Bolder Boulder

I arrived in Boulder on Wednesday and it took me about 10 seconds to decide that it is an amazing place to live. After hours of driving through heavy rain and shoot-me-in-the-head straight roads in eastern Wyoming, I drove into Boulder as the sun was setting behind the mountains and the rain stopped. I stayed with my friends Adam and Alison who fit in well in the active sports-oriented community of Boulder. Adam is training for the Leadville 50 mile trail running race which is held above 10,000 feet at the end of July and Alison is planning to do some off-road triathlons later this year, so they are a pretty fit couple. Adam also works at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and does coaching, so its part of his job to ski, run and bike! Not a bad way to live if you ask me. On Thursday showed me some of the fun trails in Boulder (Marshall Mesa I think) but I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures. That night George and Amanda, who are also on a road trip from NH stopped in for a visit, which was a lot of fun.The next day Adam and I went up to Walker Ranch to do the 8 mile loop, me on my bike and and Adam running.
After a few wrong turns, Adam and I got headed the right direction on the dry, rocky trail. All of the riding I have done on my trip until now has been a variation of the same type of rooty, rocky trails with hard-packed moist soil, but this type of riding was totally different. Between the views and the rolling, technical single track with no roots but lots of rocks, I hoped that the trail wouldn't stop.
Adam caught up to me on the huge, switchback riddled climb up to the parking lot and we headed back down to Boulder.