Laughing Grizzly to teach fly fishing 101 classes at Lyons Outdoor Games

LYONS, CO (May 4, 2009)– Laughing Grizzly to teach its biggest classes at June 12-14 Smith Optics Lyons Outdoor Games, presented by Oskar Blues

Longmont-based fly fishing shop, Laughing Grizzly, is running its most expanded fly fishing course for beginner and novice fishers at the 7th Smith Optics Lyons Outdoor Games, presented by Oskar Blues.

The Lyons Outdoor Games is the Town of Lyon’s annual extreme sports event. It includes competitions and races in kayaking, mountain and BMX biking, and skateboarding, and clinics and exhibitions in everything from fly-fishing to chainsaw carving. Organizers of the event decided to expand the fly-fishing component of the event this year, and Laughing Grizzly took the bait and ran with it. They will be doing a basic “fishing 101 class,” said Mike Kruise, co-owner of Laughing Grizzly.

“This is our first time doing anything like this for the masses,” he added. The class includes a casting and line control clinic, stream ecology, bug life, what flies to use, and an on the water presentation. Kruise hopes to really involve the audience/participants in the clinics.

Laughing Grizzly Fly Shop is owned and operated by Kruise and Scott Bley. They grew up fishing local waters, including the St. Vrain, the Big Thompson, the Cache La Poudre, and the lakes and streams of Rocky Mountain National Park. For more information, please contact Kruise at laughinggrizzly@comcast.net.

Camping for the Lyons Outdoor Games will be available in Meadow Park. To register online please go to www.lyonsoutdoorgames.com. If you have any questions please call Lyons Parks and Recreation at 303-823-8250 or email recreation@townoflyons.com.

Getting down to the wire

The Lyons Outdoor Games is less than two weeks away, and the town's dozens of volunteers are cranking along. The Lyons Bike Park (new public pump track) is nearly finished, and the other sites are being readied.
In addition to the tons of sponsors we already have on board, we are pleased to announce Whole Foods is donating fresh fruit for all volunteers and competitors. Plus, we've welcomed Elevation Outdoors Magazine on board as our media sponsor. They are bringing tons of mags to the event, as well as goodie bags and donations for the auction.
Check out the blog next Monday for a complete list of all the fantastic auction items we will have at the Games. Also check in the next few days for the South Saint Vrain video, an article on World Champion kayaker (and Lyons local) Scott Shipley, as well as other news of the Games!

This blog sponsored by Lyons Outdoor Games

Lyons Outdoor Games to be 90% Zero Waste event

The Smith Optics Lyons Outdoor Games, sponsored by Oskar Blues, to be zero-waste event in 2009

Working with Boulder-based EcoCycle, Scott Young of Lyons-based Blue Sky Mortgage and the Lyons Outdoor Games organizers are running a zero-waste event in 2009.

“These days, financial incentive causes individuals and businesses to begin to notice and take part in green efforts, but it is secondary to the critical need for all of us to make the paradigm shift to a green way of living,” Young explains. “My personal and business philosophy is to make as small a carbon footprint as possible, and sponsoring the zero-waste component of LOG ties in perfectly with that philosophy.”

According to Dan Bruckner, co-owner of the catering company A Spice of Life and the man who spearheaded the zero waste efforts at the Games in previous years, “Composting all the waste from events like these is just as important as recycling. When you put organic materials into landfills it’s creating not just carbon emissions but also methane emissions, which are even worse for the environment.”

After applying zero-waste efforts successfully at his own business (reducing the landfill waste he produced by 90 percent), Brucker approached Lyons Outdoor Games organizers with the idea. They started out with a successful zero-waste breakfast in 2007 and then a zero-waste BBQ and movie night in 2008, during which all cans and bottles were recycled, and all foodstuff (bones, meat included) and corn-based cups and potato starch based cutlery were gathered for composting. Local volunteers manned stations to ensure people discarded their items into the proper containers.

“Between all the beer cans we picked up, food waste, plates, forks, etc, we had a 98 percent diversion rate from landfills,” Bruckner stated. “That means out of all the waste generated by 250 people in Sandstone Park during the barbeque, only two percent went to landfills, and the rest was recycled.” Once collected by EcoCycle, the materials are turned into soil within three months and then sold.

Composting and recycling isn’t just good for the environment, Bruckner added. According to a ground breaking Wasting and Recycling in the United States report published in 2000, "On a per-ton basis, sorting and processing recyclables alone sustains ten times more jobs than landfilling or incineration." And according to EcoCycle, zero-waste events “herald fundamental change” in the way governments subsidize wasting, manufacturers design products and packaging, and people manage resources in general.

