Cherry Creek State Park Lean

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I was goofing around in my Facebook photo albums earlier, when I found myself looking at pictures of my old bikes. This bike is a Specialized Rockhopper FSR that I owned back in the late 1990's (it was stolen out of a bar while I was in the men's room, but that's for another time.) The photo is of that bike, leaning against a picnic bench at Cherry Creek State Park in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado. The park's main draw is an 880 acre reservoir on which powerboats, sailboats, and paddle boats are welcome. There is a swim area, and fishing is allowed. But there are other reasons to visit the park. How does 12 miles of paved roads and 35 miles of multi-use trails serving cyclists, mountain bikers, runners, walkers, equestrians, and hikers sound? Camping is allowed. Cherry Creek also has picnic areas, a dog park, an area for radio controlled aircraft, and even an outdoor gun range. A natural prairie environment rings the reservoir, and is home to more than 40 species. In addition to bird watching, nature lovers can see rabbits, coyotes, beavers, weasels, and both mule and white tail deer. I can't even count how many times I've ridden through the park. I've seen a few of the wildlife that I mentioned earlier as I rode. The most fun ride, however, happened one evening during an after work training ride, when a friend and I ended up in the middle of a pretty serious bike race. It was fun for us to try to keep up with various racers after they passed us, but these guys were good. Really good. We couldn't stay with any of them. But it was fun. Cherry Creek is loads of fun! I've linked to a really cool, short video. The guy that posted it got a great shot of a bald eagle in a tree at the park. (Info verified by Wikipedia)