Mountain biking! I will admit I am not much of a mountain bike enthusiast - at least so far. The Naegele clan, however, have been really becoming interested in the activity and have constantly invited me to go out with them almost every weekend. Today, when I learnd of their plan to ride around both lakes in Twin Lakes, Colorado, I simply could not resist. We had a great time!

What We Did: From Highway 82, we took Lake County Road 25 toward the southeast side of the lower lake. There is a parking lot right at the Colorado Trail sign, and we traveled on the Colorado Trail for awhile, before it spurs up the mountain ridge to the south. We continued to the historic Interlaken area and all the way to the Willis Gulch area at Highway 82. We rode clockwise around the lakes and finished our ride partly on Highway 82, the Colorado Trail (north of the lakes) and riding on Lake County Road 25. It took us 3.5 hours and 14.6 miles to do this.

Special thanks to the Naegeles. I think I will always be a road biker at heart, but this mountain bike experience may have opened me up to another new activity. We'll see!

Enjoy the photos below. The scenery was not too shabby either! :)

All the best,
-Steve

	At the beginning. We went up the Colorado Trail on the left.
	The Cast Of Mountain Bikers The one and only Steven Naegele (top left), a 16-year-old mountain biking phenom who plans to manage a team in my fantasy football league this fall. There was also Kent (top right), the guy I stole the wi-fi from last year, making a face for the camera. Kent moved to Colorado from Kansas many years ago and has been so happy with the geographical upgrade. Chris (middle), Kent's wife, joined in on the fun. I am in the bottom photo, and let's just say there was a point early on where I came close to hurling my mountain bike into that beautiful lake! :p)
	I think Steve should be a model for a mountain biking magazine, don't you think? In the bottom photo, Steve tried to "pop a wheely" but I darned camera had trouble capturing when his front wheel was really high. Oh and look at those views! It was a really beautiful day - sunny, little wind and temperatures in the upper 60's. It reminded me of the very pleasant winter days in Arizona (like in Salome, AZ) when I biked across the southern tier of the country.
	This particular view was very striking! Mt. Elbert and other snow-capped mountains, a blue sky, a pretty lake and an aspen grove. (Steve was constantly ahead of me with his speed. I held my own though.)

The Dexter House (above) was built in 1895 and served as the home of the owner of the historic Interlaken resort. The building was moved farther away from the lake and has going through a restoration process.

The wooden floors were beautiful!

Lots of interesting rooms.

Upstairs, a window view of the mountains.

This was my second visit to this area. You can see my walk (hike) to this very spot last year here: Interlaken Resort & Dexter House.

Another view of the Dexter House.

The historic Interlaken Resort which once served as a hotel 100 years ago.

	Onward we continued (west). We came upon this downright stunning field of sagebrush with Twin Peaks (alt. 13,333 feet) in the background. The trail heads into that large field of aspens to the left!
	The trail became kind of rough with many hills (rough for my standards as a novice) and we crossed about five creeks. I inadvertently got both of my feet in one of the creeks, making my shoes and socks wet and soggy. Ah well! :)
	This hill massive hill was a killer!
	An Overlook TOP: Steven shows off his Clif Bar with a grand view of the valley and lakes. SECOND: I ate this crunchy peanut butter Clif Bar. Clif Bars do a good job of giving a hiker carbohydrates and whatever healthy stuff to maximize a person's energy. At the same time, they are fairly tasty and even just one bar can satisfy one's hunger. THIRD - LEFT AND RIGHT: Ooooooh, ooooooh, it kind of turned into a little promotional event for Clif Bars at the overlook. I posed on a rock with Parry Peak (alt. 12,682 feet) in the background and then I got Kent and Steve to join the Clif Bar celebration! (This reminded me of my promotion of Hammer Gels in Mississippi in March 2008!) ;) While up there, I thought I would capture one really nice photo of the view. You can see the small village of Twin Lakes (a few structures including a blue one) out there in the upper left. I walked my bike up some fairly steep portions of the trail and kept scratching my ankle with the peddles. Somehow, I caused a little bleeding and Steven pointed out bleeding is kind of a "cool thing" to happen to you out there. ;) My other pages from this region: Road Bike - Twin Lakes Fall Foliage (2006) Fall Foliage (2007) Independence Pass Twin Lakes Fishing Points
	We passed the spur trail leading into Willis Gulch ...
	... and I tossed my bike on this patch of snow.
	We crossed the bridge across Lake Creek, which was running hard. Really hard!
	We rode on Highway 82 to the village of Twin Lakes. I captured the Twin Lakes General Store and a picture of myself drinking from my Camelbak. :)
	We rode about 1.5 miles on Highway 82 before jumping back on the Colorado Trail to the right. The trail is before (west) of the pumping station. While on that trail, I captured this one view of the lake.
	We rode back on the trail, going around the dam, and getting back onto Lake County Road 25. Chris was waiting for us when we arrived. Poor Chris - she turned back not far from the Interlaken structures because she had a hard time with some of the rocks. BOTTOM: I honestly have no idea what I was thinking or doing, but I know I was really tired! I had hamburgers and ice cream on my mind at this point and I persuaded the rest of the clan to come along with me! Yay! :)

Punky's - Buena Vista, Colorado We visited Punky's and I ate a green chili cheeseburger with fries and a soda. It hit the spot! Then I ordered an espresso chip ice cream in a waffle cone and Steven and Chris liked their ice cream too!