mullerb's musings

Sunday AM ride that started with Rachel but went solo. Up the canyon trail to Four Mile where Rach headed to Poorman and I headed further west to the Canyon Link up to Betasso. Goal: check out the new Four Mile connector and then head up to Goldhill and down Sunshine. All good. Decent trails in Betasso except for the darn canyon connector which is lose, steep, rocky for a while. Betasso itself is awesome though. Sluggish riding today with the heat. Little traffic and the usual nice views made up for the heat.

Parked at work, 36 north to St Vrain, east to 65th, south to 63rd, west on Oxford to dirt, south on 49th on dirt, south on 55th on dirt and back to the ranch. Love these rambles. Great views, no traffic once off 36, diverse terrain.

Our usual Sunday stroll in the backyard. This one with a set of 4 cracked ribs in Rach. Not that she knew that detail yet.

A spur of the moment, Saturday ride with Rach.  Drove up to Vail Pass rest area and got there to start riding around 9. The plan was to ride Shrine Pass Rd down to Red Cliff, then on paved Rt 24 to Vail and up the bike path back to the car over Vail Pass.  Awesome day for a ride! Mostly blue skies, fresh air after last night's rain, temps in the 60's. Headed up the road after packing up while van loads of peeps were getting dropped off to ride back down to Frisco along the bike path. We headed up the dirt road towards Shrine Pass instead. Memories of skiing the Commando Run came back and when we got to the turn off for that trail, we opted, ominously, to turn the day into more of an adventure than a mellow road ride.  Up we climbed, steep switch backs for 2 or 3 miles on nice single track, though too steep to ride in places. Once you crest the ridge, the work pays off with a short mile or two of ridge top riding with 360 degree views: Gore Range to the north, Holy Cr...

From 2012 Mobile Pics and vids Despite the crappiest surface ANYWHERE, this is still an awesome ride. A nice warm up to the old town of Eldora before the climb up a very worn out 4x4 Forest Service road. You kind of get the sense that the FS really justs wants this thing to get back to nature. It is rough, loose, semi technical in places, and big elevation gain. Walking up the 2 or 3 steep, loose pitches isn't even an option: you just gotta get off the bike on those. I did cut off a couple of the gnarly stretches by just riding through the pines. But they are too tight in most places. From 2012 Mobile Pics and vids The drop down to Caribou Flats is so beautiful! Grand scenery. I took the spur that goes up to the flank of Arapahoe Peak but it peters out to a hiking trail just before the end. There's a little cabin up in there that looks to be a little heavenly hide away. From 2012 Mobile Pics and vids From 2012 Mobile Pics and vids The stretch to Rainbow ...

A leisurely Saturday AM ride with Ed. HAven't seen him in 2 years. Last time was when we rode the Copper Triangle.

At 21 mph. Nice!

A lunch ride! Finally. Haven't taken one in a while. Very nice. Fast and powerful for the most part. Happy with my strength but I could use a bit more conditioning for pushing the lungs.

Haystack at 6:15 with the MDG gang. 24 over par on 9! Not that good.

Kelly and Rachel and I left early Friday morning and were on the 4th of July Trail to Arapahoe Pass by 8am. By the time we reached the pass, the clouds were already well formed: the Monsoon kicked in! We hiked over Caribou Pass to Caribou Lake then up over the pass to Cabin Creek down to Devil's Thumb Park. Up towards the pass, we camped to the right of the trail about 100 yards off trail near a clearing below some pretty rock outcroppings. That was a thundery and sparkly day! Sat on our packs for 40 minutes while watching countless strikes on the ridge above us near Jasper and Neva peaks. Crazy non-stop thunder. Not too much rain though but enough to make this off-trail jaunt in meadows very soggy. Up and hiking by 6:40 towards Devil's Thumb after all night rain. Higher cloud base in the morning and a reprieve from precip while up on the tundra. Down past Jasper Lake and around to Diamond via that nice trail near Chitenden Mnt. Very cool. Saw a moose and 2 calves in Cabi...

Endomondo Cycling Workout : was out cycling 46.91 miles in 2h:50m:43s using Endomondo. An early morning, beat the heat ride. The best!!

Late Sunday afternoon paddle to beat the heat in town and have an excuse to see the backside of Bear and the fire.