Before I forget, I had to mention this. I just got done tearing down a bunch of cardboard for recycling. In doing so, I reached an interesting conclusion. Shimano is a master of box making origami. Man, they have cardboard boxes that convert from shipping boxes to display boxes and it's all still just one piece of cardboard. That's efficiency.

Hope everyone's Independence Day was great and that you got some good riding in. I was pretty happy, I got out three times on the mountain bike and once on the road bike. Late Friday afternoon, I snuck up to Miller Rock. I finally hiked to the top. man, oh, man what fantastic views. Best view on the front range, you could argue. Standing atop Miller Rock yields a superb 360 degree vista. It was so intoxicating that I had difficulty leaving my perch. I managed, though. Sweet singletrack awaited. I've played up in the Miller Rock area quite a bit lately but haven't hit Ceran St Vrain in a few years. I decided to have a refresher. Fantastic is all I have to say about that. The nice thing about riding this from the Raymond side is that you climb to the Ceran St Vrain trailhead, then get to descend on your return. Fun stuff.

Until this weekend, Miller Rock was about as high altitude as I'd got. I changed that on Sunday with a quick Baptist/Wapiti loop off of Sourdough. The Sunday group ride was small, so we bailed on the previously announced Lion's Gulch and headed to the Peaceful Valley. Good, it was. This was also the first time I had the 5" bike in that terrain. 5", my friends, is a good thing for the Sourdough universe. Travel aside, I was feeling a little worked after that so I squeaked out a road ride on Monday.

Although I'd driven on 36 plenty since the chip seal, I wanted to see how it was on skinny tires. First, though, I headed south thru Hygiene all the way to Niwot on a brand new, beautifully paved wide shoulder! So nice, I can see myself riding that loop a lot more. Well, until I got to the new chip seal, anyway. Even with 25c tires at 100#, it was a pretty rough ride. Looks like it'll be a few years before that one wears in. Enough with the road after that. Time for more dirt, and the big loop I've been wanting to do for a while...

I parked off the peak to peak where South St Vrain dumps out by the boy scout ranch. Here's the ride: I started up the county road until it split. I took a left and followed it as it morphed from a dirt road to a tame jeep road. Another few minutes on that and the road was crossed by trail 835, the Sourdough. I took a left on Sourdough and headed south to the juncion with SSV trail. This was the first 1/4 of a very big figure 8 loop. I crossed SSV and contiuned south on the 'dough to Brainard Lake Road. About 3/4 of a mile south of Brainard Lake road, I turned west on 802 up to Left Hand Res road. 802 would definitely be more enjoyable the other direction with a gravity assist, but climbing it was necessary to my loop. The trail changed drastically after the road crossing and the first real water crossing. I had to scramble through boulder gardens, muck through bogs, and bushwack my way thru thick, jungle like foliage. No kidding, really, but I did finally make it to Brainard Lake, one of the more scenic spots on the front range. From there, all there was left of the ride was the boulder strewn rocky beast known as South St Vrain. I was back at the car 3 hrs later and pretty worked. It was a good way to end a long 4th of July weekend!