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My Colorado Odyssey

J

JRogers

talks too much
Mar 19, 2002
3,785
1
Claremont, CA
I started out my summer by hiking the Long Trail, which is a 280 mile trek from the VT-MA border to Canada over almost all of the highest peaks in Vermont. Next I was at home for a while then went with some friends to Lake George, then to the NE Monkeyfest, then directly drove to Colorado.

So, I drove 2100 miles in a day and a half, which was FUN! Started out in Colorado Springs staying with a friend (ex-girlfriend as well) who was recovering from having a tumor extracted off her spine. Good to see she was getting better. In any case, onto the riding. I'll mention most of the major rides I did, using the better pics I have. I did a few rides I didn't photograph and a few more I mostly can't recall.


Palmer Park- A fun ride in the Springs. Did basically every trail. Some tech, some fast, no serious climbs. Good network for a smallish city park.






Red Rocks and beyond- Starting at Red Rocks, I rode around the park for quite a while and then to Gold Camp via the Palmer Trail then to Columbine Trail to Helen Hunt Falls, down the road a bit, up Lower Columbine and back. Oh, and I did some of Capt Jacks and few other trails as well. A fun, long ride.

One neat part was when I was looking at the map on the roadsife, a nice looking woman on a very expensive road bike came up and started giving me directions and suggestions. She even offered to ride with me to the trailhead. Looked a little closer at her bike- it was Kelli Emmett! She was in the middle of a big climb while training and stopped to talk to me about local trails. Ultra cool. I'm definitely a fan now.








if you look, you can see the trail about 4 times- crazy switchbacks





Ute Valley- I liked this place a lot. Did most of the trails. Some neat sections.




Here's a rattlesnake that I accidentally RAN OVER WITH MY BIKE. He was not pleased.


More coming in a few minutes.....
 
J

JRogers

talks too much
Mar 19, 2002
3,785
1
Claremont, CA
Winter Park
Called my buddy in Denver while in the Springs. When he tells me he’s going to his condo in WP the next day I say “See you there.” He yoinked his dads MTB and we went riding.

Winter Park- we started from the condo, rode up Vasquez Rd and, hit the trails and climbed to the top of the lift station- 1700 vert from the base. We did a few trails on the way down. Good fun.







Winter Park DH- we took the lift up and rode down all day. Good times. A bit limited if you had a DH bike (I didn’t bring mine out) but fun on a freeride or XCer. My buddy wrecked pretty hard once, but walked away.





Tipperarry, Zoom, Flume and more- Can’t remember the exact route I took, but it was loooong. Close to 40 miles in total. Started at the condo in WP, up Vasquez, took a right somewhere and rode WTB and a bunch of other trails. Did Zoom, Flume, Tipperarry and other trails in that area. Coming back was torturous, but it was crazy epic and really fun. Tipp was an awesome trail and Zoom and Flume were crazy smooth and fast.










Buffalo Creek-Hiked one day here and rode one day. Overall a cool place to ride. The terrain wasn’t totally my style, but certainly fast and with potential for big rides. Riding through the burned areas was cool. I can’t remember the exact trails I rode except for Gashouse and Baldy, which were really fun.













Kenosha Pass- Headed here right after Buffalo and did about 28 miles on the CO trail out and back. An amazing ride overall. The descent on the way back from the high point was awesome. It felt like it went on forever. This is a classic ride and it’s easy to see why. Lots of fun- big ups and downs and high altitude.














Legs of STEEL! That was like the 4th time the road rash I got in Winter Park opened up again.






Breckenridge- Headed here next. The town was okay, the trails better.


View from the campsite on Tiger Rd.

CO Trail- The section along Tiger road was one of the best sections of trail I saw in Colorado. Ultra-buff really fun stuff.






Peaks Trail, Peak 8- I did the Peaks Trail down to Rainbow Lake, up the road at the end of the trail for a few miles, back down and then back on the Peaks. I wasn’t tired enough yet, so I rode up the ski mountain to the top of the lift. The Peaks Trail was lots of fun. It was well shaded and it rained quite a bit the previous days, so it was pretty wet, but not that bad. Climbs were relatively short and quite worth it. I’d definitely hit up the trail if you’re around there. It’s a short one, but good.






CO Trail, Wheeler- This was a mega-ride. I started from camp, did the CO Trail down Tiger Rd going west, up the mountains, along to the Wheeler Trail, up again to Peak 10 (I think it was) and then down to town and up the bike path to Tiger Road again.

