I had plans to meet a friend for lunch in Golden, which is such a cool town! So Colorado! I hadn’t been there in quite a while and it dawned on me that I’ve been wanting to ride a trail near there in Clear Creek Canyon along Hwy 6. If you’re from the area, you’ll know Hwy 6 as the connector between Hwy 93 and I-70 that snakes through an incredibly picturesque canyon. On our last car trip through there, I noticed a lot of new parking lots, trailheads, and pedestrian bridges. A quick search on Google revealed that just last November, a significant stretch of mixed-use trail had opened there.

When I brought up the idea of riding this trail VERY last minute this morning, my friend thought about joining me. However, today began very cold and foggy and she was concerned the weather wouldn’t cooperate. I decided to go anyway, on my own, after we had lunch together. And I’m so glad I did because by the time I arrived at the trail, it was sunny and mild. A perfect, crisp fall day.

The Gateway Trailhead is located at the far eastern end of Clear Creek Canyon just outside of Golden, Colorado. The canyon itself runs roughly east-west for approximately 16 miles. This trailhead has plenty of parking, a large bathroom, and access to the Peaks to Plains Trail, signified as “P2P” on trail signage.

A scan of the map at the trailhead showed that two portions of the canyon are now paved (the darker dotted lines below): the far western end and the far eastern end, where I was parked. There is still a six mile stretch in the middle that’s not yet complete.

Here are some pictures of the ride out, heading west, which is the uphill direction. It’s quite gradual, so not much of a strain. The paved surface is impeccably smooth and the railings and bridges are all well built and fit into the natural aesthetic. The river is generally on the left as you head west and the highway is often just to your right.

I was hoping to ride as far west as Huntsman’s Trailhead, but the path currently ends at the CCR Trailhead, which was just 3 miles from where I’d started. The last 1.5 miles to Huntsman’s is still under construction. Jefferson County Parks and Open Space doesn’t mention an opening date, but says “Expect construction through 2026.”

This is the spot where I turned around to head back east. See the fly fisherpeople in the river?

Now that I was pointed downhill, I could build up some speed. Video for proof!

Heading back to the starting point, you get to enjoy the views all over again from the other direction. In the fourth picture, notice the tunnel on the highway. That’s Tunnel 1. As a point of interest, there are 5 working vehicle tunnels in Clear Creek Canyon.

Back at the parking lot I realized that I was so absorbed in the amazing scenery that I didn’t take any pictures of myself. But here’s one of this happy rider back at the car! It was just a bite-sized ride, but a perfect short outing on a beautiful fall day.

Today’s TWO songs offer a bit of foreshadowing. Read on!

The last stage of the 2026 Tour de Franks is upon us. Who will claim the yellow jersey? Who will win the grand prize? What is the grand prize, you ask? A cat-shaped grilled cheese sandwich, of course!

We had a minor delay in getting started today because we couldn’t get out of the gate. Literally! Someone forgot to open the impressive red gates at the hotel entrance.

Once we overcame that formidable obstacle, we were off! Today, we headed for our final destination of Mâcon, France. At 17 miles, today’s ride would be significantly shorter than all of the previous days. And, coincidentally, we had our first cloudy day with temperatures at least 20+ degrees cooler. It was actually a little chilly! We could FINALLY use the outer layers we’d brought along.

Every once in a while, our peaceful ride was interrupted by the thunderous sound of a high-speed train.

It looked almost autumnal! And felt that way, too. It was a shocking and welcome shift from the previous four days.

For today’s ride, I was especially excited about a tunnel that was just up ahead. It’s called the Tunnel du Bois Clair and it’s the second longest non-motorized vehicle tunnel in all of Europe. It was the longest until 2023, when Norway opened a longer one. Pffft. Still, it’s 1.6 km long (that’s 1 mile for us imperialists). We had to pass under a highway and then climb a pretty formidable hill before the path descend back down to the tunnel. That warmed us up quickly.

The tunnel itself is kind of spooky. For one thing, it closes from October to March so that a colony of bats can hibernate inside of it. Also, it’s dimly lit and damp. At one point near the terminus water was dripping from the ceiling. On top of all that, it’s really old and really long! But that’s what makes it so exciting. Here’s a video of us riding through the tunnel. It speeds up to 4x, but it’s still almost 2 minutes long. For the true tunnel aficionados!

We had the whole tunnel to ourselves!

The elevation profile for this day was a bit misleading. While there was a climb up to the tunnel, the tunnel itself was flat. The profile appears to show a continued hill throughout the tunnel just before the 4 mile mark, which was not the case. We were happy to see that we weren’t in for as much climbing as we had thought. The climb probably stopped at about the 1.0k mark.

The rest of the day would be mostly downhill. But that would be too easy, right?! We enjoyed riding through scenic tree-lined trails and stopping to admire babbling brooks.

Until…

Dun, dun, DUN! Disaster strikes. In the form of a flat tire! The tour company had given each of us an extra tube, a can of fix-a-flat spray, and some tire levers. Greg pulled out his spare tube and got to work. But the valve on that tube was broken. I gave him my spare tube and he put it in and pumped it up. All seemed fine. Until…

Dun, dun, DUN! Another flat! This time we could hear the air whooshing out. Fresh out of spare tubes, we were in a bit of a pickle. We were only three miles from our final destination! Should we try to find a bike shop? Should we call the tour company and ask for help? Should we walk three miles?? We decided to call the tour people and see if they had any advice. We did a quick video chat with someone who agreed that these tubes were bad. Could he come get us? Well… they’re based all the way back in Beaune where this whole saga began. Sending someone out would take an hour and a half. That seemed ridiculous since we were just 3 miles from the end of the route.

So, Greg put the ORIGINAL tube back in, sprayed it with the foam, and it worked! We made it to Mâcon! This whole drama took more than an hour, but at least we didn’t have to walk. After a ride through a bit of city traffic, we arrived at our final hotel. It was a great feeling of accomplishment. We’d endured heat, soreness, flat tires, tunnels, hills, humidity, and a complete lack of porta-potties. But we had accomplished our goal. We parked the bikes for the last time.

But the story doesn’t end there. Because of the trailside delays, we didn’t make it out to have lunch until all the restaurants in town had closed. But where does any American know that they can always find food?? Starbucks! It was literally our only option. We were able to grab a couple sandwiches and, of course, some coffee. And there you have it: the cat-shaped grilled cheese, a.k.a. Croque Chat. Victory was mine. All gooey and buttery and tasted just like home.

After lunch we had a lot of fun looking around downtown Mâcon. It’s a really quaint city with a lot of character. We enjoyed shopping, dining, and sightseeing there. Photos for proof!

Anyone who knows me well at all knows that I LOVE word games and crossword puzzles. It’s like an addiction. OK, it IS an addiction. I was so tempted to buy one of these, but knew that the language barrier would make it too frustrating.

Some of you discerning readers may have noticed that Penny Dog wasn’t along for this ride. She had to stay home for this international adventure. However, we brought the Penny pillow with us and thought about strapping it onto the bike. We never did that, but she did appear on our hotel bed every night. And really discerning readers may have noticed a small white dog on the front of my bike. In Paris, I bought an adorable little stuffed dog. “Tuppy” rode as a stand-in for Penny.

And on one final note, did you know that in France, “Foosball” is called “Babyfoot”? We found this out at the hotel when Greg asked where the restroom was and was told, “Right behind the baby foot.” With her accent, he heard “baby food” and was totally confused, but didn’t bother to ask for clarification. He figured it out.

This song choice seems a little reductive, but by Day 4 the bicycle mania was real!

Get up. Fill the water bottles. Zip up the suitcases. Eat breakfast. Put on sunscreen. Hit the road.

At the risk of sounding old, we like a hotel with an early breakfast. This one fit the bill and I think we were on the road by 8:00 a.m. We were getting used to the quick turn-arounds of one-night stays followed by packing and loading at sun up. Today’s ride would be our longest, at just under 32 miles. A peek at the elevation profile told us we should conserve energy if possible. This would be another “hilly” day, but nothing like the ups and downs of Day 2.

We had some uphill battles to get back to the trail, but after that it was smooth and pleasant. Can one ever tire of winding through the narrow, deserted streets of quaint little ancient towns? The modern highway underpass was much appreciated as well.

This short video shows what the trail intersections look like. You have to snake through offset horizontal bars at each crossing.

Today’s trail was very scenic. I love the bee habitat in the last picture below!

Here’s Greg showing off his geriatric moves at a little bike park we passed. 🤣 (Volume up!)

A couple miles later, I got a chance to one up him at a singletrack park. I’m not saying I did better, but yes I am.

After all that showing off, we settled in for the long ride to Cluny via Cormatin where we planned to ride into town to see a castle. We were back on the Voie Verte today, which is an old railroad track that’s been paved.

Here’s a little wine joke we made up: this must be a chardonnay vineyard because only the white Peugeots are growing here. Was the heat getting to us? Maybe a little.

Here’s a panorama of the area. So pretty! We really lucked out with the blue skies every day so far.

More pretty scenes on the way in to Cormatin. The first one is Greg under a huge spigot of some sort. Definitely a relic of the old train line.

Once we reached Cormatin, about 2/3 of the way to our final destination, we took a short detour so we could see the castle there called Château du Cormatin. The man at the ticket desk told us a guided tour would take an hour, so we opted for self-guided instead. This 17th century chateau is very stately with a real moat. It has beautifully manicured gardens, ornate and gilded interior decor, and a spooky cellar with a prison that was run by the feudal lords. That’s me (below) begging for my freedom. This was a nice break from the trail and felt worth the 12 € admission price. Bonus: there were free restrooms!

After visiting the castle, we found a small bistro just across the street and enjoyed a formule lunch. This is basically the fancy French word for “combo meal”. This came with a sandwich, chips, drink, AND dessert. At most bistros, it’s called “Entree, Plat, et Dessert”. A highlight of this meal was Greg’s dessert: a Nutella waffle. It was HUGE! And we were in awe of the gallon-size Nutella dispenser. We really enjoyed the food and shade at this little establishment.

