“Stop the car!” I barked.
My startled husband yanked our rental car to the side of the road. Lucky for me, he has a good sense of humor and was able to understand my urgency when I explained that I thought I had just seen a bicycle fly through the air. A quick reverse up the block and we found ourselves pulling into Valmont Bike Park, where BMX bikers were, indeed, leaping off jumps and soaring through the air.
We walked into the park and settled on a stand of metal bleachers. From that vantage point, we could see a pack of helmeted BMX riders cued up at the top of a nearby hill, ready to test their will and technique on dirt hills made for leaping and jumping. I held my breath with each launch as riders careened down hills, jumped into the air, and landed on unimaginably steep slopes where they gained speed to fling themselves aloft only seconds later. It seemed there were any number of tracks from which they could plot their dangerous courses, and we were glued to our seats as if we were at a professional show.
This wasn’t the kind of entertainment we had anticipated on our trip to Boulder, but it was an exciting way to pass an hour or so off the beaten trail. The 42-acre park maintains a small playground and bathroom along with the dirt jump trails we had found. There are also slalom trails, sand pits, pump parks, and other dirt trails for bikers to enjoy. On further investigation, we found a dog park and picnic pavilion in another part of the property.
It wasn’t our only local surprise. I had found the Shelby American Collection museum in the outskirts of Boulder on the internet, and my husband’s beaming response when I mentioned it meant we were going to visit for sure.
We wound around unfamiliar roads and ended up in an industrial park, where a nondescript office building belied the treasures within. I was hesitant at first but soon realized we were in a very special place with reverent motorsport fans who moved slowly from display to display soaking it all up. Fortunately, I had seen and very much enjoyed the movie “Ford vs. Ferrari,” and in this building, it came to life.
