Eventful Day in Boulder

The day started with Colin texting me from school that a cougar had been seen near the small lake behind the school!! Chelsea was home on a break so I drove her back to school. Normally, Chelsea would ride her bike back to school but the school administration didn't want anyone riding their bikes right now. I dropped her off at school at about 10:45am and then picked up Colin (he had a break today also). I saw several rangers and policemen around the lake but it looked like they had not found him.

I scanned the shores of the lake to no avail. Here's the sublime view from the school:

After lunch I took a quick drive to the Peak-to-Peak Highway at Nederland (about 3,000 feet higher in elevation as compared to Boulder). I wanted to see how yellow the aspens were in the high country. There were some spectacular groves of aspen here and there. Even though the weather here turned cold and rainy it was still a wonderful sight:

I had intended to do a quick bike ride along this road but the 40 degree temps (it was 77 in Boulder) and wet SNOWFALL dictated that I look elsewhere for a bike ride. It was also really windy with gusts over 30mph.

So, after a short drive northward to Ward, I headed back east down Lefthand Canyon Drive toward Boulder. The weather improved significantly as I made my way through the mountains. I decided to try my hand at this highly acclaimed biking road so I found a place to park at Buckingham Park.

Here's a snapshot of what this wonderful road looks like and imagine biking it!

I parked the car, donned the biking cleats, shirt, gloves, and helmet, and eagerly jumped on the bike to head back UP the hill. It was a reasonable grade but it was unrelenting for miles and miles. This was MUCH better than the ridiculous steeps of the Super Flagstaff ride!

There was not much traffic on the road and the speed limit on this road ranged from 25 to 45 mph so cars did not fly by too fast. I climbed about 7 miles or so then decided to turn around and enjoy the fruits of my labor. The downhill was also better than Flagstaff because it was not as steep and you didn't need to brake very often.

Not one car passed me on the way down this road. At one point when I was going about 35 mph or so, two other road bikers passed me so of course I tried to keep up with them. They looked professional though and I didn't feel safe going as fast as them. These downhills are serious business. At some point though, you just start grinning from ear to ear with the wind rushing by and grand vistas unfolding around every corner. Next to surfing and motorcycle riding, this has to be as close to the feeling of skiing in a non-winter month.

I made it down Lefthand Canyon, 9.8 miles, in 15 minutes! Yes. That's an average of over 39 mph! WOW. I checked my iPhone later and it seems that I broke my old speed record of 47 mph. I guess I hit 52 mph on the ride down! I may have gone 40 or even 50 mph on skis before but not for 10 continuous miles!! Complete and utter exhilaration!

Yes. This is my new sport. I am convinced. When it's not winter, I must find a way to ride this Trek as much as possible. When I bought the bike, they told me that this would become an addiction and they were oh so right...