Boulder > Jamestown > Estes Park > Lyons > Boulder: 86mi, 8200ft gained

This was a ride that I'd been eying on the map ever since getting the Cannondale road bike last spring. I took the bus up to Boulder to make a Craigslist purchase of an avalanche shovel, then departed on the bike to Left Hand Canyon ascent to Jamestown. Continuing up Overland Rd towards the Peak To Peak Highway, the surface turned to dirt, with some ice and snowmelt runoff.

Further upwards to the Peak To Peak Highway, slinking below the looming Mt Meeker (and Longs Peak hiding out of sight just beyond it's summit.)

Once up high around 9000ft, the temps dropped to around 45 degrees and wind gusts kicked up to 40+mph. Some of the downhills required quite an effort to keep forward motion, but the views were amazing:

I eventually made it to Estes Park, the eastern entrance of Rocky Mt Natl Park. My hands were frozen but I stopped for a hot coffee before turning southeast and heading down the long descent into Lyons. From there, it was another 14mi of rollers into a strong headwind to make it back into Boulder for a beer with my friend Brandon and catching the bus back to Denver. Biggest ride in distance and climbing to date this winter. Anytime you make it up to the Peak To Peak is a worthwhile day of pedaling.

Deer Creek > High Grade Rd > Evergreen > Golden: 72mi, 5300ft gained

As if racing around the velodrome for 3 hours last night wasn't enough, I got a little over 5 hours of sleep (post-track camaraderie beers lingered into the A.M.) and woke up for an all day ride that I've been wanting to do for a while. I started up Deer Creek Canyon like I did the other week, then diverted southwest onto High Grade Rd. It was, well, very steep as the name would imply.

From there it was north on HW73 into the town of Evergreen, where I stopped for a coffee at the Ice House Coffeeshop, located in the repurposed lobby of the historic Evergreen Hotel. I think this was the first time I've ever seen (and used) a toilet with the old fashioned elevated water tank!

After a pleasant stroll around Evergreen, I headed down Bear Creek Canyon for a bit to Kerr Gulch Rd, then a brief couple of miles along the shoulder of I-70 (no frontage road on this stretch) to US40 and down to Golden. Back home to Denver as a cloud front covered the sun and the temperature really dropped substantially... it was warm enough earlier but I was under-prepared for the afternoon chill. A hot shower was quite the treat when I finally got home after 72miles and 5300 vertical feet of climbs.

Boulder Velodrome night

My buddy Brian set up an open ride night at the Boulder Indoor Velodrome for a bunch of Denver messengers to come up and try out riding on the track. I'd only ridden a velodrome once before, back in 2002 at the Major Taylor Velodrome in Indianapolis when I worked at Jimmy Johns and was still a relative newcomer to riding a fixed gear. Tonight was a ton of fun- this track is wooden, short laps and steep walls. One of the resident track coaches was on hand to show us the ropes, give some pointers and safety protocols, and generally help decrease the likelihood of us killing ourselves or someone else.

my coworker Rob #08 coming through turn 4

 

I was able to ride my own track bike, here outfitted with drop bars once again. It was a great feeling to get this bike on the track finally! The g-forces in the turns get pretty intense once you get up to sprint speeds- it's a little unnerving to rail it into a 45 degree bank at full speed but feels sublime once you settle into the rhythm and are ready for the muscle strain in the arms and neck.

skiing at Arapahoe Basin

So far it's been a lousy year for snowfall in the high country, which has skiers (and ski resorts) bummed out. Last year set records, and I spent the summer getting motivated to get back into skiing and scrounging up cheap used ski gear. Everything I've bought so far is intended for skiing in the backcountry (avoiding the resorts and hiking/skiing uphill under my own power, then skiing back down in the uncrowded wilderness.) But I first have to get some practice before I venture out into the more challenging terrain and conditions of the backcountry so I hit A-Basin today for some fun turns and lazy rides up the ski lifts.

looking west over the Montezuma Bowl towards the Ten Mile Range

the East Wall- still closed to skiers due to lack of snow

Had a pretty fun day, although I'd definitely prefer to be out in the peace and quiet of the wilderness, ascending with my legs and lungs rather than buying a lift ticket with everyone else. But I got about 13,400ft of vertical in 6 hours... and you can't do that on your own!

Denver's big blizzard

Finally got a big storm down here in the city. We've had a number of smaller storms this winter, but nothing major until now. We ended up with almost 2ft of fluffy snow. It started on Thursday afternoon and luckily for me I was scheduled to substitute for my dispatcher in the Boulder office on Friday. (The downside was having to leave the house at 5:45am in order to catch the first bus up to Boulder, figuring it could be a long commute.) So I spent a few hours on the bus but avoided biking all day in the mess.

A few shots of my yard after clearing the snow:

It kept on lightly snowing until late Saturday night, but the roads were fairly cleared up by the time I had to ride for work on Monday morning. The city sure is pretty!