An incredibly gorgeous day, today so I finally did a ride. Not wanting to leave tracks as it's still somewhat muddy I opted for
dirt roads. I left my place and headed west. About a mile or so into the ride I encountered a beautifull Harris hawk which allowed
me to take some incredible pictures on the wing. I continued on through "private property, no tresspassing) historic Brown Ranch.
Usually I encounter countless deer through here but the gates were open and the road was well tracked with tire prints. This is a
fun down hill road where one can reach speeds in excess of 50 mph. I was riding on the cautious side and only clocked 44.7 (gps).
There's a new trail that runs along the old rr bed (Whiskey Charlie) so I proceed up the wide, gravel covered path instead of
sharing the road. This trail runs for several miles paralleling CO 62. The last 2 miles is sweet uphill ST which ends on CR60X
(the road leading to my place and also part of the San Juan Hut ride). I could have climbed up 60X but felt like more of a ride. I
jumped on CO62 for a couple of miles until I hit CR62X and then climbed up onto the mesa. Passed some cows and took some more
photos of the Sneffles Range and of the snow line some 500 feet above where I was riding.
The loop was about 21 miles, all above 8000' so even though it was mostly road, I'd still consider a great day of mountain biking.
Except for a few places, this would have been a great SS ride but I was on the double boinger, locked out most of the time, spinning
2-5 on most of the ups and hitting 3-9 on some down.
Clear, cool ending with a Young's Double Chocolate Stout!
Gary