Date: Pre-History !
A Fatbike Ride To The Beyond:
It looked as though it would rain today, but the urge to ride was strong, and so, Mr. Fatty and I took to the trails. The sky got very dark, the wind blew ....and then ....CRASH ..... lightning struck close by ... too close for comfort, really, so I decided to take cover wherever I could..... Here ....I'll just hop this fence .....
I think the lightning must have struck closer than I thought .... I didn't feel a thing ...
Once inside the fence, I encountered some tough going ...
Tall grass like this could hide anything!
The jungle encroaching everywhere
This almost looks like ....... Yes.... Maybe the Jurassic? I believe it could be ! Can you see the archaic beast peeking around from behind?
I'm sure gonna try to keep hands and feet tucked in safely!! At least I have a vehicle as tough as the surroundings!
NOT ....even !!
Looking more and more prehistoric, I think way off in the distance there might be some bovinasaurus ......
A trail to the beyond ....
I was amazed at the prehistoric beasts I encountered ...... first, there were some "Assasaurus" .....grazing in the meadow ...
And then a little further on, I encountered a Velocihopper-bunnisaurus ....
Not to mention a terrible Pteribeeus ....
Finally, I was able to find my way back to civilization, and was able to jump onto modern transport back to today's world.
Fortunately .... it was NOT the Hogwarts express, but it was also not a Delorean either, and so my progress forward in time was slow and gave me time to think about writing a blog detailing my amazing experiences. Yes .... time is so irrelevant!! The Jurassic signs were part of a display on the grounds of a local church, Life-church, however, I thought they would make for a fun blog post! Life is too much fun to take seriously ....
Sunday, June 5, 2016;
After one afternoon and one full day of riding for 57 miles worth of high elevation training .... I was feeling pretty good about the elevation difference between Oklahoma and the Front Range of Colorado. And this was true, I really had no ill effects from the elevation difference at all. Felt pretty good, actually. Should have trained much, much harder in big hill country though, as that was what proved to be my nemesis on this ride. I had signed up for the 62 mile (100k) ride, but with the ride from my hotel to the start and back from the end, I ended up with 65.4 miles total. A good distance, one that makes me happy, I can still say ..... "a Century this year .... why yes ..... I did a Century this year" (100 kilometers) .... Grin ....
Sunday dawned early, and I was planning to be gone by the crack of dawn ...... well ..... I was close.... dawn cracked at 5:25, I left the hotel at 5:45 got in line at the start and left right at 6am sharp.
Right out of the gate .... one of the toughest hills on the route, at least it seemed that way before the legs got warm and the lungs got working. If you look just over the top of the red helmet in front of me, you can see the riders going over and through the cut. At this time, I didn't realize, this wasn't the top, it just looked that-a-way. It got a bit steeper and further yet after I made it over that first little hill before finally summiting. There were a number of riders walking the last 1/4 mile or so, but the old guy wasn't one of them. It was a plod, but one stroke after a painful other ..... I finally rolled over the top. I was rewarded by a nice fast smooth downhill, only to start up another climb, fortunately not as tough as the first one. This seemed to set a precedent for the rest of the 62 miles. There were a lot of hills, some up, some down, some fun, some ..... not so much.
Throughout most of the first half or so of the ride, Pikes Peak was the dominant feature, always beckoning ...
The first rest stop, just off Highway 83, and a little bit of gravel getting to it. It was a welcome rest. The uphill tailwind I was hoping for became an all day headwind. Every time the route would turn, the wind would turn. Starting out from the south, it traversed to the west and then northwest, then finally on the last "easy" part back into Castle Rock, it was straight out of the north right in our faces again. I thought for sure the ride promoters planned it that way so none of us would get overheated on the climbs.
The first rest stop was welcome. They had the rest stops at just the right intervals, not too close, but not so far you were hurting for food or drink before you got there. Most were about 15 to 18 miles apart.
Gravel route into the rest stop.
The highway 83 southbound leg was all uphill, gradual, but noticeable. It kept me at 8 to 10 mph most of the way up.... into the wind, of course ....
Finally, we turned west, and into a bit of piney country.
Topping out the little hill on Highway 105
Roller Coaster Road! This was the most fun part of the whole ride! A series of fast downhills with the wind at our backs, (I was so fast, the wind hadn't caught on yet that I had changed direction), followed by big uphill rollers, and another fast downhill, and repeat. ... It was fun!! I could have just gone back and done that part several times.
Kept seeing this nice young lady on the road on almost every climb. Finally we just decided to ride together for a while while we chatted, enjoyed her company for a while. She was a great photographer as well, as she got me in this nice touristy pose with Pikes Peak in the background.
Slow .....well yes ...... what else did you expect? Just topping out one of the steeper hills, before another fast descent.
Pretty wildflowers coming into Palmer Lake. Up in the hills in the background, just to the south and west of Palmer Lake a bit was where one might find the namesake of our ride.
Elephant Rock .... A natural sandstone arch, just to the west of Palmer Lake. Not visible from the ride, it's off a gravel road, and I believe on private property. I did manage to find a picture on-line, however, just to show you what it looked like.
More gravel road, this time around 1/4 mile long going into the Palmer Lake rest stop. 1/4 mile in, 1/4 mile out. I didn't think it was bad at all, but a lot of riders parked their wheeled steeds right off the pavement and walked in. I rode ..... it was better gravel than I have around my place.
Palmer Lake rest stop
Palmer Lake. You can make out just the seat and the stem bag of my bike just inside the fence to the right of the post.
Live entertainment at a rest stop .... COOL! These guys were really quite good!
Some pretty scenery after leaving Palmer Lake.
