weekend update and Tuesday Ride

I got out for a short one on Sunday. The shop had been busy and I wasn't feeling particularly motivated to get my drive on. I had originally intended to get out on the crosser for a couple of hours easy, but the 5 Spot had just come back from a weeklong demo and I had to make sure it was good. Oh well, ride the mountain bike. Twist my arm. :) I rode from the bike shop. I was up for something easy, so I piloted the Spot thru town and up Antelope, did a lap in each direction, then headed back down the rock garden. I took my time, rode pretty mellow and all was good.




Then I had a thought. Since I'll be out of town next weekend, this is the last Sunday for me that Hall Ranch will be my only mtb option from town. woohoo. I decided to see what was going on off of Red Gulch Rd.



I do want to make clear, though, that there is no official Heil-Hall Connector trail. There is a trail that connects Heil to Lyons, and you can then ride to Hall Ranch. I can think of worse ways than Old South St Vrain Road, though. It's beautiful and has hardly any traffic. And it's only a couple of miles from Heil to Hall via Old South. And the leaves are just starting to change. Perfect.



This about says it all. From what I know, the trail is done and just waiting to be ridden. This boring part isn't too long. The trail goes thru an open field that has just recently been disked. The crusher fine/limstone trail is there to protect the trailbed and help it to compact in future years.

Thinking that looked pretty good, I rode back into town via paved roads and bike paths and thought, "there has got to be a better way." The road heading to the Picture Rock (Heil) trail just isn't safe. Nothing wrong with the design of the road, per se, mostly the fact that the yokals that live in those parts speed down the road like they're trying to qualify for the Indy 500 in their F250 truck. How about slowing down, y'alls? Anyway, regardless of legality and who is in the right (bikes and peds, cough, cough), I don't want to argue with a redneck ahole weilding a 3500lb weapon. Instead, I found another way. There's a social trail in town that starts in Bohn park and runs up to a fenceline. Here is the view from that fenceline...

Hmmm. Hey Boulder County, how about opening up the gate on the fence and letting us thru? That way we don't have to deal with the Red Gulch Nimbys, their bad attitudes, and their aggressive driving.

See, there's already a sweet singletrack connector to town...

Did I mention that there was a reason that I didn't feel particularly motivated to drive anywhere or ride hard? Doug M and I had plans to go bike on Monday. Oh, about 9+ hours big. Here's a teaser.

Tuesday ride anyone? 5:30 at the bike shop with lights. That'll be me, riding waaay off the back :)