Onward to Cluny! With just under 10 miles to go, we hopped back on our bikes and rode in and out of partial shade for what seemed like a really long time. Near the end it was mostly flat and straight and kind of felt like driving through Kansas. You’re ready to be there, but still have to put the miles behind you.

Arriving in Cluny was thrilling, not just because we’d survived our longest mileage day, but because this little commune is so charming! To get to our hotel, we had to ride through the narrow cobblestone streets lined with shops and bustling with pedestrians.

We checked into our very unique and artsy hotel, Le Potin Gourmand, once again flushed and sweaty. Our room was very pretty, but also had some bizarre “features”, like this very open concept “Romanesque” bathtub area and this little “Spartan” peeking out next to it. All the water came out of the sink faucet hot for some reason. The medieval-looking courtyard was very cool though!

Cluny itself is an ancient town that was known for its huge Benedictine Abbey. However, it was mostly destroyed by the Hugenots in the mid-1500s. The part that remains is extremely picturesque. Here are some photos from our walk to town for dinner (I had lasagna at the popular Brasserie du Nord!). The second picture below is a structure called La Tour des Fromages, a.k.a. “The Cheese Tower”. This tall, narrow building is where cheese was once dried and aged. The last picture is the backside of our hotel, which doesn’t look particularly sound, structurally speaking. I’m sure it’s fine!

On a side note, one thing we were continually amused by was that EVERY beverage in France (except wine) came in a matching glass. It seems like this would require each establishment to own so much glassware! 🍻

Up Next: Day 5 - The LAST day - with some mechanical challenges!

Today’s musical inspiration is largely because our son, Ethan Frank, is the featured pianist! Please follow him on Instagram at ethanfrankie. Also, we’re really getting into the ~groove~ of this bike ride.

After surviving the previous day’s heat, we felt even more committed to begin each ride as early as possible. Quick breakfast and hit the road, right? Well, not if you’re in France where people dine late into the night and then apparently sleep in. We were told breakfast wouldn’t start until 8 a.m. So, we dutifully showed up at 8:00 on the dot, only to be told that they were “still setting up.” At 8:15 we were able to begin choosing some à la carte items from the buffet. We were asked if we would like some eggs from the kitchen and gratefully accepted the offer. How long could eggs take anyway? Well, they might still be making them because at 9:00 a.m. we left with apologies to the chef. And NOT ONE other hotel guest had showed up yet for breakfast.

I had taken a cursory glance at the day’s route and gleefully noticed that there wouldn’t be any dramatic climbs today. In fact, it looked like we would round out the day with an elevation LOSS. Hoorah! However, leaving the hotel was a total gut punch in the shape of a huge hill to get to the trail. What a way to start the day; huffing and puffing right out of the gate on already tired legs. Zut alors! But the good news is, it was a short purgatory. And the rest of the day was mostly delightfully downhill!

After a few twists and turns, we found ourselves paralleling a lovely canal called the Canal du Centre. For those who want the short and sweet deets, this canal opened in 1792 as a mostly north-south passage for boats, joining the Loire and Saône rivers. It covers 70 miles with 61 locks. For the 12 miles or so that we paralleled this pleasant waterway, we never saw any boat traffic, so it seems that its heyday is over. It was very picturesque though, so here is a sampling of some of the canal sights, including one of the locks.

Because we were descending in elevation ever so slightly, the day’s ride felt easy and carefree as compared to the day before.

Other notable sights along the way included this picnic table nestled under a giant weeping willow. Spots like this are what my childhood fantasies were made of and I remember seeking out similar spaces for little wagon picnics as a kid. We stopped here for a water break and to look at the map.

Greg was actually trying to find a restroom for me because, for some reason, there is nary a porta-potty along this route. Why, Canal du Centre, why?? If we wanted les toilettes, we were going to have to go off piste. And that made me slightly piste off. Ha!

As per usual, we passed many lovely little villages and herds of the ivory-colored Charolais cattle that regularly dot the French countryside.

We absolutely had to stop to photograph this beautiful scene at the last lock on our route. I mean, that’s just perfection isn’t it? This place just screams jigsaw puzzle!

From here, we left the canal and mostly followed a forested path with dappled shade to our next hotel in the teeny-tiny hamlet of Dracy-le-Fort. We stayed at the Hotel le Dracy. It had a nice restaurant, an outdoor pool and a spa with an indoor pool, sauna, and steam room.

For some reason, we thought that going for a looong walk into the town center on a beastly hot, sweltering day would be a good post-ride activity. It was not. Especially since there was nothing open in town. We did get to see the outside of a pretty church, but that’s about it.

Our dinner at the hotel restaurant was very nice. We did have one translation problem with a server, however. He tried to bring us an appetizer course twice and we couldn’t figure out how to say “we already had this.” When gesturing failed, Greg pulled out Google Translate and all was quickly resolved. Funny thing: the translation included the term “déjà vu”. I should have thought of that!

Up Next: Day 4 - the longest ride, plus a castle tour!

Today we have a guest song suggestion from musical and visual artist Kat Ellis. See if you can finish reading the post before this jazzy tune ends! Weeeeee!!!

While there was some “Wheee!” in today’s ride, it would probably be more accurately described as a bit more “Ugh!” Today’s route took us on a heart-pounding, sweat-pouring, 25-mile adventure from Beaune, France to an area called St.-Jean-de-Trézy. Why all the hyphens? I don’t know! But I do know that this part of Burgundy is quite hilly! We mustered nearly 2,000 ft. in elevation gain in one day. Did I mention it was hotter and more humid than usual? (That’s according to the locals, so I’m not making it up!)

We started the day with an amazing breakfast at our hotel. The traditional French breakfast includes cheeses, various breads and pastries, charcuterie, fresh yogurt, nuts and seeds, fruit, eggs, sausage, and lots of jams. None of this “continental” BS we get fed here in the U.S. They also have these amazing automatic espresso machines. Here are a few pictures that kind of get the point across.

It was still early morning when we set out toward the trail. We rode through the nearly deserted streets and paths of Beaune to get to our starting point. It was cool out and very quiet, the sun still making its way up.

We quickly found ourselves in nearby vineyards. This short video shows some of the scenery and what the dedicated bike path looks like in this region.

In the video you may notice I’m wearing a small black device on my helmet strap. This is a gadget called the Sena BiKom 20. This was a splurge, to be sure, but it was also a game changer! Greg got us each one for Christmas and we’ve been testing them out ever since. It’s basically a hands-free intercom. There’s no lag, no static, and we’ve never once heard any other voices on any of the six channels. This made communication between us so effortless. Whether is was important navigation cues or just idle chit-chat, it insured we were never hollering to each other or missing important instructions. The devices have an eight hour battery life, so we charged them up each night at hotels. Up to 24 people could use these at once and the range is about a half a mile. Game. Changer.

Although gradual at first, we were climbing right out of the gate. This is an elevation profile of the day from Ride with GPS. The real fun came at that 8 mile or so mark where a steep hill climbed for more than a mile! Fortunately, there was a shady spot to rest about halfway up.

This is the view of where we’d come from after we’d climbed quite a bit:

Here are some images from the first half of the ride, which became defined as “pre-hill” versus “post-hill”. What I love about this ride is that there’s such a nice variety of scenery. Not just endless vineyards, farmland, paved paths, or village streets. It was a nice combination of everything.

Post-hill, there was much rejoicing. And that’s where some “Wheeee!” comes in. There was a fun, long descent accompanied by a sense of accomplishment. I think I hit 30 mph on this downhill.

The rest of the day still held peaks and valleys, but it all seemed doable after the “big one”. I will say that even though we trained at altitude by living at a mile-high elevation, this whole day was still a very hearty workout. We lost a lot of fluids and electrolytes through sweat, but fortunately we had packed Liquid IV and Nuun tablets in case we felt depleted. I also had a cooling towel and a Buff neck scarf/headband that I could drench with water.

The rest of the ride contained that beautiful mix of vineyards, narrow streets, and perfectly bucolic scenes, including a Holland-style windmill, and what looked like a fairy-tale style wishing well. We even finally came upon some other cyclists on the trail. Here are beaucoup pictures to tell the story.

We spent a portion of the day on a cycling path called La Voie des Vignes (The Way of the Vines) which passes through many well-known vineyards of Burgundy, including Pommard, Volnay, and Chassagne-Montrachet, if you happen to be an oenophile. If one were doing a casual day trip, La Voie des Vignes would be a perfect bite-sized piece for a fun outing. Burgundy, by the way, is best known for its pinot noirs and chardonnays. While we do enjoy wine tastings, we decided to stick to the bike paths and try to arrive at our hotel before the hottest part of the afternoon. Wine would have to wait.

After a few more ups and downs - topographically speaking - we finally made our way off the bike trail and toward our hotel for the night. And what a reward for our hard day’s work! It was a 5-star luxury hotel, restaurant, and spa complete with ponds, ducks, and other wildlife dotting the hilly estate. We dragged our haggard, sweaty selves to the reception desk to ask for the key to the awaiting luxury that felt so hard earned. This would be the nicest hotel of the trip.

Because this estate was so remote, a table had been reserved for us for dinner. Oh, it was amazing! And looooong… Like one of those stereotypical European meals that just won’t end. It started with drinks on the outdoor patio. I tried a cocktail caller Kir. It’s blackcurrant liqueur (crème de cassis) mixed with white wine. Trés bon! By the end of the meal, we were so full - and tired! - and they literally offered us dessert AFTER we’d had dessert. We politely declined. But it was fun to be so pampered after what turned out to be our hardest day of riding for the whole tour. We slept well in our 5-star bed, despite the close proximity of what I am convinced was a demonically possessed bidet.

Up next: Day 3 - Downhill on a canal!

A proper French tune to put you in the right mood while you read.

The Franks (that’s us!) arrived in Paris on a Tuesday afternoon on the first day of September. The cardinal rule upon entering a distant time zone is to get on the local sleep/wake schedule as quickly as possible. And because we would be starting a bike tour through Burgundy in just three days, we needed to acclimate quickly. We dropped our bags at our apartment hotel, changed out of our travel clothes, and set out on foot to see some Parisian sights.

