[BikeLongmont] Trip Report: Longmont to Denver 48 miles

[Richard Masoner]

I departed from my house at 10:34 a.m., got lost in
Arvada/Westminster, asked a homeless guy for directions, pedaled
quickly away after he got angry when I took his photo, studied the
fascinating multi-hued oily swirls eddying through the shopping carts
and other trash piled in the creek through the industrial part of
Westminster, enjoyed the miasma of riding by the power plant on the
west bank of the Platte and the sewage plant on the east side, entered
the cleaned up yuppie part of the path just north of downtown at about
2 p.m., stopped at REI/Confluence Park just before 2:30 p.m. (but the
bike computer said 3 hours 30 minutes).

Went to Starbucks @ REI and had an IV injection of a half-liter of
pure espresso and sugar. Rode to Market Street, caught the "L" bus and
rode back to Longmont, talking with Jim -- a bike riding software
engineer -- on the trip back. I invited Jim to the Easter service at
my church http://www.rangeview.org/

I returned to Longmont just in time to practice for the Easter drama
at my church in my sweaty stinky cycling clothes, had pizza and two Dr
Peppers, came home, fed the dog, took a shower, started laundry,
cleaned the turtle tank, cleaned bathrooms, and now I'm on the 'Net.
All-in-all a very groovy and satisfying day. And not a single flat
tire today!

The route I took was more-or-less what I outlined here:

 http://www.masoner.net/bike/longmont-to-denver.htm

I'll be making a couple of changes to that page. In particular, I'll
recommend turning off of 92nd a little sooner, note the tons of glass
on the path in Westminster, and note the absolute lack of any hint of
which way to go at one particular fork in the bike path.

RFM