RIDE LONG AND SMILE

Snowmass has taken her away for far too long.  She adds so much color and fun to everything.  I can't wait to see her again!

After finishing a 25-mile mountain bike race I asked myself, “What next?”  Well, luckily for me I brought my Fargo with me up to Winter Park fully loading will all the accessories to do my first overnight bikepacking trip.  I would ride from Winter Park north to Granby and then climb to the top of Willow Creek Pass on the Continental Divide.  It was a 40+ mile ride each day. On my way north I was pleasantly surprised to find the Frasier Granby Trail.  It’s a gravel route that nearly parallels Highway 40 from Frasier to Granby.  Perfect for the Fargo!  Eventually it turned to single track that was full of dried cow prints, so I got back on my planned route of smooth pavement. The valley from Granby up to Willow Creek Pass along 125 is beautiful.  This was one of the few shots I got due to the unbearable swarms of mosquitoes.  I had to rifle through my packs while riding to find my bug repellant because if I stopped I would get eaten. ...

  I tied my food stash about 10 ft up in a tree ½ mile from where I was sleeping (the small dark blob in the middle of the picture).   I didn’t want Yogi to steal my pic-a-nic basket! I woke up to a beautiful sky! The problem with there not being a cloud in the sky all night is that it was very cold in the morning, and I had a 20-mile decent ahead of me. I had to stop every now and then to warm up … and to take some pictures. This is one of my favorites.

  There isn't anything exciting hiding in this picture.  It is just to show the unbelievable devastation caused by the pine beetle.   There were hills like this for the entire 40+ miles of my ride, and I was nowhere near the beginning of the beetle-kill and nowhere near the end. The home stretch!  What a ride.  I would consider it a success because I learned some important things about what to bring and what not to.