Heathpack 

Recovery ride on the bike path in Breckenridge today with my radiologist friend, the scenery from this bike path is kind of sort of ok. We'll head out for a little easy hiking in Loveland Pass this afternoon. Easy because you drive up to the top and the hike itself is flat.

Heathpack 

Wish you were here, @sarals. Next year's training camp is Carmel so you will be the central figure. First week in Feb 2017. Mark your calendar!

The most beautiful ride I've ever done is Carmel Valley, it will be on the agenda for sure, with wine tasting & lunch to follow.

valygrl

Missed you sarals!

sarals 

I'm definitely in!

I sure would have loved to have come to Colorado where I could have hated that scenery and complained about the climbs with everyone else. And smiled a whole lot!

Heathpack 

Trying to figure out my ride for Friday. I wanted something epic but now I'm thinking scenic & non-epic would be fine.

Loveland Pass is out- too long and too many tanker trucks.

In Summit County that seems to leave Montezuma via Swan Mountain, which could be done from Breckenridge but Ive already been over Swan Mountain again plus we drove the Montezuma part today. It was pretty though and a quietish road. It would be 45ish miles & 2500ish ft climbing if I rode from Breckenridge.

Beyond that I am thinking of riding in the Aspen area. Maroon Bells seems the perfect mix of not-too-hard and beautifully scenic. But I can't exactly imagine how that will work with Mr SAG and the road being closed. Maybe he can ride the bus and we can meet up at the various stops. I'll have to call the ranger station tomorrow to understand that whole thing.

The other option was Independence Pass, which is harder- 4000 ft over 20 miles. Thats out- just too gnarly for me this trip. Plus we have our anniversary dinner the night before. It would be nice to have a drink without feeling like I'll pay the price the next day.

The negative to Aspen is the 5-6 hour round trip drive after a late night just to do a 17 mile ride. Obviously we'd check out Aspen as well, but actually taking an entire trip there in the future is not out of the question because our timeshare has a property there which is not too hard to book.

Has anyone done the Montezuma route? Any rides not on my list that I should be considering? I'm having trouble making a decision.

valygrl

How about bike path from Breck down to Frisco, bike path to Copper, pop out where we parked, then up the Vail Pass bike path to the rest area on top, turn around and reverse.

The path between Frisco and copper will be the only totally new part for you but it's beautiful

Stop at the Butterhorn bakery in Frisco for pastries and coffee. I think they close at 2:30 and the croissants are totally worth organizing your ride around.

If you want more the bike paths around the north side of Lake Dillon are nice too.

Racer Ex 

Long ride. Not sure if they are racing this weekend.

Heathpack 

Helpful as always, @Racer Ex. Rubbing salt in that track wound.

@valygrl, your route has appeal. It would be nice to do a better job up Vail Pass.

Right now I'm leaning towards @robabeatle's suggested Glenwood Springs to Maroon Bells route. If I start in Glenwood Springs, that cuts the morning drive to 1:45. We picked the early dinner seating the night prior, and could realistically be on the road at 7am, I could be pedaling at 9am. 60 miles/4000 ft is going to be 5-6 hours with sightseeing/picture stops. Done by 3, and I can get a shower at the Aspen rec center, then early dinner. Long day but we'd be back by 9pm. It's a matter of how the tour-bus-only aspect of Maroon Bells works, I need to call & get details on that.

Montezuma via Keystone is still on the table if I can't get Aspen details to work out.

happybday29475

Most of the time I'm in that neck of the woods I'm on a MTB; I don't have too much road ride experience. With that said, here are a few ideas:

- loop around Lake Dillon
- bike path Breck -> Copper
- Out and back to Montezuma
- North on Highway 9 out of Dillon (it's a highway,yuck, but has wide shoulder)

My best suggestion:
- Ute Pass Road (here) - an easy 30 minute climb on a pretty road with very little traffic. Can also descend the other side, also pretty. It's a dead-end road, so out and back, as far as you want to go...but in any case not a huge ride. Could drive to the bottom, or could ride from Breck, all depending on ambition...


I would consider some non-biking options. Top of the list might be hiking Mt Quandary. It's a 14er, its close to you, it's not too tough, it's quite pretty, and it'll give you a taste of what climbing 14ers is like.

If you do go to Aspen there are a number of nice rides there. (Strava heat maps make for good exploratory tools). There is a bike path next to the freeway similar to the breck path. One loop is from Aspen to Owl Creek to Snowmass down Brush Creek and back. Owl Creek Road is a 15' climb, not that long, but it's always been one of my favorite 15' segments! It's very pretty, and it will make you want to move to Aspen!

We always enjoy time in Aspen...there is lots to do. It's famous and touristy and appropriately yucky, but beneath that thick veneer, it's still awesome.

Heathpack 

Thanks, @rapwithtom. One of my former interns lives in Silverthorne it turns out and at some point she messaged me "consider Ute Mtn Rd" but didn't mention that was up her way. I think she might be free on Friday too. Maybe she'll want to ride or at least get lunch. I think it would be easy to ride from Breck, maybe get lunch after and consider that the end of the ride, hitch a ride home with Mr SAG.

