MTB Ride # 2: I headed up Horse Gulch trail this morning. It was a perfect morning for a ride - 65 degrees and clear blue skies. Horse Gulch is located close to downtown Durango, at the base of Ft. Lewis College. I started up a rocky dirt road which opened up after about one mile to 30 miles of singletrack. Durango is supposed to be a "mountain bike mecca", but I only saw one other mountain biker in the 1.5 hours that I was exploring. But that may have been because it poured last night and the trails were super muddy. Maybe everyone else was just smarter than I was and knew not to ride in the mud. My bike and shoes were caked with mud by the time I got back to town. Anyone know how to get all that mud off?

After the ride, I spent the rest of the morning hanging out with some locals. From left to right - Sabra Davidson, Mary, Lea Davidson, and me. Lea is Elke's roommate and I met Lea and her sister Sabra last night while hanging out in downtown Durango celebrating Elke's birthday. "The Patio" is clearly the place to be on Friday nights in Durango. "The Patio" is just that - an open-air patio on the 2nd story of a building on College and Main St. downtown.

Sabra rides for Middlebury's MTB team, but she decided to branch out this morning and participate in a local triathlon. She won her age division, despite taking a wrong turn on the bike course and taking a long detour!

Lea rides for the Trek/VW MTB team. Check out her pink board shorts - board shorts are the unofficial apparel of Durango. I haven't seen an ocean or any waves around Durango, but I've seen a number of locals sporting the board shorts. I think it's a good look and fits right in with Durango's laid-back, adventurous attitude.


Fun Durango facts:
- Elevation 6,512 feet
- Population 15,000
- home of Ft. Lewis College (which has an incredible cycling program)
- home to a number of pro cyclists, including Tom Danielson who rides for Discovery (and who also has his own brand of coffee. For only $12 you can have your own package of Tom Danielson coffee beans...warning, they are not guaranteed to make your ride as fast as Tom), and Lea Davidison (with the sweet pink board shorts!).
- Durango has these cool red trolleys that run all over town. You can ride one for only 50 cents.
- Everyone rides their bikes to downtown. And I'm not talking about cheap commuter bikes. Nope, they ride their $2000+ mountain bikes with disc wheels downtown and lock them up with cheap cable locks. If that happened in Denver, the bike theives would be cleaning up!


I went to Trimble Hot Springs tonight. 7 miles north of Durango. Marilyn Monroe apparently came here at some point. It was a very relaxing evening of soaking in the mineral hot springs, then getting a massage. This is the life!

Tomorrow I head out of Durango for the next part of my adventure. Stay tuned!