First bike ride of 2025

I took a chance on this warmer Monday, with a high of 69°, to try my first bike ride in 2025. I felt pretty dumb, after I realized I’d left my bottles of water and Gatorade behind on the kitchen counter. I found myself riding through several ice cold puddles, and some slush and ice on the trails. When the wind came up, the chill factor felt pretty low, and hypothermia seemed like a possibility, so I put on the one extra layer I always carry, and that got me home safe. There were some unusual sights — a hardy soul standing out on Chatfield Lake, drilling holes for ice-fishing, a trail closure due to a helicopter clearing some trees in the middle of the lake, and a small herd of deer by the trail.

Update: Apparently the temperature here dropped 25° while I was out on my ride. No wonder I felt like an ice cube. 

Chatfield Lake mostly iced over. 

Ice fisherman drilling holes all by himself out there. Brave soul, as the ice doesn’t look very thick to me. He’d moved to the other side of the lake, by the time I’d pedaled around. 

Helicopter carrying a tree to a collection area across the lake. I was curious about why they’d closed an extensive section of the bike trail around the lake, when I saw this. I was glad to have an alternative route around the lake, on the park’s perimeter road. 

Helicopter cutting down trees in the lake. I’m not sure I’ve seen a chopper carrying a saw and clamp like this. 

Small herd of deer by the trail. They barely looked up, when I stopped to snap a photo. 

The trails were mostly clear, although I encountered several icy puddles, some slush and ice, some sections still snowy, and lots of barely-passable sections of mud.

Saturday bike ride

 

With cold weather and snow in the forecast, this might be my last bike ride of the winter season. I am hoping to sneak out whenever it gets sunny enough to dry out the trails. We’ll see…

Friday ride

Fun to get back in the saddle for a Friday ride, after being away for awhile. l had a chance encounter with a squirrel running through my front wheel, or maybe just behind it. It happened so fast, I barely caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my left eye, then heard/felt some frantic activity underneath me, before everything quieted down and I continued with my ride. I’ve heard of this kind of thing resulting in serious injury and worse, so I’m feeling pretty lucky. 🤷‍♂️ 

Sharing a few photos from today…

Fall colors have arrived in our view from the breakfast table. 

Snowy Egret on a rock in the South Platte River. 

Cormorant on a rock by rapids in the South Platte River. 

Cycling event organizers taking down some of their signs after an event. 

Railroad tracks curving toward Denver, with the Rocky Mountains in the background. 

I’m seeing more red leaves along my bike rides. 

Purple and green colors along the Highline Canal Trail. 

Pleasant view of fence and fall color along the Lee Gulch trail. 

A little flash of red beside the Highline Canal Trail. 

Pretty reflections on the lake at Sterne Park during an after-dinner walk with our neighbors. 

Sunday ride

I got buzzed by a C-130 Hercules at the beginning of my warm 87° Sunday bike ride, then they kept coming around in circles, so I finally stopped to take some photos. 

I caught a few pics of sailboats and storm clouds, as I was making my way around the lake. 

More sailboats on Chatfield lake. I heard a series of warning horn blasts about this time, I’m guessing they were warning the boaters about some approaching storm cells.

At my midpoint hydration stop, I encountered a young man with a disabled bicycle and a bike trailer with two pug dogs in it, that were looking and sounding very thirsty. He’d already used up all of the water he was carrying, and was hoping to find a water fountain, with no luck so far, so I volunteered my water bottle to fill up their dog bowl. They were very happy. 

There were some dark looking storm clouds moving around the area, and on my final mile, I realized that one of those cells was racing me to my house, so I went into sprint mode, and I made it home about a minute before the rain hit.

After I got home, I used FlightAware to show me the track of that C-130. Presumably they were loitering over Littleton, until their moment to do a flyby of the Broncos game.

Thursday ride and repair

Hot and head-windy conditions for my Thursday bike ride. I was handling it ok, but then just to test my mettle a little more, my rear derailleur suddenly couldn’t access its two highest gears. While troubleshooting that in motion, I discovered that the front derailleur couldn’t shift out of its lowest gear. Hmm… 

I finally came upon a shady spot to continue my sleuthing, whereupon I found that the front derailleur shifter cable had pulled through its clamp. It was an easy fix, thanks to the compact multi-tool that I carry under my seat. 

