Broomfield Open Space Loop
July 25, 2021
This week, we took it easy since the whole state is full of smoke from bootleg fires on the west coast. Instead of doing a weekend in the mountains, we just took a small trip on Sunday on some trails in a nearby town.
Broomfield Open Space
Broomfield contains a ridiculous number of intersecting trails, so we followed a route that took us through a smattering of those trails. We spent time on the coal creek trail, rock creek trail, meadowlark trail, and the US 36 Bikeway.
The trails were all really nice, though the smoke sort of ruined the views and made the entire ride feel like scenes in Mexico in Breaking Bad. The mix of gravel, concrete, and "singletrack" kept us entertained and even though some sections of the trail were a bit busy, other sections were empty enough that we could ride side-by-side and hang out on the bikes for long periods of time.
I recently invested in a new helmet and some new brakes for Mandarb. I ordered them both from Planet X, a bike accessory seller in the UK with obnoxiously low prices that actually made it worthwhile to pay the shipping fees from England instead of a US merchant. Overall my purchases turned out well, but keep in mind that covid still has US and UK customs utterly borked so if you order from them, expect your shipment to hang out in Los Angeles for a couple of weeks with no update from UPS.
Four Noses
After the ride, Meg and I stopped by the nearby 4 Noses brewery for a drink, food, and some to-go cans. We've purchased from 4 Noses before, since they distribute a little bit around the Front Range, but this was the first time I've actually been to their brewery for a drink. Turns out, they've got a fantastic location. I'm excited to bike all the way to 4 Noses from Denver sometime, since they're located just up the street from Kokopelli, which we've biked to before.
Conclusion
It was nice to spend a weekend relaxing at home, without figuring out a place to sleep overnight or how to best avoid traffic into the mountains. But since Meg and I only have a couple of weeks left before we head back to the northeast for a late-summer family trip, I'm sure we'll end up doing some more bike rides in the mountains soon. As long as the fires don't deteriorate air quality past the point of human safety.