Boulder working/biking 'vacation'

My dispatcher is on vacation this week, so that means I ride to bus up to Boulder to fill in for him in the office. It can be a nice change of pace and a welcome rest on the legs. (That our bike crews are really stellar makes my job of dispatching relatively low stress too!) The downside is wheeling out of the house at 7am to catch the bus in time to get a coffee before settling in. The upside is that everyday I get to take advantage of the foothills being only a mile from the office, whereas from Denver it's an hour of pedaling to get to the mountains. I rode four out of five days after work.

Batasso Loop never really gets old, a super fun mountain bike trail about a 15min pedal up the canyon. A steep climb up the connector trail brings you to a quick, twisty rolling (mostly) singletrack loop in the near foothills. A perfect evening after the office:

I made it up here twice this week. Next weekend Boulder County Open Space is unveiling their new addition to this trail, a second 3.5mi loop that hooks into it. Sounds like it'll be fun too, although the threat of getting a $60 ticket for riding it early kept me from poaching it.

I also got in two quickie road rides on the 'new' Cannondale after office days-- first was Lee Hill -> Left Hand -> Old Stage, then later in the week a big climb to the top of Super Flagstaff. This bike really scoots around... super stiff but equally efficient, especially uphill. I never owned a road bike (or anything similar) when I lived in Boulder so it was fun to tackle some of these favorite routes for the first time.