After I got moving again, I encountered yet another rider who was having difficulty finding his way through the various trail discontinuities, and helped get him back on track a few times.

Keep cycling

Someone on a cycling group I follow recently posted a meme, which said something to the effect of, 

 

"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch." 

 

This needs to become my motto… It really struck a responsive cord in me, as I'm usually the one being passed on the trails, and there's a part of me that is quite discouraged by that fact.

Oops

My Thursday afternoon started out pleasantly, 75° and overcast, pretty much perfect for a bike ride. This time I waited three days after giving blood, having learned my lesson. A couple of deer crossed the Chatfield interior trail just in front of me, which was a real treat.

A large thunderstorm rolled through when I was a few miles from home, and I ended up pretty soaked. I thought of that as a good thing, as it helped clean off the blood and grime from the spill I took about halfway around.

 

I had a misadventure after crossing the railroad tracks, when trying to coast down the rocky grade that had a new deep track in it, probably from a maintenance truck. 

 I’m now regretfully declaring myself as earning the “endo” badge, having gone over the handlebars when my front wheel came to a complete stop. I still find it somewhat unbelievable, that such a small discontinuity could have such a disastrous effect.

 I’m mostly fine, with a few scrapes on knees and elbows, and a some sore spots where my chest and lower rib cage took the brunt of my fall on the rocks. I suspect my sternum will be developing additional soreness, as the days go by. 

My right brake/shifter handle got bent over about 45 degrees, and I couldn’t force it back, so I had some relearning to do, to get home, but I was glad it still worked. This might be my painful opportunity to disassemble the beautiful job the bike shop did on my handlebar tape and brake hood and cables, and see if it’s a simple task to get everything back where it belongs. Oh well, it was mostly fun… 🤷‍♂️

 

Wednesday ride

I carefully timed my Wednesday bike ride to dodge another big thunderstorm, and happily it worked out just as planned. Still, I kept my eye on that big storm cell, as it passed by, just grazing a part of my route. 

I was delighted to see a Red-Tailed Hawk alight on the fence beside me as I was riding.

I managed to catch a few closeup hawk photos with the better zoom on my new phone. i liked this one of the wings spread while taking off, even though the hawk, y’know, was mostly out of the picture  

I also caught a fun shot of a Pelican with some Cormorants, as I was heading past the south end of Chatfield lake.

Wednesday Ride

I enjoyed my warm-ish 92° Wednesday bike ride, even though I was a little sad to be missing out on river tubing with a friend. My bike computer says the ambient temperature peaked at 111° about 35 minutes into my ride. I took my time getting around my current favorite loop, to avoid overloading my system, and tried munching on some sugary snacks I picked up at REI. I think they helped me not be so wiped out when I got done. I love this new phone with a much better camera, and a great zoom! I snapped a couple of photos of wildlife along my route -

 

 

 

A Great Blue Heron wading in Chatfield lake. He was so far away, that I was pleasantly surprised to get this nice picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Deer was peeking over the foliage at me, as I came around the corner on the trail. Also pretty far away, and I was so happy, getting a photo where they filled the frame.

 

 

 

 

Cooler Tuesday ride

Pleasant, much cooler Tuesday bike ride.

When I first got moving, the chill in the air surprised me, and I was actually considering going back for a jacket... but after a few miles, I forgot about it...

...then later, I noticed I was passing through warm pockets of air, which felt good. I guess not that strange for a June day.

Thursday ride

Fun Thursday afternoon bike ride around Chatfield Lake.

The South Platte River has been quite full lately, as they carefully meter the outflow from the lake.

The prairie dogs were ready and waiting to greet me, on my usual hydration stop.

I scooted around my favorite course, with just a little threatening weather to remind me to keep moving.

I spotted a Great Blue Heron, and managed to catch a pic of it, lined up with the pod of Pelicans in the lake.

There a freight train on the tracks I had to cross, but this one was paused just a short distance away from where I portage over the tracks, so of course I *had* to snap a pic of the engine facing me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Near the end of my ride, I ran up against yet another Highline Canal Trail closure… hooray for our trail maintainers! I didn't see any signs suggesting a detour path, so I just headed down the Lee Gulch Trail, which took me straight to my neighborhood, so…not too bad.