Skids, Mountains and Liquor
Three months of waiting finally paid off at the weekend when I escaped into the mountains for two amazing and different rides. Saturday was the Indian creek trail on the front range; a 14 mile singletrack loop. everything is really rutted and dusty at the moment after everyone riding the trails so much all summer, but coming straight from England its amazing to be drifting in dust again!
Dust!!
Following the ride we headed to ‘Tipsy’s liquor world’ which proclaims to be the largest liquor store in the USA.
Was pretty impressive size wise, but their selection of English beer and cider was dismal; Nothing from the southwest, and one bottle of Aspalls cyder cost $8!! its about £2 in the UK!
I left empty handed; perhaps when I have a craving for some German Weiss bier I will head back.
On Sunday I joined a huge group to ride the Monarch crest trail. Its pretty well known in CO as the best all day shuttle ride going. We had the benefit of three cars; leaving one at the bottom and cramming nine people and bikes in the other two to get to the top.
The last time I rode this trail was in early summer, so the scenery was pretty different. I was also prepared for the fact that the advertised ‘40 miles of downhill’ has a load of climbing; all of it at pushing 4000m altitude. We got to the top just as the clouds started to darken, and after a brief fluffy of snow headed down into the valley. The trail forms the last 40 miles of the 125 mile vapour trail race held in September; that race might be one of my goals for next year.
The Aspen trees had almost all lost their leaves at the tops of the mountain, making a nice yellow carpet to ride on. a bit further down they were in their full glory.
The last 18 miles of the ride is on the rainbow trail; Pretty sure its the best 18 miles of singletrack that exists anywhere in the world, but I will challenge anyone to prove me wrong! I came into pretty close contact with a root, giving me a hernia like lump on my side and some extra holes in my leg warmers. That is what leg warmers are for though!
Got back to the cars and the temperature had climbed back up to about 20C. Great way to spend the weekend before my first full week at work!
