It was hot today, so I snuck out to Meadow Park after closing the shop. I found a good deep spot and swam in the river. It was good. The chill of the water and the subsequent contractions and flushing of all my muscles left me completely relaxed. I had that peaceful easy feeling the rest of the day. Some days are just good days.

Oh, and here's that July 4th ride I did that I mentioned I'd put up eventually. I rode from Peaceful Valley down to Rainbow Lakes road via Sourdough. I then turned up Niwot Ridge and climbed up to the UC Colorado tundra research station. It ended up being about 6.5 hours car door back to car door. The first half was awesome - clear skies and perfect dirt. Even saw a little snow from overnight on the 'dough.(snow on the dough above)

When I got on top of the ridge, though, I couldn't even see Mt. Audobon directly to the north. The clouds were moving in fast. Not being in a good place for potential thunderstorms already, then being surrounded by a hundred lightning rods planted in the ground
(you should see the lightening strike data the researchers collect up there) mean that I needed to get back into the trees. After a very brief stop to check out the moonbase on the tundraClick this link to see what the arrow is pointing to. I rolled down the 1200'ish descent back to my intersection with Sourdough. I stopped for a bit to down a green chile chicke burrito before proceeding. About 5 more minutes was all I got of dry land for the rest of the day. The skies didn't exaclty erupt, but a very nice, steady rain started to fall. The already damp trail started to collect puddles here and there, but overall the dirt was good. I donned my raincoat and rode on. By the time I got back to Brainard Lake Road, the sun had come out for a bit again. I stopped for a snack and to dry out. It didn't last long, though. I had my rain jacket on by the time I got on top of the Wapiti Trail. That was when the skies erupted. Raining, thundering, lightening, and hail. The whole enchilada. Right before the best descent of the day, too, of course. What is normally a rockin' descent turned into a glasses fogged, muddy, ride by braille down the stream that used to be singletrack pick your way down descent. The ride from there on was good, though. The rains turned into even and steady and the hail went away. Also, of course, the sun was back out by the time I got back to the car. I cleaned up and basked in the sun. Good stuff, that riding bikes.