First Ride

On June 19, 2012, we loaded nearly everything we owned into a couple of big trucks and left Michigan. Most of our stuff went into a commercial van lines moving truck (loaded by some large, sweaty movers), but some of it, mostly the bicycles, went into a Uhaul truck that we loaded ourselves and drove to Colorado. Q rode in the Uhaul with me, while Cindy, Abbey, and Amos rode in the our little red Vibe. The drive was windy and long, but uneventful. We spent a couple of nights in hotels on the way, first in Michigan City, MI, then in Lincoln, NE. On Thursday, June 21, we arrived at our new home in Centennial, CO.

As soon as we unloaded the truck, we headed for the mountains. Well, almost. On Sunday, June 24, we made the relatively short trek to Mt. Falcon Park to see how well Cindy and the kids had acclimated after three days in Colorado. Mt. Falcon Park was one of the places in the state that wasn't on fire.

One way to do Mt. Falcon, is to start on the east side and climb up toward the west, as I had done a couple of months ago, and described here. We opted for a more newcomer-friendly option, starting on the west where there is a parking lot near the top of the park. It was a very nice ridgeline ride on a mostly smooth trail covered in a course gravel. But it was hot. The high in Denver that day was over 100 F. We started early, but it still scorching hot, even at 8,000 ft.

We visited the remains of Walker's cabin and the spot that he had selected for a Presidential retreat (that one didn't work out).

We also rode the Parmalee Trail, a single-track loop that extends out and down and back up from the ridge-line trail. It was a rather steep and challenging trail; not everyone in our family rode all of it, but Quinn did his best to fly through it like an experienced downhiller. I had to scold him for getting ahead of us. Really, I just wished I could have seen him ride it. How did he get across those huge drops and 8-inch thick water bar logs at 20 mph?

Who looks the most exhausted?

The climb back from up Parmalee and to the parking lot was a different story. Quinn was hot and discouraged by the long, slow uphill grind. The girls made it back to the top much more quickly than Quinn and me.

It was great first ride, with nice scenery and a not-too-challenging trail. After Quinn's struggle with the climb, I was a little worried about how this mountain biking idea was going to go for us. I was thinking that the big black tandem might be seeing a lot more miles than the singles. Of course, it was our first time out, and we were at 8,000 ft only a few days after leaving Michigan. More time and more training would be needed. Family mountain biking boot camp had begun!