Just a couple blocks away, we crossed the River Seine at Pont Notre-Dame. Yes, THAT Notre Dame! I’ve never been to Paris (or France) before, so was in awe of seeing familiar sights with my own eyes. The city was as lively and picturesque as I had imagined.

We dined that evening at a tiny off-the-beaten-path traditional brasserie called La Réserve du Terroir that had high ratings on Google. We had to try some of the local specialties like foie gras, escargot, comté cheese, and those stretchy, cheesy mashed potatoes called aligot. We each had a glass of local red wine, which was delicieux. This was a wonderful introduction to the French palate.

Our three days in Paris were an exploration of new foods, incredible architecture, and history that we just can’t replicate in the United States. On Friday morning, we took at train to Dijon, the birthplace of the eponymous mustard. We were merely changing trains there, however, on our way to a lively medieval town called Beaune. This is where our bike tour would begin. We chose this tour six months prior from an organization appropriately called BikeTours. This online outfit organizes rides all over the world in varying lengths and challenge levels. Then they contract with local experts in each area to provide gear and a modicum of human support.

As we stepped off of our train in Beaune, we were met by a driver who whisked us to our hotel. In the lobby we were immediately approached by a woman from Active Tours, the company hired to facilitate our tour. We thought there was going to be a welcome meeting that evening, but apparently it was moved up to accommodate our exact arrival time. She had texted me with this update, but got my number wrong. We sat down with her for about a half hour while she described the details of the tour and handed us a packet of maps and hotel vouchers for each night. Then she took us to see our bikes. Because she had texted me at the wrong number, I also hadn’t gotten the heads-up that I needed to download WhatsApp and another app called Ride with GPS that was programmed with our specific route each day.1 Greg and I quickly got on board with all the new information and asked her our follow-up questions. We thought maybe there would be other people on our tour, but it was just us. This type of ride is self-guided, but your luggage gets moved to the next hotel each night. All we had to do was get ourselves to the next hotel also.

On the website, the tour was described as between 15-28 miles per day. In reality, however, some days ended up being up to 10 miles longer. This may be because we chose an upgraded hotel package and perhaps those required longer diversions from the main trail. It was somewhat surprising to learn this though since we had chosen standard bikes versus electric and there was some hilly terrain to contend with. It was also much more hot and humid than is typical for this area at this time of year. In the back of my mind, I felt confident that if we’d gotten in over our heads we could probably call for an emergency e-bike switcheroo.

The first day of the “Tour de Franks” (haha) was, smartly, a local loop just north of Beaune with a second night in the same hotel. This allowed us to try the bikes, see some of the area, and really prepare for the much more active days to come. We didn’t get started as early as we had hoped, but by mid-morning we fired up the riding app and hit the road. The route we were given was a 26-mile loop just north of town deep into wine country.

The loop took us through tidy vineyards - some with the appellation of “grand cru” (top tier), down the narrow cobbled streets of tiny villages, past old buildings and churches, and up and down some pretty good sized rolling hills. Most of this ride was on dedicated bike trails, but there were sections that wove through narrow streets. We encountered very few cars.

Because this was a Saturday and I had read about Beaune’s impressive Saturday morning market, I felt compelled to be back in town in time to experience it. This meant cutting our loop short. We ended up doing just an 11 mile test ride, parking the bikes back at the hotel, and walking into town to check out the market.

It was a sight to behold! Meats, produce, soaps, tapestries, clothing, and more! It was so colorful and festive. The way they present their goods is so much more enticing than the local farmer’s markets I’m used to back home.

While we were in the city center, we also took at tour of the Hospices of Beaune. What fascinating history! This 15th century hospital for the poor was still treating patients until the 1980s. We did the self-guided audio tour and it was really well done. I’m not a “museum person” and find most tours very dull, so trust me when I say that this was consistently interesting and utterly engrossing.

Beaune also has plenty of wonderful eating and drinking establishments, wine tasting caves, ancient ramparts circling the city center, a grand triumphal arch, a 13th-century clock tower, a Gothic cathedral, and a very lively atmosphere. There is apparently an impressive light show every night, but sadly we were never out quite late enough to see it. If you’re in the area, Beaune is definitely worth a stopover - on bike or otherwise.

Up Next: Day 2 - HOT and Hilly! (With a surprise at the end of the road)

The suggested route for Day 1. It would be 26.2 miles (a marathon!). We did an out and back of 11 miles instead as our test ride.

Today, the dream became a reality when we loaded up the cruiser and Greg’s bike, drove up to Fort Collins, and experienced what can only be described as the most off-the-wall, wacky, bike-forward costume party I’ve ever seen. The parade itself consists of people of all ages on anything human-powered that rolls. Let’s just say the term “bike” is very subjective. And the costumes are next level! This will be a very photo-heavy entry because you really have to see it to believe it. There was so much more to it than this tiny snapshot of the event, but it was very crowded making it hard to safely get pictures of everything.

The parade follows a simple east-west route up and down Mountain Ave. just a few blocks west of old downtown. This road has a beautiful grassy median so the parade heads west for several blocks and then turns back east on the other side of the street. You can do the loop as many times as you please - or become a spectator. It reminded me of the Bolder Boulder, Boulder’s famous 10K race with lots of hi-jinx along the way. Today we encountered drum circles, beer pong, lemonade stands, squirt guns, lots of bubbles, and much more!

Here are some of the sights from the route. Click on each one if you’d like to see the full picture. That’s Dude Dad in the 4th picture on the jet ski he modified! A brush with fame!! You can see him building it here. And there’s Greg in the last one.

My favorite costume of the day is below. Word Nerds Unite!! The woman (left) is Wordle and the guy (right) is Connections. Two of my favorite NYTimes games! His puzzle was solvable and there’s a QR code below if you want to try it. So clever! I’m thinking about dressing up as the Spelling Bee next year, my all-time favorite game.

Here I am cruising along in the crowd. Look at the guy next to me checking out my super cool wheels!

Here is one short video of the action. There are bubbles at the end!

After the parade, many riders make their way over to the New Belgium Brewery for beer, music, games, and other festivities. It was verrrrrry crowded there so we just stayed a few minutes. And check out the bike parking. Thousands of bikes as far as the eye could see.

Mine wasn’t the only New Belgium cruiser there, of course. Here are a couple other beauties we spotted. New Belgium makes a limited number of custom cruisers every year. So fun!

My next Freewheeling posts will be from France. Ooh la la! We are headed there next week for a 5-day bike tour of Burgundy (Burgogne). I will be back with tales from Europe tout suite. Happy trails, everyone!

^{“In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame. On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.”
― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values}

When I purchased my bike two years ago, I vowed to take great care of it. And to be honest, I haven’t been sure where to start. Putting air in the tires was about the end of my comfort zone. But if I’m going to take myself even slightly seriously as a cycling enthusiast and blogger, then I need be able to do some basic maintenance on my bikes. It’s actually a matter of safety in many ways. The last thing you want is to be stranded on a road or trail without the skills to get yourself home or at least out of harm’s way.

I tend to be more of a hands-on learner, so instead of scouring YouTube for how-to videos, I went in search of a local class. Luckily I live in close proximity to Boulder, Colorado, one of the biggest cycling towns in the U.S. However, there were surprisingly few offerings for an entry level, in-person mechanics class.

Fortunately, Google led me to Community Cycles, a Boulder non-profit. This small shop is dedicated to creating “equitable access to bicycles for everyone in our community.” Being Boulder, you might expect some hoity-toity top-of-the-line big money situation, but this is quite the opposite!

This modest shop tucked away behind a nondescript brick building is filled to the brim with refurbished bicycles for sale on one side and a huge workshop on the other. There are parts and accessories coming out of every nook and cranny. The space features reservable DIY work stations with all the bike-specific tools you probably don’t want to personally invest in. It feels a bit overwhelming at first, but you can see that it’s very smartly organized. The one caveat is you must be a member of Community Cycles to reserve a work station. But the good news is, you can get an annual membership for $70, or $6 a month. This seems like a very reasonable price for access to so many tools and on-site expertise.

The course I attended is called Maintenance 101 and it was $25 (or $15 for members). It wasn’t as hands-on as I had expected, but the instructor, Todd, did a fine job of explaining maintenance basics to the eight of us in attendance. We went over chain basics (how to clean and lube), derailleur lubrication, brakes and how to care for cable vs. hydraulic, as well as how and when to replace worn brake pads. We talked about bearings also, but I’m not sure how those relate to the regular maintenance of my bike. Because the class was only 90 minutes long, none of these areas were covered in great depth, but Todd told us they offer a six-session course that goes much deeper called the Complete Mechanic Series. It’s probably a good investment of time to attend that as well sometime down the road.

I also learned that Community Cycles has a special session once a month called GEM Night. This stands for Gender Equality Mechanics and it’s designed specifically for women and other marginalized gender groups (think LGBTQ+) to have the entire shop to themselves. It appears that this is available to anyone, even without a membership. And it looks like I didn’t need to scour YouTube for repair videos after all. Community Cycles has a helpful page of videos on all of the most common bike repairs. These are created by Park Tool, a leading manufacturer of bike repair tools. I’m definitely going to keep this page handy for when a needed repair crops up. If you personally happen to be an avid YouTube DIYer, this is their YouTube page full of even more bike repair videos.

I’m still very far from being an expert on bike maintenance, but I do feel like this was a good first foray toward better understanding. It seems as though bike parts aren’t so wildly exaggeratedly complicated that I can’t grasp how they work (despite the fact that there are so many different brands and price points). I’m also delighted to learn about this amazing community space for like-minded bike enthusiasts in my area. If you, too, want to have even just a basic level of understanding about your bike, I encourage you to look for a similar class in your community.

And, if you’ve never read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, it’s quite a trip! Literally and figuratively.