This year, landfill waste will be eliminated from 90 percent of the event.

“Really it’s all about creating as little landfill waste as possible,” added Bruckner. “If you can do that you’re really truly doing good for the earth.”

Adds Young, “If we strive for zero waste in our day-to-day consumptive activities, then we set our sights on perfection. If we set a high goal, then we will achieve a greater level of success. Wouldn't it be great if we could close the garbage dumps?”

The Lyons Outdoor Games are a multi-sport extreme sports competition held every summer in Lyons. Events include kayaking races and trick comps, mountain biking and BMX events, as well as skateboarding, fly fishing, chainsaw carving and other demos. The event also includes live music throughout the weekend, outdoor industry booths, BBQ, and plenty of beer.

For more information, please contact the Lyons Parks and Recreation at 303-823-8250 or emailrecreation@townoflyons.com.

Scott Young’s Blue Sky Mortgage Group works with first time homebuyers and seasoned investors to develop sensible, intelligent mortgage solutions based on current needs, with a view to the future. Their goal is to play a part in guiding our clients along the road to financial success.

Dan Bruckner’s A Spice of Life Catering is a full-service event company providing ‘a fresh approach to a memorable event’ since 1987.  They combine exceptional cuisine, years of experience, and a dedication to details that will add the right spice to any occasion. 

 

More photos from Lee's site

Thanks to Lee McCormack at LeeLikesBikes.com for all the photos and updates. For more information, photos, and regular updates, visit his site. Or, visit Glenn Bell's Bitterbrush Cycles blog by clicking here, or the link on the right side of the page.

The rock sections provide a range of lines, from super easy to pretty darn tricky. Glenn Bell, owner of Bitterbrush Cycles, tests out the course.





Tomorrow:

- More super-pro jump shaping thanks to Brandan.

- Left Hand will start building the technical climb/descent.

- Start placing the various jumps and rollers, as well as the pump track.

Saturday:

Massive dig/ride session. Most of the dirt should be placed. I hope we’ll be doing final shaping and testing.

- We’ll start at 9 a.m. and go all day. Bring any tools you have: shovel, metal rake, tampers, McCleods, skid steerers … helicopter parking is available.

- Bring your bike!!! We need to burn in the lines, my friends. The rock lines are rideable now; the trick jumps will be ready tomorrow.

- Lyons Bike Park is right next to Bohn Park in Lyons. Google map.

Mega huge thanks to
The growing list of rock stars: Doug, Jake and Scooter from Left Hand Excavating; Raul from Blue Mountain Stone; parks director Dave Cosgrove and the entire Lyons work crew; Glenn from Bitterbrush Cycles; Brandan Turman; Brian, John, Dominic from the Yellow Designs Stunt Team; Sam, Chad, Nick, Ian, the list goes on … and The Wife, who brought me lunch and looked hot.

Go Team!

For something like this, you need equipment and love. And we have both.

— Lee

Hall Ranch, Lyons, Colorado

Oskar Blues providing us with this cool video of mountain biking on Hall Ranch.


This blog sponsored by the Lyons Outdoor Games.

Yellow Designs Stunt Team

Yellow Designs Stunt Team to perform at Smith Optics Lyons Outdoor Games, presented by Oskar Blues

The Denver-based Yellow Designs Stunt Team will be performing at the new Lyons Pump Park at this year’s Lyons Outdoor Games, to be held June 12-14. The Games are a competitive, multi-sport event sponsored by Oskar Blues and two-dozen other local and outdoor industry businesses. More that 200 participants, including world-class kayakers and mountain bikers, will be competing, and organizers expect more than 2000 spectators.

According to Dave Cosgrove, director of the town’s parks and recreation department, “We are excited to have the Yellow Designs Stunt Team at this year’s Games. These professional riders are the best in the nation. The show will be great!”

The team’s founder, Brian Gavagan, and team member James McGraw will open the event with their ‘balancing act on wheels’ Friday night in Sandstone Park. Over the weekend, the team will also perform high-flying aerial shows with portable ramps as well as flatland-freestyle demonstrations. Saturday there will be a skateboard competition at the skatepark that Yellow Designs will help facilitate, and team riders Jon Chin and Dominick Ruminer will be teaching kids "Bike Skills" at the new bike dirt course. Also that day, there is a Dirt-Jumping competition that will give spectators a chance to witness spins and flips and many amazing aerial moves by local riders and Yellow Designs Pro BMXers and mountain bikers.

Along with performing halftime shows for the Denver Broncos and competing in the Dew Action Sports Tour, Teva Games and Crankworks, The Yellow Designs Stunt Team also teaches "Bike Skills" Enrichment classes through Denver public schools.

