The final pieces of trail were finally completed forming a loop that roughly follows the Morgul Bismark which was a stage of an old famous road race held here in Colorado back in the day. But this is the dirty, R-rated, more fun version. I've done the loop once before by cobbling together some bits of dirt road and bike path between the trails but now you can do the whole thing on trails.
Jonny rode with me and we did a slightly different version, opting to cross over Hwy. 93 at the start to add on the Community Ditch, Doudy Draw and Flatirons Vista trails, about 3.6 miles extra plus a good steep climb up Doudy Draw. We rode the loop counter-clockwise which I think is better because that way you go down a very steep long hilly part where the trail is wide gravel and not as nice as the other trails. If you do it the other way you have to climb that hill and it only prolongs the misery. It's the only part of the trail that isn't that nice and I say get it over with on a downhill.
View of the Continental Divide from the new trail
Spring is springing people! I'm excited. Cannot believe I was riding my bike in shorts in March on trails.
The downside of this dry warm weather is that there was smoke from a fire visible over in the Golden area. It's not threatening homes at the moment but it's a windy day and it's growing like wildfire (a news announcer actually said that during a report of the Boulder wildfires so now it's a running joke around here). The winds have died a bit so hopefully they'll get it under control.
That first 3.6 miles was busy on the trails, we got a late start because we kept waiting for the wind to die down as promised. But despite the crowds people were good about sharing the trails. There were a lot of very cute dogs on the trails and I'm happy to report that none of them tried to take a chunk out of my calf or run under my wheel. However once we hit the High Plains Trail on the Dirty Bismark it was peace and quiet but for the occasional cyclist.
It looks like a gloomy day from the photos but the sun was shining with enough cloud cover to keep us cool, great conditions except for the occasional strong gusts of wind. I drafted off Jonny for most of the windy bits though so it wasn't so bad. I wanted to stop to take more pictures but I had to pedal hard to keep on his wheel and enjoy the draft so I resisted the urge to stop.
A close-up with my new point and shoot camera. Can't believe how much this thing zooms in for such a cheapy thing.
Looks like I'll have to get back there during the week for more photo ops., twist my arm.
As usual, you have such beautiful scenery to train in! I'd love to be hiking out there with my dogs, and I can pretty much guarantee that mine also won't take out part of your calf.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to take Strummer out there but unfortunately I think the rattlesnakes are starting to wake up.
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