Good Trails In Boulder - Ridin' With Wilks 10May16

When I started to look for appropriate trails in the Boulder area on which to initiate Tom Wilke and his new orange Air9 steed, I was amazed at the dearth. This may be mecca for spandex and road rides but mtn bikers are disadvantaged. I finally chose the Dowdy Draw-Spring Brook Loop-Marshall Mesa just south of Boulder west of #93. It turns out these were great trails, especially the Spring Brook section. It starts with a 600 ft climb on rocky ST over the first 2.5 miles and Wilks complained a bit. It was a smidge rocky in spots and wet in others but in general a great fun trail - recommended when in Boulder. I was glad the weather held off on the day, especially since I had just come from Summit with 8" of new snow. Despite Tom feeling a bit under the weather even though he'd whipped us in golf the day prior, he accepted the challenge and is now a true mountain biker. He and his Niner held up great - I guess it can be crowded but we really only saw 4 bikers (2 of 'em on fat bikes) on the day. At the end of our ride mid-day we did pass 4 lycra-clad cross bikers on the way up and provided them trail status; I don't know how well they did in the wet sections on the way down - I wouldn't want that equipment on these trails this day. Gorgeous views of the Flatirons and the whole Front Range on much of the ride. Way to go Wilks (check out the leather gloves, tennis shoes and retro-helmet)! I saw his good Boulder-based friend Gary at Tom's book talk that evening and he was actually a little "pissed" I found the hardtail 29er as Gary wanted to get Tom on a road/cross bike... I just need to get Tom on the right tires for the rides with Gary and he'll be fine - the hardtail is a more flexible single quiver bike - I stand by that.