One of my favorite day hikes in Colorado is the Mitchell Lake to Blue Lake trail in Brainard Lake Recreation Area. We headed up there on Sunday to beat the heat and get into the mountains.

If you haven't yet done this hike - I highly recommend it. To get to Brainard Lake from Boulder, take Lee Hill Drive just off North Broadway (LOTS and LOTS of road bikers, so be prepared to be the pedestrian) to Old Stage Road. Old Stage will dead end - take a left onto Left Hand Canyon into Ward. Once through Ward, take a right onto Highway 72 (Peak to Peak) and then an immediate left into Brainard Lake Rec. Area. The drive from Boulder is about a 1/2 hour.

If you want to take a more scenic drive and have a little extra time, you can just follow Canyon Road into Nederland and then follow the signs to Highway 72. Go north on Highway 72 and Brainard Lake will be on your left just past Ward. Takes a little longer - about 45-50 minutes.

Now - back to those bikers. I think the road bikers in Boulder are insane. Boulder has three major roads that swerve through the Canyons into the Indian Peaks Wilderness area.

These 'major' roads are two lane roads that curve and bend in every direction up, up and up. AND UP - without much of a shoulder, at all. At any given time, on any given day, you are bound to see massive amounts of bikers, old and young, making their way up. When I catch a glimpse of any number of the climber's faces - they look like they are in serious pain. I mean what I imagine to be giving birth pain. Their bikes are in the lowest gear possible, their calves look like they are going to pop out of their skin and explode and their faces are as red as possible from the oxygen deprivation that their body has been experiencing the past 20 miles.

Mind you, the way down is no exception. I'm not sure I need to be doing 45mph on my bike while flying around hair pin turns and passing cars all the way. Nope. Not for me. Now, I love a nice bike ride and a great work out, but this is the EXTREME. I guess it is Boulder. I once had someone ask me what three extreme sports I partake in - "you know, if you live in Boulder you've got to be serious about 3 extreme sports." There really is no joke to that. We even have 'extreme sports' band-aids at the grocery store. They made out of town guests of mine pee their pants they were laughing so hard.

Back to the biking. I'd love to know how it feels, so maybe one day I'll do it. But, I do like my life, so I think I'll skip riding up Baseline, Canyon or Lee Hill on my shitty bike. If you're reading this and you're a biker - enlighten me about why you might do this, because just to get a good work out, or get out on a Saturday morning doesn't do it for me.

Tags: day hikes, boulder, things to do in boulder