After Palmer Lake and the big crowd, I never saw my photographer/riding companion again, but this young lady rides up next to me, and started a conversation, and stayed with me for most of the rest of the ride. This first hill, she out pulled me a bit, but I think she shot herself in the foot, as I out pulled her on all the rest. She waited for me at the top, and we raced down the long downhill. She was fun company. She was also next to me when they took the professional ride photo .... haven't seen it yet.
Long downhill from Palmer Lake. Not steep, just a good 38mph or so downhill. Not sure where I got my max speed for the day of 47mph at, but I can guarantee I wasn't looking at the speedometer, only the road ahead at that speed.
I felt really wasted at Palmer Lake, legs were sore, I was really tired out, but on the last 15 miles or so, even into the wind, I felt much stronger, and passed a lot of the riders who had previously passed me up. I actually felt better at the end of the ride than I did at the halfway point, and we still had several more uphills after Palmer Lake. I guess I'm like an old plow horse ... smell the barn, and I get really fast! Post ride lunch was spaghetti and meatballs and salad, and ice cold Fat Tire Ale. OOooohh, Heaven!!
Look at all the bikes! This was only a small portion of the more than 6,000 riders attending. They had a commercial area where they had vendors from everywhere, live music, and fun.
I had to admit, before the ride, I was a bit intimidated by the sheer number of riders and the size of the ride. With the staggered starting times and each group starting anywhere within their 2 hour bracket, the number of riders was never an issue. As with most rides like this, I kept seeing the same faces over and over throughout the ride. This was a super, excellently supported ride. Many, many hard working sheriff deputies and highway patrol officers keeping the motorists and the bicyclists all safe and happy. Great rest stops, great sag service, great entertainment, wonderful glass smooth roads, nice cooling breeze in our faces ..... yes ..... it was Great! A fun ride, a challenging ride, and one I would do again someday.
The ride jersey was from last year ..... one of my two bargain jerseys, the tee was this year's.
Really enjoyed the ride and the fun riding for the entire weekend, and I have some great things and photos to remind me of the awesome times.
June 5, 2016;
Plum Creek Trail and Cherry Creek trail;
After visiting with grandkids, I was fairly late getting to my hotel at Castle Rock, and tired. Got dinner at a Subway, showered, and went to bed ..... tomorrow will be another day. So it was!
The Front Range, Denver and vicinity has a wealth of multi-use pathways and trails, it would take me a week to explore them all, maybe longer. I knew there was a little trail at Castle Rock and wanted to ride that in the morning, then later on to Franktown to explore the Cherry Creek Trail. So, starting off from my hotel, I found an access point just two blocks from the hotel, hidden behind the local veterinary shop. Turning on to the trail, this is what greeted me. Prettier and better maintained than the road.
At every turn, another surprise and pretty view of Plum Creek.
Castle Rock bluff, the namesake of the town.
Another shot of my bike complimenting the local scenery.
Past the veterinary shop and on up to the north, the trail gets prettier the further north you go. There were also more locals to stop and chat with.
There were hills on the north end.
And tunnels
More hills and pine forested trail
And several Magpies that followed me looking for a handout.
The old tree didn't make it. But did make for a reason to stop and take a picture.
Castle Rock bluff from the north side.
I rode on past my exit point and rode into town to visit a drug store, (sunscreen forgotten) and a bike shop, ( tire boot forgotten) I will probably not need a tire boot unless I didn't have one. Then I found a nice coffee shop with outdoor tables and a bunch of cyclists to chat with, next door was my ace dicovery for the day, a super great sandwich shop and bakery. Rode around a bit more visiting with firemen behind the fire station, several locals who liked my "Hotter'n Hell" jersey, and ended up talking for 20 minutes. Then it was back to the bike path, and back to the hotel where I loaded the bike up and headed for Franktown. The trailhead was a couple of miles north of Franktown, and it was there I accessed the Cherry Creek Trail, and headed north. This is a very nice trail, although much heavier used than Plum Creek, it was nice to ride. More open landscape, and the trees are more deciduous varieties like cottonwoods.
An open urban trail, always within sight of homes, at times, their backyards mere feet away. I tried to convey a more country look by not taking pictures of peoples backyards, but concentrating on more open spaces. This trail goes on for something like 40 miles one way, which was more than I wanted to do today, so at the 20 mile point, I turned around and headed back.
Pretty Cherry Creek also made better by the addition of my bike.
Found two riding companions, each for about 20 minutes of riding, first, a fairly fast gentleman on a racing type bike who came up behind me and started talking ..... my HHH jersey attracting attention again. We rode and chatted until he turned off on the 470 Trail, and I went straight until I got my 20 miles in. I get started on these trails, and I could go on forever. I had a big ride tomorrow, however, and I was starting to have enough riding already. The second rider I got to ride with was this pretty young lass on a mountain bike ..... also pretty darned fast ..... or maybe this old guy was just pretty darned slow. Anyway we rode and chatted back south until the Parker Trailhead where she got off to go to her car. Fun gal!
When I got back to Castle Rock, it was time to head on down to the fairgrounds and pick up my packet. So, I unloaded my bike off the car, and rode on down to the fairgrounds and back.
It was a long day riding, I swung off into town to Maddie's on 3rd street, and had a very cold very good Weitzenbrau (wheat beer), it went down so fast, it needed to be refilled. Served in the authentic 1/2 liter glass, just like they served it in Germany.
The Denver area trail system is really super, the people using it were friendly and pleasant, and I really enjoyed my visit to the trails here. I kind of wished I would have arranged to stay a little longer to check out more. I think it's the best way to get around in a large city like Denver, especially when one is from out of the area. Denver has many miles of trails, and most connect urban areas with the center of the city, giving access to shopping areas as well as food and drink.
Total miles of fooling around riding pre-ride was 57 ..... I hope that will be good enough to get acclimated before the big ride tomorrow.
