Stardate 2016.833

Happy Halloween!
Carbon Dating Part 2

My previous post detailed sidelining road riding for the greater part of the summer to focus more on mountain biking, which I prefer. Mid-October, and I'm finally in the mood to go on a carbon fiber date for several autumn rides.

I just spent two days trashing my legs with two road rides totaling 74 miles. Of those 74 miles, 20 miles was steep mountain climbing up pitches in excess of 10 percent. Interestingly, I still wanted to take the road bike out; I decided to stay on the flats today with only a handful of rollers for climbing. These two rides took me to the Chatfield area and the horse farms scattered on the high prairie south of Chatfield State Park. Each ride was about 80 percent asphalt and 20 percent compacted road-base/gravel.



It was a beautiful day to be heading out amongst ranch and horse farms. Nestled up against the foothills, a large Lockheed Martin Aerospace compound may be seen in the upper right of the following photo. The deep canyon in the upper center to upper left (below the lenticular cloud) is the Waterton Canyon of which I often post.



Parting shot! I just spent four consecutive days on a road bike. I still feel like road riding, so I think my little break from road riding worked, which is good, because road riding is an excellent way to train for mountain biking; this because you tend to spend many more hours per ride on a road bike enhancing endurance. Moreover, you tend to push larger gears and even utilize different muscle groups. You're better rounded by combing road and mountain biking.

I'll close with an autumn color shot. That cold white stuff isn't too far away!




Adios!