As promised, the rest of my vacation cycling!
After Elephant Rock and a nice hot shower, my mom was still sad that she wasn’t able to ride the event this year due to health issues stemming from last summer. My mom has been a life-long bicycle rider and uses it to stay fit as she gets older. So I saddled up on my (much taller) baby sister’s mountain bike and told my mom we could go out on the trail by her house.
It wasn’t the longest ride or the fastest ride I’ve ever done – but it was nice to get out with my mom and dad on bikes and see the route they use to gauge their fitness. While it’s sad to see how far my mom’s fitness has fallen, it’s incredibly encouraging to see her on her bike, getting stronger each ride. And my dad has never been a fitness guy but he likes riding his bike with my mom too.
The next morning I loaded up my sister’s mountain bike (with her permission of course) and headed up to Pike National Forest to do some light mountain biking with my friend James and my friend Andrea. We rode a washboard-riddled dirt and gravel road from the trailhead to the paved part of the road and back before we noticed a short stretch of relatively flat singletrack on the other side of the river. So we did what any self-respecting cyclists would do and rode it to explore.
After our ride, we adjourned to Andrea’s house for tall glasses of chocolate milk on her deck overlooking nothing before heading back to the city.
I also tried a new chamois cream – Hoo Ha Ride Glide. The cream was silky smooth and had a distinct cooling sensation that was … interesting. I usually use Chamois Butt’r which doesn’t have a tingle to tell me it’s working – but it wasn’t unpleasant. Unfortunately the cooling sensation was gone by the end of our relatively short ride (less than 10 miles) so I wonder about its effectiveness on long rides. The upside is that it smelled nice. This is huge, as I generally feel that chamois cream smells medicinal and meh. But Hoo Ha smelled amazing. So more to come on this as I go get a tube (instead of the take-it-with-you trial size I purchased).
What else? I spent so much time with my friends and family. It was awesome. When I got home I told my husband I was planning to go back next year and he smirked, asking when he gets a kid-free vacation. I told him when he actually goes somewhere instead of just staying home. 🙂
See you on the road!
wife. mother. awesome girl. 
Next trip out ride Lookout Mountain in Golden. I’ll meet you up top (the real top, not the grave) with an adult beverage. Or more chocolate milk. I probably have both.
YES. This will happen. I was hoping to get some time to ride up Lookout but it just didn’t work out. Next year (or next time I’m in Colorado and acquire a bike for the day).
I guess the altitude wasn’t an issue for you!! Great!
Nope … no issues here! It was glorious! But I also took the first three days super easy. No riding – just hanging out with friends and family.
You forgot the best ride EVAR – BREAKFAST on the blue raleigh!
OMG yes! I didn’t forget … I just didn’t think about PRE-ERock! bad me. 🙂
Your Raleigh is still a fast bike. 🙂
I would give I-don’t-know-what for a kid-free vacation, but I’ve been thinking more and more about how to make it happen.. Probably once I start earning my own money again 🙂 Sounds like great trip overall. Welcome home 🙂
Thanks. I stayed with my mom and dad most nights and they made me breakfast every morning (scrambled eggs or a fruit smoothie made of apricots, strawberries and a banana) – and I had access to laundry facilities too. I stayed with friends one night so we could grill late into the evening and then bike to brunch the next morning.
It’s nice to only have to worry about yourself. Except when you are hanging out with your niece – sometimes I wished my kids were around because she would have had WAY more fun with them than Auntie LaLa. 🙂
*smiles* … the ride with your mum and da….that sounds GRAND fabulous. Slow ride … short ride….I think it was wonderful.
It sounds like your had the bestest vacation ever.
It was just what my soul needed. 🙂
What a beautiful reading of your wonderful trips on your bike what fun you had and are having with friends and family Luv grandma