I start with an easy short climb up Lookout ridge, to take the road north to Niwot. From the ridge I enjoy an awesome view, so wide and broad I don’t think a camera could capture it. I see all the peaks along the continental divide in bright sharp early morning sun. Long’s Peak stands very prominent, directly across. Not much snow up there. Below I see the forested foothills and the broad valley between those hills and this ridge. Five hot air balloons have launched to enjoy the stable air and morning views; two of those drift across the valley fields at an altitude below me. I can locate the approximate destination of this ride, perhaps 10 miles as the crow flies (17 miles on the road, it will turn out), almost 800 meters of climb, and an hour or more away. People travel long distances and pay large fees for views not nearly as good as this.
I cross the Diagonal Highway at Niwot and immediately ride into the hay fields of northern Boulder county. I know these smells - grass and alfalfa. I have watched haying in progress over the past week. The rain last night will have disrupted the drying process, but not for long. As I turn west on Nelson Road I see old friends - red-winged blackbirds sitting on the fence posts. Watching for you, they seem to say. I ride just north of the Table Mountain antenna farm. I see the sign at the gate: Dept. of Commerce, but also US Geological Service. Hmm. Does UNAVCO have an installation here? I know they have one south of Boulder, at Marshall mesa. What could they do if they had two, perhaps with a line of sight across Boulder Valley?
I see many horses along the route - hard to believe how many horses live in northern Boulder County. A perfect morning for a horse - green grass, cool temperatures, and fresh air. I pass two of the larger stables, Triple Creek and Autumn Hill. Not much going at Triple Creek, and although their property includes small flat areas at the base of the arroyo, most of their horses stand on the slopes - not good for Tetley. Autumn Hill has abundant trailers and much early activity - I can see riders warming up. Mary Lou and Tetley could certainly keep themselves busy here.
I slow at the turn onto Left Hand because of all the bikes and cars. Thirty or forty cyclists and bikes spread across the road and shoulders, preparing for their rides, and cars carrying more bikes looking for parking. I make my way carefully and slowly through the group, wondering - will all these people ride up to Ward today? A few miles up, riding at my own pace, I have complete peace - a smoothly-operating noiseless bike on a smooth quiet steadily-ascending road, hearing occasionally the buzz of a humming bird but mostly my breathing interspersed with the rush of the creek down the canyon.
A few small rocks on the road - geology and erosion in action. I should work on climate and the Arctic - many people want me to continue in that mode. But, how, and from where? Who will speak for IPY in the future? Not me, that job will end and six months later I will no longer have either the status or the credibility. UNAVCO has good challenges, to understand the solid planet and its surprising surges and pulses. I could propose some new options to go with the GPS monitoring, such as acoustics. And they have the daunting challenge of attracting new and especially minority students into geosciences - a good challenge for me. I often say that we need more and more effective science communication more than we need more science - now I could act on that provocative statement. And what better story to tell than the urgent need to understand, using GPS systems, the rise of the Greenland land mass as the ice sheet unloads off the top?
I know these curves and steeps. Here, once, Gus made a surge and I followed, and we dropped a larger group of strong riders. Around the next curve, the road splits for Jamestown. Ah, of course, many people will ride not to Ward (another 11 miles up hill with some very steep stretches near the top) but to Jamestown, 3 miles up that way, for breakfast. I vaguely remember the Lee Hill road to intersect around mile 7, but now I see it already just after mile 6, arriving before I had time to collect my breath or prepare. The short but very steep northern ascent of Lee Hill - I take it very comfortably in not my lowest gear nor my highest heart rate. I crave these challenges, and the fitness I have developed from these long hard climbs served me very well back in the pulmonary crisis days of August 2008.
I race the descent, smile on my face, streaking past riders laboring on the long climb from the south. Sam can carve many of these turns at full speed but I touch the brakes and go more cautiously. Sixteen minutes to warm up and enjoy the views, 83 minutes for the full climb (now I have a time standard to improve on!), and only 31 minutes from the top back to my starting point. My half-humorous half-dangerous determination to maintain my maximum achieved speed on a bike above my age? No worries, the switch to metric units solves the problem. My GPS cyclometer (I told UNAVCO I have a lot of personal experience with GPS systems) shows that I hit 72 km/hr on the descent.
Three weeks ago, on a Sunday morning in Oslo, after Sam and Melissa had delivered the Polar Resource Books just in time, I said to the assembled teachers and students “There is no place I would rather be or task I would rather do this morning.” Absolutely and genuinely true, for that event and that moment, one of the final fun activities for me in IPY. I can say the same for today’s ride on a Sunday morning - where could I find a more challenging, beautiful and enjoyable ride?
