Cycling in Vail? Mountain or Road?

[GuyGadois]

I am off to Vail for a week and wanted to know if I should bring my road bike, dual suspension mountain bike, none (rent there) or bring both? I hope to get 3 or 4 rides in while I am there and we will be driving.

I will probably be riding solo unless I can find some local group rides. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

GG

[Jaybee]

The good news is that none of those options will be bad. Depending on your road/trail preferences you will find world class options either way. If you have the space, I would bring both, hit up Mtbproject and see what looks good. As always, be careful of hydration if you are coming from sea level.

If you decide you are going to do a lift served park day, rent. No sense trashing a perfectly good trail bike doing enduro/DH stuff

[fa63]

I had an amazing time doing MTB rides while I was out there. There seemed to be an endless number of trails, and of varying difficulty to suit anyone (I am not a great MTBer, but I had a good time trying some of the harder stuff). I think road riding would be OK too, but MTB would be more fun IMO.

I rented a bike from High Gear Cyclery in Avon. Great shop, I highly recommend them.

[djg21]

I am off to Vail for a week and wanted to know if I should bring my road bike, dual suspension mountain bike, none (rent there) or bring both? I hope to get 3 or 4 rides in while I am there and we will be driving.

I will probably be riding solo unless I can find some local group rides. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

GG

I lived in Vail years ago. All of the riding is very good. If you’re only riding 3-4 times for a couple of hours at a time, I’d suggest your MTB. There is a lot of great mountain biking in the Valley.

If you can bring both bikes and you want to get out for longer road rides, the Leadville loop is a great ride. For shorter rides, you can ride up Vail Pass, or down valley towards Edwards along the frontage road if you want to minimize climbing.

Where will you be staying?

[Brendan Quirk]

The road ride to Breck & back is fairly good if you have time!

[Mr. Pink]

Bring the road bike, rent the mtb. Have fun!

[Hakkalugi]

You can ride the service roads at both Vail and Beaver Creek, both are devoid of traffic (especially BC) and there are amazing views, plus restaurants at the top. Gravel bikes are ideal, but both could be done on 28s with a bit of skill. BC has little mountain biking to speak of, but Vail’s is good. The Copper Triangle (I prefer counterclockwise) is a classic road ride, but don’t do it on a weekend.

[Johnnysmooth]

Bring the road bike, rent the mtb. Have fun!

Other way around. Not much real road riding in Vail as you either head up valley to Vail pass and beyond, or down valley towards Eagle.

There is the road to Minturn though that is pretty sweet road ride though can bee narrow and cars move along quickly.

Thus, rent that road bike for a local spin and spend most of your time in the woods

[Ken Robb]

For me the mtn. bike would be best.I live at sea level so I would need quite a few days to get accustomed to the altitude at Vail. On trail rides it's easier to stop for a breather and enjoy the view. If you live in SLO the altitude may be a factor for you too.

[aellaguno]

Vail has some amazing mtb trails...
+1 on the taking the MTB.

There a bunch of road rentals options too if you want to add a couple of roady days.

[GuyGadois]

Thanks for the feedback. Maybe I should think about bringing the gravel bike (salsa Fargo 1.0). Honestly I am a lousy mtn biker. I love trail riding but jumping and downhilling are way out of my comfort zone.

Cheers

[Mr. Pink]

Other way around. Not much real road riding in Vail as you either head up valley to Vail pass and beyond, or down valley towards Eagle.

There is the road to Minturn though that is pretty sweet road ride though can bee narrow and cars move along quickly.

Thus, rent that road bike for a local spin and spend most of your time in the woods

Pretty hard to find a roadie for rent that would equal yours around there, or, almost anywhere. Last time I did that in Vail I could only find an aluminum Fuji for the climb over the pass. It was ok, but, the MTB selections in most places are much better as far as quality. And, as someone said, it feels so much better to beat up somebody else's bike in the woods rather than your own, for, what, 50 bucks a day?

[Mr. Pink]

Thanks for the feedback. Maybe I should think about bringing the gravel bike (salsa Fargo 1.0). Honestly I am a lousy mtn biker. I love trail riding but jumping and downhilling are way out of my comfort zone.

Cheers


Body armor. No shorts. Full face, too. Maybe a beer, to help.

[djg21]

Thanks for the feedback. Maybe I should think about bringing the gravel bike (salsa Fargo 1.0). Honestly I am a lousy mtn biker. I love trail riding but jumping and downhilling are way out of my comfort zone.

Cheers

There is a lot of MTBing that involves riding up the mountain on the cat tracks, and then coming down nice singletrack. One of my favorite rides was to climb up past chair 10 (by the bottom of the Highline ski trail if you’re a skier) up to Benchmark, which is a summit overlooking the east end of Vail Valley. http://www.mtbr.com/trails/united-states/colorado/Vail/benchmark.html. It’s a long steady non-technical double-track climb, perfect for a road guy. The view from Benchmark is really spectacular. You then can come back down the cat track, or ride the Grand Traverse (non-technical singletrack) through the back bowls, over to Eagle’s Nest (the Gondola) and then down the mountain, or you can even ride down into Minturn for margaritas and Mexican at the Saloon if you’re so inclined and can have someone meet you with a car so you can stow your bike and gear..

It’s been decades since I lived in Vail, but is a very special place.

P..S. You may not embarrass us by riding the gondola or lift up with your bike. You must pedal up.

[vqdriver]

bring the mtb or rent there. whenever i have the choice to ride in a new place i always choose mtb. the variety of terrain in our country is incredibly diverse and it's always a blast to try out something different. on the road, it's more or less the same to me. :eek:

fwiw, if the lifts are open, at least spend one lift day. just as every road ride isn't an epic grindfest, downhill mtb is not all kamikaze downhill. it just means you take the climbing out of it so you can enjoy the flow of a trail. they're all rated too, just like during the winter when those same trails are ski routes. so you can start easy and progress from there. difficulty is not all the same either, some advanced sections are technically demanding, whereas others are gnarly jump courses, while another could be a straight up speed run. they are rated advanced for different reasons.

one plus to renting btw, the locals know what tread works best for their terrain and will typically have the most appropriate tire on the bikes.




Thanks for the feedback. Maybe I should think about bringing the gravel bike (salsa Fargo 1.0). Honestly I am a lousy mtn biker. I love trail riding but jumping and downhilling are way out of my comfort zone.

Cheers

[HenryA]

Definitely MTB, yours or theirs. There are plenty of nice trails that are not Mountain Dew ad ready.

[Hakkalugi]

Thanks for the feedback. Maybe I should think about bringing the gravel bike (salsa Fargo 1.0). Honestly I am a lousy mtn biker. I love trail riding but jumping and downhilling are way out of my comfort zone.

Cheers

If gravel is your thing there is untold potential for rides. Besides the on-mountain service roads (I rode both Vail and BC last weekend) there are hundreds of miles of gravel. PM me for a list.