This past weekend, my friend and fellow OmniTen member Steve was in town as part of this rare string of events that brought both him and Kristie to Denver. Naturally, we had to get out and play and show them some of the good parts of the CO!
Unfortunately, my knee was still painful over the weekend so hiking was definitely out. I know the two of them did a ton of rock climbing along Clear Creek Canyon, but since my doc specifically vetoed climbing until further notice, that was also not an option for me (not like I could keep up with them anyway! I mean, have you seen Steve climb?!)
 |
| Stolen from Steve’s blog. Remember? I didn’t climb! |
Anyway, Craig and I finally decided to take our friends up to 3 Sisters/Alderfer in Evergreen for a little mountain biking! My doc has most definitely cleared me for cycling, and while I’m still doubtful that she meant single track, I was willing to stretch the limits of her orders 🙂
3 Sisters is one of our favorite and relatively easy rides here in Denver. It’s close to the city– maybe 45 minutes?– with a variety of technical maneuvers and climbs that get your heart pumping. We usually start on the actual 3 Sisters trail and ride the loop counterclockwise. This first section can be tricky and has some fairly steep inclined switchbacks with quite a few stairs. Technical skills on my mountain bike are something that I am severely lacking, so the steps always kick my butt. Craig has become our resident mountain biker this year, and I was so jealous as I watched him conquer the stairs with ease!
.JPG) |
| Steve tackling the boulders |
.JPG) |
| Craig showing us how it’s done! |
After the 3 Sisters part of the trail, we hopped onto the Homestead Trail and hooked it up with the Evergreen Mountain Trail. This portion of the ride was completely mellow and gave us time to cool our heart rates down while enjoying the open meadow views of the old farmhouse. Granted, the chill time didn’t last too long! The Evergreen Mountain trail begins to climb and the climb definitely doesn’t stop! We chose to go all the way to the summit of the mountain, so this meant a good 2 miles of solid climbing.
 |
| Steve and me, taking a breather on the climb |
 |
| Kristie, loving the ride |
If you’re a runner, I know you have a tendency to think that biking covers more ground and that should mean that 2 miles is pretty much nothing. However, this is absolutely not the case with mountain biking! In fact, I think it’s almost more difficult to climb on a mountain bike than it is with my own two feet! We were all dropped into our “granny gears” and were just trying to crank our way to the top. I glanced at my Garmin at one point and saw that we were going a whopping 17 min/mile pace. BOOM!
I prefer climbing over technical, so this part of the ride was my favorite. Even better? There were beautiful views from the summit that made the climb completely worthwhile.
After the breather at the summit, we had a solid 2.5 miles of pure descent! For Steve and Kristie, I know this was equally exhilarating and terrifying. Downhill mountain biking is definitely something that requires acclimation. It takes some time to get used to plummeting downhill at a 3 min/mile pace, dodging rocks and trees while trying to stay on the trail. Craig is a pure maniac and I lost sight of him immediately, but I definitely was not comfy going any faster than I already was! I did have to laugh when we finally reached the trail head and Steve said that his hands were stuck in the white-knuckled, clenched position!
Final Stats for the Ride:
Mileage: 7
Total Elevation Gain: 1150 feet
Time: No idea. I shut my Garmin off when we stopped at the summit.