Front Range

Managed to pull off a few great rides with Steve this week.

The first was, without a doubt, the best descent I’ve ridden on the ‘front range.’ Mountain Lion trail was a fairly technical, but the danger factor and steepness were both low. I think those two combined to make it incredibly enjoyable. It was also great to ride, from my house, a trail that hasn’t been ridden 2000 times in the last week. Some sections of trail were actually naturally narrow, and not pulverized to dust. I really miss Arizona riding…

We took the pavement up to Golden Gate state park, rode the Mountain Lion loop and then headed to White Ranch. The climb back up to White Ranch was, as expected, steep and long. It was right around the top that I started falling apart. At first I thought “wow, I guess I’m not ready for a ride this long/hard.” But we didn’t really ride hard and I knew it.

I had to twist Steve’s arm backwards, three times, to get him to take trail down instead of pavement or Belcher Hill (dirt road). In the end he was glad we took the trail. It was worse for me. I limped home, feeling on the verge of puking. For the first 20 minutes after getting home I just sprawled out on the floor, hoping my body would stop aching sometime soon.

A few hours later I didn’t even really feel tired from the ride.

Ride two was all Steve’s planning: Rollins Pass. Railroad grade up, negotiate old tunnel, watch as snow storm approaches, check out old trestles:

Then, hang on for the killer ride back down. We did some exploring, trying to find trail as much as possible. It was great to get in a ~last high country ride. Storms blew in soon after our ride.