Biking in Boulder - Day 5

With the promise of a biking day, we rose on the early side. Jay, my champion, rode down to the Grand Hyatt to retrieve the Saabaru from its safe haven.

The night before we found a few bike routes that were to our liking. We found a great trail website, for everything from road biking, to hiking, to kayaking and everything in between. It covers the entire country. It is subscription based, but, so far, well worth it. Check it out: http://www.trails.com/.

After some bagels and packing up our needs for the day, we hoped in the car and headed north to Boulder. A short ride later and we found ourselves descending into town, with a prime view of the Rocky Mountain Front Range and the Flat Irons. Another impressive sight. Pictures just don't do it justice. As we made our way through Boulder to the start point of our ride, Jay pointed out the highlights. He is very well versed. We saw CU Boulder, Boulder Creek, the mountains. What struck me immediately is how new everything looked, Park City was the same. May the clean mountain air keeps things from aging? The lack of pollution in these little towns was refreshing.

Our ride started with the Boulder Creek bike path that meandered through town. It was gorgeous, surrounded by parks, lush greenery, an occasional cool mural, with the creek moving right along side us. We made our way to the outskirts of town through organic farms, open fields and around reservoirs. Rounding the loop back towards town, we rode through suburban Boulder. It was very reminiscent of the Berkeley hills. Beautiful houses, great big gardens and Subarus, Hybrids galore. All the while Jay being my guide, he even waxed a little about his bachelor days spent with friends in this cute ski town.











Don't be fooled by Boulder's quaintness though, like Gypsum with its Budweiser truck, it had some interesting sights. While in the hills, we happened across an architectural phenomenon that we will call the mushroom house. It was quite a large white stucco house fashioned into the shape of a giant mushroom. Hmmm . . . what were its owners doing in the 70's?

I have to say that I thought Marin was a biker community, but we have nothing on Boulder. Nice wide bike paths, lots of freshly paved roads, courteous drivers and riders everywhere. I hear that more Olympians and pro athletes train her than any other place in the US. We spotted a few on the road. One guy was cruising down a country road with his coach riding along side him on a scooter. Their own mini peleton. My favorite was the mountain bike class we happened upon. There were 12 miniature riders, on 12 miniature bikes, with 12 miniature helmets. They were 4 years old! They couldn't have been cuter, following behind their instructor. We said hello and asked if they were having fun, we got back a symphony of "yeah"s. They start 'em young here!Next stop, lunch. We headed toward Pearl Street, the local mecca for cute shops and restaurants galore. As it is a walking only street, we hoped off the bikes and engaged in a little sightseeing on foot. Our stomachs led us to the Falafel King. We satiated our hunger pangs with gyros and falafels. Very yummy!Back to the car, we threw our bikes on top and took a scenic route out of town. We drove through the Hill, an area popular with UC Boulder students and houses the famous Fox Theater (Boulder's version of the Fillmore). We drove onto the school campus to get a closer look. It was starting to buzz with activity as the beginning of the fall semester is closing in. Oh! That will be me in less than a month!

As one last visual treat we got to observe another vehicle that makes you go, huh? It was a young kid cruising down Broadway toward the freeway in an ancient Bronco. As he passed, it was hard to miss that his entire driver's side door was missing, not just a piece, the entire door. He was munching on slice of pizza to boot. At least he had his seatbelt on. And yes, he did head onto the freeway. Ahhh, to be young and stupid again.

We returned back to Denver without incident and proceeded to get ready for our dinner with Cousin Liz and Charlie. Liz lives in a Denver suburb Aurora with her husband and son. She picked a lovely Mexican restaurant called Tamayo in LoDo (Denver's version of Soho). We consumed good food and exchanged even better stories. Thanks for joining us Liz; it was great to see you!

Back home and into bed. Tomorrow we are heading to DeMoines.