Caribou Ranch

The old recording studio. (above)

I already wrote about Dennis'37 mile mountain bike ride on Saturday with the Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance but I have not told you about my day. I had such a fun day and met some interesting people.

First I went on a bike ride with a guy named Mike (the BIG guy in the photo) and a few other people who were not riding in the event. While we were riding Mike told me all about the Caribou Ranch where the event started and ended. The ranch is owned by the Guercio family and was home to a recording studio in the 70's. Apparently a lot of well known bands and artists came here to record their music and enjoy the Colorado mountains. Just to name a few were Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears, Elton John, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. We got to ride a loop around the property and see the "compound" where the family lives and see one of the old recording studio buildings. (One of the buildings burned down in 1983.) I also got to meet Will Guercio who was 7 years old when the fire happened which pretty much ended the recording studio days. Will also said that Amy Grant also had her beginhing at the ranch. He said his parents liked her because she was Christian and wasn't into drugs like some of the others. Will also told dad and I (after the ride I introduced dad to Will) that Michael Jackson wanted to buy property from his dad and his dad told him that he thought the altitude would be too hard on him so he suggested he buy property in San Inez, California which he did which eventually became Never-Never Land ranch.

So for more history on this place, about 20 years ago the Guercio family gifted a large amount of their land to Boulder County to create the Caribou Ranch Open Space. The only problem is that when the "deal" got made the county excluded bikes and dogs from being on the property. So, mountain bikers had never been able to ride in this area. There are negotiations going on to reverse this but in the mean time the Guercio family decided to open up their private property to the Boulder Mountain bike folks. This was quite a big deal and we felt fortunate to be in on the first Caribou Classic Mountain Bike ride. It was really cool meeting Will and hearing him talk about growing up here and the vision he has for future use of the property. He wants this event to turn into a joint music venue within a couple of years and wants to have other events besides mountain bike rides.

So, I rode around with Mike but wasn't getting much of a work-out because the poor guy had to rest quite often. It's amazing that he mountain bikes at all considering his size. Anyway, we ran into another guy from the club who was just checking out the area like us. Mike and I were on our way back and this guy named Hershil wanted to ride the same loop we just rode. I asked him if I could go with him and he said sure so I rode another loop with Hershil and I got a great work-out with him. He was about 60 years old but in very good shape.

When Dennis got done with his ride he was pretty impressed when I introduced him to Mike, Hershil and Will. After chatting with everyone, Dennis and I went to check out a booth where they were giving out free samples of a product called Acli-Mate. It is a altitude and energy relief aid in a powder form. We tried some and talked to Doctor Roanne who created the product and the company. She was very nice and the product was interesting since so many people have difficulty in high altitude. After we talked with her a bit we got food and beer (all donated by Oskar Blues-a local brewery and food place) we ended up sitting right next to Dr Roanne and her husband Jonathan. It turns out they are from Gunnison which we drive through on our way to Lake City where Nathan's mom has her cabin. We enjoyed talking with them and we told them all about moving here from Ca. I happened to mention that we are looking for jobs and she said she is always looking for sales reps. SO, I am investigating the company further and maybe I will end up working for them! How weird would that be! I will keep you posted but in the mean time I have gone on long enough.

Love to all, Dana