It still seems like we just bought our travel trailer, but the truth is she is three years old this summer. In those three years we’ve had some pretty fun adventures. We’ve always wanted to see if we could do actual remote work while on the road, thereby adopting a much more geographically carefree lifestyle. So this week is a true test of that hypothesis We’re out at Golden Gate Canyon State Park Sunday through Thursday to see how remote working or trailer working, a.k.a. “tworking”, goes. (This is Greg’s term, BTW)

It’s Wednesday and I would say “so far, so good”. We are constantly tweaking our set-up to insure success. My work (such as it is) doesn’t require day-long Zoom calls and high-speed Internet access like Greg’s does. So in anticipation of this trial run, he purchased a cell phone boosting antenna. It’s called weBoost, if anyone else is interested in a similar set up. We’ve also been bringing our home internet along for the large amounts of data needed for his workday. Although it’s working, this is probably not the final solution. There is something called TravlFi that we’re going to test out next. Perhaps all this is just to say that we’re doing everything possible to avoid purchasing Starlink, an Elon Musk-based product. We see a ton of Starlink in the campgrounds, BTW. Ultimately, this may be how we have to go, but for now we’re testing out the alternatives.

I have been busy with my “awakenment” activities, which are largely creative in nature. Reading, journaling, planning my writing class curriculum, creating crosswords, being in tune with nature. Today I attended a haiku writing workshop given by a naturalist here at the campground. It was so good! I’m not entirely new to haikus, but it was still a very fun morning activity. Here is one I wrote:

nature’s grip is strong

the twisted pine sags earthward

bent by unseen force

The haiku is based on a tree I saw on our first day here while out for a short hike. It’s very dramatic and you have to wonder just how this happened. And it’s still green!

Anyway, it was a really nice way to spend the morning. Nature has such a way of providing healing and just a few minutes spent listening and observing can make a huge difference in one’s outlook. And bonus: I met a woman who is part of the Denver Bicycling Touring Club and she gave me information to learn more about it. Sounds like it could be a fun group for some casual rides.

I was also able to enjoy some time in our new camping hammock today. Mom and Dad got it for us for our recent anniversary. It’s collapsible and really quite comfortable! I’m reading a great book called Playing Big by Tara Mohr. This book was recommended in a nine month long seminar I attended online. It’s about how women often fail to trust themselves and find excuses not to follow their dreams and put themselves out there with authenticity. It’s got a lot of good practical advice, so I am definitely recommending it to anyone who needs to hear this type of guidance.

In between haikus and hammocks, I gathered some rocks and made a little surprise for future campers on our site. I know that a lot of people consider dragonflies a “sign” and I hope that this finds its way to the right person.

An intention I set for myself for this week is to create a new crossword puzzle. I crafted my first one a few months ago with the goal of getting it published in the New York Times. Well, back to the drawing board. I mean, it’s not realistic to think that your first try could hit the jackpot. I also submitted it to Apple News and they said it was a “near miss”. Not bad! You might think this sounds like a failure, but to me it’s encouragement to try again. I know I can do it! But because it’s a new process with a bit of a learning curve and there are so many steps involved, it’s a bit intimidating, so I figured being out here in the solitude of nature would help me clear my head enough to get started on a new one. Looking at the blank page is always daunting.

But I’m happy to say that it worked and I have the beginnings of a new themed puzzle. I built the grid and put in the words (the hardest part, IMO). Next, I need to add the clues. My dream is that I can “twork” on crosswords from anywhere we travel as my little side hustle.

For dinner tonight: Sloppy Josephs. It’s a Sloppy Joe, but made from scratch, so much, much more formal. Ha. It may actually be more of a Sloppy Josephine! It’s pretty amazing what you can do in a tiny camper kitchen.

Goodnight from Golden Gate Canyon State Park!

Last Thursday was the last day of school. For the kids who went on summer break and for myself, who won’t be going back. “Oh, retirement?” people ask. It’s a valid question, but I’m preferring to call it my “awakenment”. I’m too young to retire and there are a lot of things I want to achieve, so I’m giving myself more head space to work on some passion projects. I’ve been planning this transition for months to ensure that I will have the structure in place to make the most of my time. The goal is for my endeavors to bring in some revenue so I can still contribute to the family funds.

What are those endeavors you ask? Well, I don’t want to give everything away, but there will be a bigger commitment to writing. Not just journalistic pieces as in the past, but more creative writing as well. For one, I hope to continue to grow this travel blog. The very one that you’re reading now that turned 3 years old this week! 🥳 With more time for travel there should be plenty more adventures on and off the bike. Yesterday, for example, Greg and I celebrated our 26th anniversary with paddleboarding and camping. Quite fitting seeing as how we met each other while inline skating — which led to scuba diving, skiing, kayaking, and much more! Outdoor adventures have always been a theme of our lives together. Now I won’t be holding us back with my weekday job.

Another new endeavor is a writing course that I will be hosting every other week this summer. It’s a life story writing group that focuses on remembering and elucidating defining moments in our lives. I took a course like this almost ten years ago and found it really valuable. Having pre-selected prompts to write about with a strict deadline was incredibly helpful. The stories are there just waiting to be remembered and released. Also, knowing I would be reading my pieces aloud to others was like having built-in quality control. I’m hopeful that the brave souls who have signed up for my course will feel the same successes. And if this goes well, I will continue to offer it in the future. I feel a little bit like a college professor finding source material for the course and planning the lessons. I’m hopeful that everyone will find it valuable.

After returning from a writing workshop in March, I have made it a goal to write more and submit my pieces for publication. Whether it’s contests or open requests for writing, I’m putting myself out there! Last week, on the day before my job ended I got an acceptance! One of my essays will be published in a book next fall. During my 30-year writing career, I’ve been published plenty - magazines, newspapers, product copy, ads, news scripts, you-name-it. But never in a book! So this is exciting. My ultimate goal is to write my own book(s). Eye on the prize! (Speaking of prizes, I have a couple contest submissions still out there, so fingers crossed.)

My bike and treadmill are calling, so I’m off to the next activity of my awakenment. It’s never to late to reinvent yourself! And if you truly are retired, then congratulations and, really, isn’t that also just the opportunity to find your true self and keep on learning?

Endnote: I was pleased to embed a Bob Dylan song above to symbolize the spirit of this post. I think of him often because one of his greatest albums was called “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”. He’s practically the blog’s spirit animal.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again

Share Freewheeling

I had never been to a writing conference before and learned about this one (as luck would have it) just AFTER it happened two years ago. It was then and there that I set reminders everywhere to insure I’d get to the next one! You see, I fancy myself a humor writer. Whether I am one or not (yet) is not relevant. My favorite part of The Arts is comedy — in nearly any form. Who doesn’t love a well-written sitcom, a hilarious stand-up routine, a punchy one-liner, or a silly movie that’s so dumb it’s funny?

The most cherished part of my personal book collection is the comedian biographies: Carol Burnett, Martin Short, Molly Shannon, Tina Fey, Steve Martin, Ellen - and too many others to mention. These bastions of comedy have such wonderful stories to tell, offering a glimpse into their world for envious outsiders like myself. While I will never be an Amy Poehler, I can appreciate hearing how she got where she is and following all the interweaving and overlapping threads that led her and others to comedic stardom. In that sense, my own humor writing is my way to dive into that wished-for world. Writing humorous pieces for myself, my family, or for publication is a little sliver of that life and a way to gain a small sense of belonging amongst those I truly admire.

And what better place to find belonging that the Erma Bombeck Writer’s Workshop? An assemblage of mostly women and, amongst them, mostly 50+. Kind of the way we picture the late Erma herself, frozen in time. The demographic was exactly what I was expecting, but it was still somewhat shocking to sit in a room of “mature” women and wonder if we really had much in common. At the ripe age of 55, I just can’t quite come to consider myself “old”. But I am here to say that, for better or worse, I fit right in! We all came from different backgrounds, vocations, and geographic locations, but comedy is a universal tie that binds. I didn’t meet a single person who was unfriendly, indifferent, or arrogant. Everyone had their own stories to tell and were in various stages of their writing or publishing careers. Yet the vibe was so fully warm and welcoming that any initial anxiety about walking into a room of 400 strangers melted away immediately. Also, I had fun admiring the fun and eccentric eyeglasses many of the women wore. Plus, there was cake! (The cake at Erma is renowned and part of the lore.) Put all together, I left the workshop feeling like a little bit of magic happened. Not to mention, I met a woman who looked so much like my own mother that after multiple double-takes I had to approach her to make sure we weren’t related. (We’re not. Probably. Aunt Barbara??)

While the conference is largely based on humor writing, there are other genres explored as well: publishing, memoir writing, marketing, etc. Because I went with the sole intent to become a stronger humor writer, I chose only humor sessions for the duration. I wanted to be fully steeped in the art form and not miss a moment of the unique guidance. To that end, I attended workshops with names such as “Taking Your Piece from Haha to Hilarious”, “How to Write A Humor Essay That’s Actually Funny”, and “The Writer’s Room in Your Brain”. I also attended a stand up comedy workshop (and evening performance) just for fun. I did *NOT* perform any stand up comedy, but marveled at the extreme bravery of other attendees who did. Maybe next time.

The workshop also had illustrious and engaging keynote speakers at every meal. They were all inspirational, doling out their collected wisdoms and fascinating paths to writing success. A highlight for me was Sona Movsesian, cohost of the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend”. I ended up buying two copies of her book The World’s Worst Assistant - one to add to my humor collection and one for my son who also enjoys the podcast. Of course, having her sign them was a memorable moment for me - she was so gracious and hilarious in person. I can see how she’s gotten as far as she has!

It’s too soon to tell if my writing will be better (or funnier) based on the wisdom that was imparted in my direction, but I came away with some renewed excitement about the possibilities. I met some truly remarkable people and just seeing other attendees who were making this work for themselves out of sheer determination and creativity was motivating and encouraging. One of my main intentions was to figure out where to publish future pieces. My ears perked up at every suggestion and I came away able to make a nice Google Doc of recommendations. It’s linked here in case any of my new workshop friends are reading. Or any dear readers have a hankering for humor writing!

