Fort Collins Bike Trails and Why They Rock!

Okay, I admit it.  The "it" being that in order for a bike ride to feel like a real bike ride I had to have a destination, an adventure, a goal, whatever you like.  For this reason, I had always viewed riding on the local paved bike trails as something to do on a mellow Sunday, on my cruiser, when working up a sweat or covering some territory was not really the goal.  I also admit I was only partially right or partially wrong depending on your world view in regards to the premise I mention above. 

I set off to enjoy the amazing MLK day weather we were having in Fort Collins with a bike ride.  Now, to make it an adventure and worthy endeavor I decided to ride the bike trails from Bellvue to Spring Canyon Park.  (To digress, any endeavor on a bicycle is worthy, I should clarify by saying a worthy endeavor that works up a sweat and leads to some gains in overall physical health and endurance).  This is by no means the entire paved trail system in Fort Collins, but it is a good chunk.  It was quite a ride and some absolutely amazing scenery for being within and in an urban/suburban area of well over 140,000 living, breathing souls. 

I chose to start my ride from the northwest most terminus of the bike trail system in Bellvue, CO, which is incidentally only yards (maybe 53 yards) from the Bellvue Bean.

 

 

Bellvue Bean Coffee Shop

The Bean is an excellent place to fuel up pre-ride or recover post-ride depending on the direction you ride.  It is also a great halfway point for an out and back from Fort Collins and it is on a bike trail the whole way.  However, in the interest of time, I passed up The Bean (one of the very few times my will power has been strong enough) and headed straight to the start of the ride. 

Yep, that is the start just 47 yards down the road from The Bean.  The trail has excellent infrastructure throughout its entire length including dedicated bridges over waterways (Poudre River, Spring Creek, etc) and underpasses for major roads.  One warning- it does not have the best signage when feeder trails enter or leave the primary trail, so if it is your
 maiden voyage take a look at a map or have one with you for the periodic consultation.  On the other hand, if you are out for exploration, don't take a map and enjoy all the little miscues that make the journey special. 

I used the Strave app to track my progress and you can see my route here. 
https://www.strava.com/rides/38273488

Basically, from starting in Bellvue and heading east and south to the River Bend Ponds area is all on the Poudre River Trail.  At that point I headed west along the Spring Creek Trail.  Including my ride to the trailhead (which was not on a dedicated bike path) and my trip home from Spring Canyon Park (again, not on a bike trail) I covered nearly 30 miles. 

If you have questions on the trails in Fort Collins, drop me a line.

Ride on,
E

Mountain Bike Video

This one is just too cool not to share.  It will inspire you to get out in the cold.  I like how happy the dog is in the video.  The people seem to be having fun too...

http://vimeo.com/35403060

Heavy Snow and Limb Removal Help

Hey Folks,

It has been too long since my last post but hopefully this information can help someone out.  The City of Fort Collins will be collecting storm damaged limbs for free.  See the link below for more information!


http://www.fcgov.com/news/index.php?id=4046

Happy Thursday!

Snowshoeing

From L to R- Dr. B, Winston, Dr. H, and Dr. S. in the parking lot on Deadman Rd.

We had a great day of snowshoeing that was quite a surprise. We initially had plans to go to a new area west of Boulder that Christi and I had never visited, led by our fearless friend Dr. S. When we picked up Dr. S and Dr. B at 8am, the snow was already flying in Fort Collins, so we thought the drive to Boulder might be dodgy. Instead, we decided to live on the edge and head to the Red Feather Lakes area.

Red Feather Lakes is about 45 minutes northwest of Fort Collins. If you have never been there, it is well worth a visit, or many visits. It really is an impressive landscape, not only for the mountains that surround it but more for the smattering of large rock formations scattered throughout the many meadows and small lakes that dot the area. These are all encapsulated in evergreen forests filled with ponderosa, spruce and clumps of aspen. Incidentally, our snowshoe route took us through some stands of aspens with some of the largest aspen trees we have collectively ever seen.

