sherpa5311

I posted this in the Road Cycling forum and somone suggested to post this here.

We are thinking about moving from Texas to Summit County and I wanted to get a sense of the local riding scene. I race road and ride a mountain bike.

I know there is some good riding during the spring/summer, but what do people do for training in the winter?

Are there any regular group rides in the area?

What is the racing like?


Many thanks for any help.

valygrl

I live down in the front range but ride some in Summit in summer. Riding is not possible in winter. Spring is marginal, fall is great, summer is great.

Winter training is nordic skiing - skate ski or classic on groomed trails (several local trail systems - Frisco, Breckenridge, Vail, Keystone), telemarking in or out of resorts, or back country skiing. The back country is a little dangerous due to avalanches, so you would want to get some training on that first. Skate skiing is incredibly strenuous.

I know there is a strong MTB race scene, not sure about the road racing, but Team Evergreen might be something to look into.

This is from September near Minturn

dark13star

If you run, you can still trail run in the winter. Just slap some Kahtooma spikes on your trail running shoes and you are good to go.

I assume you are into snow sports if you are moving up there. Plenty to keep you in shape, it is just not winter cycling.

One other thing. You can always commute down to Denver to ride. I go up there to ride in the summer. It is about an hour to get down where the roads and trails are more likely to be free of snow.

colorado dale

the largest summit group is https://www.summitbiking.org/

they ride on mondays on a typical modnay there are easily 100 riders of all abilities

superdex

winter==snow sports. summer==biking. Strong, strong riders up thar. Like getting passed by retirees on 8% grade strong....

colorado dale

You don't need to wait to summer to ride with Summit Biking

The next Summit biking ride is this thursday 10 am Dillon town hall (lift lines can get long over holidays so its a good time to bike)

thorsteno

there's always the pugsley if you must ride in winter.

celticfrost

Keep an eye on the ACA website (https://www.americancycling.org/) -- they usually release the road racing schedule towards the end of January. There won't be a lot (probably only a few) road races that actually take place IN Summit County itself, but the majority will be well within an hour or so of Dillon/Frisco/Breckenridge. If that's too far, then your still right in the middle of beautiful riding country, so you win either way.

In the meantime, the bike shops up there should know all about group rides in that area -- I'm willing to bet that there's plenty of them.

markf

More and more people are investing in studded tires and lights so they can commute and shop by bike in the winter, and people will bring out the road bikes during dry spells, but real training in winter means snow sports. There's are excellent cross country ski centers all over the county (Breckenridge, Gold Run, Frisco, Keystone and Copper Mountain) and they groom some of the multi-use paths for cross country skiing. There's also snowshoeing at the various cross country ski centers and in the back country, and back country skiing can be a good workout too. Like valygrl said, learn about avalanche safety before you do any back country snow travel.

frankw

if your really serious about your road riding then I wouldn't bother moving to summit, move to the front range.

if you want to live in the mountains, ride your road bike 6 months out of the year and participate in snow sports then move here.

I've ridden every month of the year up here but gave up on that awhile ago. It's just too dangerous with the angry locals, ice and snow patches that are hidden around the corner, and oblivious tourists. It's a dangerous mix.

The last time I rode was nov 12th, there has been a few times you can ride since then but I'd rather do something fun on snow.

The alternative is driving to the front range which isn't that bad at all. Did it on sat and will do it again on tue.

If winter is long don't plan on getting much riding in till mid may, if winter is short then summiting loveland pass in march isn't unheard of. (my guess is that there is a 60% chance winter will be long this year)

A few other thoughts for you: if you don't have a well paying job lined up before moving here think twice, the economy is a wreck up here. hence why I'm getting so much riding in denver this year. I did not move here to ski and was told by numerous people that if I didn't get a pass or a winter activity I'd lose my mind. They were right. So plan on a winter activity or you'll be gone in a year. But then again the riding in summer time is pretty awesome, it is limited since not many roads are paved and we're surrounded by mountains.

grueling

Cross country skiing and snowshoeing are the best. The latest winter fad for bikers in Summit/Vail/Leadville is snow mountain bike racing. Gary Fisher (himself, not the company) started a few races several years ago. Usually done on cross country ski trails which are somewhat packed. Great Fun.