The Hazards of a Casual Biker

Today we rode another part of the Poudre River Trail.  This time we biked through the Duran Family section in Greeley.  The land had been in the Duran family since the 1930's and was farmed for livestock, vegetables and alfalfa.  Some of that type of farming still remains today in this section of the trail.  We could see the dark green waters of the Poudre River at various places of the cement path.

Other parts of the ride brought us over a railroad trestle, past a huge rock quarry and along rows of ripening corn.

Around one of the curves was a herd of cattle.  Apparently, the barbed wire fence had little effect on this brown bovine, who was intent on reaching for the tall spiky grass on the other side.

I tried talking to her, but she was in no "moo-d" for a conversation.

Below you can see that the path travels through a huge open grassy field.  This would be a nice, flat place to ride a bike, right?  Well, it had its hazards.

This was open range and there were a lot of cow pies to dodge along the way!  I decided to keep my distance behind Don in case he ran over one of those babies!  No sense in getting "pie eyed" so to speak.  There was a lot of zig-zagging to do in order to miss them.  Our bikes have no fenders on them and I have wound up with mud on the back of my shirt when going through mud puddles.  Mud is one thing, fresh cow manure is quite another!

I was glad to get to a shadier part of the trail, away from the grazing herd of cattle.

No more cows, but this is not a place where you'd want to reach out and touch a leaf as you pass by.

About 5 feet from this sign was another:

Okay, now we have to watch out for other bikers/hikers coming around the blind corners in addition to falling rocks and poison ivy.  Isn't riding a a cruising bike supposed to be fun and worry free?  I just have to remind myself even the worst day of riding is 10 times better than having to go back to work again!

Lovely Leadville

Looking for old buildings or discovering a piece of history?  Well, "get the lead out" and head over to Leadville, Colorado!  I discovered that the famous Doc Holliday came to Leadville to live after the fight at OK Corral.  In those days, it was an awful long way between Tombstone, Arizona and this small Colorado mining town.  I wonder if he came to get away from the bunches of hooligans in Arizona or just wanted a cooler place to live in.   Anyway, we were certainly thankful for the cool temperature of just 73 degrees as we walked up and down the main street.

Here is a view of the main street.  The bright yellow building is the Golden Burro Cafe.  

One of the most famous buildings is the Tabor Opera House, built in 1879 by Horace Tabor.  It was the largest and grandest opera house west of the Mississippi River when it was built and hosted people like John Philips Sousa, boxer Jack Dempsey and even Houdini!

I loved the architectural detail on the old buildings.  Each one has its own personality.  One excellent example is the old Fearnley building adorned with 3 finials and meticulously painted in accent colors.

Now compare that to a large building down one of the side streets.   This is the type of property that is described as "full of potential" by real estate ads!

Then there is the one with a commanding view (of the junkyard)!  To say the least, it is interesting to look at, although I don't think I'd ever want to live in it!

There is a tourist train that leaves from Leadville, but unfortunately we didn't know that until we drove around a bit.  The train was gone, leaving behind bunches of wildflowers growing up between the railroad ties.

Along the way we came across an old rusty truck.  It blended in well with its surroundings.  Another photo opportunity for me!  This reminded me of one of the old trucks in the Cars 2 Disney movie.

South of Leadville, off Highway 24 we discovered more dilapitated buildings in various states of disrepair.

Looks like this building has a natural skylight!

The two story building below was actually the Red Rooster Tavern in a former life.  Now it is the visitor center for the tiny town of Twin Lakes.

Don agreed to stop along the highway for a minute so I could get a picture of this old schoolhouse, complete with outhouse.

The drive on Highway 24 between Leadville and Twin Lakes lent itself to plenty of photo opportunities for me. A ribbon of road winding its way among rolling hills of green grass and past falling fences is sure a lot more interesting than the miles of cement on Interstate 25!

The Year of the Bike

It is becoming "The Year of the Bike" for us.  We have been riding 8 or 9 miles each morning to avoid the Colorado heat this year.  Actually, according to the Chinese, it's the Year of the Dragon.  That is actually what we felt like at the end of some of our rides....we are "draggin'".  

Today we decided to drag our bikes up to Estes Park and ride around the  lake.  We discovered that "around the lake" meant a steep hill up to the dam, a ride down below it, and then another steep ride up to the lake again.  Not quite what we were expecting. We thought it would be around the perimeter of Lake Estes and more or less a flat surface. The combination of the elevation (Estes Park sits at 7,522 ft) and the hills meant that we wound up not quite making it on one steep grade.

Along the way we came across some turkey buzzards and I thought of the way sometimes people are referred to as "old buzzards".  Gosh, I hope I won't look that ugly in another 10 years of so.  They are definitely not good looking birds!

This is a view of the lake from the opposite side.  You can see the famous Stanley Hotel with it's red roof nestled in the hills below the Rocky Mountains.

We even biked beyond the lake, into the town of Estes Park and I stopped to get a picture of this huge Swallowtail butterfly.

I sure wish that all of the bike path around the lake had been this level!  That would have been much easier.  Or, as our grandchildren sometimes say "Easy peazy, lemon squeezy"!

Don was ahead of me most of the time, so all I can show you is the back of him.  At the beginning, I was out in front, and then stopped on short notice (okay, maybe it was no notice) to take a picture and he almost ran into the back of me.  From then on, he took the lead. He would just wait for me somewhere up the path, hoping I'd show up!  Maybe I should get some car flashers to warn others that I'm stopped in their path....    :-)