Yes, this is mainly a bike riding (read: writing) blog, but it’s time for me to show you another side of myself. No one is that one-dimensional! And it’s writing-adjacent, so it’s relevant. As Erma famously said, “It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.” So here I am, putting my dreams out there for the world to see. Erma also said, “Never have more children than you have car windows.” That woman knew her stuff.

Several other conference attendees have also written about the workshop, natch. In the first one here for the Dayton Daily News, I can be seen yukking it up in the background!

My weekend at Erma: Finding the funny when the world feels heavy by Pamela Chandler

Erma Bombeck’s Legacy Isn’t Just Humor, It’s Belonging by Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

The Sounds of Silence by Carol White Llewellyn

Erma Bombeck Recap by Bob Eckstein

Musings from Erma Bombeck workshop: ‘If they didn’t want you to write about them, they should have been nicer’ by Mary McCarty

The Ingredients for A Successful Writing Career by Tiffany Yates Martin

6 Takeaways From the Erma Bombeck Conference by Julie Vick

If I see more of these published, I will keep adding them. Turns out what I’m really good at is collating and organizing things!

Suffice it to say, it’s been a weird “winter”. But now it’s time to welcome the longer days and greener vistas and embrace the opportunities to be outdoors. We’ve done a few short bike rides here and there during some of the warmer days, but nothing too noteworthy. We had a fun little ride around Louisville last weekend. As is often the case, we ended up at a local establishment.

Looking further out, however, there is some excitement to report. We’ve booked a trip to France in early September where we will be doing a 6-day bike tour of the Burgundy region (Bourgogne). Obviously, this area is well known for it’s wine production. Additionally, the town of Dijon is famous for its mustard and Burgundy is the birthplace of coq-au-vin and beef bourguignon, natch. Comme c’est délicieux! Aside from gastronomy, however, the area is rich in history in and of itself, which I hope to become more acquainted with.

Our trip will start with three days in Paris. I’ve never been, so I’m very excited to see this magical city. I know three days is not nearly enough time, so we will have to plan wisely. Please send any recommended spots you think we’d enjoy to the comments section. I’ve already got my eye on The Cheese Museum and Musee d’Orsay. We’d also like to catch some live jazz and will be staying near a jazz club called Sunset/Sunside. I don’t really care who is playing as long as we get a Parisian jazz experience.

For the bike tour, we went with an outfit called BikeTours.com. They operate internationally and had decent reviews. So far I’ve been impressed with the booking experience. I requested the trip online and then waited one week for them to confirm it. A few days later they sent us our list of hotels. The tour is self guided, but they provide routes and maps and someone will be delivering our luggage to each hotel. I believe breakfasts are also included. This type of freedom on a trip is very enjoyable. We like being able to choose our own pace and side trips (read: wineries) and meals. They offered an option for standard bikes or e-bikes. We chose standard since the daily mileage is manageable and it’s not very hilly terrain along a voie verte, or greenway. We’ll be cycling along canals and past vineyards and quaint countryside. Que c’est jolie! We also chose the upgraded lodging package. I’ve never been to France and at age 55 I don’t know if or when I’ll return, so I figure I had better savor the experience and get as much enjoyment from it as possible. That’s what money is for, right?

Speaking of money, I’ve decided to semi-retire, which just means that I’m not planning to return to my school job next year. It frees us up for travel just like this. I have lots of fun ideas for part-time employment that won’t interfere with travel, so I’m not saying I’m actually retiring. Just moving on to different things. I’ve been enjoying another Substack blogger, Jo Barnes, (“The Over 50 Nomad Club”) who writes about how to fund international travel with small business ideas. I like her sense of adventure and her ability to make her business ideas work. She recently put out a deck of scratch-off travel cards called “This Big Travel Challenge” that are a fun way to add excitement to any adventure. I just purchased a deck and I’m hoping to have some fun with these this summer - and in France!

On a similar topic, I recently watched a great Ted Talk about “multipotentiates” - people who have many different callings. This really resonated with me. I tend to get bored if I stay with one thing for too long. Which is why I really enjoy writing because I can choose the topic, the target audience, and also often the medium/publication. I do plan to keep writing! I better hurry up and get a million subscribers to this blog so I can fund these trips. Haha. But seriously… tell your friends!

For today’s musical accompaniment to the article, I’ve chosen “If I Had A Million Dollars” by the Barenaked Ladies because not only would that fund a lot of fun trips, but it mentions “Dijon” in the lyrics. (Why DON’T we have Dijon ketchups???)

Well… on this long weekend trip to Frisco, Greg suggested riding to Copper Mountain. It took a few minutes until it sunk in that this was essentially the same trip I had planned for that fateful summer. Only now it was late into autumn and it was happening spur of the moment. The only change was that we would ride up to Copper Mountain about 10 miles away instead of to the top of Vail Pass 15 miles away. That sounded perfect to me since I’d noticed my heart rate remaining pretty high since we’d arrived. No need to push it!

We relaxed and prepared our gear at the house until mid-morning, waiting for the temperature to get up to something just past bone-chilling. With our layers on and our bikes packed, we headed out at around 10 a.m. when the mercury had risen to just above freezing. It was a beautiful, clear blue sky day. Or as people here like to say, a “bluebird sky”. I do slightly bristle at the misuse of that term since the actual definition refers to a clear sky the DAY AFTER a storm. First world problems, let’s move on.

We set out the same way as we rode into town the day before. We took the Dillon Reservoir Recpath to downtown. Then, we went all the way west to the end of Main Street and got on the Tenmile Creekpath at the trailhead off of Forest Drive. It was very easy to find. From here, it’s only about 6.5 miles to Copper Mountain.

As we headed southwest, we had a small stretch of sunlit path, but it was quickly swallowed up by the shade of the north facing mountains. I realized then that time of day could make a big difference on this ride. It was chilly, for sure, so I wanted to come around a bend and find some sunshine. Which we eventually did. There was only one TINY patch of snow on the trail (like 30 feet) and it was easily navigable. It was more like a dusting. As we rode, our body temperatures rose and we stayed comfortable and enjoyed the breathtaking views.

Speaking of breathtaking, this trail heads uphill all the way to Copper Mountain, but it’s fairly gradual most of the way. There are no huge uphill battles. The total elevation gain was around 700 feet. I did engage my e-bike motor a few times to take the edge off. It should be mentioned that only Class One e-bikes are allowed on this trail. It’s a shared path with walkers.

If you don’t own an e-bike or are not feeling super-human, you can get a shuttle to Vail Pass from Rebel Ski and Bike on Main Street in Frisco. It’s about $45 plus the purchase of a bike rental. They offer e-bikes and standard bikes. If you take the shuttle, you’re only cycling eastbound and down.

One of the first interesting things we saw along the ride was the abandoned entrance to an old mine. Apparently, there are several along the path, but this is the one we noticed. The Kitty Innes Mine was one of many silver mines in the area and was active as recently as the early 1900s. I didn’t have to leave the trail to get this picture. It’s right there!

At about the halfway point, we also came to some public restrooms, FYI.

Although the paved path parallels Interstate 70, it’s far enough away that traffic is not a concern. In fact, you have to look for it and I don’t recall ever hearing it. In some places you don’t see the highway at all.

We finally came out of the mountain shadows and enjoyed sunlight the rest of the way to Copper.

Once we arrived at Copper Mountain, we were able to ride our bikes right up to the base and watch skiers come down the ONE open run. Our family has spent many, many years skiing at Copper and it was definitely a different feeling to ride up to the chairlift on a bike.

We sat in the comfy Adirondack chairs and enjoyed a snack while we watched skiers and snowboarders make their first turns of the season on manmade snow. What a crazy juxtaposition to have just wheeled up on our bikes, now feeling warm from the exercise and sunlight. Penny behaved herself and appreciated that the sign was inclusive enough to speak her language.

The ride home was a thrill! 6 miles of pure downhill!! I topped out a max speed of 27 mph. FUN!

We only passed two other cyclists and one walker the entire time we were on the trail. That’s definitely owing to the season as I’m sure the trail is much busier in the warmer summer months. By the time we reached Frisco, we were burning up and had to shed layers.

Here’s a map of the trip out:

We drove into Frisco late morning on a sunny Saturday and it felt chilly when we arrived. There was also a bit of a breeze, making it seem even colder. We’ve been having very mild and dry weather back in the Denver Metro area so this definitely felt like the mountains. Things looked very pretty in that brownish-autumn way after the leaves have fallen, but winter hasn’t quite set in. The air was crisp and fresh and it felt good to get out of town for a while and enjoy this more laid back environment. We had lunch on an outdoor patio downtown with Penny Dog, but definitely felt a nip in the breeze.

Frisco has a truly delightful downtown area and has earned itself the nickname “Main Street of the Rockies”. Frisco itself sits at the northern end of the Tenmile Range and is nestled at the base of Peak 1. The rest of Tenmile snakes down toward Breckenridge, where skiers and snowboarders can schuss for miles on peaks 6 through 10. But back to Frisco. It’s a spectacular setting for a mountain town with iconic views in every direction. It’s not touristy like most of the nearby ski towns hawking souvenirs and t-shirts in every other store. Frisco has a nice mixture of shops and restaurants - and no franchises, all true small businesses. (We did pass a Rocket Fizz candy shop, but a sign outside said they were moving to Breckenridge. Which, by the way, has chain restaurants like Bubba Gump right downtown.) Frisco has a small town charm and feels authentic. It has at least 6 major ski resorts within 25 miles: Breckenridge (8 mi), Copper Mountain (8 mi), Keystone (11mi), Arapahoe Basin (16 mi), Loveland (16 mi), Vail (25 mi), — and Beaver Creek is just under 40 miles away. It’s a really central place to stay when you’re skiing Summit County and because it’s out of the fray, it has maintained that real-town feel.

Frisco has my favorite Italian hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Peppino’s Pizzeria. Their calzones are easily spread over two-meals and to-die-for delicious!! This is not an exaggeration.

