Table Mountain, Colorado

Open Spaces

Denver skyline from the top of North Table Mountain

Background:

Sitting in Chicago's Midway International Airport, my flight into Denver was delayed due to lack of visibility because of the snow coming down. I had planned this trip in search of a job post-graduation, to participate in interviews, start looking at neighborhoods to potentially rent in, make friends and get more of a feel for the city. 

And, of course, it's not traveling for me unless I get a bike ride in! In this case I was fortunate enough to have good conditions for a fat bike ride in the snow on Table Mountain, a flat-topped mesa on the edge of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in the town of Golden. 

The town of Golden, North and South Table Mountain mesas

I had never gone fat biking before, let alone in the snow.  This type of mountain biking is all the rage these days, especially in colder, snowier environments like Colorado. 

It was a cold, wet, sometimes dirty ride but in the end there's no way I could have given a damn, it was a blast. 

Ride Report: 

After over 30 miles of light rail riding from Denver International Airport, I finally arrived at the Jefferson County Government Center. Still 2 miles from the bike shop I was looking to get to, I needed to take a bus to get there. Fortunately, the RTD transportation system is awesome and they have "Call-in-ride" buses that would take you anywhere in town. This is amazing to me, considering the public transportation/bus situation back east in Charlotte. 

The Denver skyline near the end of my light rail ride to Golden

The bus driver was a nice little old lady and I had the company of a couple other patrons, one woman literally got off the light rail and told the bus driver that she was going to the Taco Bell. I almost lost it. So, as you do in Golden, Colorado, this lady just casually hopped off the light rail and is going to Taco Bell. This is just such a different place from home. 

Anyways, I got to the bike shop by about 3:15pm and was becoming very conscious of sundown, the last light being at around 5:30pm. With no time to waste, I got a recommended route and (finally) set off on my ride...

...Oh, but I had to get there first, unfortunately the trailhead isn't in downtown. Yeah, no, I found out that the trailhead is a solid 2ish mile uphill ride into the hills. I was tired, getting up at 5am Charlotte time and flying all day, but it's amazing the energy that chasing dark will give you. 

So I hit the trail with my big tires and it was great. Very different from normal mountain biking, and I imagine my experience was different from fresh powder fat biking but it was all good fun. The snow was still powder, but I definitely had to pick smooth packed in lines for the most efficient speed/energy. 

...Until I got to the steeper uphill climb, to which my big tires seemed to be utterly useless once I stopped moving. So, I hike-a-biked a good bit to the top, but I ran into a fellow hiker to make conversation with on the way to the top (as you do in Colorado), and by about 4:45pm I had made it.

At the top of Table Mountain, Denver skyline in the distance. 

 The downhill was especially fun on the big tires, as it was part skiing-part biking. Definitely more biking than skiing. It went smoothly and even ran into a herd of mountain Elk crossing the trail. Towards the end I hit some ice, but it's generally not a good ride without a good fall so I had a laugh about it and kept on.

 

The great part about the ride uphill to the trailhead was minimum effort and maximum fun on the way down into the town, I didn't pedal much if at all over the 2ish mile stretch to the shop. I walk in and a shop attendee greeted me and asked how it was, I told him it was awesome. He kind of gave me a look and asked, "Really? This is pretty wet snow."

I told him that I was from the east coast and corrected him, saying that this snow was particularly dry in perspective. It's all just perspective after all...

So that was my ride in Golden, Colorado and it set the tone for a great, albeit short, trip. I can't wait to (God willing) live out here after getting out of school. So many trails... so many friendly people... so close to the hills. 

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Anyways, I read a John Muir quote the other day saying;

"Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt."

I would like to add to make sure a few of them are snow.