Continuing from the post yesterday, the first day that the five of us were together, we didn't do a great job of taking photos. We don't have a single photo of the Sovereign Trail and that's too bad because it's a cool trail. On the Sovereign day, we ended up riding 4:00 hours, but we were out 6:20. There were NUMEROUS occasions of map checking.

The second ride day was the Flat Pass loop. This trail includes several large and small ledge sections. (Photo 1 I am on the left and Dennis Andersen on the right.) In addition to the ledges, there is loose sand and rocks. Maintaining a certain, relatively high, speed is critical so you can float over the terrain. Going too slow leads to augering the front wheel in the sand. The LOOK full suspension bike just floated over the rock gardens. Fun! To see how deep the sand is on these sections, double-click on the second photo.

One of the nice things about the trail/jeep road is there are usually options to ride an easy side or a more difficult side of most sections. This helps minimize walking by tired or less-skilled riders.

Back to the ledges, double click on the third photo of Todd Singiser. Look at how compressed his front tire and shock are. Though not easy to see in the third photo, this was a good-sized ledge he climbed.

The fourth shot is a view of the La Salle mountains from Flat Pass.

The final shot in this post is a timer-shot taken on the overlook of the last big rocky drop on Flat Pass. Left to right is Dennis, Bill Frielingsdorf, Todd, me and Scott Ellis.

More photos in the next post.

A couple of weeks ago several of us met at the Stove Prairie School, just west of Ft. Collins, Colorado and headed out for one of my favorite rides - the Old Flowers Road. It is indeed a road and there's no single track; but that doesn't make this an easy ride.

A good sized group of Steve, Michael, Ron, Dave, Mike, Todd, Scott, Mike, Bill, Mike and me started the ride. Yes, you read correctly, a four-Mike ride.

I didn't get a start photo and unfortunately, three of the guys - three Mikes to be exact - had to head back early. The sort of half-way photo is below with Bill F., Michael, Dave, Steve, me, Todd, Ron and Scott.

The spot where the photo was taken is the intersection of Old Flowers and Monument Gulch Road. We did some exploring in the Monument Gulch area before heading back.

Ron logged the ride and you can view it if you have Google Earth. (If you don't have Google Earth, it's a free download on the left side of the hot link in the last sentence.)

The file is attached to this blog. If you don't see the file, click on the title for the blog and look at the bottom of the blog.

If you haven't played with Google Earth, it is really fun. You can zoom in, pan the view and a host of other fun stuff.

On this particular ride, I was consumed by learning how to operate a new camera and didn't bring any gadgets along - other than the camera. 

So...I'm going to ask for some help from the other riders. Mike - you collected climbing data, right? Can you post how many feet we climbed in how many miles on that first section?

Others, how would you describe the ride? Can we get descriptions from both experienced Flowers riders and first timers?

On this ride, I remember Bill F. saying something about the second section of climbs, "You know it's steep when you can't keep your front wheel on the ground."

On a past ride, a new Flowers rider (Bill Beyers) turned to the group after climbing the toughest hill triplet and said, "Don is the devil." (Don was the guy that talked Bill Beyers into doing the ride. Don is also the moto specialist from a few blogs ago.)

Steve Douglas posted some comments in his blog. (Notice Scott trying to push me out of the camera shot? He is such a photo-ham.)

Dave took more photos too. Dave can you post a group photo at the beginning in the comment box? I think that's possible.

In advance, thanks for the help...

PS...Mark Kuusick: This is the ride we finished last year when we met you and your buddies on your self-designed bike trip.

After a shorter day yesterday, the plan for today was to mountain bike the reputable Tipperary Creek route used for the Winter Park mountain bike race. I was eager to do this trail again. The last time I rode it was during my first mountain bike stage race. Another story all together...

Gale: "How much further to the finish? I think I have enough water."

Sweet volunteer: "Oh honey, you're only half way!"

Gale: "Guess I'll take some of that water."

Based on the Rollins Pass snow report from the bike shops and Ernie's ride from Winter Park up Rollins Pass until he hit snow and snow removal equipment, we decided to check on the Tippearary Creek trail condition.

One of the bike shop employees at Grand Sports told us that at 10,000 feet the trail becomes impassable due to fields of snow. Darn. I didn't get his name, but he was very helpful to map out routes that were in good condition.

Some video from the King of the Rockies race can be found here. Winter Park maps can be found here.

Some of us stayed at the Vintage Hotel (very dog-friendly) which is between Winter Park and Mary Jane. A couple of people stayed downtown. The goal was to ride a big loop so no one had to drive. We did manage a nice loop.

We rode from Winter Park to Fraser and then up Elk Creek Road. From there we took Creekside to Spruce Creek, Sunken Bridges, D2, WTB, D4 and from there I'm not sure. We did finish at the Winter Park base area via a trail that had ramps, jumps and sweet banked turns. One turn was built high - around 5 feet or so. This one required a do-again by Bill so he could rail the turn.

There were multiple stops to look at maps to be sure we were heading in the right direction. We wanted to avoid closed trails and trails that were gushing with runoff water.

Unfortunately, I left my camera at the condo, so I didn't get any photos from the day. I think Scott got some, so maybe I'll add one later.

Snowballs were thrown and there were issues with migratory rocks. (Ernie, FYI, after you left to drive home, you were implicated in the rock "incidents".)

Actual ride time was not recorded. Out time was 4:48. Since we are in our chamois, this is considered training time. This spring we saw Georgia Gould, who lives in Ft. Collins near us, and she told us "as long as you're in a chamois, you're training". She's fast, and the first woman to clinch a spot on the USA Cycling Olympic team on the mountain side, so we have adopted this philosophy. BIG congrats to Georgia for making the team.

Since I'd like to leave you with photos, below is a snapshot of Craig Singiser and the two giant fish he pulled out of the canal between Shadow Mountain Lake and Lake Granby. The Brown was three pounds!

The next photo is Meeka on cyclist patrol, looking for "her" cyclists.

Tomorrow, Day 5...Road bike to Grand Lake, mountain bike in Winter Park, or mountain bike in