Great weekend rides!

       There is nothing like being up against the clock or following others around for some good speed work.  This weekend I did both.  Saturday was the second round of the RATM Death Match.  I was the last person to start the climb up Lookout Mountain on Saturday.  Lookout gains about 1,266 ft. in about 4.5 miles.  My legs felt like boards the first 9 minutes or so of the climb as I had about an hour off after got there (21.5 miles to the start 1,050 ft already climbed).  I reached the end of the climb with a time of 23:50, knocking 1 minute off of last month's time.  Eric, Jeremy and I, who all bike to Golden together did another lap up the climb after we parted ways with the rest of the team.  The second time down seemed quite a bit cooler.  We rode straight to Starbucks on main street of Golden where we hung out for an hour or so.

Google earth map of Sundays mountain bike ride

An example of the trails.  Fun!!

       Sunday I met Ben at the Deer Creek trail head.  DC is still snowed in, but Ben knows of a bunch of other trails open in the area.   We rode a bunch of the Ken Caryl trails, which you need a pass that is only available to residents of the area.  One of the trails we rode had a constant grade of 15%-20%.  They were in pretty good shape and we encountered very little snow.  There were even some places with some nice technical sections.  Following Ben around made for a good workout, and then when we were about done mountain biking, we followed some road riders up the canyon until I had had enough.  Between both days, I got in about 80 miles and 7,000 ft of elevation gain.  Sunday's ride info.