Bicycling Saves Lives

An afternoon on the bike trail could extend your life!!

So often, we hear about all the ways to help us live longer, and they often involve sacrifice. I mean, who wants to stop eating fun food. Most people would say, "Go ahead & take a couple years off my life if I can keep enjoying the treats I love."

Hit the trail and help your heart!!

But now, we're finding out that there's a fun way to get healthier and fight heart disease.

According to a recent study, "Three hours of bike riding per week could cut your risk of heart attack and stroke in half." Wow... talk about having your cake and eating it too. Riding bicycles (especially on trails) is a blast!!   AND... it's good for you. Talk about doubling your fun!

Thanks to People for Bikes for a great web page with the above bike facts and more. They made a nice graphic showing the benefits of bicycling. If you get a chance, check it out. 

Bicycling Saves Lives

Rio Grande Trail: Part II in my funky trail guide series

How many trail guides have your read that start with the question:
"Would you like a glass of wine?"

Mt. Sopris from the Rio Grande Trail

That's how I started my Rio Grande Trail guide. I related an episode from my own experience on this Western Colorado trail gem.

The theme of the Rio Grande Trail Everytrail guide is how to enjoy the swanky town of Aspen for a not-so-swanky price. Of course, as always, the guide includes the ubiquitous trail map, points-of-interest, trail photos, and trail description. But in addition to the everyday, "this is here and that is there" type description, I tried to give a little taste of the trail experience rather than just the trail details.

Here are some of my favorite Rio Grande Trail memorable characteristics:

trail bridge over the Roaring Fork River

1. The trail starts in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, one of the premiere adventure travel hotspots with whitewater rafting, top-notch hiking trails, ziplines, Segway trail tours, and of course biking trails.
2. The Rio Grande Trail is 42 miles long, perfect for a day of pedaling and touring.
3. Even getting to Glenwood Springs is fun with Amtrak service that lets you off right by the famous hot springs, hotels, restaurants and, best of all, two world-class bike trails.
4. Aspen is a blast just to hang out, people watch, visit art galleries, and eat lots o' gelato.
5. The RFTA transit system makes your return trip a cinch since it's found in handy locations and welcomes bikes on the bus racks.

I haven't even mentioned the fun towns in between Aspen and Glenwood Springs, or the trail activities, or the scenery, or the wildlife, or ....

To find out more about the Rio Grande Trail in Aspen, Colorado, visit the Everytrail guide or the trailsnet condensed version.

Rio Grande Trail: Part II in my funky trail guide series

Trail Information on Google's NGram Viewer

While reading the Sunday newspaper, I discovered an internet tool called the NGram Viewer by GoogleLabs.

Using the NGram Viewer, it is possible to compare the popularity of words and phrases over a long period of time and from one generation to the next.

"What does this have to do with trails," you may ask?

So I used NGram to compare trail related terms and how frequently they've been used over the years.
First, I compared the phrases hiking trail, biking trail, rail trail, equestrian trail, bike trail, multi-use trail, and family trail. Sorry the graphs (below) spill over into the right margin, but when I tried to publish the smaller versions, they were awfully difficult to read.

Hiking trail was consistently the most popular from the 1930s until present time. Bike trail was next most popular, biking trail 3rd, equestrian trail 4th, rail trail 5th with multi-use and family trail taking up the rear.

Next, I compared the words street, road, path, and trail. The results of this popularity poll were predictable, but with a pleasant surprise:

While the words street and road were the undisputed champions up until the 1960s, the word path began to vie with street for dominance. And then, in the late 1970s, path forged ahead of street and stayed that way. I was a little disappointed that trail has gained more headway, but at least it hasn't gone down in popularity like both street and road.

Next, I compared some specific trails to each other. Only one conclusion can be reached by the accompanying data; the Katy Trail is by far the most well-known of our nation's long-distance trails. So congratulations to Missouri for having such a successful trail. That is definitely something to be proud of.

Trail Information on Google's NGram Viewer

Bitterbrush Trail on Hall Ranch Open Space

Northwest of Boulder, Colorado lies the Hall Ranch Open Space, part of the North Foothills Open Space complex. Both Hall Ranch and Heil Ranch are included in this system, and both areas have incredible mountain bike trails that are now connected by a bike trail.

The Bitterbrush Trail and the Nelson Loop Trail are both on Hall Ranch Open Space and are about a mile and a half from Lyons, Colorado on highway 7. The two trails make up a lasso trail (sometimes also called a lariat trail) with the Bitterbrush Trail forming the rope handle of the lasso and the Nelson Loop Trail forming the actual lasso.

These trails are fairly steep in spots, and they are studded with outcropping rocks and tree roots along the trail. While these obstacles make the trail fairly difficult, they also make it the ultimate roller coaster ride for seasoned mountain bikers.

View and download the Everytrail Guide for these trails and enjoy directions, descriptions, pictures, and suggestions on your smart phone. It beats lugging around an unwieldy guidebook every time you hit the trail.

Bitterbrush Trail on Hall Ranch Open Space