Bike ride redemption. Last weekend’s bike ride kicked my butt! We didn’t finish enough of the trail to write about, so during the week I researched bike trails where I could get back on “the horse”.
Betasso Preserve was the perfect spot for an after work Friday ride and one of the things that makes Boulder Boulder is that a 15 minute car ride puts you in the mountains!
Betasso Preserve provides an easy-to-moderate loop for both hikers and mountain bikers. Mountain bikers are all required to travel in one direction and it quickly became obvious why with the roller coaster hills and sharp switchbacks. We chose Canyon Loop Trail, a 3.2 mile round trip that offers a beautiful combination of biking through aromatic ponderosa pine and beautiful meadows with sweeping views.
Parts of this trail, which begins at 6,480 elevation, are carved into the side of a steep slope where you have to take care not to fly off the side of the mountain. For me that means riding my brakes. For Jim that means pedal faster and “woo-hoo!”
Last week I read a study from the Nature Conservancy about why kids don’t spend more time outdoors. The vast majority of today’s kids use a computer, watch TV, or play video games on a daily basis, but only about 10 percent say they are spending time outdoors every day, according to their nationwide poll. So it was refreshing, albeit humbling, to see a dad and his nine-ish year old son whiz past me, dad giving lots of accolades and reminding son they may need to shift often. I am so grateful to have been exposed to nature early and often.
I’m also grateful for people like Mr. Betasso. In 1915, Steve Betasso of Italy purchased this property with profits from a successful local mining business. The property remained in the Betasso family as a ranch until 1975 when Steve Betasso’s son, Ernie, sold 773 acres of the ranch to Boulder County. This marked Boulder County’s first major open space acquisition.
It is said that Ernie so loved the land that he never once considered moving into town saying, “you can’t leave the mountains because when you live up there one leg gets shorter than then other.”
Thank you, Mr. Betasso, for loving the land enough to help preserve it for future generations!
As I sit her with my sinus all stuffed up because of the time of the year, the sentence about “riding through aromatic” caught my attention. Glad you guys are getting outside and getting some fresh air.