Denver Bicycling

My friend Patty and have gone bicycling on two different days, two weeks in a row. From her home, we rode over to the South Platte River trail, which isn't just for bicycles though bicycles work very well there.

The first week, we went north. Getting on at (I think) 40th Street (north end of Denver) we rode north to 104th Street where we found a small park and a convenient turn around. There was an immediate sense of being away from the city, and before long we were, in fact, away from it. As the name implies, the bike trail follows the bank of the South Plate River which flows northward through Denver before swinging eastward. Yeah, now and then you can see over the bank to various industrial goings-on, but that's not really a bother. Your main awareness is of the river, the green country along it, the trees, and the occasional rapid.

The next week, we entered the trail at 20th Street (or are these Avenues? I dunno) and rode south. For much of the way, there are trails on both sides of the South Platte. One was closed for a certain distance and we crossed the river a time or three on trail bridges. Presently, we arrived across from Confluence Park where Cherry Creek enters the South Platte. Cherry Creek comes across Denver from the southeast, just south of downtown, sunken into a channel (unnaturally straight and with concrete walls) from the bottom of which you can see buildings, but not the details of congestion along the streets.

There's a bike path up Cherry Creek, too, so we crossed over a bridge and followed it. After a distance, we stopped, made ourselves as comfortable as possible on the rocks there, ate the sandwiches that Patty had made, and conversed about a week-long work-related training session in California that she'd just returned from.

Back down Cherry Creek then, across the river, and into the large, multistory REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.) store that's right there. We were on bicycles so we couldn't buy much, which was probably a good thing. I didn't need anything anyway.

Back north along the South Platte, off onto a city street somewhere, and to Patty's house. Good rides. I didn't have my camera along, so no pics.