There’s also a great brewpub we always seem to visit in Frisco called Outer Range. It’s not downtown, but closer to the interstate. They often have live music and it’s a nice place to hang out for an evening. This time around we also checked out Highside Brewing where there was literally a dog (or two) at every table! Outer Range only allows dogs in their quasi-outside seating area, but at Highside they are encouraged everywhere. If you go, try the Cherry Mule - it’s a gose (sour beer) with black cherries and ginger. Very refreshing and not too sour at all. Highside is also a BBQ joint, but we didn’t try it because I was so eager to get to Peppino’s! We did enjoy their pinball machines before we left though.

On Sunday mid-morning, we put on lots of layers and headed downtown on our bikes. I had forgotten my thin beanie, so I had nothing on my head except my helmet. This was the only cold spot I noticed as we rode into town. Jamie’s place is really close to the western shore of Dillon Reservoir, so we took the paved trail called the Dillon Reservoir Recpath south toward downtown. It snakes past the marina and then you cross the highway (Hwy 9/Summit Blvd) to reach Main Street (see map below). If we had stayed on this trail, it would circle the entire reservoir and end up back in town about 19 miles later. That is an adventure for our next trip to Frisco.

We parked and locked the bikes and poked around downtown on foot for a couple hours before heading back to the house. Even though it was a Sunday, all the shops seemed to be open, which was nice. The weather had warmed a bit and it felt comfortable for the short ride back.

This was a great outing to prove to ourselves that we’re not just fair-weather riders. We can layer up and get out there in the cold! And that’s exactly what we did the next day when we rode to Copper Mountain. Stay tuned for Part 2!

For a peek at all the paved trails in and around Frisco, check out this map:

The blue trail is the Dillon Reservoir Recpath that took us to downtown and also circumnavigates the entire Reservoir. The green one that heads directly south is the one that Jamie and I rode in June to Breckenridge. And the orange one is the Tenmile Recpath that leads to Copper Mountain.

The ferry took us on a delightfully scenic 90-minute voyage through the San Juan Islands via the Georgia Straight to our landing at Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island. The views were stunning and the ride was quite smooth. I’d forgotten to take anything for potential sea-sickness, but fortunately didn’t need it.

If you’re traveling with a pet, your options are to leave them in your vehicle or to accompany them to a small pet-sanctioned area on the starboard side of the vessel on Level 6. It’s a small area, but it’s nice to get some fresh air and be able to appreciate the scenery. It is rather breezy and cool up there, however, so packing extra layers and a hoodie or beanie is recommended.

Once the ferry landed at Swartz Bay, it was about a half hour drive to the capital city of Victoria. Victoria is not the capital of Canada - that’s Ottawa - but is the capital of the province of British Columbia. It’s a quaint and colonial city of about 100,000 and has a bustling downtown harbor. Unbeknownst to us, there was a huge antique car festival taking place the day we arrived — which happened to be on the street right in front of our hotel. It was a bit overwhelming trying to navigate the crowds of people admiring these impeccably polished and restored cars. We’re not really what you’d call “car people” so to us it was large and unexpected crowd, occasionally punctuated by the piercing growls of the old engines revving and sputtering. Our room was somewhere in that cluster of orange umbrellas. We were told this car show only comes around every three or four years.

We navigated our way out of the crowd and enjoyed an outdoor lunch on Victoria Harbor with a view of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, a.k.a. parliamentary buildings. This was taken from our table at Milestones Bar and Grill. I tried my first Bellini here and had a very nice seafood Cobb salad.

For our afternoon entertainment, we hopped on the bikes to check out the Dallas Road Trail, which hugs the southern coastline of the downtown area. We navigated some roads in town from our hotel to our starting point in Fisherman’s Wharf Park. We found Dallas Road at the westernmost corner of the park and rode alongside a few cars for about a half mile until we reached the waterfront (near Pilot St.). From here, the shared bike/pedestrian trail follows the coastline of the Salish Sea for just over 3 miles. It’s well paved and well marked and not completely flat, but also not hilly by any means. It’s an easy ride at sea level and the scenery was spectacular.

About halfway down the trail, we were approached by an older couple on an e-bike with two small white dogs in a front basket. The woman in the back was recording video on a cell phone and they were both wearing lapel mics. They were making content for their YouTube (or was it TikTok?). I guess we’re on someone’s vlog, but now I can’t remember the name of it. They were truly excited to see other bike riders with a dog in a basket. They seemed like a quirky old couple. Is this going to be me and Greg in a few years??

Continuing down the trail, we came to Clover Point, which juts out into the sea. We rode all the way out to the tip, Point Zero, to enjoy the view. (Not to be confused with Mile Zero, commemorating the beginning of the 5,000 mile long Trans Canadian Highway. This marker is just one mile west of Point Zero and can be easily visited from the Dallas Road trail.) We also enjoyed some delicious treats from a lone food truck parked at the point called Walnut Cakes. We tried the taiyaki fish-shaped cakes, which are a Korean treat. These were soft and had a vanilla custard filling. I also got a fresh mango lemonade. Everything was delicious! They also gave Penny a treat, so this shop gets our top rankings.

Just past the point, the trail descends onto a concrete path that parallels Dallas Road, but is several feet lower and protected by a berm. It feels less natural and more manicured here, but is still very beautiful.

One little oddity I found was along this stretch. Someone has set up a small table along the concrete wall (you can see it in the picture above) and placed an old rotary phone on it. It’s called a “Wind Phone” and it’s a quiet, peaceful place to say whatever is on your heart or mind. Next to the phone was a pad of paper with some tributes to lost loved ones. Apparently there is an online network of maps to guide you to other wind phone locations. A cursory glance of that site shows about 450 of these around the world. These are the little details we certainly miss when we travel only by car.

We rode a bit further and reached St. Charles Street where the trail ends, so we turned around to do it all over again from the other direction. This is a picture near the turnaround spot. It’s so scenic!

Heading in this new direction we got a good view of the cruise ships docked in the area.

Just beyond this point we were able to hop off the trail and take some city side streets back to our hotel. Here is the route highlighted in pink. It was about 8 miles out and back with the added segments to and from the hotel (not included on the map). We stayed at the Days Inn on the Harbor, which I don’t really recommend. Great location, but in massive need of updates if not a total teardown. But for one night it served our purposes. I’ll include a picture of the room that was taken as we prepped for the next day’s ride at the end of this post.

Victoria is not a bad town to cycle through, even on the downtown roads. In fact, we took some of these the next morning so we could check out some of the longer trails in the area, including the Galloping Goose and the Lochside Regional Trail. We started by riding through downtown Victoria to arrive at the Galloping Goose Trailhead, which is near the futuristic looking Johnson Street Bridge (which glows bright blue at night, as noted from our hotel room).

After the bridge you take a right (heading north) on Harbor Road, which has a dedicated bike lane. Just before the road curves away from the water, the trail breaks off on the right to continue north. Here, it follows the coastline of the Upper Harbor until it branches to the right again and crosses the Selkirk Tressle Bridge, dedicated to cyclists and pedestrians. Some of the wooden trestles are uneven, so it makes for a slightly bumpy, but satisfyingly thrummy sounding ride. The route is outlined in pink on the map below.

The Galloping Goose trail is about 34 miles long (55 km) and takes you from Victoria to the ghost town of Leechtown via the town of Sooke. The first third or so of the ride is quite urban and at times parallels Highway 1, the Trans Canada Highway. Right around a place called Mill Lake, the path changes from paved to gravel and remains that way to its terminus. On this helpful map, the Galloping Goose is marked in red and the Lochside Regional Trail (discussed later) is in blue.

Once you reach an area called Happy Valley, the trail becomes much more forested and you can pedal through serene wilderness. Because we only had part of a morning to ride, we turned around soon after the trail merged with Highway 1 in an area called Saanich. This was a great place to turn around because it’s very near the junction of the Galloping Goose and the Lochside Regional Trail. When we came to that junction, we passed through a tunnel taking us north onto the Lochside Trail toward Swartz Bay where our ferry had landed.

Even though this trail it’s still in town, it feels very secluded as it follows a greenway. This is the type of trail where it crosses many small side roads where cyclists have the right of way and are not expected to stop. It reminded me of when I used to ride the Pinellas Trail in Clearwater, Florida. Just as then, I had my head on a swivel. The locals did not, however, and would just blow down the trail without worry.

The Lochside Trail is lined with greenery, including blackberry bushes that were just beginning to ripen. They are everywhere! I’d been watching these since we’d arrived in Canada, hopeful they would ripen during our stay. And they did! We stopped to sample a few along the Lochside Trail.

The Lochside Trail is 18 miles long (29 km) and stretches from Victoria all the way north to Swartz Bay. There are just a handful of small gravel stretches and the rest is fully paved. Those stretches are noted on this map with white patches outlined in blue. Once again, we didn’t ride the entire trail. We had to get back to the hotel to check out so we could spend the rest of the day touring Butchart Gardens. A must-see when on Vancouver Island!

We had a little bit of time to kill after touring Butchart Gardens (our feet were tired!) so we headed up to Swartz Bay to look for a place for dinner before our 7 pm ferry back to Vancouver. We found amazing seafood chowder at the Stonehouse Pub not far from the ferry terminal. It was a perfect spot for this little chunk of time. Because we had Penny along, we ate on one of their shaded outdoor patios.

It was also fun to walk the property and see the silly and irreverent fairy gardens that were scattered throughout. This place really captured my heart and imagination. I would have love to have gone on a fairy hunt here as a child.

We had arrived at the pub at the same time as a group of older women on bicycles. I was so curious about their adventure and managed to ask them a couple questions after we ate. The said their husbands ride motorcycles on Monday nights so they decided to ride bikes together. The took the ferry over. Ultimately, it sounded like more pub hopping than actual riding, but it also sounded like a very fun group. Canadians really seem to know how to have fun! I would like to join their group.

The ferry ride back to the mainland was just as stunning as the ride out and was actually one of the highlights of the entire getaway.

