October 26th, 2015
Mostly shared lanes and bike paths into Denver, quite a difficult route to describe, and Google Maps does it best. We ended up on the Sand Creek Multi-Use path which wound it’s way across the city from west to east. In retrospect, there is quite a lot of cycling infrastructure in the surrounding communities, and Denver makes it really easy to get around by bike.
Cycling Stats
Start Point: Niwot, Colorado, United States of America
Destination: Denver, Colorado, United States of America
68.20 km trip, 4:33 time, 49.9 km/h maximum speed, 14.9 km/h average speed
What happened…
Andrew writes:I think the highlight of the ride today was the slurpee I managed to buy this morning. Don’t get me wrong, there wasn’t anything wrong with the ride, it’s just that I felt in my head all day that, “Denver sucks!”. The mountains to the west are beautiful, especially now that they have some snow on them. Yet much of the route was through industrial areas, or alongside the sides of busy highways. We had to make several detours along the way today because of construction along the route Google had mapped out for us. This forced us out on to some really busy roads, and created some tension between Amanda and I to boot. I was also disappointed that Sarah, our housesit host, had cycled out to meet us, but the ride took longer than expected, and she ended up sitting on the side of the trail for half-an-hour, and we never rendezvoused with her. The thing that stands out most for me today, is how dreary the landscape is. Perhaps it’s just one of those things that come with riding on the outskirts of a metropolis.
Reaching Sarah and Peter’s home, we were treated to a great dinner, and Peter and I got to talk politics, both American and Canadian. They are both avid cyclists, and have done several tours, and so we had this in common also. We got introduced to our charges for the week, two cats, Emilio and Sam. There are also some goldfish in a pond that were told didn’t require much care, and hopefully we don’t kill them.
Amanda writes:
Riding into Denver was a bit challenging due to loads of construction. I figure if we were to come back through in a year or two the bicycle infrastructure will be incredible. We just happened to be traveling through while it was being refined. While meandering through some bike routes we met a nice local fellow who helped us make a few correct turns. We chatted with him for a bit and even asked us if we had a place to stay. Just another example of American hospitality.
While we didn’t connect with Sarah on the ride we arrived to a warm welcome. They are also www.warmshowers.org hosts so they knew we’d enjoy a shower and a hot meal. While we are excited to relax in their home, I was almost left feeling like I wish we had more time to hang out with them; good folks.