I initially describe this trip as dodgy because, except for the last mile or two of the drive, we thought we may not have enough snow for snowshoeing. We thought we might enjoy a nice mixed conditions hike, but we indeed had plenty of snow. In fact, it snowed the entire time we were hiking. Our route was an out and back circuit on Deadman Road, a forbidding name, but quite a nice place. We probably went a total of 6 miles and had great snowshoeing conditions. Deadman Road is a Forest Service road that goes on for 20 or 30 miles and eventually connects with the Laramie River Road. Although I have not traveled the route personally, I believe one would be able to eventually link to roads that would wind into Laramie, WY or to Cameron Pass. I think we often fail to realize just how much public land there is in this corner of the world. We are talking lots, tons, a truckload here. Incidentally, I already have summer plans for a bike tour that will just do this, probably linking into Cameron Pass and heading back down the Poudre Canyon.

We all had a very nice snowshoe, caught a brief glimpse of a moose gliding through about 3 feet of snow like it was no problem at all, and topped off the trip with a couple of Girl Scouts on a Ski Lift (those were the names of the hot chocolate beverages imbued with some peppermint schnapps that we consumed at the Pot Belly Restaurant and Bar, another great place to visit). However, I personally believe Winston had the best time of all as he ran six times the distance we covered and enjoyed a lot more smells and then got to sleep the whole way home.

Reservoir Ridge Natural Area - aka Michaud Lane Trail

First Trail Junction and view Northeast

This place is sweet. It is exactly 9 minutes by car from my doorstep to the trailhead. I would guess it is about 20 minutes or so by bike. I ride by the turn all the time on my bike rides, but as I do not have a mountain bike I just keep on spinnin' by. I have been trail running over there lately, which is fantastic! Here are some pictures from a this past Sunday on a sunset hike with Christi and Winston. The first is the view from the first trail junction just at the top of the first little set of switchbacks. You can see northern Fort Collins and the south end of Wellington.

Deer on the Ridge

A little further south on the trail we came across six deer. Here you can see two silhouetted on the ridge line below this lone pine. It really is a very neat place 10 minutes from our house.


What would be a sunset hike without some pictures of the sunset. The sky just keep getting better and better!

Tweed Run Fort Collins

I dare say the time is upon us. A call to my fellow gentleman and ladies, scallywags and misfits, it is time to organize, improvise, instigate and pontificate upon the merits and grand delusions of tweedom. What is this jibber jabber rubbish you ask. In the spirit of the original, or at least as original as I could find with a quick spin on the great wizard of Google, I announce tentatively concrete plans for the Fort Collins Tweed Run. (***I am relatively new to this blogging thing and I do not know all of the etiquette rules to using photos from other sites, so if I am breaking them I am sorry. I used the photo from http://bikehugger.com/. I hope that suffices).

But wait dear sir, what is a tweed run? Look here, or maybe here, and just to be safe lets include a this one. Sounds smashing indeed, so when can I begin to air my tweeds to eliminate that mothball smell. Well, I say we shoot for spring 2011. Enticing details, but not too detailed, details to follow. The gist is this. Meet in Old Town, drink some tea, coffee, scotch, or whiskey (American or Scottish, depending on if you are a purist and of which puritan persuasion you may be), water, or beer and begin a leisurely ride towards Laporte, then Bellevue. Maybe a venture into the brand new, so new they do not even have a website (or maybe they just do not want a website, but here there are on the web none the less) Bellevue Bean Coffee shop for some more coffee, tea or other libation before heading in a decidedly circuitous route to our point of origin, at which point we will once again have liquid libations of one's personal choosing. May I humbly recommend something from this fine establishment. Sweet Succotash!! Those folks can produce a mighty fine pint indeed.

Cheerio my good lads and lasses.

Coffee Shop Conversations....

It always amazes me what people will say in a public place on a cell phone. Less than 3 feet away right now a woman is talking about how she is bipolar, accused of running away with a homeless man, and sitting with a man who is obviously drunk, or at least close to it. She says her family is trying to kidnap her and she is on disability. She was seeking legal advice on how her court appearance is going to go. It is not like I am trying to hear all of this, but these people really do not care who hears this stuff.

I love coffee shops. They keep life interesting.