Monday, April 14, 2008

Fort Collins

Pete and I rode our bikes up to Fort Collins this weekend, it was a good time. Saturday was a windy beast with headwinds of ~20 mph plaguing us the entire ride up. We headed up towards Horsetooth Reservoir hoping for better conditions in the foothills, but the trade off was having to do some climbing.

We eventually made it into town, and stopped at a coffee shop called Cups that had excellent chai. We made our way downtown for some fish and chips at The Crown Pub, which was a little overpriced, and then went to the Steakout Saloon (or something like that) for some after dinner refreshment. Once we'd satisfied our thirst, it was off to find a campsite. We ended up sleeping in some sort of park/field next to New Belgium. We both just got new bivy sacks, and they worked great. No one knew we were there and we avoiding paying ridiculous camping fees.

In the morning we woke up to the sound of people setting up the finish line for the Fort Collins 1/2 marathon, so we packed up and headed to another coffee shop, this time called Mugs, for breakfast. It was a great place to go with lots of early morning cyclists getting ready to ride.

There was no wind at all Sunday, and we made good time on our way back to Boulder. We stopped in Hygiene for some coffee and biscotti and arrived back in Boulder shortly thereafter. All in all, a great bike tour to kick off the season. I unfortunately am extremely sunburned, and I'm sure my face will peel off pretty soon. Can't wait for the snow to melt on the mountain passes and I can get some real bike touring in.