Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Granite Gears

Day: 216
Horsetooth Mountain Park
Time: 2:20:00
Distance: 17.0 miles
Terrain: Singletrack

We followed up a day of climbing and hiking with a day of biking. The venue was Horsetooth Mountain Park, just west of Fort Collins. Every time we ride here we wonder why we didn’t ride it more in the past. I guess we’re a little more free from a day to day routine and that “let’s just get in a ride” mentality.
The ride started with a gut busting climb to Horsetooth Rock and there were no speed records set on the way to the top. We stopped for a moment to take in the fantastic views before rolling into an exciting downhill singletrack. In this case, exciting takes on two meanings. The trail was both thrilling and scary. The scary part entails the chunks of granite found at various places along the route. For those of you who have ridden through this type of landscape you know that a fall can tear you to shreds.
And now for the geology lesson…
Granite is an igneous rock that was formed far below the earth’s surface. Due to the depth it cooled very slowly and the rock formed with very large crystals. As the Rocky Mountains were formed (during a geologic event called the Laramide Orogeny), the granite formations were forced up and eroded down into what we see today. Chris was unlucky enough to examine one particular outcrop of the pink rocks up close during the ride. Those same crystals we discussed earlier did a number on his knee and he quickly remembered that it’s more important to look at what your tire is rolling over rather than the signs ahead.
We finished our ride by checking out the new bike skills park at Spring Canyon. We made a couple laps around the perimeter to check out the catwalks and teeter-totters. Don’t worry, Chris wasn’t allowed to try anything…
Keep the rubber side down,
LK

1 comment:

JennSean said...

No new videos of Chris trying out his "skills?" BUMMER!!
-JH