Back in CO

I have returned once again to Denver. After a week of music and company and love and comfort with my family back in Michigan, an uneventful flight has returned me to an empty and lonely house in a big city beside the mountains.

It was an interesting week in Okemos. The would-be offer on our house appears to have turned into a won't-be. We have no information or explanation. Maybe it will come back. Maybe it won't. Just a few more weeks of trying to sell, and then we'll just give the old house back to the bank. This is our version of the American dream. 

During my week in Michigan, I finally had the opportunity to hear one of A's jazz bands play, an opportunity I was fearful I might miss entirely. I also made it to one of her lacrosse games and to one of Q's a soccer games. Each of them, Q & A, played goalie for a portion of their game. Fearless defenders of crease and box, they are. We are so lucky to have such wonderful kids. 

On Friday, I spent a nice day in the emergency room with C, an unexpected outing that apparently didn't need to take place. Sharp pain in one's chest does not necessarily indicate any sort of detectable heart or lung problem, but a trip to the emergency room is a good way to be sure. It was a great opportunity for us to spend a quiet day together. This was our first trip to the ER since we moved to Michigan several years ago. I've always wanted to see her EKG. We are so lucky to have good health insurance.

After she worked all day Saturday, Cindy and I found time for quick dinner out together in the evening while the kids made themselves some sort of gooey noodles and applesauce at home. We finished off the evening back home with the kids and had strawberry rhubarb pie, vanilla ice cream, and Megamind.

Delicious cinnamon and walnut waffles for breakfast this morning, a little bicycle maintenance, and suddenly I'm back Colorado. You know what? I can see the mountains from my toilet seat!

Wild Hare Day

Today was a big day for members of our crew remaining in Michigan. And since this is about that, perhaps this entry should go on the old scaqabout blog, but that's not what I'm going to do. Besides, this is about rabbits.

Speaking of rabbits (which we are), we have quite a few rabbits living in our yard, and yesterday I saw a little baby one. I guess that's why there are so many. Just wait 'till Amos gets here!

Abbey's eighth grade jazz band performed at Quinn's school today. I guess that went fine, but I didn't get much of a report about it. Quinn said it was good.

Quinn finished his second card in mileage club today, which means he's spending a portion of his recess running laps for mileage credit. For each lap, his card gets punched, and after some number of laps, his card is full and he starts another. He's consciously maintaining a good balance of running laps for half his recess and playing soccer for the rest of it so he stays on top of both. Today he ran two miles; yesterday nearly three. Watch out, Heather.  

Abbey played goalie for the first half of her lacrosse game this afternoon. She blocked a shot with her face. It was fired from just a few feet away. It's a good thing she wears a mask. And it's a good thing she's fearless. Abbey had to leave the game early so she could get her clothes changed and make it to her evening jazz festival concert. 

Quinn had a soccer practice this evening but he also had to leave early so he could get to Abbey's evening jazz concert.

Abbey has been playing in both the 7th and 8th grade jazz bands. This evening she had a solo in "Yesterday," that well-known song by some famous band. What was their name? The Rabbits? I wish I'd been there to hear it. The DVD should be out soon. Of course I'm bragging about her, she's my daughter.

Oh, and it was Wild Hare Day at Quinn's school, which probably made the Cornell Elementary mascot happy. He's a cougar.

I can't believe that Cindy can stay on top of all this and still manage to go to work just about every day. She's probably tearing her hair out. 

Sunday Ride 2: Mt. Falcon Trail

After riding six very enjoyable miles down from the Bunny's Lair, I was really in the mood for more. It was still early in the day, the sun was shining, and I only felt a little tired. Mount Falcon Park wasn't far away and was directly on my route back home from the Bear Creek Trail. 

Each of the trails I had ridden this weekend was in a Jefferson County Open Space Park. Information is available on each at the Jefferson County website. Here's a link to the Mount Falcon Park description. 

The parking area for Mount Falcon was already overflowing when I arrived sometime around 10:30 a.m. Of course, it's not a really large parking lot, so it didn't strike me as being so crowded that there would be no space for me on the trail. It was a bit of zoo, though, with all the hikers and bikers and cars going up and down the entry road. I guess lots of people wanted to go for an Easter Sunday stroll or roll through the mountains. I was able to park in a line of cars along the side of the entry road. I took my time getting ready to ride, taking a few photos and spending some time on the phone with Cindy and the kids. 

There was more of that awesome tilted sandstone down near the entry to Mount Falcon Park. 

I hadn't given much thought to which trail I was going to ride, I just picked this park based on the existence of a trail and it's proximity to my first ride of the day. The fact that it climbs 1400 ft in less than three miles according to my guide book never really crossed my mind. The trail starts out in the meadow you can see in the picture above. A very well used and somewhat entrenched trail zigzags through small hills of very red dirt. Water bars, each constructed with a log or thick board cut into and perpendicular to the trail are positioned at very high frequency, maybe every 50 feet in places, giving evidence of the high usage and high maintenance requirements of this trail.

