Either I just finished the longest ride I've done in 6 ;years, or the longest ever.
Today's ride was 81.5 miles in the front range. The contender is one of the days on the last MS-150 I rode in 2005. It was at least 80 and maybe just a few more.
Today's ride started in East Denver bound for the center of the world: the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River. Curious about a trail my boss mentioned, one that I had never ridden, I headed north on the Platte along I-25 headed for the Clear Creek trail and Golden. Along the way I met some guys riding about the same pace as me. We rode together navigating some wrong turns and detours through Wheat Ridge. I lost them where the Clear Creek trail crosses Kipling. Then I lost the trail in a residential neighborhood. I knew I needed to turn around when I could see the trail across a small valley from a high spot on the wrong side. I turned back to where I though I lost it and stopped when I saw a rider headed my way. Turns out I needed to cross a dirt parking lot and pick up the pabed trail again. The rider was headed the same direction so I followed him. A bit of chit-chat revealed revealed common goals of heading down to Bear Creek and that I didn't know hot to get there. The rider said he was going that way and offered to show me the way. It was true most of the ride up to this point and more so through Golden. You see parts of the cities from the bike trails that you don't seen on the major roads and freeways. The trail past the Coors brewery and down through Golden is very nice. We stopped at a place he knew to use the bathroom and introduced ourselves. I got some water from a convenient spigot. Pat and I headed up to the elaborate Jefferson County government building known as the Taj Mahal for its extravagance to Rooney road, one ridge East of Red Rocks. Now we were back in territory familiar to me and headed for Bear Creek. Pat stopped at the top of a hill (the dam) and we chatted a bit about bikes. Pat was riding a 1965 Falcon. A ten-speed at one time, rigged up with a single 42 tooth chainring and 15 and 23 tooth cogs in the back. No computer, GPS or power meter. This guy had a steady pace: 15mph, but he can do it up anything. We continued down the dam and parted ways. Meeting this guy, with his very nice neighborly attitude and willingness to show me the way reminded me of the help you see travellers get on TV shows. I was always amazed at how easy it is for folks to get help like this and really enjoyed such an experience at home. Thinking of what a nice day it had been, I noticed the growing clouds and got busy on Bear Creek. I stopped at the confluence of Bear Creek and the South Platte to call Mandy. I enjoyed the stop and talking to Mandy for a bit, but the clouds were getting darker, so I got off the phone. A few miles later the rain started. It wasn't thunderstorm rain. I was hot, so I left the rain jacket balled up on the back of my hydration pack. I stopped at the center of the world again to notice the much bigger storm passing over East Denver, my destination. I had no urge to ride in a thunderstorm, so I took my time on Cherry Creek headed for home. Of course, my legs hurt bad enough after 65 miles that I couldn't go much faster. I stopped at 4 mile house to refill my water pack and lumbered on thinking of the cred I would get with the 7 miles I would gain by not taking the short way home.
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