Colorado Trail in Style
February 24th, 2007 by Doug Schnitzspahn
In September, I spent three days riding about 100 miles of high-alpine singletrack on the Colorado Trail for a feature that will run in Adventure Cyclist this fall. The idea was the carry the few things we needed in a small pack, ride hard (we topped over three passes higher than 11,500-feet), and spend nights in swank hotels in Breckenridge and Copper (we caught week one of the NFL season resting our quads in a hotel room). The riding was harder than I expected. Things you could clear with ease in Boulder become an exercise in pain over 10,000 feet. It was also better than I expected, with mind-altering sections of downhill coming down from West Ridge, the crest of Peak 10, and Georgia Pass. Marshall McKinney, who is now working as a designer at Outside’s Go, rode along and Seth Hughes shot the pro photos.
Highlights:
– Rolling up on our bikes to the front desk at the Breckenridge Hyatt to check in
– Reckless, full-speed, non-stop descent from Gerogia Pass to Kenosha
– Topping out at 12,500 on the ridge between Breck and Copper during a break in a snow squall
– The ride back up to Georgia Pass from Breck in perfect blue-sky Colorado conditions
Lowlights:
– The slog up the paved bike path from the CT to Breck after 40-some miles of pounding singletrack
– Taking a full-on spill 50 feet from the end of the ride on Day 3
– Absolute exhaustion at the top of the seemingly easy slog up West Ridge after 30 miles of riding on Day 1
– The Giants getting spanked by the Colts in “Manning Bowl”
Here are a few of my photos from the trip.
The Epic Begins: Marshall in morning light on Kenosha Pass
Smelling the Barn: Approaching Breck after 40 miles of pure, sweet singletrack
…and me bombing the aspens on Kenosha