Now, I’ve been camping, backpacking, hiking and riding for years and have had many challenging days. But this was probably the most punishing day I ever had outdoors. I actually cried a little. It started out okay, but I bonked hard partway through (not helping that I was near 13,000 feet) and could not move my legs. I had to hike tons of it. I had no energy. It was raining. I was above treeline and on the wrong side of a mountain. Great scenery, epic ride, but a tough day.








Rode along the top of this.


This might be the best pic from the whole trip. Check out that trail. Nutty.


backside of the mtns.

 
J

JRogers

talks too much
Mar 19, 2002
3,785
1
Claremont, CA
Crested Butte- Here’s where it all clicked. I was planning on staying here for 4 or 5 days and ended up staying about 1.5 weeks. The trails were great, I met some really cool people and loved the town. Unlike Breck, Winter Park and so many other ski towns I’ve been to, I actually got the feeling that people lived here and it wasn’t some movie set constructed for tourists. If you can go, do it. This was also the first place I went where I actually met a few people, which certainly helped.


Camp.


My water source. Good stuff.

Teocalli Ridge- Okay, not gonna lie, this trail disappointed me a bit. The climb was pretty brutal and the descent, in my opinion, was only so-so. Still worth doing, for sure, but a lot of the descent was too steep and/or rutted to be that great. This was the closest ride to my campsite, but I only did it once.






Some deer I saw. After Teo, I rode up brush creek and then bear creek trail (I think) and saw these two.

409.5, Strand Hill- Rode down from camp on Brush Creek road to 409. Did the out and back on 409.5 then up Strand, down Strand, back to the climb on Strand Bonus. I realized my tire was going flat and didn’t have a pump, so I bummed one off a passing cyclist and went back to camp after that instead of riding more. No pics, but a good ride. 409.5 was a ton of fun. Speed and some nice jumps made it good. Strand was great for not much of a climb.


Crested Butte DH- No pics here either, but it was a good time. I went with a guy that had not really done any DH before so he loved it. I thought the trails were okay, if limited. The highlight was hitting and clearing the big stepdown on my XC bike. Scared the crap out of me.


401- One of the most famous rides in existence for good reason. I did this one three times while I was there. Once I climbed from Judd up Gothic Rd and rode all the way down. Next time I shuttled it with a guy I met at camp then after that I climbed up the singletrack to the top and rode down. Actually, riding up the singletrack was good. The climb was not too bad and, as far as climbs go, pretty fun. 401 has great speed, fun sections and simply amazing scenery. A must do for sure.














Deer Creek- Did a loop from Brush Creek to Deer to Gothic then Upper/Upper Upper back to Brush. A long ride almost all on single track. Deer Creek was awesome. The climb to start is killer but the terrain after is a long generally downhill run all the way to Gothic Road. This is a definite must do if you’re in CB. Great this is that you can also make huge loops out of this one.





Doctors Park- A big road climb followed by a long descent. Lots of fun. The descent is a great payoff. Some sweet little jumps, switchbacks at the end and great speed at the top and middle sections. It was a bit of a drive, but definitely a good one to do if you have some time in the area. The descent is one of the best around.





Mt. Emmons- As our “guide” said, this wasn’t a ride, it was an adventure. I met a local guy at camp who slept in his car every night in the summer even though he had a place to sleep in town. Needless to say, he was a character. He was the most relaxed, chilled out guy I’ve probably ever met (favorite line: we’re up over 13000 feet riding and I have to stop for a second because it feels like my head is floating above my body. His response: “I dunno dude….I’m enjoying the free buzz.”)

We parked in town, rode Lower to Emmons, climbed up (a beast of a climb- not steep but really long), hiked to the peak for lunch, rode back to the pass, then hiked more to the ridge. Rode (no trail!) down the ridge, through the woods and over ridiculous crap to Lake Irwin (I think, anyways…). We rode up the road there up to Kebler Pass then down down down to town (this road is the site of the chainless race, so it’s a cruise). Crazy fun adventure.


This was about a quarter of the shrooms we got that day. They were delicious.






Last part of the climb.




climbing this sucked


we rode down this ridge and between those bushes in the distance


the climb from above


climb


we went down through this



Reno Flag Bear Deadman- I didn’t know the ideal route here, so I just went. I started on Cement Creek Rd and went for a few miles to the Deadman trailhead. Went up the Deadman switchbacks, climbed up Reno and then did Flag, Bear and Deadman back to the road. A great ride with some great downs and manageable ups. Again, a classic set of trails for good reason.