As promised earlier, here is our hotel room and what it looks like to travel with bikes. Sometimes you have to carry them up the stairs to your tiny hotel room. We never leave them on the car overnight. You can check with hotels ahead of time to see if they have a storage room. If not, they become your non-paying extra roommates (along with the dog!).

As a denizen of the paved trail, I gravitate toward quiet and predictable passages that are safe from cars, buses, trucks, and crowds. I was, admittedly, a little nervous about riding through Vancouver’s central business district. I know how hard it is to drive in many big cities, so cycling seemed equally, if not more, daunting.

Greg was less daunted by this notion and very encouraging about attempting it so we planned our first foray into the city. We followed a portion of the Seaside Greenway trail, which is car-free, so a perfect introduction! We hopped onto this trail in Vanier Park in Kitsilano and headed southeast. First you ride under the Burrard Street Bridge and soon after that, you ride under the bridge at Granville Island (Hwy 99). This is a very scenic and fun trail that curves in and out of harbor views mixed with residential and urban scenery.

Once your arrive at Granville Island, you have to cross a busy 4-lane street under the bridge, but cars are very good about stopping for pedestrians and cyclists at the crosswalk. Once past the bridge, we continued on the trail taking us toward False Creek, so named because the inlet is actually a dead end. On Google Maps this trail is labeled the Island Park Walk, but the trail is lined and separated with pedestrians on one side and approved wheeled vehicles (bikes, scooters, skateboards, wheelchairs, inline skates, one-wheels, unicycles, you get the idea) on the other side.

From here we followed this scenic trail alongside False Creek to its terminus where the very recognizable spherical Science World building sits.

The trail loops around to the other side of the inlet, passing British Columbia’s largest stadium called BC Place, where the FIFA World Cup will be held next year!!

It just so happened that as we were approaching this area a bike race was taking place! We managed to catch several cyclists as they crossed the finish line. So much of life is about fortuitous timing and it feels like we’re having impeccable (and mostly lucky) timing on this trip.

We wound our way around the trail until we neared the Burrard Street Bridge, our path home to complete this loop. To get to the bridge you have to leave the trail and head over to Pacific Street, following signs to the bridge. This required a few blocks in the city, but all the bike lanes were clearly marked. This also gave us a chance to see this marvelous chandelier under the Granville Street Bridge. Unfortunately, fortuitous timing wasn’t on our side at this moment and we didn’t see it spin, which apparently happens three times a day.

This ride offered us our first chance to ride our bikes over the Burrard Street Bridge, which is just blocks from where we’re staying. It has dedicated walking and bicycling lanes and is very safe from car traffic. It also has an amazing view from the top!

Since this successful outing, we’ve taken several others that actually took us through the heart of the city and not on the greenway. We easily navigated the bike lanes and felt safe doing so. I will say that before EVERY trip I research it ahead of time on Google Maps, sometimes going as far as previewing each road to be assured it has a bike lane. Of course, there are always a few blips along the way (closures, detours, etc.) but we’ve always found safe passages. Our first trip through downtown was to the neighborhood of Yaletown to try the brewery there. We also stumbled upon an amazing artisan ice cream spot called Mister where they make the ice cream in front of you using liquid nitrogen.

Now that we were comfortable riding on the city streets, our next cross-town adventure took us all the way across to the opposite side of the peninsula to Canada Place, which is basically the Grand Central Station of Vancouver. There, we purchased tickets for the SeaBus, a 10-minute ferry ride to North Vancouver across Vancouver Harbor. We took Penny and the bikes on the ferry to The Shipyards where we attended the Friday Night Market and had a nice dinner on the waterfront.

Bikes have to stay in the front of the ferry (Door 1) and Penny was required to stay in her basket, but there was no surcharge for bikes or pets. Pro tip: take bikes through the turnstiles marked with the handicap sign so they fit easily. While on this side of Vancouver Harbor, we took a few minutes to check out the North Shore Spirit Trail. We just got a small sampling of this paved trail by heading west out of the ferry terminal. It was really scenic and it would be great to go back and experience it in full.

The views of downtown Vancouver from the North Shore are very impressive.

After a delicious dinner on the patio at Strathcona North in The Shipyards we took the ferry back in plenty of time to return home before dark. Riding in the duskiness was quite fun though.

Our final adventure thus far through downtown Vancouver was a ride over to the neighborhood of Gastown, known for its hybrid steam-powered/electric clock with its iconic whistle. We enjoyed absolutely DELICIOUS eggs Benedict on Water Street right in front of the clock. This is actually very close to where we’d ridden before to take the SeaBus. Although there are very well marked bike lanes throughout the city, it’s busy and you have to watch for other cyclists, scooters, and pedestrians. Many cyclists are DoorDashers and go really fast on their e-bikes.

With all these successful journeys under our belts, I’m no longer intimidated to ride through the city, but still take extra care with intersections and using visible turn signals. I want to be very predictable! It’s been such a pleasure riding in a city that understands pedestrian and cyclist traffic and respects it. It’s also been nice to not be burdened by taking a car everywhere, but you do sometimes have to get creative and of course allow for extra time. One evening Greg rode up to a nearby liquor store and used Penny’s basket to haul the goods home.

Here’s a Google Map outlining all of the rides mentioned above. The red pin at the top is Canada Place, a very active seaport for all modes of travel, including cruise ships and cargo ships. The heart near the bottom is our house/starting-ending point for each ride.

Most of Stanley Park is heavily forested, but there is plenty to see and do when visiting. The Vancouver Aquarium is nestled into the woods on the east side of the park. Not far from there, a miniature railway takes visitors on a 15-minute scenic train ride - unfortunately this feature is currently closed for infrastructure updates. You can also hear the familiar “clomp clomp” of horse drawn carriages throughout the park offering guided tours. There are two large beaches on the park’s western shore, named Second Beach and Third Beach. Second Beach features a large fresh water swimming pool where you can buy tickets for a 2.5 hour session for about $6.50 USD. Both beaches offer concessions (amazing fresh lemonade at Second Beach - ask for a splash of seltzer water!) and both have restrooms. Or, if your more inclined to enjoy a sudsy refreshment, there is a brew pub located just southeast of Second Beach. For the more refined, there is also a teahouse between the two beaches with expansive views of English Bay offering lunch and a “wine hour” three days a week. We did not try either of these establishments…yet.

Perhaps the most iconic and beloved feature of this beautiful park is the seawall, a paved trail for pedestrians and bicycles that encircles the entire park and offers spectacular views of the area. The trail is a 6 mile loop (10 km) that travels in a counter-clockwise direction for cyclists. Pedestrians may travel in either direction on their separate path. We parked our car near the park’s southwest entrance and hopped on the trail there. Like everywhere around here, you must pay to park. We brought our own bikes, but you can rent the Mobi city bikes in many places throughout the park. They offer regular bikes and a few e-bikes - if you can find them - for a slightly higher price.

You’ll see many different sights as you make your way around the seawall loop: ponds, tunnels, downtown cityscapes, a huge suspension bridge, sandy beaches, open water, a natural rock outcropping called Siwash Rock (which hosts a single tree), a collection of totem poles, distant mountains, playgrounds - one with a splash pad for kids, and much more.

You can ride as fast or slow as you like, stopping wherever you please. Be aware that there are several short dismount areas where you’re asked to walk your bike in high pedestrian traffic areas. The north and northwest segments are probably the most scenic of the loop with the Lions Gate Bridge, Siwash Rock, and the endless views out to the open water. As you approach and pass Siwash Rock the path curves along a rock wall on one side and the open sea on the other. It’s absolutely stunning!

After we completed the loop and looked at a map, we realized we hadn’t seen the totem poles so we headed around again. Only problem? It’s a one-way path! We had to get creative on how to get back to the car without doing the entire loop again. Pro tip: you are allowed to WALK your bike on the walking path.

While you’re at Stanley Park, I highly recommend the Vancouver Aquarium. It offers beautiful displays of fish, sea turtles, an otter exhibit, an entertaining seal show, clownfish ice cream cones, and a “4-D” movie called Salmon Run that was quite the highlight! The fourth dimension is not to be forgotten anytime soon!!

We didn’t have a chance to explore the park’s interior forested bike trails. Well, we did a little bit accidentally while getting our bearings. These paths are nicely manicured gravel with some slight elevation changes. If we go back and ride these trails, I will add a post about them. Here’s a picture of the small portion we rode on trying to find our way back to the seawall trail. Very beautiful and it would definitely be worth a trip back to see more of these trails.

Overall, Stanley Park was a total blast to visit and ride and a major highlight of our time here so far. I’ve already ridden it twice and have plans to go there at least once more before we go home.

The ride deets: (it’s more than 10km because we backtracked to see the totem poles.)

Exploring a new area by bike is the perfect way to get a feel for the landscape, terrain, people/culture, and nearby offerings. The first bike ride I took was a morning outing with Penny soon after we arrived in town. We headed east on the seaside trail that follows the shoreline away from the town beach. The path quickly turned from gravel to pavement as it wound its way scenically through a large park, past some museums and marinas toward the Granville Bridge. If you’re not familiar with the area, Kitsilano is separated from the peninsula of downtown Vancouver by several bridges, one of them rising stately above an area called Granville Island, which is actually another peninsula, but this one man-made.

Granville Island is now a popular artist and retail enclave, but has a rich industrial manufacturing history. In fact, there’s still a working concrete plant there that stands out in stark contrast to the steady stream of shoppers and tourists walking the streets. It’s definitely worth visiting Granville Island and checking out the shops, especially the Public Market. My advice is to park and secure your bike and then explore by foot1. Where the seaside bike trail meets the Granville Bridge I turned around and headed back toward Kitsilano. The trail does continue past the bridge and that amazing adventure will be chronicled in a future writing.

As Penny and I headed back toward Kitsilano on this overcast day, I appreciated the maritime sights of this area that aren’t available back in Colorado. Bridges, ships, docks, boats — all the trappings of the nautical world. These, combined with the coastlines, waterways, skyscrapers, and mountains makes the scenery here so unique and hard to rival.

