Pedal the Rockies: Denver

Finally the Denver update that I'm sure you've been on the edge of your seats waiting for. Rachel and Kali anyway.

I got to Steamboat with a day to spare before my Virginia rendezvous, so I tried my hand at some downhill mountain biking on the ski hill. Rolling up to the gondola, all I saw were full suspension downhill bombers and people in full pads and motocross helmets... so I knew I was in for some fun. It was a strange feeling being hauled up the mountain by something other than my own two feet.

Up she goes!

It also took me a bit to even keep the bike in a straight line without all of the usual gear. Light as a feather. The view from the top was of course spectacular. So was the riding. I'd never ridden down a big mountain on a pure downhill track and it was AWESOME! Huge banked turns and plenty of tabletop features to get off the ground. I found I had to stay on the intermediate runs although I tried one black, but only long enough to get to the first rock drop and turn my ass around. My bike was definitely a limitation having no rear suspension. I ended up getting 5 or 6 runs in before my body couldn't take the vibration anymore.

View from the top

Rachel and Kali got in around 1am and met me at the Steamboat Hotel. The next morning we spent some time perusing downtown and found a great breakfast at the Creekside Cafe (my second there in two days) and plenty of cute tourist shops.

Kali's Boutique

I then got my first car ride in quite some time as we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. We ended up hiking The Crater trail after local tip. It was only a mile long but did gain close to 1000 ft. of elevation. We were supposed to see Bighorn Sheep, which is one of the only animals I haven't seen out here yet (still no bears), but all we ended up seeing were some elk (yeah, now I'm jaded).

Nearing the crater

Picturesque

I haven't even gotten past the first day of the auto tour, but my library time is running out and I need to try and beat the rain headed over Boreas Pass (11,000+ ft.). The next update will probably be from Salida, CO in a few days time.

Despite my best efforts, I've fallen quite a bit behind on the ol' blog. So, I figure I'll concentrate on the biking portion of the trip and cut this side trip business a bit short. Pictures with captions only (sorry R & K).