I made my way down to Durango and grabbed some lunch at Zia Taqueria, hard to not stop there!! This would be the last night of the roadtrip and I was staying with some friends, Audrey & Jack, who have graciously hosted me on a few other bike trips.
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| Welcoming crew at the house. |
I settled in while they went up to the Purgatory bike park for the afternoon. I reached out to another friend, Liz, who was getting ready for her Colorado Trail Race in a couple of weeks. She was free to meet up for a beer in a couple hours, so I looked at Trailforks for a nearby ride to fill the time.
There were a mix of trails right in town, looping up and around Fort Lewis College. That'll work.
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| The River trail was a bit thick, my squealing brakes kept me safe around the blind curves!! Ha! The Animas River can barely be seen on the right. |
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| I located the beginning of Lions Den trail and began climbing. |
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| It was a nice grade, the distant San Juan Mtns. and brewing storms all around. |
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| Looking mighty dark back towards Silverton. |
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| Fun trail gaining the rim. |
I was a bit ambitious and missed a couple of turns up on the rim: bonus miles!! That's what happens when I don't follow a track, but it's all good and didn't take but a minute to figure it out.
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| Up near the college the singletrack continued in a more urban setting. |
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| Tucked between roads and campus, it weaved in & out of the trees. There were a few play areas with jumps, etc. as well. |
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| Fort Lewis College has a solid cycling team too. |
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| Checking the time, I circled around the rim ready to descend back to town. |
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| Ruh-roh! Re-calculating.... I had planned to take a much shorter path down, but had to divert back to Lions Den. |
I had to get my phone out a few times to find the quickest way back to the house. Sorry, Liz, didn't mean to keep you waiting!! Eventually I found my way back to the neighborhood streets and quickly drove over to
Animas Brewing Co. to meet Liz for some suds & CTR beta swapping. Had I been smart, I would've simply rode to the brewery as it was practically on my route. :headslap:
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| Post-ride greeting too! |
This was a fun route right in town if you have an hour or so to kill. Maybe at the end of a day and you could always finish right in downtown too.
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