Fly N' Ride - Pueblo, CO

About an hour west of Pueblo is the city of Canon (tilde over the first 'n') City, which is right at the base of the Pike and San Isabel National forest, and some pretty spectacular mountain ranges.  Just to the west of Canon City is the Royal Gorge, which is one of those natural wonders that I'd simply never heard of before, until I was within an afternoon's drive from it.  US-50 runs out that way, and the access road from off 50 is littered with the usual tourist-y trap looking souvenir purveyors.  

Once on the actual park land though, the views become better.

Definitely reminiscent of the other, significantly more famous big darn hole in the ground slightly further south.  But Royal Gorge has a pedestrian bridge going across it, and even a suspended cable car.  

They wanted 20 bucks to walk across the bridge, which I thought was a bit steep.  So I settled for a stroll around the park and all the free pictures I could otherwise take.  There was a cool old narrow gauge steam locomotive perched up on a ledge near the gorge.  

I met an older couple from Dallas who were were also doing the touristy-thing.  They asked me a bunch of questions which, since I had already been inside the visitor's center, I was somewhat well equipped to answer.  They'd just ridden the excursion train that runs along the Arkansas river at the base of the gorge.  The tracks were just barely visible from a few vantage points above.

Pictures, as usual, barely do it justice.  It was huge, there weren't a lot of people there, and you could walk right up to the edge.  It was also lightly flurrying that day, which somehow made everything seem a bit more peaceful.  

Finding new roads, like a Boss.

On the way back to Canon City, I passed by a fairly inconspicuous marker for Skyline Drive.  Being an East Coaster, I'd always associated that name with the toll road at the north terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia.  This was not that.  What it was, was a barely-paved 8 foot wide strip of asphalt, one way, that ran along a ridge of a mountain overlooking Canon City on one side and Royal Gorge on the other.  

The entrance was benign-enough looking.  

Kinda sketchy.  

Oh, yikes

After descending Skyline Drive into Canon City, it was about an hour till dinner, so I decided to go find a trail I'd seen on the maps and get some riding done of the 2 wheeled, pedal-powered variety.

Glad you went to the Gorge, it's cool. Being out on the bridge is fun, especially with kids, looking through the cracks and knowing it's certain death if you mess up. There used to be a zoo and a lot to do on the other side before the big fire wiped out everything on both sides.

Skyline is so fun, we do it every time we go through that area. Pictures don't do it justice for the pucker factor. Did you stop and see the dinosaur tracks on the side rocks?

Realize I've left this story hanging on Skyline Drive outside of Canon City, CO.  I'm back in Colorado now, completing the work I had started back in April (a long story...) so why not get caught up on the rest of April's trip?

I'd seen this trail on the map; it winds along the Arkansas river East of the Gorge.  

It's called Tunnel Drive for a reason.

Yep, right through the mountain.  I have to admit, I had second thoughts about riding - alone - into a dark hole.  I shoved those fears down into my feet and pedaled as fast as I could.  The views out the other side were pretty great.

Tunnel Drive wasn't too long - it dead ended after about 2 miles.  But as one trail ends, another begins...

Double Black Diamond!  "Advanced Trail"!  "Go Slow"!  All right, I've got a sixty dollar, 30 year old mountain bike with no suspension, nearly-bald tires, and duct-taped brakes.  Let's go!

So far, not so bad...another few hundred vertical feet:

The local vegetation.  These little guys weren't a problem, but the larger ones perpetually threatened to shove very spiky needles into my denim-clad legs.  

The trail narrowed, and got progressively rockier and steeper.  Eventually, even on the lowest cogs I just couldn't make any more serious progress.  I walked the bike, then carried the bike.  Eventually it became less of a "ride" and more of a "trudge up a mountain into ever-thinning air".  My East Coast lungs were screaming, and my water bottle was empty.  A gnawing hunger and desire for a cold, frosty brewed beverage finally convinced me to head back down.

Going up this was tough and steep, but my mental energy was focused mostly on the sheer physical exertion.  On the way down, I was not only tired, but suddenly confronted with the inexorable tug of, um, gravity.  

And some very lackluster brakes.

Um, yeah.  Don't worry.  The paths are treacherous enough for me, thanks.

And then they got even better.  Somewhere in my cranium was rattling around a memory of these woop-de-woos, and pedaling over them slowly.  Now, these bumps turned into...jumps.

Arlo Guthrie once famously sang about making a sharp turn off a mountain road, and luckily not hitting the mountain, but going over the cliff.  Along the final switchback before ending up back down at Tunnel Drive, life imitated art (or Arlo), except that I, in fact, did crash into the mountain.  

Whoops.

Luckily, I'd been keeping my weight back, so I didn't do an end-over the handle bars.  I think I creamed a small cactus, knocked the handlebars crooked, and ended up on my hands.  After dusting myself off, picking out a few needles, and straightening the handles, I pedaled back down to the trail and headed back towards my car.

Screaming 25 miles per hour, singing my new bicycle song.  I mean, hey, there wasn't another soul around.

Right around here the grade began taking a turn ever so slightly downhill.  It got steeper and steeper, and pretty soon I was flying down the mountain on the bike.  The trail turned from cinders to concrete, and the final downhill straight of 100 yards or so it really got moving.  There was a bit of an undulation in the path and suddenly I found my bike 2 wheels up in the air, slightly sideways, and going, uh, way too fast.  I leaned back, stuck the landing, and yanked on the brakes as hard as I dared.  

And came in, very hot, back to the Chevy.

One of these is an AWD, vehicle with plenty of power that's great for hauling bikes, gets 20+ mpg and rides and drives wonderfully.  The other is a Subaru.

With the excitement portion of today's entertainment over, Canon City beckoned.  As did a certain dive-ish bar, cold beer, and shooting pool till pretty late with a couple of local guys.