Switching Gears

How to roll with changes

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. If life gives you melons, you may be dyslexic. Apologies to dyslexics everywhere, but that’s a pretty funny little joke. Or was it a real lemon? See what I did there? Don’t be sour. (I’ll show myself out.)

I’m following the first rule of public speaking here and starting with a joke. Not just to get your attention, but also to say that sometimes things don’t go as planned and we need to find a way to make lemonade. But we still retain the right to be a lit bit annoyed. Everyone knows that any time travel is involved we have to expect problems and adjust expectations - delayed flights, lost luggage, wrong turns, flat tires, you-name-it.

Since it’s summer and we’re doing our best impressions of weekend warriors, we’re trying to cram in a lot of camping and bike riding. This past weekend we had plans to take the trailer down to the Leadville area where I was very excited to ride the Mineral Belt Trail and do something I’ve been eyeing for years: shoot Vail Pass along I-70! (On the adjacent bike trail, of course.) The e-bikes were a pivotal part of this plan, allowing us a humane way to get back up to the top of this 12-mile downhill straightaway. Note: the route can be longer or shorter depending on where you start.

However… plans change. A wildfire broke out very close to the campground where we had reservations and another family we were camping with smartly decided on a change of venue. Instead of heading southwest toward Leadville, we went northwest to Hermit Open Space near Estes Park. Originally I felt a bit pouty and thought we might as well leave the bikes behind, but after looking up trails in the area we brought them along after all. Not only can you ride on the gravel roads from campground to campground in the open space, but there is quite a bit of singletrack nearby.

Since our e-bikes are still new, we hadn’t yet done any singeltrack. And we are pretty out of practice, honestly. I inquired about bike trails at the park’s ranger station and the nice woman gave me a map and described the trail in soothing terms. So we saddled up, put Penny in the basket, and went on an adventure. The trail is called Limber Pine and it snakes into the woods adjacent to the campground. It also continues down into national forest land if you want a longer ride. The Limber Pine Trail is a shared hiking, horseback riding, and biking trail that is not paved or gravel, just “au natural”. We started up the trail (and it was quite aggressively UP) and we began picking our way through bedrocks, boulders, and tree roots and just generally feeling out of our element. Not to mention, Penny was getting all kinds of rattled in her little basket. Greg stopped and I went further ahead to see if the trail would even out once we got past the first connecting spur. Not really.

Limber Pine Trail: I didn’t get any pictures of the really challenging parts.

Time for Plan B of Plan B. We exited the trail and took a dirt road down to the opposite end of the trail and restarted from that direction at an area called Homestead Meadows Trailhead (Moose Meadow Trail). Much better, but still technical and challenging. We went about a mile in before calling it quits again. We both agreed that we would have gone further without Penny, but it was time to turn back. The first rule of Freewheeling is “Keep Penny safe.”

By the time we’d returned to the camper, we’d ridden almost 5 miles, so not a bad outing all in all and the scenery was gorgeous. We also did a very scenic hike up Kruger Rock later in the day and had Bougie S’mores with friends.¹

Penny after the bumpy ride. See the tongue?

So even though the weekend wasn’t the trip I had planned and hoped for originally, we still managed to have an enjoyable adventure nonetheless. The Leadville/Vail Pass trip will still happen eventually.

Back here at home, we’ve been enjoying more local rides and some unseasonably cooler weather. Those rides included touring a nearby horse ranch, visiting a brewpub, a farmer’s market (and seeing a huge unidentified snake on the path), and exploring more trails and connecting trails and retracing familiar paths.

On one of these recent rides, one spot in particular that caught my eye was this picnic table just sitting by itself next to a creek with dappled shade all around. It’s just begging to be visited with a packed lunch. Look at that serenity!

There’s a real joy in exploring your own environs and appreciating what is close at hand. This little spot is proof that we needn’t be off in distant lands to find the beauty in our surroundings. In the immortal words of American author Annie Dillard, “Some unwonted, taught pride diverts us from our original intent, which is to explore the neighborhood, view the landscape, to discover at least where it is that we have been so startlingly set down, if we can’t learn why.”

There is plenty of landscape to be viewed right here outside our very own doors. On my way home from that perfect picnic table I stumbled upon this little pond filled with blooming lily pads - literally a quarter of a mile from my own front door and I’d never noticed it before. It’s part of a sprawling medical complex. A true oasis in a concrete jungle. Sweet!

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Or…

1. What are Bougie S’mores?? An elevated s’more experience. Think charcuterie board, but for s’mores.

• Substitute fancy cookies (such as Biscoff) for graham crackers.

• Use high quality chocolate like Ghirardelli Squares OR substitute a spreadable option such as Nutella or Cadbury Chocolate Spread.

• Use larger or square-shaped marshmallows toasted to perfection, that means not charred to a crisp! With a large enough marshmallow, you can insert your chocolate directly into the marshmallow (before or after toasting).

• Drink whiskey while you do all of the above (if you’re over 21!)

• Feel superior to all the other campers nearby.