Gettin that single track fix...

Clock goes off at 5:30am...its Sunday, and what is this, the ground is all wet, its socked in, and kind of chilly. The husky dog wants out, so much for sleeping in on the weekend. It is not that bad I tell my self walking around the neighborhood, we can still ride (I think?). I make some waffles, eat a banana and get dressed anyway. Toby calls at 7am--he is out front ready to go, so yes, we are going riding.....

And an awesome ride it was! Could not believe the conditions on the trail Sunday. We headed up to Devil's Backbone in Loveland--a place I have spent some serious time playing on and even building trail over the years. Pulled up in the parking lot and there are only a few cars and it looks like rain any second. We both completely over pack clothing not knowing what will happen and head off down the trail to see how things are.

The trail starts out with a nice few short climbs and then a gradual climb for about a mile. You turn a corner and bam, you climb 300 feet in 0.7 miles--nice warm up! Several serious switch backs to boot, with rocks, and more than the eyes want to look at while climbing.

Toby almost at the top
Cresting the top of the first big climb. Clouds still looked a bit iffy here.

One thing DBB has--techy as can be, plus swoopy buffed out single track you could pave.
Yep, techy for sure, but all very doable...with the right set of gymnastics crash pads appropriately places! We both gawked at this and decided to move on. ;)

Here Toby and I are just after the North side of the DBB park entering the Blue Sky trail.

This is looking North to Horestooth Mountain park. The Blue Sky trail follows this valley all the way there for about 7 miles.

Some great trail work was done here to sustain this great connector!
We opted for the Indian Summer loop about half way between the DBB and Horsetooth which climbs to the west on a nice Mesa and then drops back down. Toby topped out here--all smiles.
Crazy blue birds on the trail--neither one of us can identify them.

Then sun came out! We dropped into Horsetooth and the camp ground and stopped for some food. Chatted it up with a runner and then headed back to DBB. There are sections of the Blue Sky trail that have these large boulders the trail weaves in and out of. Great terrain, both directions and super fun.

Hero dirt today--best I have ever ridden up this way--not one bit of dust, amazing traction on the steeps and just perfectly tacky--plus again, no one on the trails! The rocks were a little slippery here and there, but again, amazing conditions!

Toby railing through some more rocks. It was hard to stop smiling and laughing here.

A few nice water bars and drops to climb back up and over on the way to the car. That chain ring is mighty close!

Just after the above section, there is another little tricky spot.....keep cranking...keep cranking

Well..almost, half crank more and it was all there--maybe I will clean it next time!

Yeah, that was fun!


Our ride from the sky, Blue Sky that is.

20 miles later, 2K of climbing, and 3+ hours, bikes and riders were all content all before 1pm! We ended the day with a short visit to Larry at Mountain High Cyclery in Loveland before trekking back to Longmont. Single track fix, CHECK!!