That sure blew...

Mountain bikes are not allowed in any of the designated wilderness areas in Colorado. You can't even strap a bike to your back and portage it. If you're caught with a bike in those areas, you get a hefty fine. So...there are quite a few detours on this ride and the first one sucks. It's 16 miles to get through the Lost Creek Wilderness via the Colorado Trail but to get around it takes about 70 miles of forest service roads and paved roads. Today I started where the detour turns to pavement and heads north to 285 and the town of Jefferson. Colorado is pretty windy in general but this area always has hurricane force winds and they're ALWAYS right in your face. With gusts to 25mph and temps in the high 30's it made for a long ride. About 8 miles south of Jefferson the detour hits another fire road before it hooks back up with the trail and heads over the Continental Divide for the first time. Up that way it was snowing and there was way too much snow on the road so I turned around and started heading back. Unfortunately, I didn't take one picture today as I was just a bit fed up with the wind. I did see a really short and super stocky/muscular mule deer when I rounded a bend in the road. It was feeding on the shoulder. It's rear was HUGE. Turned out to be a Bighorn Sheep and that made much more sense.