It is about 683 from Las Vegas to Keystone Bike Park in Dillon, Colorado. According to Google Maps that’s approximately 9 hours, 40 minutes of drive time. After wrapping up a wedding shoot on Sunday, my good friend (and biking partner) and I  jumped in the wagon and headed for Denver to spend a couple days riding cross country and downhill at the Bike Park. I have duel Yakima Cobra Racks that are currently sporting two, KHS 304 Mountain Bikes. We call these our “tweener” bikes. Light weight, but rigid, with about 3 inches of play in the front and rear shocks, these 8 speed mountain bikes are a nice blend of cross country and uphill as well as versatile enough for some light to moderate downhill (with a little experience). So anyway, after nearly 12 hours of driving through the night, (not 9 like Google suggested), and 3 hours of sleep at a friend’s beautiful mountain home, we arrived at the River Run village and hopped on the Ski lift for a ride to the top of Dercum Mountain and the beginning of the 5 mile system of trails to the bottom. I will be writing a review of the trails in a later article for mtobikes.com but suffice to say that after only 15 minutes of riding, my buddy misjudged a jump that resulted in a 3rd degree fracture of his collar bone. 12 hours of driving, 683 miles worth of gas, 3 hours of sleep, two days worth of lift tickets and McDonalds for breakfast……$450.00. The look on my partners face after only 15 minutes of riding, knowing we were done and heading home… well you know the answer to that….

(ps. I still had a great time and we will be heading back as soon as the snow melts in May 2009!)