Boulder Area

September 26
Slow to get out of bed this morning - at least it was sunny! After hot beverages and breakfast we made our way to Boulder for a mostly touristy day. First stop was University Bicycle. A big shop with lots of bikes! I mostly looked around at all the vintage bikes they have hanging up, mostly from the 1930s-90s, but there were a few super-old gems too!
 
Rudy looked at newer bikes and chatted with some of the sales guys about rides in the Boulder area, as well as southwest Colorado, good to get some more details on some of the spots we planned to go to anyhow! Next was Trident Coffee and Books. I get one or two espresso drinks a year, and my cappuccino here was delightful!

After a couple sips

Half of the shop is a small used book store (nice and manageable!) that was fun to peruse. Rudy ended up getting a copy of Daniel Quinn's My Ishmael. We then moved on to Valmont bike park - lots of short trails and skills areas for all levels in this little space. Rudy was awesome and hung out with me for over an hour, helping me improve turns, berms, and drops, before leaving me to practice while he played on jumps. After biking, we were ready for another treat and made it to Fate Brewing in time for happy hour! We shared a small portion of carmelized sweet potatoes and I enjoyed a free beer - apparently we were at the lucky table of the day :)

The gold medal kolch - lighter than I expected

I only kept it to one, as I wanted to check out Avery Brewery too. This was pretty fantastic - a tasty fried chicken dinner for Rudy (I did get a few bites) and a few small beers for me - there were so many unique choices, but I am a lightweight (and cheap).

I tried Fall Day IPA, Nestor's Cup, and Sour 23 - all yummy to me!

I got the thigh, I think more meat than I've had the whole trip

We were finished up in time to listen to some of the presidential debates as we drove back to camp. Radio wasn't great, nor was internet, so didn't get much - will check it out later. Not sure why we're tuning in, I don't believe anything politicians say and they typically don't provide a lot of useful information anyhow, trying to be good citizens I guess!

September 27
Not as cool this morning, but still made hot beverages and sat in the sun awhile before heading a little north for Hall Ranch trails in Lyons. I opted to start with a run, and ended up getting in a longer run as I wasn't interested in biking these particular trails once I was on them! I did enjoy running them - a good mix of big rocky sections and flowy stretches too. And I got to see some fun wildlife!

Prairie Dog!

No biking this for me - Rudy loved it

A praying mantis in the wild!

 
We had access to Antelope Trail, Bitterbrush Trail, and Nelson's loop. I covered it all in a little over 2 hours for a little under 12 miles, and I felt pretty good! Though I was quite hungry by the time I finished. Rudy did a few sections twice and completed his bike ride shortly after I wrapped up. We headed south for Nederland, with a stop at the creek running through St. Vrain Canyon - Cold! We abused the free wifi at the nice little library in Nederland for about an hour before heading for some dispersed camping just outside of town. I was again surprised at how many people were camping on a Tuesday night - I could not handle some of these places on the weekend! We found a spot that doesn't have much cover, but nice views. Chilled out a while, then experimented with grilled cheese sandwiches with quinoa sprinkled on - maybe some texterual interest? But not really anything special, will not be a regular menu item! The evening recreation was watching the presidential debates - no comment - oh, and we finished the blueberry pie *sigh*


September 28
Well, we accidentally left the vent open overnight, so it was below 40F in the van - Brrrrr! So yep, hot beverages and breakfast - I'm surprised we're still only on the second propane tank this trip. Sunny and calm again, so we warmed up quickly and were happy to hang out a while before starting on some bike rides. I mostly stuck with the intermediate trails - some were totally manageable, but the rocky/rooty 3 mile 1,200' climb section was a struggle. I made it, albeit slowly. The rest of the ride I got in some good practice with steep downhills and sketchy turns - so that was good!

Some of the more friendly trail

Ah Fall!

Rudy took on some more advanced trails in the morning, then checked out my easier route later in the day. Luckily he saw cooler things and took more pictures than I did!

Leslie didn't ride that

We both took the School Bus trail, but I missed the bus

Rudy found his initials

Wildlife!

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We ALMOST didn't drive anywhere, but Rudy saw a better looking campsite open at the end of his first ride. Of course by the time we drove over there it was taken! We drove around a little more, found nothing good, and luckily were able to get back into our original spot. Kind of a waste of half an hour, but oh well! After Rudy's Ride 2, we discovered I had neglected the solar shower and it hadn't been in the sun for a while, and evening was already coming on, so kinda cool showers, blargh. Dinner was just cleaning up leftovers, then more GOT. Quite a few mini disasters for me during the day, but so much better than being at work - hehe!