Yellow Designs originally started as a clothing company in Wyoming in 1991. The owner, Brian Gavagan was an artist and loved riding bikes, so the two passions came together with bike-specific designs printed on shirts, sweats and jackets. Brian turned Pro at the X Games in 1997 and ended up breaking his ankle in the finals and took a two years off to heal and create a plethora of artwork for Yellow Designs. After traveling for eight months with a backpack around Europe and the Middle East, Gavagan returned to Colorado with the idea to bring the excitement and action of BMX stunt-riding to the public, without the formality and stresses of competition. The Yellow Designs Stunt Team was formed, portable ramps were built and the clients were excited to bring live action stunt-riding, music and announcing to special events around the country. The Yellow Designs team has performed hundreds of shows in Colorado and in over a dozen states in the USA.

For more information on the Yellow Designs Stunt Team, please visit:
http://www.yellowdesigns.com

Kids kayaking in Lyons

The kids program in Lyons is going strong. There are two boys Garret and Keagan Parker, who will be competing in the Lyons Outdoor Games cadet rodeo. Other participants are: Teagan Johnson from Longmont, Ilse Meiler from Lafayette, And Spencer Huff from Lyons. Teagan if pictured here.



This blog sponsored by the Lyons Outdoor Games.
Photos by Daily Up Photography, Becky Parker

World Champion freestyle kayaker Ruth Gordon to compete in Lyons Outdoor Games June 12-14 and promote breast cancer awareness and prevention

Story by Lizzy Scully
Photos courtesy of Ruth Gordon

In an effort to promote awareness and prevention for breast cancer, World Champion freestyle kayaker Ruth Gordon is embarking on her Paddle Pink tour this May. One of her stops will be the Smith Optics Lyons Outdoor Games, presented by Oskar Blues, where she will hold Paddle Pink clinics and compete. The Games are a Lyons-based multi-sport event that draws world champion kayakers and national champion mountain bikers, as well as skateboarders, fly fishers, and other athletes.

Gordon was inspired to start her Paddle Pink tour by her grandmother’s battle with breast cancer. “My grandmother is an excellent role model,” she says. “At 86 she still plays tennis everyday and faces life with a smile.” One day while discussing the subject, Gordon’s grandmother said that she hoped someone close to her would work to raise awareness for the disease.

“I stepped up to her cue,” Gordon explains. “I love the idea of giving back, especially to a cause that I've seen negatively affect so many people.” Her first event was held in Moab, Utah, the weekend of May 16, and she will be holding events throughout Colorado this summer, including at the 7th annual Lyons Outdoor Games.

Having competed in Lyons in 2007, she realized the Games were a perfect venue for disseminating her message. “I'd like to reach as many people as possible in an intimate setting, and this event provides just that,” she says. And kayaking, she adds, offers a level of activity for “everybody’s pace,” so the sport can reach out to all types of people.

Paddle Pink participants will enjoy a two-hour session of whitewater kayaking with Gordon, who has been teaching kayaking since 2002. Participants will learn freestyle kayaking techniques and find out how they can protect themselves and their loved ones from breast cancer.

“This memorable experience could potentially bring together a group of paddlers in Lyons and give each of them a chance to learn about breast cancer prevention – steps that may one day save lives,” Gordon says. “We are paddling with purpose.”

All proceeds will benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure. For more information, visit Gordon’s Web site at: ruthgordon.ca or email her at ruth@jacksonkayak.com. You can also watch a YouTube video of Gordon here.

for more information on the Games, please visit the site or blog.



This blog sponsored by the Lyons Outdoor Games.

Trail conditions for Lyons

Pretty much anything east of the Peak to Peak is good at this point. Trail conditions are prime!

Dave
http://www.redstonecyclery.com
Lyons, CO

May 12 Lyons River Report, by Matt Booth

I paddled the Play Park today. I would guess the flow to be about 160 in town. The Black Bear hole was amazing (as usual). You can surf all day and do left and right spins ad nauseam. Very low angle cart wheels are possible. The A-Hole is amazing. The new river right wing is really focusing the waters energy into the center of the pile. The hole is nicely retentive and steep enough for my first completed air loop of the season. The hole is much better at these lower flows than in years past and looks as though it will be nice and juicy at higher flows. I went to look at the new gage we made for SSV (Thanks To Arn) It is at negative 3 inches. (Down 3 inches from 4 days ago). A rough guess of a decent flow is 6 inches. That's all I got.

Watch Dane Jackson kayaking at last year's Lyons Outdoor Games

Kayaker Dane Jackson, son of World Champion kayaker EJ Jackson, competed at last year's Lyons Outdoor Games. To watch a video of him, click here.
Dane will be competing in this year's Lyons Outdoor Games.

