Road Cycling - Anyone ridden Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain NP?

Heading up there sometime on or after Memorial Day and was thinking about riding Trail Ridge Road. My goal is to ride up Haleakala on Maui at the end of the summer, and I figure this is a good early test for the legs. Anyone done it and have any tips? Is there a ranger station or anything along the way between the park entrance and the top? How low were you geared for the ride (or, how steep does the road get in sections?)

Thanks in advance.

See: http://www.nps.gov/romo/ Has a good downloadable PDF map. I've attached an elevation profile I whipped up real quick w/ Topo USA 5.0. Rely on it at your own risk :) Good luck on both rides! You da man!

PS Profile is from the SW Entrance to the East station on the border of the park. I've saved the map and would be willing to tweak it a bit if you want :)

On Monday, June 21st, Ride The Rockies is scheduled to ascend Trail Ridge Road from Estes Park and descending to Granby. So, if that's your day to ride it ...you've been warned that you'll encounter a gang of riders similar to a swarm of locust. I might be there that day. :)

No, there isn't a ranger station, potable water or yummy snack consessionaires before the summit. I don't think you'll need it though. Obviously, the 6 percent grade on Trail Ridge isn't comparable to the 13 percent (?) grade on the Haleakala ride. :eek:

Heading up there sometime on or after Memorial Day and was thinking about riding Trail Ridge Road. My goal is to ride up Haleakala on Maui at the end of the summer, and I figure this is a good early test for the legs. Anyone done it and have any tips? Is there a ranger station or anything along the way between the park entrance and the top? How low were you geared for the ride (or, how steep does the road get in sections?)

Thanks in advance.

This probably isn't the most sensible thing, but every couple of years a friend and I will ride the top part of Trail Ridge before the Memorial Day opening. Since we're not in the best shape, we usually drive up partway and then get on our bikes and ride past the gate (we usually encounter a few people hiking up there) up to the summit. As noted in another post, it's not as steep as some other ascents, and while the lack of oxygen can make things more interesting, if you spin without trying to break any speed records, you should be fine. I find I drink about four times as much water on this route than I do anywhere else, so plenty of water is a must. The first time I did it on my road bike, which got fairly interesting once we started riding on snow - I'd have to stop every so often to clear off snowy buildup. However, there's usually just a few residual patches as most of it has already been plowed off at that point. Occassionally, a snow plow would pass us and the driver would give us a friendly wave. In terms of gearing, I think I was riding something like the 23 cog on a double setup. I did much better on my mountain bike, and the knobbies helped a great deal. Since we have usually parked our car partway up, we trade off on who gets to do the descent down to the Estes Park entrance. There's not much of a shoulder on Trail Ridge, so I prefer riding it in this fashion. Also traffic is much less before Memorial Day, so you are somewhat unfettered on your descent.

I rode TrailRidge last year on Pedal The Peaks. It is a gentle grade. Three tips. 1. Bring a camera, then when you get tired, you stop and take a picture. 2. My butt got sore, because I wasn't moving around in the saddle like usual when you go up/down or fight the wind. 3. The ride down was great, some holes in the road, some hairpin turns, and I found my pectoral muscles were sore after bracing myself for the long descent. I am a female and have never worked those muscles in the gym. Just a head's up.

Thanks all. With regards to Haleakala, it looks like it gets steepest in the middle section, which is at about the same altitude as I ride at most of the year. Trail Ridge is interesting because of the whole 12,000 foot thing. I drove down it last fall, but wasn't really looking at it as a rider, as we hit the motherload as far as animals go. Big horn sheep, a black bear and the omnipresent elk were a good attraction. Camera's a must for both rides. Hopefully, even though it's early in the year, it won't be completely freezing at the top. Though I'm sure I'll load up with enough gear to outfit two riders to be on the safe side.