What a ride! What a ride!

Rick and I started riding around 10:00am from Masonville, CO, a few miles south of Fort Collins. We rode over Horsetooth reservoir. There were three short but very steep hills that made our hearts beat faster than the latest Intel Core-Duo processors! But the reward was that the views of the lake to the west and the town to the east were fantastic.
From the Horsetooth reservoir, a steep downhill took us to Bellvue where we turned north towards US-287. This part of the ride was very pleasant because there was little traffic giving us an opportunity to enjoy the changing fall colors. It was also almost dreamy to ride over fallen leaves.

Soon, we turned on to US-287. Although the traffic was fast, there was a great shoulder. It was also quite scenic.

After a few miles on US-287, we turned on to CO-14 and decided to take a break at Ted’s place. The sorrounding area is very picturesque.

Shortly after, we continued on CO-14, or the Poudre Canyon. It was mostly a moderate (or easy?) climb. But the traffic was very high and also there was no shoulder. This was certainly a negative aspect. However, the weather and the scenery more than compensated for that. We also came to a short ‘tunnel’.

The climb towards Stove Prairie Landing was longer than we thought, thanks to my forgetting to take the directions! Anyway, after 17 miles on climbing we turned left on to Stove Prairie Road. We took a break there. It was very pretty there.

Ride from Stove Prairie Landing to Rist Canyon was, well, torture! Five miles of climbing at an insane gradient. At times it was more than 10% and there was no let up. I was on the lowest gear for most part and by the time it was over, I had nothing left on my legs. Fortunately, the climbing was over for the day!

From Rist Canyon it was all downhill through a series of breathtakingly scenic places. Amazing colors and terrains.

Finally, by about 4:00pm we were back at Masonville. 55 miles of heaven in about 4 hours. What else does one need for Nirvana?