Golden Gate Canyon Pictures

I'm always happy when race season ends and I can ride without worrying about my effort level, worrying about data, or otherwise being concerned with how my ride goes. It's not that I don't like training, but riding just for fun is more relaxing. This weekend I got in my first long ride since IMLou when Stacey and I ventured up Golden Gate Canyon. After a quick drive over to Golden, we began the long, long climb up to 9,000+ feet. Golden Gate Canyon is the hardest of all the climbs I've done since moving to Denver. It's 18 miles long and, even though the elevation is about the same as other climbs to Peak to Peak Hwy, takes a long time.

When we started the climb, I thought there were some low clouds.



Shortly into the climb we were out of the clouds, but the road kept heading up.



After passing a forest fire (much closer than the one shown below), I realized that the haze in Golden was mostly the result of fires.


A few miles into the climb, Stacey and I turned onto a less busy road (Crawford) because Golden Gate Canyon has a bit too much traffic. Several miles later the road turned to dirt. Not only that, but the dirt section was loose and predominately downhill. Not the best terrain to be riding one's tri-bike...




We ended up walking one hilly section that neither of us wanted to ride down (one of the photos below is looking back up the hill, which is steeper than it appears). The 180 degree turn at the bottom was part of our concern. If I had my road bike, however...



All-in-all, a nice autumn ride. Somehow, even the descent back to Golden has some climbing.