Terry and I both arrived on Friday and assembled our bikes. No surprises from the Transportation Security Authority! Both bikes and other contents of the bike cases arrived unscathed and unaltered and undamaged. For me, that was a first in about eight years of bicycle tours….Since I’m sure everyone has seen enough pix of our group assembling bicycles from previous trips, I decided not to take any pictures of this task this trip nor provide any more details. Dave and I did take a short trip on Friday afternoon and about the most exciting event that occurred was that I had a flat tire. We decided that my flat tire was the first flat we had experienced in at least three trips.
The first day was an altitude acclimation day so we kept the ride short with very little climbing. The weather was predicted to be sunny with the temperatures in the low 70s. Well, it was misty and the temperatures were in the 50s.
We rode from Dave and Pattie’s house on a paved path along C-470 (Denver ring road) to Red Rocks Park. I have to admit that I’ve never seen so many miles of paved trail. Everywhere I looked paved trails could be found winding through open spaces, beside roads, and through residential and commercial properties. As it turns out Dave is very active in bicycle and trail advocacy in the Denver area. He and his merry band of cyclists can count a number of successful lobbying efforts. These include a paved shoulder to be added to Deer Creek Road (a road used by more cyclists than automobiles) and a pedestrian/cycling bridge over C-470, among other things.
The weather for the day turned out not as predicted and sloshed through puddles and some muddy road surfaces. We first rode through Bear Creek Lake Park, again rife with paved trails. Personally, I would have preferred to not have so many paved trails through parks, unpaved and single track trails would be good, as well. But I’m mostly a roadie so I can’t complain tooooo much.
Next up was Red Rocks Park. I’m sure in the bright sunlight this outcropping of rocks would be rather beautiful; unfortunately, the low clouds and mist dulled the scenery.
The Civilian Conservation Corps built an amphitheatre among the red rocks back in the 1930s. With some modern additions and improvements, this venue, shall we say, “rocks.”
Here we are starting out for the day:
And Red Rocks. The amphitheatre is nestled amoungst the rocks in the center. The next picture is just to the south of Red Rocks.
Here are some pics of Red Rocks amphitheatre. That’s Terry on the left and me on the right in the bottom picture.
After Red Rocks Park we rolled through some tony neighborhoods and back to the Evans’ household.
End of day 1. Statistics:
- Start: Dave and Pattie’s house
- End: Dave and Pattie’s house
- Distance: 30ish miles
- Climbs: Dinosaur Ridge, Red Rocks Amphitheater Top Entrance
- Total gain: 1000 ft
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