Getting up High

Saturday I decided to bike from near my house to the top of Trail Ridge Rd in RMNP - don't know the exact distance. The initial plan was for my friend Karen and I to ride from my place to my friend Bill's up in Winter Park, but we couldn't snatch a ride home, so plan B was to head to the Visitor's Center up on Trail Ridge.


For some reason the font wanted to do interesting things up above - ah well :)

Karen and I picked 6am on Saturday to start this adventure. The early start time had me worried as I hadn't gotten enough sleep all week. But, alarms set, we were ready to go. I really had no idea how my body would take this. I'd never ridden this far, ever (nearly 100 miles), and with a fair bit of climbing.

Alarm went off at 4:30am, I recall hearing it, but not enough to really wake me up. At 6:15am (after we were supposed to meet), I finally wake up to the clock radio playing. Oops. Try calling Karen and getting ready fast, but I'm totally dragging. Get critters fed, shower, lay down on the bed and fall asleep till 9:30am. OK, this didn't happen for me.

I did appreciate the sleep though :)

Got a lazy start and thought, heck, I'll at *least* bike up to Estes Park. So, got on my bike, still grabbed all my gear, which really wasn't a lot but did include food, extra gatorade powder, rain jacket, etc.

Started climbing. I was feeling really good biking up the Glen Haven route to Estes. Feeling strong. The sleep totally helped. Crested peering down over Estes and not feeling bad at all. The temps were great, nice and cool (I started just after 11am). The last time I rode up to Estes I felt noticeably tired/worked once I reached the top. Not this time. Coasted down into Estes. Still my plan was to stop in town, eat my sandwich, hang out for a bit, and ride back.

Well, town was busy. I spotted the Dairy Queen which didn't take long to entice me in. I decided a hot fudge sundae (small one) was in order. Sat outside enjoying my ice cream, watching all the people. Mtns were dark with rain up high. But I'm still feeling good.

Though, huh, I'll just bike *towards* RMNP, at least get in. Heck I've got a pass anyway. And can bike in as far as I want.

Got into the park - Hwy 36 entrance. Start pedaling up. The grade was nice and easy. Hmmm, I could do this for quite a while. The park was beautiful. Nice and green, flowers blooming. Still some snow on the peaks with little waterfalls running down. Nice. Started thinking I might just head all the way up. I was still thinking Karen was up ahead since I saw a green car at the school house down below. Little did I know that wasn't hers. Thought I'd just turn around and head back with her if she came down.

The weather was holding - or really clearing over the mtns. Awesome! I might have a shot at this. The farther I got into the park the more excited I got. Rounding the big bends in the road, taking little breaks to fuel up and take some pics.

Eventually the trees were getting more sparse and I was approaching the high road. There was some distance up high to really reach the top but the grade was never bad. Easy to keep trucking along at a nice pace.

Along my journey up kept leap frogging cars who'd stop at the look-out points. Started getting lots of cheers and thumbs up from passing by cars and people. This just made me more excited to get to the top. And push harder. I was still feeling good.

On top the views were nice. Learned there was some elevation loss to get to the visitor's center, but I really wanted to get there. There was a nice descent, another climb, and then a longer descent to the VC which was pretty crowded with people. Arrived at 5:45pm with 15 min to spare for getting food.

Chatted with a few folks who said they'd followed me all the way up :) I was getting a little worried b/c I could see rain coming in from all around. Did not want to get stuck up high, especially knowing I'd have to climb, descend, and climb again just to reach the top. Grabbed a ham and cheese sandwich, a nice big cookie, took some bites, snatched some photos, used the bathroom, and I was off.

The ride back down was nice. My butt and hamstrings and triceps were a little tired from staying in a constant position going down. Once I got to lower elevation and my fear of getting stuck up high in bad weather was gone, I ate my sandwich and cookie, which I was thankful to have gotten.

Ran a little late getting down the Thompson Canyon. It was most definitely pushing darkness, so I was really careful to stay on the shoulder. Got back to my car at 9pm. Wee hee! Did it! I was pretty excited. And felt really good. My legs were worked, but I totally wasn't wasted.

Headed home for some puppy lovin' and a nice shower.

A good day.

Old Stomping Grounds

Saturday got the spark to head down towards Colorado Springs - a place I lived and loved the summer after my sophomore year of college, doing my first internship.

The area near the Springs is so amazingly beautiful. I always forget just how much I love it down there. All the pine trees and mountains and green - it's just an amazing landscape.

It was time to get outa Dodge and just have a fun day.

One of my favorite trails down there - not long, but fond memories is a trail in the town of Monument, just north of the Springs, that loops around Mt. Herman. The trail is always fun, and beautiful, and never ceases to be an adventure. Typically the adventure starts towards the end of the trail b/c it's always ambiguous how to get back to civilization, and once you figure that out, how to find the car. Getting back is almost as adventurous as riding the trail itself. Although the trail, imo, though short, is well worth anyone's time.

You park on the flats, which already has pine trees. There's a labyrinth of trails, meandering up and down towards the mtn. Lots of fun. Once you get near Mt. Herman, you start climbing on the Rampart Range Rd, which I think goes for at least 25 miles (the road, not the route to the trail) and can take you all the way to Rampart Reservoir, a huge beautiful reservoir that overlooks Pikes Peak. Another place that's awesome to go.

One day I'd like to explore the entire Range Rd. This time I climbed up towards the trailhead and beyond by at least a couple miles, just to see what was at the top of the hill. It was evident the road continued in similar terrain for some time, so I headed back to the trailhead.

