Thursday, February 05, 2009

Fort Collins Bicycle Trails: Mason & Spring Creek


Two days ago I took my mountain bike to Pineridge Natural Area to ride some of the dirt trails there. It was a lot of fun but unfortunately I realized that even with all the hiking and snowshoeing that I’ve been doing lately, my legs still feel a bit week when it comes to pedaling a bicycle for a few hours.



Not only is there an abundance of very well marked bicycle trails here in Fort Collins, there are also a lot of interesting decorations along the trails

So I kind of decided that before I go doing any more dirt trails that involve inclines, I needed to get my legs stronger and I need to start putting on the miles on by bike and get used to riding some distances and learn how to shift the gears efficiently. I’m a pretty good motorcycle rider, but I’ll be first one to admit that I don’t think I’m a good cyclist. I hope to change that. After all, I live in one of the best cities for cycling - road cycling and mounting biking.




Mason Trail: neat decorations and signs along the trail



When I ride the bicycle trails, I frequently get off the trail to explore roads and things - I found this unpaved road in the middle of Fort Collins so I had to see where it went



A little cooler this afternoon, I needed a light wind breaker

So I decided to starts exploring the many paved bicycle trails that Fort Collins has to offer. So today I rode 10 miles and I felt really good afterwards. I just started using bicycle shorts, that padding does work! There are many motorcyclists that ride long distances and wear padded bicycle shorts under their gear. I should have done that when I did my Iron Butt Saddle Sore 1000 (a motorcycle ride that involves riding a 1,000 miles in less then 24 hours). That was the only time I’ve ever had a sore behind from sitting on my 954RR.



Heading west on the Spring Creek Trail



A nice pond full of ducks on Spring Creek Trail



More options - which way should I go?



A part of the Spring Creek Trail has a dirt trail running along the side of the paved trail, I chose dirt over pavement on this section

I live on the south side of Fort Collins so all the bicycle trails are north of me. The Fossil Creek bicycle path runs behind my house so I rode that to the Mason Trail and from there I rode West on the Spring Creek Trail. I didn’t head out the door until the late afternoon, the temperature was still very nice but it was already falling from the high temp of 65 earlier in the day.

No comments: