Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Biking, GOOD.

Well, lets see. I have had some great rides since the last post. Many of them have been on the MTB too, so that is a bonus. The BMW is working great for transport, its very easy and quick to get the bike on and off, and I dont need much under my motorcycle clothing. One ride I want to mention is a ride with a new friend, Steve. I was pretty much set-up on a "man-date" with him by a co-worker when I went out with her and 14 other co-workers on a Peddle Hopper. A Peddle Hopper is a Transport vehicle that is powered by the passengers. 10 of the riders have pedals and supply power to the drive shaft. A sober tour guide tells us when to start peddling. This vehicle takes us from bar to bar off of Broadway here in Denver. What a freaking riot. 80's theme, with loud music and as the night got later the riders got louder. That was a lot of fun, thanks Danielle. But anyways, Danielle got Steve and I together because we have similar interests, Cycling. We set a time to ride about 90minutes after Steve got off of work. We ended up riding 3hours and I put in 60miles, we rode up lookout mountain and did a loop on the top to add some more climbing. Good clean fun.

Yesterday I got a wild hair to ride section 2 of the Colorado trail. I geared up the BMW and headed out. There was a little rain at the start of the moto ride which was welcome because the temps were in the 90's. I got to Co Rd 97 and the temps were in the low 80's. PERR-FECT.  The moto ride to the trailhead was beautiful, next to the west fork of the platte river. Crystal clear water flowing over and around very large rocks, made me wish I had my fly rod and more time.
Ready to ride.

The above picture is the start of section 2 of the Colorado Trail. The climb out of the river basin is about 3 miles and 1500ft of climbing over pea sized gravel. The views make the climb worth it.

Quartz Quarry


The first 5miles or so of this trail are in a burn zone from 1996. Very few trees survived the fire. The grass and small bushes have grown back but very little new trees are starting.  There are small groupings of trees in the seasonal creek confluences.  This trail is more difficult than it looks on an elevation map due to the short climbs and descents at the top. When I was getting near my turn around point I realized that I was running out of light. I still had to get back to my Moto. I took a quick photo and headed back.




Riding back was super fun, mostly downhill with some short burst uphills. The last mile was in the dark and I had to remove my riding glasses which sucked because they are prescription so the trail was dark and blurry. Follow the light ribbin and hope its the trail. Load the MTB up on the BMW and off I go. 3hr MTB and 3hr motoride. Back at the house at 10pm and in bed by 1130 after feeding the animals and chating with my lovely wife.

Maybe Ill do section 3 tomorrow.....