Back in the day, the trail started at the location of a small shooting range. You actually had to ask the shooters to stop shooting so you could ride through the range and get up and away on the far hill, which was their shooting barrier. Kinda funny, I think. The shooting range has since moved. :)

The trail is somewhat gravely - small 1/2 inch size broken dirt of sorts. A turf common around Colorado Springs - like lots of broken up pieces of sandstone. The trail starts off climbing in the woods, and then starts the little ups and downs heading towards the backside of Mt. Herman. Each descent is interesting b/c it's a little steep and really lose. I was freshly in my clipless pedals, and being that I was on my own decided to err on the conservative side. Next time I come back I won't b/c this trail is just so fun. It did seem to be more eroded than in the past, seemingly from recent rains.

After some fun climbing and descending, through woods and over roots and rocks, passed streams, you plunge to the valley and things open up to a nice little meadow behind Mt. Herman where there tends to be lots of nice plants and wildflowers.

The trail continues till you climb back out on the north side of the mtn and begin an interestingly loose and long and kinda exciting descent towards the front of the mtn.

This time, found a new trail that appears to head upwards on the mtn, looking like a nice hiking trail. I did not venture far on this as it appeared to be a lot of climbing and hike-a-bike, but would be cool to come back and explore sometime. Also, there is another trail intersection on the backside I'd like to explore. I'm guessing it comes in or starts from further up the Range Rd. Need to get a map of this area.

The venture back to civilization did not let me down, and it still proved an adventure, but I'm getting better at finding my way back out. It seems inevitable that you have to cross private property posted with no trespassing signs - the trails drops you out between two gates, both stating "Keep Out". I've gotten yelled at here before but have no idea what other way you'd exit the mtn. And you can tell quite a few others have done the same.

Enjoyed that ride.

2nd venture was to head down towards the Air Force Academy and see if they still let visitors onto that campus. Apparently yes, although the security is much stiffer than when I lived there.

Decided to hike a trail that was my favorite at the time. A hike up to Stanley Canyon reservoir. The hike is scenic, with some rock scrambling. You get up to a cool little mtn reservoir where I felt the water temps (warm), took off my shirt, and jumped in. The favorite part of my day. I'd have stayed in longer had I not needed to get back to the Fort.

So that was my day Saturday. Made my mood happy.

Bloody Knee

So it's been quite a while since I've had a skinned up knee, but tonight did a good one. Did a late mtn bike ride which was fun, but was coming down the Mill Creek trail after dark w/o a light - getting close to the bottom. It had rained so things were wet and rutted. Hit a log wrong mostly cuz I didn't see it and went down skinning my knee.

I quickly, kind-of instinctively brushed it off, all the dirt. Which was good b/c shortly after that I started riding and could feel a fair bit of blood running down my leg to my sock. It was dark, so I couldn't see anything.

Felt like I skinned it, but didn't hurt too badly. I could feel the blood continue to run down my leg though, to the point that I could feel my sock getting soaked. Hmmm, haven't had *that* feeling before.

Got back to the car, all is well, packed stuff up. It's still dark, so still couldn't see things very well. Got sort-of an evaluation inside the car, but not too good. Could tell blood ran all down my leg.

In the car, it was still dripping - I think the seat in the Mazda now has blood marks.

Got home, took care of critters. My sock and shoe were notably red, as was my whole lower leg. Oops.

Finally got to the bathroom and did clean-up. Took a while just to soak it with warm water since a lot had already dried. My sock looked like a lost cause. One of my favorite biking socks. But, biking socks must be made with this in mind cuz the blood came out amazingly well. I was really surprised how *much* blood was in it though. It was rather impressive. You'd think I did something bad. :)

Finished up with peroxide which stung, and then took advantage of the nice bandages I got a while back - mostly for potential critter injuries.

All is well.

I'm starting to think I should keep a first aid kit in my car cuz this is the 2nd blood incident this week. Sat I was getting ready to ride up to Estes Park. Flipped my road bike upside down to put in the front tire (I'm in a habit of doing it this way now from my mtn bike). Anyway, for whatever reason I decided to spin the tire. Not thinking, I started fastening the wheel to the fork and stuck my finger into the spinning (and bladed) spokes, taking off a nice chunk of skin off my finger. Once again blood everywhere, with no bandages, and the yucky part is that the skin was still stuck to the spoke. Eew.

OK, enough disgusting stories!

Have a good one :)

Holiday weekend

The holiday weekend was pretty good. The goal was for relaxing. Enjoyed watching some fireworks by Horsetooth reservoir Friday night with the pups. The night was warm and I headed down towards the marina where they let off a few fireworks. Enjoyed hanging out under the stars with the pups.

Saturday was hot, but I was really looking forward to a nice bike ride. Rode up to Estes Park which I haven't done in some time and it kicked my butt, but was great. Karen and I want to ride from here up to Winter Park this summer on our road bikes, so this is step one in preparation.

Last weekend headed out to my friend Bill's in Winter Park and had a great time with him. Decided to take a look at the distances, and it looks like from here to his place will be just shy of a century, which would be totally cool. I've not ridden 100 miles in one shot yet. This would be fun. May have to loop around Winter Park (town) to get in the full 100 miles. Would be worth it.

Sunday was home and critter stuff. My lawn got mowed (which is pretty big), but thankfully only have to do it a couple times each year! Took the pups down to the river for play. Baka decided to roll in something really nasty, so it was a good reason for puppy baths.

Read a little and did an evening run up on the North Fork trail up the Thompson. One of my favorite trails. Ran out to the first larger meadow and hung out for a bit. So pretty. Was kind-of a contemplative weekend, but nice.