Mountain - Plains - Vail CO area road ride questions

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.



PDA

View Full Version : Vail CO area road ride questions

VaultGuru
03-02-09, 01:30 PM
We will be staying in the Vail CO area (Avon) for a week in early June and wanted to bring our tandem with us. I have looked at threads on this regional discussion and reviewed Map My Ride. It looks like most of the riding is done on I-70 and/or Highway 24. Is this correct? Are there side roads that are ok to ride on? We have to ride about 20 miles on I-80 when we do a Sacramento to Tahoe ride and it is a little scary.
Can any of you give me an idea what the road riding is like in this area? Any roads that are better than others? Any other places to start/end (Breckenridge, Copper Mountain)? We are fine with altitude and climbing.
Thanks in advance.
VG

superdex
03-02-09, 03:41 PM
I replied in the tandem forum :D
UGASkiDawg
03-03-09, 05:00 PM
You do not ride on I-70 in the Vail area but on a bike path that parallels I-70....the climb over Vail Pass to Copper and around through Leadville and back through Minturn is a great 78 mile ride. :thumb:

Shifty
03-03-09, 05:52 PM
You do not ride on I-70 in the Vail area but on a bike path that parallels I-70....the climb over Vail Pass to Copper and around through Leadville and back through Minturn is a great 78 mile ride. :thumb:This is a great ride, but allow much extra time. The climbs are long, slow and top at near 11,000 ft elevation, there are three of these passes. Start as soon as you can see in the morning, you want to be over Tenessee Pass before the thunder storms roll in around 2:00.

It's a beautiful and challenging ride, have fun and be safe.