Skiing and Cycling One Weekend

I love living in Colorado. The fact that you can have two different seasons within a hour drive is awesome. Let me give you an example.

On Saturday, February 23, 2008, Cory and I met Barrett and his friend James at Beaver Creek for a nice day of skiing. We left the house a little late, 8 am, and made our way in to the hills via the I-70 frontage road. We took the frontage road so we can get as familiar as possible with the road because it this the same route we will be riding during the Triple Bypass in July. We got on the hill a little before 11am and met up with Barrett and James on Birds of Pray, the world renowned GS course. We hit the Royal Elk Glades and Black Bear Glades ate some lunch then found some really great steep stuff on the Stone Creek Chutes. We skied until the lifts started to close, which Cory and I never do, and made our way down to bottom ensuring that we produce as much lactate acid as humanly possible on the cruisin' blues. It was a great winter day.

By contrast, on Sunday, February 24, 2008, Denver was mostly sunny and a high pushing 65. Life is good when you can ski one day and go for a nice road ride the next. Cory and I led our first ride with http://www.definedfitnesstraining.com/, which is the club that Cory and I have started riding with. Cory, Barrett, and I met up with RaNae, who has a most incredible life story, and her friend Norah at http://greenmountainsports.com/. We went down to Bear Creek Lake Park and jumped on the bike trail which leads to the C-470 bike trail (the same trail that was covered with snow last Monday.) We made our way down to Chatfield State Park and the South Platte River. Our plan was to ride the South Platte Trail to REI and get a couple of treats from Starbucks. For about 10 miles Barrett, Cory, RaNae, and I had a train going. We were averaging about 20 mph with everybody doing a great job of drafting and taking their turn pulling. There is something about being a few inches off the wheel in front of you and going 20+ that is really very exhilarating. With a little more practice, I think that we will be able to blast through the Triple Bypass. We stopped at a detour right before REI to regroup. Soon we would have a close encounter with a fly fisherman fly.

I will tell this next story for the rest of my life.

Scene: Bike path along the South Platte River under a bridge

People: Fly Fisherman w/ fly, oncoming biker, myself, RaNae, Cory and Barrett.

We were cruisin' along when I saw a guy fly fishing on the side of the trail. I could see the fly line crossing the trail on every back cast he made and thought that he would stop casting. As we got closer, I WAS WRONG. Just as we got close, I saw the fly cross the trail on his back cast hit an oncoming cyclist in the head. At this point we were probably about 15ft from the fisherman and I realized he has no idea that he was trying catch the passing riders. I slammed on my brakes making RaNae skid sideways and a near collision with Cory. Barrett just observed the whole thing happening from a safe distance. Luckily, we all survived with no blood or injury, just a great story.

Until next time,

Happy Trails