Day Four of Riding (Wednesday):
We were not sure what we wanted to ride today, we had found what looked to be an open trail called Richmond creek. This trail would have dumped us back onto Imogene Trail but the trail was not maintained and was not passable. Our backup plan had us headed back down U.S. 550 to the entrance of Black Bear. On the east side of the road opposite Black Bear is Big Horn Gulch. We took off on this trail. It was not at all difficult, but the scenery was nice. We caught a good view of Black Bear Trail on the adjacent mountain. Once through Big Horn and through Browns Gulch we were dumped back onto to U.S. 550. We decided to run on the Ophir Pass. I had experienced a flat the day before, and thought the tire was fixed. After beginning down the Ophir Trail I went through a whole can of Fix-A-Flat. I decided then that I needed to head back into town. I went as fast as I could but only made it to the outskirts of town. While I waited, Steve went back to camp to get another can. We ended up riding to Ridgeway where there was a motorcycle shop. The owner of the shop was a guy named Chuck who participates in the Pike's Peak Run every year and does very well (he finished second this year). Mike and Ralph had found this shop the day before when they were looking for new jets for Mike's carburetor. Chuck put a new tube on front tire while Ralph and Mike rode Governor's Basin Trail. It sounded like Steve and I really missed out on a good ride. That we went into town for dinner and some souvenir shopping.
