First night and Day One - Denver to Blackhawk

... by way of Blackhawk, Boulder and Rocky Mountain Park! How does that work? Stay tuned. 

But first, the opening day.  It started early for Andy and Julian, taking our lovely fellow travellers on the southwest ride to the airport for their trip home. See you soon!

 

We then killed some time in Denver checking out Eaglerider and sightseeing until the mid-afternoon arrival of Don, Scott, Jack and Brad.  

Scott got right down to organizing supper:

 

But we decided on something more substantial at a nearby Irish pub. 

 

After a welcome night's rest we set out early for Eaglerider and the bikes. 

 
  

And then we were off - or so we thought!  In fact we set a new Fukawi record by losing a rider (unnamed!) within a block and a half. After some false starts we were able to arrange a reconnection in Blackhawk and from there we enjoyed beautiful Colorado scenery on our way up to Boulder for lunch and then into the Rocky Mountain National Park. Wow that road takes you high up into the mountains!

 
    



Chilly up there but well worth the climb. 

 

From there it was downhill all the way out of the park to Grand Lake. Animal count - some chipmunks, a marmot, a female moose and some elk. Plus Scott thinks he may have seen the back of a mountain lion, but we can't confirm or deny that!

More bad news at this point.  One of the group has lost the keys to his bike somewhere along today's route but we don't know where. Harleys! Why do they design the locks the way they do? It's always an accident waiting to happen. Luckily we are still not far from Denver so hopefully the spare set can be recovered tomorrow. 

We made it back into Blackhawk just after 7. Certainly a very long day in the saddle for under 400km, but a fantastic taste of things to come. 

Tomorrow we head to Aspen, maybe by way of Mt. Evans. Visit here tomorrow to see. 

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