The other option is to change our dinner reservation so as not to be out late on Thurs. Then get up at crack of dawn Fri, drive to Aspen and if we arrive Maroon Bells prior to 8am, I can ride it and Mr SAG can drive it. After 8am, he has to take the bus. Then pop back down into Aspen for some coffee and a bite to eat. After that I was thinking maybe ride the bike path to Glenwood Springs, 30 miles but downhill. Or I could look into your Owl Creek loop.

My friend Jim has suggested Quandary & would do it with me tomorrow. I only have sneakers with me, so I am tempted by it but not sure equipment-wise that I have what it takes. We'd have to push out MTB noodling around to Thursday but I'm sure that's doable.

Thanks, I'm going to look into some of these options!

happybday29475

don't let tennis shoes stop you. Some prefer tennis shoes!

important equipment:
water
snack
water
sunscreen
water
hat
water
sunglasses
water
snack
water




Oh, most important: early start. Be back down to treeline before noon is a good rule of thumb. Lightning kills peeps pretty regularly.

Heathpack 

Quandary is out. Jim talked to a friend who hiked it 3 days ago. You still need to hike through soft snow fields, it's not sneaker-friendly right now. And he can't move the MTB bike to Thursday- gasp, he actually has to work.

Aspen is starting to seem like it would be best saved for another trip.

Investigating Ute Pass Rd.

Crystal Lake easy hike today, heading out imminently.

Thanks for the advice!

Heathpack 

Crystal Lake hike today. Allegedly easy, but nothing is that easy when you're at 12000 ft. Totally beautiful. Here's the view from me plunked down in the meadow, the lake is just beyond the flowers, if I wasn't lying on the ground at that point, you'd see it.

This was the moment our friend Jim whips a baguette and some excellent goat cheese and a bottle of wine and a few croissants out of his pack. And we decided that we have the right kind of friends.

Heathpack 

Today I borrowed this:




And tried this:



And it was really fun.

superdex

looks like Boreas pass? beautiful ride

Heathpack 

Yes it was! It was a nice easy intro to riding a mountain bike. My friend who lent me the bike says to me on the way up, "if you want we can take an actual mountain bike trail part of the way down". Lol, no, descending on the road was fine with me for this first experience.

happybday29475

Glad to hear! You're going to have to make room in garage for another bike...

One of the great things about MTBing, IMHO, and this is obvious yet profound, is where it lets you go...to beautiful places: places that are big, quiet, devoid of cars, full of the sights and smells of nature, and that make one happy just by being there.

happybday29475

There's a big MTB race in a couple of weeks that races up Boreas Pass, twice. Can I tell you much I love climbing Boreas Pass, at race pace, twice?

PS halfway up there is always a group of yahoos doing whisky shot hand-ups.

shovelhd

Years ago my friends were on my ass trying to get me to learn to ski. I resisted for years, until I had the opportunity to be a chaperone at my kids school for a ski trip. I decided to take a snowboarding lesson, and got hooked. I feel the same way about MTB. I'm gonna get hooked. I've resisted so far but it's not going to last.

globecanvas

Mountain biking is a funny thing. Skill massively trumps fitness. I regularly do night MTB rides with some 50-something buddies who have been mountain biking since the dawn of time. My fitness level is an order of magnitude higher than these guys but they beat me up the hills, even when they are slightly drunk or stoned and I'm going all out. They have the skill to go up a technical climb right at the edge of minimum speed and clean absolutely anything, like trackstand-on-a-tree-stump anything. I really enjoy MTB and I've gotten better over the last couple of years but I still have to work so much harder than they do.

The guys who combine the fitness and the skill, like the local top national level pro, that's just a whole different level. It's awe inspiring. There's a highly technical climb practically in my back yard, a couple of local guys can get up it literally twice as fast as me (4 minutes vs 8 minutes).

Heathpack 

Totally agree, that part was nice- not needing to pick a high viz jersey and no rear blinky. Just out there with a friend in the beauty.

The other thing I liked is the way the bike moves under you, it's a little more the feeling you get when you're riding a horse. It was a pretty comfortable bike. Different thing from a road bike but they are both still fun things.

I posted one of those pics on Facebook and six of my real friends are all over he idea of me getting a mountain bike now.

valygrl

Hey now!

j/k

They messed up the order for my MTB and sent the wrong one... i was supposed to have it this weekend, but now not sure when. boo!!

Heathpack 

Oh man, if you had it, I'd say lets go for a ride on Sat. My friend can't ride any more this week but I'm sure he'd lend me the bike again.

Maybe I will borrow it after all and just do that same Boreas Pass ride, I could do that solo I think. I was planning on a recovery ride but truthfully I'll be sitting on a train for 2 days starting Sunday. Nothing to do there but recover anyway!

Heathpack 

Today I did this:




And this happened:




But it was still pretty awesome.

superdex

if yer not hurtin, yer not tryin!