mullerb's musings

Day 4

Day 3 we woke up in a quiet campground north of Gothic and Crested Butte. Heaven. Mellow breakfast then up the road towards Schofield Pass and the 401 Trail.

Day 2 of our excellent road trip: camped at Aspen Grove campground near Jefferson Lake but got up early and drove to the Mt Yale trailhead below Cottonwood Pass. Hiked up past Browns Pass to the ridge above Kroenke Lake. Rambled around towards Mt Yale and took in the incredible views of the surrounding Collegiate Peaks.

Day 1 of an excellent 4-day hike/bike trip with just Rach and I. After dropping Leah and Natalie off at Santa Maria YMCA camp, we rigged up at the Beaver Pond trail head off Jefferson Lakes road for the short but steep, rooty, and rocky ride up to the pass. 6 miles of up with a 2,000+ ft gain. Rachel's first real technical ride. She got really good at the on/off thing and got better and better at handle the rocks. Once at treeline, it was a cruise. Ans going down, she only dismounted a couple of times. Very nice!

Another early AM ride before work this week! Parked at Lefthand at 6 and headed up 5 miles to the intersection, 3 more to Jamestown, then a wicked steep 5 more to the top of the canyon. Killer! A lot like Flagstaff with lots of turns, open views. Paved to the top then 2 miles of good dirt ambling up and down to the Peak to Peak. The 20 miles zooming down to Lyons and the rest back up 36 to Lefthand. Feeling good! The climbing legs are in good shape. I want to keep doing these morning climbs! The stretch to Jamestown seemed like nothing. View SuperJames to Lyons in a larger map

A before work ride on what I thought would be a cool but dry morning. Left the bottom of Lefthand at 6:30 in coolish, low clouds. Got to Brainard by 8:15 or so with light sprinkles for the last mile. A quick bar then a descent into the clouds and wet pavement. Holy cow,it rained down below! The road was wet all the way from top to bottom and below Ward, I entered the clouds and mist. Brrrr!!! Shivering like mad, thought I would shake myself off the handle bars! View Brainard Lake down Lefthand in a larger map Back to work by 9:40 for a hot shower before sitting down to contemplate PA's....

A Sunday morning ramble. Hot again but i couldn't motivate to get a ride in until after watching the the Tour live until 9AM. A nice ramble across the southern and eastern rollers. Checked out the bike path in Louisville that cuts north through open space to Baseline. Neat! Tight little switchbacks to get down off the mesa.

A mellow Heidi ride on yet another hot day.

A shortish lunch ride in a darn right cool 82F. Catching up from that bonk the other day.

Ugh. Hot. 94F and 15% humidity. Too hot and dry to even have sweat on your skin. Any water molecules get sucked up into the atmosphere before they can exit a pore. Should have had a bar with me! Bonked on the way up Lefhand just before Olde Stage; no sugar in the blood makes for a hard climb in the heat.

A work from home day with a lunch ride to the south. Grand views, as always, and lots of subtle climbing to keep mind and body engaged.

A Heidi pace on this one! 19mph and sore legs afterwards.

6am with Dan from Marshal Mesa trailhead. Up the canal to the upper loops, Dowdy Draw and the Flatirons Vista trail.