Back from my trip
Got back from Colorado Thursday, the same day a blizzard shut everything down. For once I got *lucky* with travel. Anyways, Fort Collins is great...big college town (CSU)...lots to do, see, eat, and drink (local breweries!). Fort Collins is also VERY bike friendly. The town is mostly flat and there are paths and dedicated bike lanes everywhere. I arrived last Sunday which was my only day to MTB. Lucky for me it was 78 degrees! Couldn't believe it. LBS Full Cycle set me up with a Giant Trance X2. Nice bike. I hit up Horsetooth Mountain and had a blast. Nothing but climbing to start...but afterwards lots of mostly non-technical singletrack down, up, and across the mountains. Great scenery all around, wish I had more time. Oh, also no problem with altitude for me. FC (~7500' max) isn't really too high compared to nearby Rocky Mountain State Park (~14,000' max)...another place that just blew me away. No MTB'ing permitted there but still totally breathtaking.
pix from horsetooth attached...