Thursday, July 30, 2009
45: On the Road Again
| Stoker's Log |
| Day Forty Five |
 |
| 7/30/09 |
| From Aurora, CO |
| To Loveland, CO |
| 90.6 miles |
| 10.3 avg mph |
This morning we said goodbye to Dave and Pickle's house, to Aurora, and to relaxation.
We were eager to ride the extensive network of paved trails, which took us over bridges, through parks full of friendly people, and alongside the mountains.
In the more populated areas we could use the multi-use paths, which were essentially wide sidewalks that pedestrians were expected to share with cyclists. Once again, I love Colorado right now.
We passed nature's condos -- a prairie dog community and a wall of stones populated by various furry creatures -- before spotting a colorful community under construction where we'd like to live ourselves.
A large part of the apartments' appeal was their location right in between Denver and Boulder. We'd heard great things about Boulder, so at the last minute we decided to visit it instead of going through Cheyenne. To get there, however, we had to deal with hastily written directions (I would be reading the cue sheet and suddenly every turn would be followed by a question mark) and bad weather. At first it was just a light mist that barely bothered us, in fact I was enjoying the riding more than usual. Just as I was about to comment on how much fun I was having, we hit a downhill and were pummelled by a cold and stinging rain. By the time we reached developed land we were soaked and shivering, so we ducked into a Panera to warm up with soup and giant cups of hot cocoa.
We met an older female cyclist there who was also braving the rain, and we rode out of the Panera with her for a short time. As we approached downtown Boulder, we could already see why it was known as a cyclist's paradise. Not only were there bike routes everywhere, but they were humorously named, marked with signs, and divided into lanes. We were in absolute awe.
Everywhere we looked, we saw more signs that we should move to Boulder: a real estate company called Pedal Properties that led house tours on bicycles, a combination fitness and rock climbing gym, ultimate frisbee dominating the cover of Boulder magazine, more coffee shops than I could count, and an expansive pedestrian mall that outshone the one in Charlottesville.
Oh, and those brightly dressed figures in the first photo? Kids dressed in 80s garb giving out free hugs. It was still dreary and wet out, but we wandered around with huge grins on our faces as we imagined how amazing it would be to live in Boulder. Kyle even had me take a picture of a map showing nearby private schools where I could apply to teach. We are completely, utterly, irreparably Boulder-obsessed and we spent less than an hour there. I'm honestly not sure that coastal Oregon will be able to top it.
After we left Boulder, which we obviously did very reluctantly, we were greeted with an end to the rain and a bright rainbow to boot.
We flew down a highway with a generous bike lane, and once again I felt glad to be on the bike and exhilirated by the ride. It's amazing what time off and a slight tailwind can do for your cycling spirits.
In Longmont we stopped at a bike shop; it was nice to do so by choice and not necessity. We admired the newest beauties in the Trek line and bought a water bottle to replace the one that I had partially broken a while back but stubbornly continued to use. We also discovered another reason to move to the area: a weekly community bike ride involving costumes and other frivolity.
In the small towns beyond Longmont, we encountered a series of interesting sights:
We reached Loveland by early evening, not bad for a 90 mile day. The Super 8 was completely booked, so we ended up at a Quality Inn with stained towels and a raging party outside our room. Not ideal, certainly, but I'm still overwhelmed with love for this part of Colorado, so I'll let it slide.
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| posted at: 02:12 |
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