Friday Morning- Hall Ranch Ride

Friday started off with a red eye, some turkey salad, and lot's of H20. I picked a bike out of Brian's cache of Full Suspension rigs, and we all rallied to get out the door for Mark's final Mountain Bike ride as a bachelor. The participants would include Myself, Brian, Biff, Mouse, and naturally Mark. I made certain I was adequately hydrated for this excursion. Visiting at 6500 feet was going to be challenge enough for my sea level lungs. I was pleasantly surprised when Brian rolled out at a very casual pace. A pace that my friend Trout often refers to as the smokers pace. We started climbing immediately out of the parking lot. The trail was buff from the get go, but Brian clearly advised there would be some hiking required. I'm no Trailsin rider, but I can hold my own through nearly all the technical stuff here in Northern New England. The climb was challenging, and yes even required getting off our rigs and carrying them over rocks the size of moguls on a Sunny Spring day at Killington's Outer Limits. With my lungs gasping for more air in this this Oxygen deprived environment I simply could not maintain enough momentum to power over these rocks. We climbed up to a park bench at a plateau where our loop would begin which would include some choice views of Longs peak and Mt. Meeker.

After regrouping we started with a nice twisting descent thru a small stretch of pines, and then another ascent to the bitterbrush trail. From there we looped back around descending on some of the buffest, undulating single track that the front range has to offer. Klink, Biff and I then climbed back up to the Plateau where the park bench was located, and proceeded to punch it down the dual track loaded up with them mogul sized boulders we encountered on the way up. Why is it always easier to descend that burly stuff, then it is to climb it? Gravity is the answer baby! The full suspension rig I was on rolled like butter through the boulders on the descent. I was however forced to dismount at one point when I came to the realization that I had a wedding attend, and I really didn't want to spend the weekend recovering from an injury, when I was supposed to be ripping it up with my old college buddies. I dialed it back, and just enjoyed the view while descending back to the car.

Some of the wildlife encountered on this ride included a heard of white tail deer, as well as some black tailed prairie dogs. Back at the car we loaded up, and stopped at Oskar Blues for some refreshments, and lunch.

Post lunch we headed back to Boulder to hose off, and run errands for Mark to ensure that his Friday night dinner for out of town guests would go off without a hitch. This included picking up some mind lubricant from the Redfish (more on the Redfish later).