A night on the trails with the kids

Yesterday Melinda left town on a business trip so instead of laying around the house watching TV when I got off work I loaded up the dogs and my bike and headed to our local trailhead. Moonshine and Jackson have a tendency to bark at every little noise when one of us is away driving the other crazy and with their lack of exercise lately I knew I needed to get them out on the trails or I might be jolted from my sleep multiple times during the night by excited dogs thinking they just heard their Momma coming home. We got to Warriors a place I haven't ridden much lately so it felt almost like I was riding new trails. The dogs just accompanied me on the first trail which drops down to the lake. A water feature is always necessary for Moonshine and Jackson for a drink and a swim. Once we were done I loaded them up in the back of truck, under shade of course with plenty of water. Don't worry it was late in the evening the windows were open and the air was cool so no animals were harmed in this adventure. With the kids settled in I headed back out for some more singletrack action. With the rain we have had this year the trails were in good condition and not too dusty. I did run across a couple of new reroutes that the clan of rouge trailbuilders have illegally constructed. I also saw some added rocks here and there where someone couldn't handle the intensity of the original rock garden and thought they might make the feature easier. I hate it when people try to make rock features easier, it usually doesn't work and ruins the correct line that is ridable if they would just suck it up and learn to ride it rather than take the wussy way out. At one point I found myself taking an illegal reroute on accident because so many people have ridden it it looked more original the the correct route but the exit actually slowed me down and left me wondering what the point of that was. If only we could find a way to harness the energy of these rouge trailbuilders and get them to come out to a workday we could show them the correct way to build a trail and then they might become an asset rather than a nuisance.
It felt good to get out and cleanse my mind and nothing does it better than singletrack goodness. As I loaded up the truck I was pondering what to do with the rest of my evening. Jackson must have read my mind because he made an excellent suggestion to head over to the Libation Station and stock up on some good craft beer that can't be found in my local grocery stores. The Libation Station is a bit of a drive for me so I don't frequent it often but it's well worth the drive because I have yet to find a better selection. It's probably a good thing I don't live any closer because it's like walking into beer heaven, I always spend too much money. It's hard to decide on just one thing, the LS has so many beers that I have yet to sample I always come out with 2 or 3 six packs.






My selection of choice tonight, the Fort Collins "Brewers Lunchbox" a twelve pack assortment of goodies. Also one of mine and Melinda's favorites from our local brewery the "Roundabout Rye Stout" from Depot Street. I always gotta support the local guys when I can.