Back To Biking

This past Saturday was a beautiful fall day, and so I decided to take a bike ride from my condo to Larimer Square in downtown Denver.  My route took me through Washington Park and many of Denver's old neighborhoods.  Since it was Saturday afternoon and not Sunday, I had to walk my bike down the 16th Street Mall, which was all right, since it made people watching that much easier. It was pretty damn busy on the mall, and as a special treat, the Brothers of Brass were performing in front of Marlowe's Restaurant for tips.  Marlowe's will soon be closing it's doors, by the way, joining the Paramount Cafe next door, which closed last month.  It appears to be a tough time for restaurants these days in Denver.  Too many restaurants, not enough hipsters.

As I have mentioned before, they are building new apartment buildings on almost every block here in Denver.  All of them seem to be luxury units, too, and I am not sure how  these developers expect to fill them.  I suspect the real estate boom will soon burst, and people who now have to live with 10 or 12 roommates may soon be able to afford their own place.  In the photo on the right is a recently completed apartment complex consisting of twin 32 story towers called Country Club Towers. Prices start at a mere $2,000 per month for a one bedroom, one bath unit, and for some reason there still seems to be a lot of vacancies.  These two towers, by the way, were plunked down in the middle of a residential neighborhood, no doubt to the great joy of the neighbors.  They probably comfort themselves with the thought that traffic can't possibly get any worse than it is now.  I say to check with a recent California transplant on that one.

During my ride, I was happy to see that our recent snowstorm did not end the fall colors here in the city.  Since I assume that storm can be considered our "first frost," that means we are now well into Indian Summer (or is it Native American Summer these days?).  In any case, the temperatures are expected to remain in the 60s and 70s for the foreseeable future.  Which means plenty of bike riding opportunities.  Let the good times roll.