Weekend Rides

July 29-31, 2011
Colorado, USA

Friday, the 29th - We took the long way around the lakes to our favorite little dive - ok - diner in Loveland. It was about 28 miles or so round trip to get that burger and BLT at Fatso's in Loveland, CO... worth the ride. The day was fine and we were reluctant to settle for such a short ride.

Saturday, the 30th - After Tim rolled in from Saturday shift work - we decided to take an afternoon ride. It was 2:38 pm and the odometer was sitting at 23,800. It was a HOT (I can hear you laughing Texas) afternoon so without saying as much, we found ourselves winding up the Big Thompson Canyon (Hwy 34) toward Estes Park and the high country. It was cooler riding alongside the Big Thompson River. Estes Park traffic tested our patience. It is usually crazy on the weekends. We rode on through as quick as possible, deciding to ride down into Lyons. There we landed in the middle of a river fest traffic jam. Again, we rode on through. We called it done after a 95 mile ride and spent the rest of the evening on the patio, burning hot dogs and relaxing with a beer and a mikes.

Riding the Big Thompson Canyon (Hwy 34)

Approaching Estes Park, CO - the mountains of Rocky Mountain National Park in the background

The ride down to Lyons, CO via Hwy 36

Sunday, the 31st - Today's ride took us up the Poudre Canyon to Walden and on to Laramie. The canyon was busy today with lots of traffic. The river is still flowing high and fast, but the level is better now than in the recent past for water-lovers. Near the summit of Cameron Pass we saw moose in three different locations. We made a brief stop at the Moose Center for a stretch and a cup of thermos coffee and stopped again in Walden to top off the tank.

Coffee Break - Moose Center - Near Gould, CO

Coffee Break - Moose Center - Near Gould, CO

We had thought to ride the Snowy Range but took the Laramie turn instead. It's probably a good thing as the clouds in that direction were building fast. Actually, clouds were building fast all around us. We had packed a picnic lunch so we found a table under a pavilion at a park near the old depot in Laramie, just a couple of blocks off of downtown. We shared the pavilion with a large family traveling home to Littleton (near Denver). They had toured Wyoming and part of Montana, camping in an oversized custom toy hauler. Two adults, two or three children, two grandparents and a great grandma... traveling together for a week - yikes!

The clouds continued to build as we munched on fried chicken, noodle salad, fruit and cookies. We did not get in a hurry and rather enjoyed watching the trains rumble by. The clouds were between us and home. Finally, with a rumble of thunder overhead, we rode to the southern edge of town and pulled the bike up on the sidewalk, under the awning, in front of Bart's Indoor Flea Market where we shopped for about the next two hours. Bart's is a customary stop for us, but we rarely spend as much time there as we did this time. Just before 5 pm, it looked like we had about as good a break in the clouds as we were going to get so we rolled out of Laramie toward home. We got lucky... riding chilly in light rain and on wet highway for about half the trip. One storm had passed, another was approaching fast, but we managed to get home mostly dry. Today we burned some burgers to go with the beer and mikes on the patio.

Here is a slide show of today's 217 mile picnic ride (33 photos):