in CB. We got the tip from two cute little mtn bike girls in Salida when we stopped through and caught pizza and pints from the local brewery / wood brick oven pizza place. Before our trip to South West CO we hung out with my new favorite bro in Boulder, Jake Kirkpatrick. He is an all around great dude to know, hang with and ride with and welcomed Bruce and  I to CO like two of his oldest friends and treated us to a great stay at his pad in Boulder and broke us in to riding at 9,000 ft on single speeds. He races for New Belgium so we drank good too sampling the "employee only" brew that makes an appearance once a year. We did two great rides in the Boulder area then hit an amazing trail in Golden CO on our way to Southwest CO. 

The trip is starting to take on a surf trip feel where we have no schedule and have been chasing the best riding conditions and the next good stop with friends. We are living on the cheap but living the richest life possible where each moment is one to be treasured. At each trail head or bar stool awaits a new wonderful person that I have never meet and the conversations with strangers on the road have pointed us in the right direction every time. The Western Skies remind me that the world is a very vast place and that anything is possible when you can dream it. Today my world is filled with epic rides on the CO trail followed by Texas BBQ tacos and duckie rides down the Animinas River with couple of cold PBRs in the boat. Good meals with old friends and constantly making new ones with each person we meet. For those that know how I like to ride I can only say look out as the Mavrick is opening up a new world of lines and that three ft with a drop to roots and rocks in now a basic move I have in my arsenal. The bike climbs like a mountain goat and descends like a bat out of hell on fire. I amaze Bruce with every ride by pulling some gap that would have never been possible with only 85 ml of travel and a hard tail. I fought to admit it for years that a dual sus can seriously improve my ability to hang with the best of them on the descents but my eyes have been opened and after riding several of the same trails I have ridden here in Durango I realize that I can no longer deny that you can go considerably faster (downhill) on the right dual sus bike. 

So much good in my life right now and it is only about to get better as I head west to meet my new nephew in Mountain View and hook up with Slo-hio Rob and Beth my fellow Asheville Band members, Yazoo Crew being represented by Nashville's one and only Thad. Swiftwick ambassador Grant and the one they call the Dicky from NC will also have a spot at our soon to be shanty town campsite in Napa. My Boulder friend Jake will be there too along with my brother from another mother Jason Collier who I was roommates in college with and rode skateboards with through our punk rock adolescence. Yes the west is being good to me and so many friends and good times await in our next week of travels. Tomorrow it may be on to Moab for some night riding on moon rocks then a few days in Fruita CO before heading West for a stop in Lake Tahoe before seeing my brother Natty Matty and his wife Koko and the newest Mitchell family member Noah Ghin Mitchell. Oh yes the good time are here. 

Pictures coming soon once I find a fast connection... 

All the best, LOVE.

Jut