OK, so I really kind of enjoy crossing logs and climbing water bars. My Santa Cruz Nickel seems very well balanced for this sort of thing, and I look forward to climbing up just about anything that will clear my big chain ring. So it caught me a little off guard as I was ascending one of the first tall water bars and my rear wheel spun on the dusty wood. When my wheel spun, I lost my balance, and fell to my right. On my right. It happened quite quickly, and while I easily unclipped my left foot from my pedal, my weight was such that I did not get my right foot out to stop my fall. It was an easy and slow fall, but the unforgiving pile of rocks I landed on was neither smooth nor soft. It cost me some skin, and it cost my Nickel some white paint. Together we quickly jumped up and started riding again with the same philosophy I've mentioned before: getting up quickly, mounting the the bicycle, and starting to ride again helps reassure me or trick me into thinking that I'm not hurt. Why does a crash like that seem to take such an energetic toll? So much that seems physical must be mental.

And then the trail started to climb. Check out the Garmin log. Once it started climbing it didn't stop. One guy even passed me on the way up, but he was on a 29er. If I'd been on 29er, I'd have been moving twice as fast and using half the energy! There was another rider, also on a 29er, that I sort leap-frogged with for quite a while near the top when I was really getting tired and taking a periodic pause to rest. But the scenery was really nice, so I enjoyed those pauses.

The picture below didn't come out so great, as photos go, but it shows that line of hogbacks pretty well off in the distance. I'm not sure why I'm so fascinated with those, but there's something really earthy and powerful about geologic forces.

Once the climbing was done, the trail became wide and smooth and quite civil. This was to me a surprise. There were people everywhere. Moms with strollers, kids on bikes. Had they pushed those strollers up the that incline? Had I struggled up this trail to arrive at the mall? No, of course not. There is another parking lot up on top, near Mount Falcon, where there's a big wide flat ridge (there's probably a better more geologically correct name for it) that's a perfect place for a reasonably easy walk at 7500 feet. It was a really nice park. Definitely worth another visit with the whole family.

Also up on top is the remains of this castle! Built by a fella' name o' Walker, back in the early 1900s. It burned down in 1918. I used have a 1918 Nickel. Now I've got a 2010 Nickel. One a coin, one a bicycle. I should get a 2010 nickel and glue it to my 2010 Nickel. Whatever. There's more info on Walker's castle at the park website.

I spent some time resting by the castle and talked with a guy from Evergreen who was riding a really nice looking Ellsworth bike - a pricier machine than I'll likely ever own. His kids, both younger than Quinn, had almost-matching Konas. We talked bikes, of course. His kids love the Valmont Bike Park. Their mom was  one of those many people out running on the trails. I hope I run into this family again sometime when the whole of scaq is present.

A little further up the trail was this lookout, providing fabulous views of the mountains to the west, and probably a good place to hang out if it's raining. Though maybe not if there's lighting - ask Mr. Walker about that!

There were some other trails to explore up top, and I rode around a little, but the climb had really drained what little energy I'd had left, so I wasn't too anxious to keep exploring. I was ready for a speedy descent to the nearest burrito.

Sunday Ride 1: Lair O' The Bunny

Normally that would be "Bear," but on this particular Sunday morning it was "Bunny." I would have traded this day's riding to be home with my family, but if having to spend a holiday away, being on my bike in the mountains was probably the best I could ask.

One of the engineers in my office told me this was his favorite Denver-area trail because it was less a rocky and technical challenge than a fast and flowing one. It's definitely true that most of the trail was not especially difficult to ride, and those swoopy roller coaster sections were a welcome relief after so much slow grinding the day before.

Here's the Garmin log.


I arrived at the trailhead, alongside Bear Creek (Bunny Creek?), around 7:30 Easter morning. The only other cars in the lot had transported fisherman who were standing in the stream wearing waders and flicking fly rods. While I was getting ready to ride, a couple more cyclists arrived, but I was the first one on the trail. For the first mile or so the trail runs parallel to the stream in its narrow valley. This particular morning the temperature was in the 30s in Denver, and it must have been colder alongside that creek. In places there was still snow and ice covering the trail. Once again, I had failed to learn from my experience the previous morning: I did not wear suitable gloves for the occasion and almost immediately found I had numb and unusable fingers. I did not, however, accidentally drain my water onto the ground! I was relieved when the trail finally moved away from the creek and began to ascend because I knew that the exertion of climbing would soon warm my numb hands. It was actually rather unpleasant as the numbness gave way to pain.

