Derek and I just got back from a trip to Colorado where we did some EXCELLENT riding. I've been dieing to go there, but had to wait for my knee to heal enough to do the kinds of trails I wanted to. We flew to Denver, rented a car, and drove to the Boulder area to stay with JOJO. Squeak/Brian met us and the fun began. Saturday night we went to dinner with Motionboy/Josh where we had a great time.
Sunday we went to Hall Ranch for a fun ride. The trail is primarily rocky like this heading up, then it gets smooth and fast, then you get to come back down this! Sorry Jack for forgetting to call you, I didn't remember about it until we were at the trailhead.
Squeak gives it a try.
Then Derek makes it up
Derek masters the uphill section.
Derek and the 575 GitRdone!
The group at the top (Derek, Heidi, JOJO, Squeak)
JOJO near the top
The view on the way out.
After goofing around in Excel Sports in Boulder, eating and drinking on Pearl Street, and a good nights sleep, Squeak, Derek and I headed to Winter Park for some more high altitude riding.
Here we are annoying Josh at work.
Winter Park is in one word, awesome. We did the Tipperary race course which follows miles and miles of some really technical sections of singletrack. You climb through aspen fields, then higher up into the roots and rocks, meander around, turn on more singletrack, weave through the trees, bomb down rocky rooty trails, climb some more, climb some more, climb some more, climb rooty stuff, climb more, and descend a ton.
Brian and I on a stream crossing
I could climb all day with views like this.
The sign told it all. The trail narrowed after this and was very swoopy.
Brian likes curves.
We failed to take any DH pictures and I am sad for that because it completely rocked. After all that riding we rewarded ourselves with fried food and beer. Then next day we headed on through Leadville, Colorado (the highest incorporated city), where we ate lunch and bought fudge. Mmmmmmmmm. We drove on down to Salida, CO where we spent the next three days riding.
If you live in Colorado and havent done the Monarch Crest Trail, you are straight up a loser. That whole trail system absolutely rocks. The first day thunderstorms and rain were threatening so we took a shorter option down. We started at the top of Monarch Crest wayyyyyyyy high in the mountains, and rode along the Continental Divide and dropped down into the valley via Fooses Creek trail which is supposed to be one of the more technical ways down. It was cold and foggy when we started but it cleared up enough to get some good pics.
Us at the top.
We signed the guest book and began our adventure.
The drop down into Fooses was pretty steep and loose for the first section.
The next day we took a picture when it was clear.
The view up there is awesome - there are 11 mountain tops that are all above 14,000! I was surprized to see very little snow up there.
The ground was covered with flowers.
Brian rockin the stream crossing.
You cant see it good, but Im throwing down an RM gang sign. For real though, we had to take a break because our wrists hurt from the DH.
Another stream crossing. The roots on the downhills were quite slippery and required the perfect weighting.
We took a lunch break here.
At the end we looked up to find HUGE thunderclouds rolling in and the sound of thunder rumbling in the sky. So, instead of riding the road back up to fetch the car, we sent Brian hitchhiking. The third car that passed stopped for him!
That night back in Salida we ate lots of pizza and drank lots of beer at a great brewery and pizza place in Salida called Amicas very cool place.
Thats it for part one, part two will be sometime later maybe tomorrow.
Sunday we went to Hall Ranch for a fun ride. The trail is primarily rocky like this heading up, then it gets smooth and fast, then you get to come back down this! Sorry Jack for forgetting to call you, I didn't remember about it until we were at the trailhead.
Squeak gives it a try.
Then Derek makes it up
Derek masters the uphill section.
Derek and the 575 GitRdone!
The group at the top (Derek, Heidi, JOJO, Squeak)
JOJO near the top
The view on the way out.
After goofing around in Excel Sports in Boulder, eating and drinking on Pearl Street, and a good nights sleep, Squeak, Derek and I headed to Winter Park for some more high altitude riding.
Here we are annoying Josh at work.
Winter Park is in one word, awesome. We did the Tipperary race course which follows miles and miles of some really technical sections of singletrack. You climb through aspen fields, then higher up into the roots and rocks, meander around, turn on more singletrack, weave through the trees, bomb down rocky rooty trails, climb some more, climb some more, climb some more, climb rooty stuff, climb more, and descend a ton.
Brian and I on a stream crossing
I could climb all day with views like this.
The sign told it all. The trail narrowed after this and was very swoopy.
Brian likes curves.
We failed to take any DH pictures and I am sad for that because it completely rocked. After all that riding we rewarded ourselves with fried food and beer. Then next day we headed on through Leadville, Colorado (the highest incorporated city), where we ate lunch and bought fudge. Mmmmmmmmm. We drove on down to Salida, CO where we spent the next three days riding.
If you live in Colorado and havent done the Monarch Crest Trail, you are straight up a loser. That whole trail system absolutely rocks. The first day thunderstorms and rain were threatening so we took a shorter option down. We started at the top of Monarch Crest wayyyyyyyy high in the mountains, and rode along the Continental Divide and dropped down into the valley via Fooses Creek trail which is supposed to be one of the more technical ways down. It was cold and foggy when we started but it cleared up enough to get some good pics.
Us at the top.
We signed the guest book and began our adventure.
The drop down into Fooses was pretty steep and loose for the first section.
The next day we took a picture when it was clear.
The view up there is awesome - there are 11 mountain tops that are all above 14,000! I was surprized to see very little snow up there.
The ground was covered with flowers.
Brian rockin the stream crossing.
You cant see it good, but Im throwing down an RM gang sign. For real though, we had to take a break because our wrists hurt from the DH.
Another stream crossing. The roots on the downhills were quite slippery and required the perfect weighting.
We took a lunch break here.
At the end we looked up to find HUGE thunderclouds rolling in and the sound of thunder rumbling in the sky. So, instead of riding the road back up to fetch the car, we sent Brian hitchhiking. The third car that passed stopped for him!
That night back in Salida we ate lots of pizza and drank lots of beer at a great brewery and pizza place in Salida called Amicas very cool place.
Thats it for part one, part two will be sometime later maybe tomorrow.
looks like good times !!
igh: so many beautiful places in this world to ride ... hoow do you choose which one to go to next 
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