The first day is done, and it was a good one. There's quite a bit of highway to get out of Denver proper and then up into the beginning of the mountains. There's really no way around it, you just have to put in the miles. But as soon as we could, we turned off  the pavement to get on the first of many dirt roads to come.

The first of these roads was fairly simple, a good chance for everyone to get the feel of bikes most of us have never ridden before. There was some spotty rain throughout the day which made the trails quite nice to ride. It knocked down the dust and gave really nice traction. It didn't last long enough.

Back on the four lane for the climb up to 11,000 ft Berthoud Pass, a really nice scenic stop. We got the mandatory photo. From there we went down to pass through Winter Park and then out rode out towards Kremeling where we took our lunch.

Not long after we were back on a wonderful long dirt road, not too challenging but very scenic, that took us to just outside of Steamboat Springs. We're spending the night at the Rabbit Ears Motel, a bit dated, but really convenient to downtown and I am very happy after a great jerked duck meal at a nearby restaurant.

We have an early 7:00 a.m. start tomorrow as the hotel breakfast is sparse so we're going up the road for a better one instead. We're also going to do some shopping for lunch and eat out on the trail as there are few other options. Tomorrow should be another relatively easy day, a good time to get really comfortable with the bikes before the more technical challenges present.