Eventually I reached the point on the trail my map labelled "Rock Staircase," which was a reasonably accurate description. I wish I could say I rode right up that staircase, but I cannot. I dismounted and  pushed my trusty steed up the rocks. It was too early in the morning, and my hands were too cold to try riding up a rocky staircase. It wasn't worth the risk of ruining a good day of riding. If I happen to ride this trail again someday, I'm going to give it a try; it really should be within my capability. Here's a photo of the staircase, although as usual, I think it looks less steep in the picture. The trail comes up in the center of the pictures, turns alongside large rock and exits to the right. The stuff at the bottom of the picture is not part of the trail. Oh, and for those of you still in Michigan, that bright blob at the top, just right of center, is the sun.

While I was stopped here taking the photo above and trying to warm my frozen fingers, another rider came up behind me and attempted the staircase, but he didn't make it. His dog cleaned it with ease.

I liked this trail because much of it was in the forest, giving me the feeling that I was somewhere deep in the mountains. There was a very nice big meadow, here, and while not visible in the picture, a series of houses lined the hill behind me, overlooking the meadow and the two-track path I was riding. Look closely and see if you can find the white bunny.

I couldn't find him either. Maybe he blends in with the snow?

At the end of the trail there awaits a road and a small parking lot. Some folks do this as a one-way ride, leaving a car at the top and just riding down. Myself, I enjoy the challenge of the climb almost as much as the thrill of the downhill, so I don't see the one-way having much appeal. On the other hand, Cindy and the kids get out here we might try it as a one-way. It's a beautiful ride on a nice trail, and it's not too challenging from a technical rock-crawling perspective, so we could do it in the downhill direction before they've fully acclimated to the elevation. They might even enjoy it.

The ride down was quite a lot of fun, although there were numerous hikers, runners, and cyclists riding up, so I had to fly with caution. There was a group of cyclists stopped at the Rock Staircase, so as I descended I had an audience. It would have been embarrassing to fail and fall, but maybe one of them would have had a first aid kit handy. Fortunately, my descent was successful. It was in fact so easy that it hardly seemed worth the ink on the map.

Saturday Ride 2: Apex Park

My original plan had been to ride the Dakota Ridge loop in the morning, get some lunch and then ride another trail in the afternoon, but since I finished the first ride before 10, I decided to ride another trail before lunch.

Apex Park is just down the road, so it was just a few minutes before I was riding again. The trails on Apex look rather like a maze, and there are restrictions on which direction you can ride on which day. It's a really challenging and fun trail, so it's well used, despite (or because of?) the fact that it climbs 1000 ft in the first two miles. Because it looks like a maze, I was hopeful I might be able to latch onto some other riders for help deciding which route to take. By 10 a.m. on Saturday morning, there was no shortage of riders to latch onto. The bigger problem really was not running into them. It worked out fine. I ended up riding with a guy on a chocolate-colored Santa Cruz Nickel who knew his way around pretty well. It's not that I was worried about getting lost, just that I wasn't sure which trails were ridden best in which direction, and what would be the most logical route to use.


So Apex was fun, but it was mostly wide open and exposed with lots of switchbacks and water bars. There were a few, fun, flowing sections on Grubstake Loop (the northern loop), but overall a lot of long, straight, loose, rocky sections throughout. Since it was always going up or down, pretty strongly, it was definitely a lot of work. This won't likely make it into my list of favorites, but I'll have to ride it a few more times to see how I feel about it. I'll also have to go back on an even-numbered day when I can ride the fun sections in the fun direction. That may make a big difference.

Here's the Garmin log.

I think because I was riding with someone else, I forgot to stop and take pictures. I got a couple, but nothing  especially interesting. Except yucca. Not much of that in Michigan.

There is one interesting little thing I should include here. It actually happened earlier that morning when I was getting ready to ride Dakota Ridge. Knowing I was going to try to get in some miles, I had filled my Camelbak with plenty of water before leaving the house. Getting ready to ride, I laid all my gear out on the tailgate of my truck, but when I picked up my Camelbak I found that it was sitting in a large pool of water, which was also running off the tailgate all over the ground. The bladder in my Camelbak holds about 100 fluid ounces, and it appeared I'd spilled perhaps two thirds of that. I had flipped the valve to the 'off' position, but I guess not quite far enough to the 'off' position. The weight of the bag on the valve had caused it to leak and I had lost most of my water.

By the time we finished a couple of varied loops around the Apex trails, I'd logged around 15 miles and 3000 ft of climbing (including the earlier ride on Dakota Ridge). That was about all I had, especially since I had run out of water and my stomach had run out of contents. It was definitely burrito time.

Saturday Ride 1: Dakota Ridge

Last weekend I wanted to spend as much time as possible on my bicycle exploring trails close to Denver. It turns out that I'm not actually a strong enough rider to spend the entire weekend riding these steep Front Range trails. Not only that, but my cycling cheeks aren't tough enough yet either! So even now, a couple days later, I'm still feeling a little sore in various places.

