Day 1
Drive 13 hours from Iowa to Keystone, Colorado. Crash!
Day 2
The original plan was to drive to Aspen and get ready for a hike. Afternoon rain in the forecast made plans change. Instead, lots to see around Keystone, Dillon and Silverthorne and its sunny!
What shall we do? Ride, of course. Found a 15.5 mile loop trail, Keystone Gulch to Soda Creek Loop. It sounded fun and looked good on paper!
An hour in and it started to rain, so we hung out under a big Pine tree. See the snow in the background?
Well, the rain didn't last too long and so we began riding again. Uphill. For about three hours, walking through snowdrifts, tight turns and sometimes riding. Maybe we didn't allow ourselves enough time to acclimate? Isn't overnite long enough?
We waited for the top of the climb to eat lunch. What a gorgeous view. 
This is what we encountered going down. How long before hypothermia takes effect? Add to this a few creek crossings and the sum is wet, cold feet!
As we came upon mile 12, Chris looked over and said, "we've been here before." And I gave him that look I always give him when he says something stupid so he continued and said, "No, what I mean is every single time we go riding on the first day we overdo it. And here we are again. We still haven't learned the lesson." And so we continued on , dreaming of a warm shower, hot tub, beer and food. We can do it! And we finished! Maybe 15.5 miles of high altitude mountain climbing is a bit much on day 1. Oh well, no biking planned for tomorrow, doesn't that count as a rest day? It's a hiking day instead.
Now, onto that shower, beer, food and hot tub!
If this isn't nice, I don't know what is!
