Just wondering if you're allowed to ride up and down pikes peak on the regular ride without being in a tour or during the Pikes Peak classic or anything - I was thinking about doing it this weekend - starting in Denver, riding up Pikes Peak and camping somewhere near.
I'm pretty confident of being able to do it - having ridden to Breck and back last weekend (and the ride to CO Springs from Denver should be much easier)
I know there's a toll booth and I'm interested in knowing if they shoo people with bikes there. I'm not crazy about taking the actual trail - I'll be on a Surly Cross Check set up mainly for touring and a singletrack is basically a little over its limits in this setup.
If not, hey, there's Mt. Evans :)
Thanks for any insight - the web only told me about group rides where you take the train up, just to ride down - which misses half the fun ;) , the PPC, motorcycle dudes talking about stuff and the like. Haven't found anything that prohibits, but I thought maybe I'd get some info from someone a bit local :)
Thanks, gals and guys!
The BikeForums Team
-adv-
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You're basically spot-on with the information you have.
If you head up Pikes Peak outside of a guided tour then you're basically trespassing. Unfortunately, the Pikes Peak Highway is the only manageable-by-bicycle route up the peak. There is one company with a contract allowing them to haul groups up for riding back down. I'm with you, man - where's the fun in that? It's a shame.
P.S. I checked out your site and I dig the shirts. I'll get one soon after I buy myself some food. :-)
Shifty
A fun ride with the same effect is the road up Almagre Mountain, just to the south of Pikes Peak, it's MUCH better due to the lack of cars and people. This road is dirt, and starts at Gold Camp road. It goes to the very top of the crater like top of Almagre, then on the way down off this road you can pick up the single track Captain Jack trail that takes you on a wild downhill run back into town. Should be done on a mountain bike.
On your Surly it would be a beautiful ride from Colorado Springs on Gold Camp road to Cripple Creek and Victor. Also firm dirt, do it at a low traffic day/time for less dust.
skazat
You're basically spot-on with the information you have.
If you head up Pikes Peak outside of a guided tour then you're basically trespassing. Unfortunately, the Pikes Peak Highway is the only manageable-by-bicycle route up the peak. There is one company with a contract allowing them to haul groups up for riding back down. I'm with you, man - where's the fun in that? It's a shame.
Sigh. Oh well. I do further research on different search terms - basically instead of search for, "bicycles allowed on Pikes Peak Highway", I looked for, "Not Allowed on..." - made all the difference.
I decided to do Mt. Evans instead that weekend from Denver (and back). Hazzah!
P.S. I checked out your site and I dig the shirts. I'll get one soon after I buy myself some food. :-)
Awesome! They're nice and I love the shirts too - should be a good tour, as well!
skazat
A fun ride with the same effect is the road up Almagre Mountain, just to the south of Pikes Peak, it's MUCH better due to the lack of cars and people. This road is dirt, and starts at Gold Camp road. It goes to the very top of the crater like top of Almagre, then on the way down off this road you can pick up the single track Captain Jack trail that takes you on a wild downhill run back into town. Should be done on a mountain bike.
On your Surly it would be a beautiful ride from Colorado Springs on Gold Camp road to Cripple Creek and Victor. Also firm dirt, do it at a low traffic day/time fro less dust.
Awesome! I'll have to check those trails out when I get back in August - sounds like good cyclocross training ;) I have a race cross bike (Jake the Snake) that may handle the rough stuff a bit better, but I'm forseeing sore wrists if I get into anything *too* technical - but hey, that's why you learn to pick the darn bike up! :)