I started Saturday morning with an early ride on Dakota Ridge, which is one of a long series of north-south hogbacks -- uplifted ridges -- that flank the east side of the Front Range mountains. Consult a Colorado geology book if you want more details - I'm no geologist.

The guide books said this was a very challenging, "technical" trail -- one of the most challenging in the area. how bad could that be? I'm a decent rider, right? I suppose it's not surprising that riding along the top of a ginormous chunk of uplifted sandstone is quite difficult. It also dropped off rather steeply in places on the west side right at the edge of the trail, adding an additional level of intensity to the experience.

I started early so there were only a couple of cyclists heading up the ridge around the same time as me. The dual crown, long-travel suspension forks and body armor were a definite clue about what was coming. I should have worn heavier gloves, as fingers completely numb from cold don't perform well for shifting and braking. I might have tried to ride more of the trail if I'd had a little more body protection.

This was one of my favorite spots. These wood steps were smooth and would have been great fun to ride down. Unfortunately I was going up, and by the time I reached them I lacked the energy and the will necessary to try to ride up them. I don't think this picture accurately conveys their steepness.

Much of the trail along the ridge looked something like this. Yes, this is the trail.

The views were spectacular, of course.

Once I finished the route along the ridge, there was a nice long descent into the valley below. I made loop by coming back by way of the Red Rocks Trail through Matthews/Winters Park. Or maybe that's the Mathews/Winters Trail, or maybe some of both. Regardless of the name, the trail was nice; a little steep but very rideable. And by this time the sun was overhead and my fingers were warm.

Check out my Garmin log here. And try not to laugh at my slow pace along the ridge.

Spring Break In Colorado

This year for spring break Cindy and the kids finally got to take a trip. Not just a short little drive around Michigan trip, but an actual fly-somewhere trip. They flew out to Colorado to spend a week with me! I was so glad to have them out here.

Right before they arrived, I found a house to rent in Centennial, CO, so we spent the first day at the house figuring out what worked and what didn't, and picking up enough kitchen supplies for me to get by for a while.

Not too far west of our new home is Roxborough State Park. The park is at about the same elevation as Denver, and has some easy trails for walking and a nice visitor's center. We spent one morning exploring a trail that snaked through the park's fascinating slabs of sandstone.

The next day we went north to Boulder to visit with Bob and BJ. We also made sure to get in a little riding at the Valmont Bike Park. This park is really the model community bicycle park; we've been reading about it and watching it develop from afar in Michigan, as we were building a relatively small park ourselves.

Quinn got to test out his new Santa Cruz bicycle that I had picked up in Moab this spring. It's only slightly large for him; he's about one inch shorter than the lower end of the suggested height range for this bike. Really, I think the crank length is about the only thing that's significantly large for him, and there is not much we can do about that without some significant drivetrain modifications; so here it is. And it seemed to work just fine.

On the third day of the trip, we went for a nice walk in El Dorado Canyon with BJ. Bob had planned to go along, but had come down with a terrible cold and decided he wasn't up to it. The walk was very nice; it is a very scenic canyon, with huge cliffs covered with what appear to be tiny people with ropes.

The kids still haven't learned to share. Abbey's trying to teach Quinn something here, but her approach is less than civil, although Quinn's behavior had also been rather less than civil.

She had to chase him away from the telescope.

It must have been just the next day, Sunday morning, that we went for a walk along the Indian Creek Trail, which is about 25 miles southwest of our new address. It was very different from El Dorado Canyon, lacking the sheer cliffs and climbers, but still having a few chunks or rock to scramble up.

Sunday was a busy day. Near the end of it, we went to a small park that's a couple of miles south of our house, called Regional Bluffs Park. The park has a trail that circles and tops some bluffs that overlook the south end of Denver. The trail is wide and smooth, a little sandy, and rather steep in places. Quinn had to work pretty hard to haul himself and that bike up those ten percent grades. Of course the ride down was a blast.

The view of the city from the top of the park was spectacular, although I'm not sure I'd call it beautiful. In this photo, downtown Denver is visible on the horizon towards the left, and the Denver Technical Center (DTC) where I work is on the horizon on the right. The rest is a sea of houses, and ours is floating around somewhere out there.

Cindy and the kids stayed for a couple more days, but I had to work and the weather turned cold, so we didn't do much outside after Sunday night. Then on Wednesday morning I took them to the airport, and with tears in my eyes said goodbye again. I wish they could be here now, but June will come soon.

Yesterday, a little girl from the neighborhood, along with her brother and father, came to our door to see if Quinn and Abbey wanted to come out and play a little basketball. She was disappointed to learn that they had gone back to Michigan, and wouldn't be out until mid-June. I assured her that when they arrived, they would indeed love to come out and shoot some baskets with her.