This blog sponsored by the Lyons Outdoor Games.

Extreme boater Dan Gavere to compete at Lyons Outdoor Games

In January of this year, Canoe & Kayak Mag Named Werner Paddle's Dan Gavere "A Hero"and "one of the most inspirational paddlers alive." Gavere will be competing at this year's Lyons Outdoor Games. To read more about him, click here.

This blog sponsored by the Lyons Outdoor Games.

Sunny and gorgeous in Lyons, Colorado

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. The weather report said 70 degrees; it feels more like 55 here in Lyons, but it's still gorgeous. I'm going to head out this afternoon to see if I can get some video of some kayakers in action at the Black Bear Hole. I had a nice interview with former Wold Cup kayaking champion Scott Shipley on Monday. I'll post it by the end of the week.

This blog sponsored by the Lyons Outdoor Games

Lyons Outdoor Update April 27

Today Lyons' residents awoke to a light smattering of snow, which melted by 8a.m. Now it's drizzly and cool, but the river is running high.

Scott Shipley on is three-hour excursion down the South Saint Vrain yesterday (his second time on the river in five years): "I liked it a lot. I forgot about how good it was until I got up there yesterday. It helped that Scott Young had been down it a lot. We didn't have to scout as much because he knows the river so well."

This blog sponsored by the Lyons Outdoor Games

Lyons river and mountain bike

The day dawned sunny, cool and bright, though things have clouded up a bit since 9a.m. Last night it rained steadily, but lightly for a few hours last night. It drizzled on and off yesterday, but it probably didn't affect the trail conditions too seriously (at least if my still parched garden is any indication of Lyons' dirt ability to retain water). I suspect conditions are probably a bit wetter than they were a few days ago. I'll have a bike report later today as a few of my friends got out to Hall early and should be back afternoon sometime.

The river's running high. A couple fellows had an early morning session at the October Hole, but no one was there at 11a.m.

Here's a video of the Picture Rock Trail.

This blog sponsored by the Lyons Outdoor Games, Lyons, Colorado.

Picture Rock Trail conditions today

Picture Rock Trail sure is rocky. It's also wet in a few spots, but mostly conditions on the trail are perfect (until it rains tomorrow). Dozens of bikers were out this morning as it was sunny and gorgeous, but not too hot. Here are some photos of the trail. I've got some video as well that I will post later.

The Picture Rock Trail is just one of the great trails Lyons has to offer. If you come for a visit or to see the Lyons Outdoor Games this June 12-14, bring your mountain bike. You can access this trail from the town of Lyons.

Lyons Outdoor Games update: pump track, sponsors, bike and kayak races, etc...

More than a dozen volunteers met to discuss the Lyons Outdoor Games last night at our fearless leader's house (Reed Farr). We discussed the South Saint Vrain creek race. Front Range resident and pro kayaker Kyle McCutchen, who was in attendance and who is helpling out with the Games, said the SSV is "world class" and is psyched to race in the creek boat race this year. "Hopefully water levels are high!" he added.

Good news on the bike front, all the plans are ready and supplies have been acquired and/or promised for the construction of the new pump park, according to Glenn over at Bitterbrush Cycles (the local bikeshop owner who spearheaded the building of the park). More news on that to come next week. If you want to volunteer building the pump park, please contact Dave Cosgrove at davec @ townoflyons.com or stop in and see Glenn.

Other good news. We've got 30 sponsors on board now. Despite the recession, companies are recognizing that the possibilities with the Lyons Outdoor Games are endless. It is exciting to have these folks on board. We're looking for more local sponsors. If interested, please contact Dave at the email address above.

This blog sponsored by the Lyons Outdoor Games, Lyons, Colorado.

This just in from local kayaker Scott Young

I just went over South St. Vrain, and it is at the minimum runnable flow of probably just north of 100 cfs. There is a "gauge rock" if you stand on the bridge where Old South crosses SSV, look upstream, and if the water is flowing over the flat rock located river left of center (viewer's right of center), then SSV is runnable.

I checked out Black Bear Hole and A-hole too, and both are looking great!

-Scott Young
Blue Sky Mortgage Group, Inc.

This blog sponsored by the Lyons Outdoor Games, Lyons, Colorado.

Where to find information on kayaking conditions in Lyons, Colorado

Hey all, for more information on kayaking conditions in Lyons, check out EddyFlower.com, and if you want to start and/or contribute to a forum topic on the subject of kayaking in Lyons, visit MountainBuzz.com. I'm working on getting some locals to provide some commentary, and I'll be taking photos and video over the next month. Stay tuned for more!
-Lizzy