Riding the Mineral Belt Trail, Leadville, CO.

The Mineral Belt Trail surrounds the town of Leadville, CO. at an altitude of 10,000 ft. It's 12 miles round trip. We chose to ride the trail, "clockwise", to get most of the "incline" done first. The town and trail is surrounded by the Collegiate Peak Mountain Range, with many peaks over 14,000ft. The trail is nicely paved, thru forest of pine and aspen, many starting to turn color for fall! It twists and turns up the grade, then goes into a fast, long downhill section which turns into a series of sharp S-shaped turns heading back into the town of Leadville!! There are lots of info-boards about the long Gold and Silver mining history of the area, with many "on trail" displays. The trail is 10,606 ft. at it's summit, it was sunny, 63F, with a nice breeze just a GREAT day to be out riding! 

Rode the Cherry Creek Trail, Denver, CO.

We loaded up the van and headed 1hr. and 6 min. north to Parker, CO. and the McCabe Meadows Trailhead of the Cherry Creek Trail. It's a older urban/open space, concrete trail that goes north to down town Denver, CO. We rode to Cherry Creek State Park and Reservoir, which was our planned turn around point for this ride. It's a little tight as it's the older 8 ft. wide trail but in very good shape, lot's of restrooms, ect. along the trail. Nice wooded area's mixed with urban areas, It was a perfect day, partly cloudy, 80F+, and a slight cooling breeze!!!  total miles: 26.6 RT. It was a easy ride but we did have to turn back 1 mile from the reservoir as a part of the trail was getting maintenance . Headed back to the van and drove back to Colorado Springs. A very enjoyable RIDE!