October 11, Denver, Colorado

Yesterday, I rode from building RA-7 at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, to Denver. (This was the same start point for the ride north last spring). Just Heidi and I were there–not so much fanfare this time!

Getting on the road in Boulder

Almost immediately, I realized that I had to repack the bike. I went with a much larger (and warmer) sleeping bag for this stage of the ride. As a result, I moved some heavy items into the duffle-bag on the top of the rear rack–way too high. The bike had a bad shimmy in the front wheel as a result. So, I stopped for about an hour and moved the heavier items to the front bags. It is quite stable now.

I have always wanted to ride the bike path along highway 36 but never had a reason to cycle to Denver. It was fun, but a bit noisy.

The highway 36 overlook

It was also quite nostalgic. In the spring of 1987, I cycled from Lubbock, TX to Wyoming, and actually rode ON highway 36 (which was allowed back then). Here is a picture of the highway 36 overlook that I took back in 1987.

Highway 36 overlook in 1987

Those boulders were iconic and were there for decades. I am sorry to see that they did not repurpose the rocks as part of the new overlook.

Riding into Denver was easy and completely stress free. One of the bike paths I took followed a flood control route:

Cycle route

Sort of like “Thunder Road” in the movie “Grease.”

I met a group of SPS students (Society of Physics Students) at CU Denver. (It was actually a mix of Metro State University and CU students, since they share a campus.) What a great audience! I had a lot of fun with them, encouraging them to keep being “nerds.”

I had to make a quick exit so I could get to my friend’s home before dark. Paul Gilpatrick, owner of HostWorks (a sponsor of the Tour) was nice enough to let me spend the night, and is cooking me breakfast as I post this blog update:

My Friend Paul

This morning, I start a two day ride to Limon where I will speak to a group of High School students. The weather is perfect, and the wind will be at my back.

Cheers

Scott