by Deborah Leedale-Brown, Lifestyle & High Performance Coach
7 Day Blog Series of the Inaugural Women’s Wellness Camp.
DAY 2 – Hiking Enchanted Mesa Trail & Cycling Boulder Canyon
With the benefit of a good night’s sleep behind us (some of us slept better than others, down side of altitude) we were up just before 7:30 a.m. for a healthy breakfast to help prepare us for our first full day of hiking and biking. From our base at just over 8000 feet we then headed down the valley to Boulder, and a more modest but still challenging altitude of 5335ft for our first hike of the camp.
Our location for the first hike was Enchanted Mesa Trail in Chautauqua Park. My good friend Susan who lives in Boulder met us in Chautauqua. It was a beautiful blue sky day and the Flatirons provided a stunning vista for our hike. Susan led our women’s group through the hike, it was hilly at first and so our pace was steady with frequent rests.
My equipment list for the camp included Trekking Poles and all of the women had chosen to bring these. I think they quickly felt the benefit of having them. With plenty of stops along the way for photo’s and to catch our breath, we completed the hike in just under 2hrs – exactly what I wanted for our first session.
Once done, it was back to Breadworks for lunch before heading to University Bikes to get fitted on bikes for our ride along the Boulder Creek Path up towards Boulder Canyon. My plan was to ride to the end of the trail where it meets the Canyon Rd. I was aware however that some of the women were not used to cycling and had not been on a bike for a long time.
As an experienced XC mountain bike and road rider having raced at Elite level throughout the Mid-Atlantic area I spent some time talking to the ladies on riding technique and gear selection, I checked that everyone was set up properly on their bikes, and then we pushed off for the start of the ride.
The ride was incredibly scenic and this helped the women not notice that it was all slightly uphill, but hey what goes up, must come down so we earned our downhill back into Boulder and back to the shop. After a good 1.5hrs of work it was time to wrap up the first full day – a slightly tired but happy group of women climbed into the van and headed back up to Estes Park for a well earned healthy dinner and a group presentation entitled ‘Fueling your Performance’.
Enjoy the photos and watch this space for details of our next few days.
Leave a Reply