Once back in Kits Beach, I decided to continue riding west to see what was beyond the confines of our little neighborhood. Just a bit past the beach park, there’s a stretch of the bikeway that takes you through some quiet neighborhood roads and then onto a heavier trafficked road called Point Gray which has its own dedicated two-way lane for bicyclists. Here you can see the water just to the north and homes to the south. Every few minutes you pass through another park or public beach. Penny and I went through several of these, finally stopping and turning back at Spanish Banks Beach, almost the westernmost terminus before the shoreline suddenly banks south. Now I wish we’d traveled just slightly farther to see the University of British Columbia, which is nestled there on that western edge.

This entire ride was probably about 10 miles (or around 16 km, as they say here.) My route follows the blue dots on this Google Maps screenshot, with the heart being our home base. It was a perfect introduction to the area and the numerous bike and walking trails to be found here.

UPDATE ON JULY 24: I’ve never done this before, but I’m making an addendum to this entry. I rode further west on the seaside trail today to the University of British Columbia. I set the campus rose garden in Google Maps as my destination. It was 10 km (approx. 6 miles) each direction from the house. The seaside views were amazing in both directions and the university is very picturesque (see below). I should mention that there’s a fairly long but gradual uphill stretch that leads up to UBC’s campus. But there is a dedicated trail next to the road. As it turns out, the road wasn’t heavily traveled today, perhaps because it’s summer and the university is fairly quiet.

Also of note, most of the seaside bike paths are gravel (with a few quiet streets mixed in as mentioned above), but there are also some areas where you can choose a paved bike lane on the road instead. I always chose the seaside trail to stay away from cars and to get the best scenery.

The drive was long and tedious, as expected, but we took a lot of potty breaks and tried to enjoy the scenery. Our stop-over points were Salt Lake City, Utah (in hindsight, Ogden would have been a better choice), Ontario, Oregon (just northwest of Boise, Idaho and strangely still in the mountain time zone!1), and Corvallis, Oregon (where we visited Kid 2 for about 16 hours). Fortunately, the drive was relatively mundane. Driving through Seattle felt like it would never end, but we persevered. In Bellingham, Washington we got a full tank of gas at Costco just before reaching the Canadian border (h/t to our smart friend Margaret for that advice).

The border crossing itself was truly mundane. There was one car in front of us and when it was our turn we rolled up the guy in the booth who took our passports. He asked us where were were from, where we were staying and for how long and why. We didn’t fill out any paperwork or declare anything, including the dog. And we were prepared with her rabies certificate and vet papers. Apparently, we looked boring enough to just wave through! I thought they might at least try to confiscate her treats.

Once across the border, the Tesla parade began. I thought we saw a lot on a daily basis in Boulder County, but here they are practically every other car! We made it to our home-away-from-home for the month just after 8 pm. Not to worry, sunset isn’t until 10:15 pm here! Our first action in our temporary hometown was to download one of the maaannnny parking apps available and pay for a spot right in front of the house (more on this topic later). Once in, we could finally see the “beach casa” that I had procured online so many months earlier. Fortunately, it’s just as adorable as it looked in pictures and just perfect for our stay! It’s a 2-bedroom, 2-bath ground floor unit in a larger building. We have front and back patios, washer and dryer, full kitchen, great wi-fi, and it’s super cute to boot. It’s about three blocks from Kitsilano Beach and just a few steps from Cornwall Avenue, a surprisingly heavily-trafficked east-west thoroughfare. There are many little restaurants right along Cornwall Ave that are easy to walk to (fish and chips, bagels, coffee, shawarma, sushi, tacos, burgers, etc.).

Kitsilano is fairly quiet on weekdays, but is practically overrun on the weekends. It’s been interesting getting used to such an urban lifestyle. Car horns, sirens, people’s voices, music wafting in the air at any time of day or night. It’s a noisy world! But with the doors and windows closed, sleeping is never a problem. There’s an adorable coffee shop right across the street (which keeps traffic on our little lane flowing allllll day) and a karaoke bar (oh joy!) next door. The street we’re on is exceptionally lovely with majestic maple trees lining both sides. It’s absolutely enchanting. It’s also very fitting to be surrounded my maple leaves - “the image of a nation” on this, the symbol’s 60th year on Canada’s flag. What’s not so great is that cars park along both sides, leaving just a narrow passage for a TWO-WAY street! C’mon city planners, make it one-way!! One observation since we arrived is that most streets are fairly narrow and our car seems oversized for many of the roadways and parking spaces here.

Some photos of the house (for you, Tracy):

Having a place that meets all of our needs — whether it’s Greg’s work environment, Penny’s comfort, room for guests, etc. — is huge and not only did we get all of that, but the location is just spectacular. And the outdoor patios are the icing on the cake. I rank outdoor space up there with the most important aspects of a home.

Already, we all feel comfortable in this new neighborhood. Penny’s out there reading the pee-mail every morning and adding her own aromatic contributions for the neighbor dogs to discover. I marvel at all the different architecture not just from block to block, but from lot to lot, musing “how much does this one cost?” or “what would it be like to live in this one?” There’s a little fairy garden across the street and that really spoke to me. (I recently built one in our back yard and I’m now slightly obsessed with this concept.) It’s all a huge departure from the suburban lifestyle we lead back home and that’s exactly what we were looking for.

Oh, here’s what the local beach looks like. There are always people out walking, bike riding, sunning, playing volleyball/tennis/basketball/water sports. It’s a very vibrant community.

There is endless opportunity here for exploration, whether on foot or bike. We really don’t need the car much at all, which is why we rented a permanent space for it at a nearby parking lot. It’s handy for little getaways, but most days we walk or ride everywhere. The bike riding around here is stunningly phenomenal, which I’m getting to next! Stay tuned!!

The only thing better than summer vacation is summer vacation in the mountains. I’ve been lucky enough to have taken two short trips this summer with my BFF, Jenn, who is also a teacher. (Those in K-12 education need similar friends for maximal enjoyment of time off!) Our first trip was supposed to be our annual girl’s campout at Horsetooth Reservoir near Fort Collins. But because I had hurt my hip paddle boarding (it was really windy, okay?) and she, too, was feeling some hip pain, we decided to take our aging hips to a hotel in the same town instead.

The hotel turned out to be a great choice because we ended up spending much of our time dining and shopping downtown, resulting in a different kind of getaway than we’re used to. When we’re camping, we are doing all the camping things when we’re not on the water paddle boarding. On this trip, we still got to paddle board one day, but we also lived the good life of air conditioning and sit-down dining. We didn’t build any campfires, but instead experienced elevated cocktails and concept tacos during happy hour at the Blue Agave Grill. A huge upside of this trip was that I rediscovered how amazing Fort Collins is. Their downtown is as vibrant as any I’ve ever seen. During our shopping excursions I was able to purchase items to make my first backyard fairy garden and now I might be obsessed.

This is not to say that we didn’t miss our yearly camping trip and all that it entails. The one day we spent on the water took us right up to the vacant site we had reserved and we both felt a twinge of longing for the RV and the outdoor lifestyle. Next year!

Back at the hotel, our aching hips swaddled in heating pads, we were texted an invitation from another teacher friend to join her at her mountain condo in two weeks. Who can say no to that?? I quickly texted Greg and asked him to check my calendar and see if another trip so soon was feasible. It was, hooray! (By the way, I do feel guilty that Greg’s home working while I’m off gallivanting, but we are about to take a 5-week trip together!)

So this past Wednesday we loaded up the paddle boards again - and my bike - and headed to Frisco, my favorite mountain town. Gratefully, my hip injury had resolved, so I left the heating pad at home this time! It’s been a little while since I’ve taken I-70 west into the mountains and seeing those familiar vistas felt like a curative. Like a long exhale after you don’t realize you’d been holding your breath.

The next morning it was decided that instead of paddle boarding, Jamie and I should scratch our bike riding itch. I’m rarely around another person who enjoys bike riding as much as I do. We set off from Frisco on a paved trail that goes to Breckenridge called the Blue River Bikeway. It’s about 8 miles each way (primarily uphill to Breck and downhill back to Frisco). The elevation change is roughly 850 feet. Unfortunately, my new phone mount failed, so I only took a few pictures. But suffice it to say that it was a dream come true to be riding this trail in such gorgeous surroundings.

About halfway to Breckenridge, we were able to stop at a trailhead kiosk just before a brief downpour. Several other cyclists and hikers squeezed in next to us for the 10 minutes or so until the clouds passed. From there, it was smooth sailing into the town of Breckenridge where we enjoyed a hearty and delicious lunch at the Blue River Bistro. There was another downpour that lasted the whole time we were at the restaurant. Our timing was impeccable! Neither of us had remembered to bring rain gear.

Heading back to Frisco was a literal breeze. There is just one uphill stretch near the end of the ride. Otherwise, it’s all gradually downhill and allows for a lot of coasting. In terms of mountain riding, this was very mild and doable. The ascent was so gradual it was almost unnoticeable visually. My legs could detect it though. Coming back I was surprised at how much uphill we had achieved on the way out. There were never any steep climbs though. Still, Jamie doesn’t have an e-bike and was a rockstar with all the gradual climbing.

Here’s another picture that illustrates how pretty the scenery is out there:

After the ride, we soothed our tired muscles in the hot tub back at Jamie’s condo. It ended up raining most of the evening, so we all waited until the next day to go paddle boarding on the part of Dillon Reservoir known as Frisco Bay. It was perfection.

We didn’t get a picture of all three J’s together (Janine, Jenn, and Jamie), but there they are out enjoying the water.

The ride info I captured (below) is not great because my watch isn’t working. This is off of the Trek Central app from the bike and I wish it showed the main roads on the map. (It’s also in km because I got a new phone recently and forgot to adjust that setting.) Much of this ride does parallel the highway, but there are enough serene spots away from cars that it’s overall a very pleasant and tranquil feeling ride. In terms of safety, it’s a 10/10. The trail is well-maintained and was not heavily used on a Thursday.