Last Saturday D2 and self set out on an adventure, a rather tame adventure. Try as we may to be mountain men, we are really Urban Spores that have to drive to the trails to go mountain biking. The good news was that we could drop our Spore Score by not driving to the trails out west. Back in April the new “W” line of the Denver’s RTD system opened up. The W Line starts in Denver and heads out west to Golden, so we figured we would take the light rail out to Golden with mountain bikes in tow for some weekend trail. Here’s some quick specs on the W Line, six bucks got us each round trip tickets, it was 40 minutes to get from Denver to Golden, and it runs every 15 minutes.
Normally the drive takes about 20 minutes each way, so the W line takes twice as long. Luckily D2 and I kinda enjoy each other’s company, so we made polite conversation about life, the start of the Tour, people we didn’t like, etc etc. The 40 minutes passed by in no time, and with a quick five minute pedal we were at the trail head. As usual the trails in Golden didn’t disappoint, providing a welcome escape from the real world for 90 minutes. At one point when D2 had just finished a climb we discussed splitting up. I was feeling like I had a throttle, and D2 was feeling the opposite. The beauty of taking the W Line was that neither of us were tethered to the other’s vehicle. If I wanted to stay and keep riding I was more than able to, and would just catch a later ride back to the city.
Even though my legs were feeling good, I was in no rush to thrash them completely, so the band stayed together. Before getting back on the W Line we made a critical decision to stop at the liquor store before boarding. A tall boy of Dales in a paper bag would quench our thirst on the ride home. Luckily the other passengers (mostly families headed into the city for the Rockies game) didnt mind our offensive smell, or the fact that we took up a couple sets of seats with our bikes. In the end it was a pretty standard (and boring) morning of mountain biking, but the new mode of transportation to the trail head added some excitement.
Excellent multi-modal work, lads.
Sounds like a fun adventure especially of those of us who share a car with the wife. Feel free to hit me up if you need company on a mission, i work across the street from the start of that line and have a bike shop and brewery in my garage a few blocks off the line.
Dang, you guys get all the fun.
Actually contemplated Hitting up the DC CO crew to see if you wanted to ride Hall ranch and picture rock trail in Lyons when I was visiting last week. I did have a few great rides out there, but was a bit ashamed of what altitude did to me being that I live at 3′ above sea-level.
@ mikey, I like the term Multi-Modal As Fuck (#MMAF)
I have also been a fan of the bus to pine junction. It leaves from close to downtown (and closer to my place), and you can ride Buffalo Creek and be MMAF.