faster, stronger, better

what a difference a day of rest and a good night's sleep can make. this morning i woke up before 5:00, got ready and headed down the mountain from quaker ridge. i crossed under the arch at the bottom 7'15" into my ride and turned south toward woodland park.

i felt stronger today than i did on my first ride into town. i was able to stay in my middle ring more often and push up and over the steepest grades. i met up with the same helmetless guy on the mountain bike i'd passed two days ago. he acted just the same as before - didn't acknowledge my "good morning" with even a nod. i made it to the start of the centennial trail in just under 40 minutes. i was happy with my time since it had taken me around 36 minutes to get to the same place two days ago without the extra two miles down the mountain.

after a three or four minute break and a granola bar, i was ready for the plunge back down the trail. going down is much more fun than going up. going up is a painful kind of fun. flying down is a pleasant kind of fun. at one point, i nearly hit a deer. i was descending at around 25mph and there she was right at the edge of the trail. i grabbed my brakes and yelled, "deer," and she shied away. a little while later i met up with a familiar face. i'd seen the woman walking her golden retriever two days earlier. she smiled and said "hello" when i greeted her. mr. mountain biker could learn a thing or two from her.

when i got back to the quaker ridge road, i rolled passed it and continued down the centennial trail. i wanted to see how far it went. that question was answered fairly quickly. the trail doesn't even go another two miles. i had to go out onto the highway for a brief time. there was a bike lane, but it was still out in traffic. then for about a half mile there's a trail again and then it ends abruptly at a lake.

i turned around then and headed back up toward the camp. i took a little side trip to see what painted rocks look like. the sign poined up a slight rise to the west, so i climbed up and around the corner. the rocks were pretty cool looking. they looked like someone had built snowmen out of rocks. odd shapes were stacked on odder shapes. pretty cool!

my tourist excursion finished up, i sped back up to the hill and turned back onto the quaker ridge road. what took me 7'15" coming down took 18'16" going up. those sections of 7% grade near the top are killers. i was breathing pretty hard when i pulled to a stop outside our lodge. it took several minutes for everything to return to normal.

tomorrow's my last day here. i hope to ride the same route or some variation of it again. i'm thankful that i was able to bring my bike with me to this beautiful area. it's been fun riding through the pines and aspens. (19.92 miles @ 12.3mph)