So, that’s it. I was in CO for about 4 weeks total. I rode or hiked almost every day and ate very little, so I lost about 5 lbs in addition to the 15-20 I lost while hiking the Long Trail. I lost a ton of upper body strength (in the spring, I was benching about 280, which is a lot for a guy who’s now 5’9” 175 lbs). So, right now, I’m basically in the best riding shape of my life and I had an awesome time doing it.

Crested Butte was the clear favorite of places I went. A cool town with good restaurants and coffee along with a great feel, friendly locals and an extensive and accessible trail system.
Colorado on the whole was good. I thought a lot about comparisons between riding in the east and the west and basically came to the conclusion that it’s all about preferences. For me, the Kingdom Trails might be better than anything I did in Colorado. What can I say- I like loamy dirt and tight turns.

One thing better about the west is camping, for sure. Super dry, short rain storms and tons of free spaces. I camped a lot this summer- about 7 weeks or so- and only paid for 3 nights (once on the Long Trail on Mansfield and twice in Lake George). I also only paid for water once, which was only grudgingly. Man, I’m cheap.

I suppose now it’s time to get a job or some such nonsense…..
 
SkaredShtles

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
67,673
14,076
In a van.... down by the river
That's a bummer about the Teocalli Ridge descent. It's a moto trail as well as bike trail and they tend to tear things up. The moto group does do trail maintenance on it fairly regularly, I understand, though.

Oh - and I think I recognize that big climb - it's Gunsight Pass, no?
 
Toshi

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,638
8,683
nice pics :thumb: . and 40 miles?! that's quite the long day on the trails, especially in the middle of such an adventure. and finally, why are there no pics of kelli emmett? :D
 
peter6061

peter6061

Turbo Monkey
Nov 19, 2001
1,575
0
Kenmore, WA
Awesome write up and pics.

For me, the Butte is king. I love the trails there and try to get back about once a year (missing this one :rant: )

On Reno Flag, we usually start at our camp site (just a couple miles up from the switchbacks on the road), ride up the road to the top, and drop in. After a few descents and climbs, (Reno, Flag, Bear), we get to the switchbacks and finish. Great ride. You can also loop it with Doctor's park for a nice LONG ride.

I hope to be back there soon. Thanks for the pics.
 
SkaredShtles

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
67,673
14,076
In a van.... down by the river
peter6061 said:
Awesome write up and pics.

For me, the Butte is king. I love the trails there and try to get back about once a year (missing this one :rant: )

On Reno Flag, we usually start at our camp site (just a couple miles up from the switchbacks on the road), ride up the road to the top, and drop in. After a few descents and climbs, (Reno, Flag, Bear), we get to the switchbacks and finish. Great ride. You can also loop it with Doctor's park for a nice LONG ride.
Click to expand...
Yeah - I think the Butte is my favorite place out here, even as a "local" - the singletrack opportunities are virtually endless. And the scenery is arguably some of the best I've ever seen.
 
B

blue

boob hater
Jan 24, 2004
10,160
2
california
SkaredShtles said:
It's not nearly as nice as he's making out. Summer's 3 months long, winter's about 7. Mud season is 2. You should just come out and visit. :D
Click to expand...
Same here...Snow covers everything pretty like that above 8000 feet until June/July.

Most of the year I'm envious of the lower-elevation peeps, but for about 3-4 months...
 
Skookum

Skookum

bikey's is cool
Jul 26, 2002
10,184
0
in a bear cave
Honestly i'm so tired from work i can't read all this yet.... haha. But looking at all these cool pictures i can't wait until i got time to sit and read all of this cool ass report.:biggrin: :brows:
 
Skookum

Skookum

bikey's is cool
Jul 26, 2002
10,184
0
in a bear cave
Awesome ride report man. i think in your summary when you were saying you were in the best riding shape of your life i was thinking the same aloud. That's a ton of quality riding to squash into a month haha.

Oh and i always thought Colorado was East....:brow:

i've always wanted to check out the Red Rocks and now knowing you can ride around there looks inviting.

i always wind up getting punished by most ridge rides i totally understand getting beat up by a trail, but a trail has never and will never make me cry haha. All that being said i'd love to check out that Wheeler since the pics you had look super epic. But i don't think you'd blame me if i had checked out the mileage and vert count beforehand before actually deciding to ride that haha!:brows:

401 from your description looks mighty fine! That looks like a trail i would be most happy to put my tread on.

And Doctors Peak sounds like a superb "trail ride", i'm a sucker for those.

All in all an informative report, i think many people could use this as a guide for some outstanding non-bias opinion on some awesome rides. Glad to hear you met some great people and had such good times. Thanks for taking the time and sharing your cool trip.
 
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