Walker Ranch

Date: June 8th, 2003
Route: Walker Ranch
Distance: 8-mile loop
Location: Boulder, Colorado
Team: Matt Esser (Toid), Colleen Rickard (Co)
Time: 3h 15m

Every town has their trail. The one trail that’s a step above all others. The trail that carries the stigma of legendary trails from far away places. Walker Ranch does this and is like the little brother to some really great trails. Walker carries the tough role of providing Boulderites something to do with their thousand-dollar mountain bikes so they don’t get bored. I think it achieves it.

Colleen hadn’t ever been mountain biking before. In fact, her last bike was a pink Huffy with a cute, little basket on the front. That was years ago. This was now, and all her pink Huffy would be good for is to collect your life insurance. Neither would return. No bother, Colleen borrowed her Dad’s bike which has a mysterious background. Co said she about fell off trying to ride it down the street, and that it had been a while since she’d ridden a bike.

“Pffffft” Matt her boyfriend said! You see, he wanted to insure the saying “Once you learn to ride a bike, you never forget” was true. In fact, you really don’t ride Walker Ranch. You merely just try and survive it. Thus it was and Matt loaded up Co’s bike and drove her straight to the bike shop to get a helmet. Colleen didn’t have a helmet and there was no way anybody should ride Walker Ranch, let alone a bike, without a helmet. Not with me, no way. Gonzo-abusive singletrack here we come!

After unloading the bikes, which in its own right was a monumental task, I discovered that I placed my front wheel on backwards. How is this possible you ask? Well, I have a computer on my bike and it needs to have the wheel on the correct side so it can get a steady reading from the magnet on the spoke. I quickly changed this and we proceeded to dive down into the canyon where South Boulder Creek resides. I look back at Colleen, she’s nervous, she feels uncomfortable on the bike, but that’s understandable, this *is* Walker Ranch. This isn’t paved road.

(There are two ways to go around the loop at Walker Ranch. You can go clockwise, or counter-clockwise. Today we were going counter-clockwise and it’s definitely easier than the former. I’ve done both, and can testify to this. However, some people like going the other way, so, I guess the only way for you to find out is to do it. However, the route description that I talk about today is counter-clockwise.)

Riding along the river was relaxing. However, soon enough you have to start heading uphill. Not two seconds after I clicked in and was pedaling furiously up the gargantuan hill, I hear the words, “Honey, my chain fell off!” Doh! Trying to stop in clipless pedals while going up a steep incline is hard to do, because basically the second you stop pedaling to unclick, you fall over on your side and if you don’t get your foot unclicked, you land on your hip. Needless to say, being the heroic boyfriend that I am, I stopped and attended to Colleen and her bike. It turns out that the chain didn’t fall off, and that it was just in so low of a gear she thought it did. Awesome, that was easy. Especially compared to this hill I might have mentioned we were on.

Cresting the top of the rocky singletrack brings you to a glorious meadow. This was well received by us, because it meant we could head downhill again and the path was a little smoother. After some kodak moments we made up some time, and then begain another harrowing descent into an abyss. This time it was a little more technical, and it culminates with this cliff section where there’s a sign that states bikers have to dismount. (Seriously, if you didn’t dismount you aren’t going to be typing a trip report afterwards) We did this and Co was super as she carried her own bike on her back down the steps.

After crossing the bridge you have two options. Take the ridiculously hard singletrack back to the parking lot, or take the road back. We took the road. It was soothing. However, we did spot a mountain lion habitat sign and to watch out for them. No comment.

What a day! Walker Ranch is definitely a fun ride. I probably should have taken Co down something easier, but I figure if I can throw the hardest thing at her, everything else will seem easy the rest of summer. That’s how I like looking at things.