Sunrise at Walker Ranch

Greetings from the Rocky Mountains! Tasha here from Boulder, Colorado. I'm late for posting on our team's blog but I do have a valid excuse...like riding every chance I get (breakin in the new bike) and spending the daylight hours outside before the snow starts to fall. This weekend was our peak for fall colors and the gold, orange and red colors were absolutely gorgeous! The temps are in the low 80's...yesterday on a road ride up Lefthand Canyon, my friend and I couldn't stop smiling as we passed all the golden aspens. Okay, so enough about the weather and now about the biking...

At 6:00am Friday, my roommate and I geared up for a ride at Walker Ranch. Loading up the bikes in the car and piling our gear into the car took longer than we thought so no stop for coffee (bad idea). My new car has heated seats and they came in handy as the temp was in the low 50's. Walker Ranch is about a 30 min drive up Flagstaff and west into the Indian Peaks. Some crazy Boulderites do "Super Walker" which is a grueling climb up Flagstaff Rd, over the top and down to the trailhead...on a road bike it's not so bad but on a mountain bike, it makes for a long day. Since it was a work day, we opted for the drive to the trailhead. I created a placemark in Google Earth and used the Image Overlay feature, click here for a kmz file of Walker Ranch. The main trailhead is closed for construction so we started at a different point in the loop called "Ethel Harrold Lot." I use TrailCentral.com for local trail descriptions and maps. Here's a cool page with maps, kml file, and GPS mapping. The ride was longer than I anticipated but that's because we stopped at the technical parts and pushed each other to clear some tricky sections, took in the views of the snow-capped peaks, and snapped lots of photos. Back at the trailhead, we agreed to make this morning ride a weekly thing but allow an extra 10 min to grab coffee on the way.

Ooooh, I forgot to mention that this was my 4th time riding on my new bike: Yeti 575 (made down the road in Golden)! I was riding my trusty Trek 8000 (first mtn bike) and now that I'm on a full-suspension...I find myself saying things like "Weeeee" and "Wahoooo" - and the best part is now I LOVE downhill whereas before I was shy and easily sketched out on my hardtail. I found it at a great local shop, Sports Garage, and it was a demo bike for the summer, so got a screamin' deal. Now, the hard part is selling my trek. Lots of memories and miles on that bike...hopefully Craig's List will find me an owner who will love it like I did. Sniff. Sniff.

My other excuse for not posting on this blog, is I've been working on our team jerseys. Well okay, it hasn't taken up too much time but since I was asked to help out with the marketing and team sponsorship, I can see how it could be a full-time job! I'm on the marketing team here in the Boulder Google office and work on the SketchUp and Google Earth products. Our jerseys are being printed by Borah/Custom Sublimation in Wisconsin. Our design had to be changed due to art specs and seam printing issues, but Greg, our patient designer, worked with those guys to make it happen. I can't wait to see them and wear them with Google pride! I'll soon post about the cool stuff we'll be showing in our tent and schwag we'll be giving out. Well, I'm off to the Sourdough Trail for a Sunday afternoon ride....