Flight time: 48 minutes

As luck would have it, Rob's girlfriend was in Leadville helping pace a friend for the Leadville 100 and the Midget's best friend was in town for the weekend so we both had free passes to screw off all weekend.  And screw off we did.  Dawning our LarPig aviation gear, we loaded up the Dakota with bikes and headed to Steamboat with plans to bike, stay with Rob's dad then fly to Aspen the next day for more biking and a return trip home on Sunday.  Rob flew into Denver Friday morning and we both had some email to catch up on so we didn't depart KBDU until about 11am.  We had the plane fueled to the tabs and despite it being about 85 degrees we managed 1000fpm on climb out.  We headed north past Long's Peak then turned west over Estes Park.  I think we leveled off at 14.5k for the mountain crossing.  There were a few bumps but nothing too bad.  Did the dive bomb over Rabbit Ears to KSBS for a midfield entry to the downwind for 32.  Always amazes me how steeply you can dive the Dakota without picking up too much speed.  In the mountains, I never like to exceed 120 knots IAS in case some unexpected turbulence crops up.  Flight time was about 48 minutes which is not bad considering we were not going direct with the detour to the north.  Travis met us on the ramp and we put my bike together then headed over to Rob's dad's house to pick up his bike.  Got on the trail around 2pm and put together a pretty sweet ride.  Strava track is below.  Felt good except for the last climb back to Larkin's house.  I could have done without that climb.  And the rain.  And the wind.  His dad and stepmom put together a great dinner for our us and we got to bed early dreaming of a 7am departure.  Amazed at how chilly the evening was given it was still late August.  I really love the mountains in the summer.  

I have always been obsessed with aviation.  I got my ticket when I was 21 and have been punching holes in the sky ever since.  I have a Piper Dakota (N8161X) and an instrument rating and about 600 hours at this point.  My plane is currently based at KBDU in Boulder, Colorado.  I am a pretty normal guy who probably shouldn’t spend his hard earned dollars on flying, but I can’t think of a better way to burn it (other than if I could buy jet A instead of 100LL).  

I am sad that flying has gotten so expensive that fewer people, especially people my own age, can get out and fly for the heck of it.  Lucky for me, however, two of my best friends fly.  We spend enough time talking on the phone about airplanes that my wife refers to them as my ‘girlfriends’.  It is amazing how we can have the same chat about the same airplanes over and over and over again.