Glenwood Canyon, for the weak & attentive

About 90 miles east of Grand Junction on I-70 is the town of Glenwood Springs and Glenwood Canyon. I knew I was going on a bike outing to this area a few weeks ahead of time, so I bought a mountain bike at WalMart. WalMart?? The bike has a welded aluminum frame, Shimano indexing shifters, disc brake on the front and a full front and rear suspension. Even with all these goodies, I had enough left over to buy a large soft replacement bicycle seat for my large soft posterior. I rode it for a few weeks to get comfortable and I was ready for Glenwood Canyon. Actually, Glenwood is easy enough that advance preparation is not necessary. A good description of this bicycle tour can be found at:
http://www.wildernet.com/pages/activity.cfm?actid=021504IO*19hw&CU_ID=1

Our group started at Grizzly Creek. We could have started at an exit called "No Name", yes, that's really the name of the exit, but there is a hill between No Name and Grizzly, so we started at Grizzly. There is a large parking lot and a good restroom there.

We rode in the upstream direction, along a sidewalk, taking in the sights, like rafters.


And kayakers practicing their Eskimo rolls.


And for the benefit of my father-in-law, an old railroader with the former Denver and Rio Grande Western, the obligatory train-in-canyon shot. Sorry about the flare, I had a spot on my lens.

A good time was had by all. For those of you visiting Colorado, and not accustomed to the altitude, or even walking, rent a bike in Glenwood Springs and make this your first trip. You have control over how far and long you ride, and then you turn around and ride in the downstream direction (mostly downhill) for your return.