Breckenridge vacation in two weeks...

[gman]

I've been to Boulder and CO Springs in the past. I am taking the family to Breckenridge this time and we land there the weekend after next (June 7).

Any locals here who can recommended good roads/routes to ride - something in the 1 to 3 hour range?

TIA.

[mgm777]

Ride Breck to Dillon via trail to Frisco to top of Vail pass and back (all paved trails). Beautiful scenery. Nice ride.

[gman]

Should have clarified that I am taking a road bike...mountain bike is currently off getting the Headshock overhauled.

[joelh]

I will be there in 4 weeks and want to road bike also. Please let me know how it goes. Breck is one of my favorite places!

[konstantkarma]

Copper Triangle......

CT (http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Copper-Triangle260722)

[mgm777]

My previous suggestion...Breck to Dillon to Frisco to top of Vail Pass and back is a road ride, mostly on a paved bike trail.

[Birddog]

Another good ride is to go from Breck toward Frisco to Summit High School. Then take Swan Mtn Rd up to Keystone. Look for the Montezuma Rd and follow it to Montezuma. Total ride is about 40 miles round trip.

Birddog

[gdw]

Here's a sampling of area rides.
http://www.summitcolorado.com/summit-county/biking/
I believe Link lives in Summit county. Send him a pm and see if he has some suggestions.

PS - You should head east to Idaho Springs and give
Mt Evans a try.

[Bradford]

Here is one I plan to do in July as a training ride for the Copper Triangle.

Go over Hoosier Pass to Fairplay, take 285 east to Boreas Pass, over Boreas Pass back to Breck. Should be a little over 50 miles. Seems like getting into the mountains would be a great part of a Colorado trip, and Boreas will put you up out of the traffic.

Hoosier Pass is all paved, Boreas Pass is mostly dirt, but I drove it last year so it you should be able to do it if your tires aren't too skinny. I'll be doing it on my touring bike with 700 x 28 tires, so I'm not worried about the dirt.

If you try it, let me know how it was.

[Bruce K]

wow Bradford, you're actually training for Copper Triangle?!!

Twelve weeks to go.

BK

PS - +1 on the Breck to Vail Pass ride

[Bradford]

wow Bradford, you're actually training for Copper Triangle?!!

Planning and doing are two different things.

I'm coming off of being sick for the last few months so I'm still under 100 miles. Last year I thought I would die on Vail pass, this year I might actually follow through.

[Bruce K]

If you want to die on Vail Pass you will need to obtain permission from Davis first.

Since dying is a form of quitting, and I don't think quitting is part of his make-up, I'm guessing permission will be denied.

You'll just have to suffer with us sea level dwellers. ;)

Say "Hi" to the little guy.

BK

[Dan Le foot]

We're headed out to the area in August for the 2nd time. All the posters above have mentioned great rides. The paved bike path to Cooper and up the Vail pass is awesome and very do able once you're aclimated. If you like pass riding head over Swan and do Loveland. I think it's only around 35-40 miles round trip. Excellent RR.

[djg]

It's a beautiful area. There's an effin' bike path that goes up over Vail Pass. Also, from Breckenridge, you can ride to Dillon, then Keystone, and then up past A-Basin to Loveland Pass.

The thing is, you'll need to see how you're doing with the altitude -- people vary in how they respond (and acclimate), but it's pretty common to really feel it for a few days, especially with hard efforts, and you might well feel less than 100% the whole week. We stayed in Keystone for a week last summer on a family (non-cycling) vacation -- it was great to get out and ride a few days, but by day 5 I was still feeling the altitude.

[BumbleBeeDave]

She leaves for archeology field camp in South Park next week. They are bunking in Breckenridge. If you see a group of drunken kids swaggering down the street singing Skidmore Crew fight songs, cross to the other side of he street immediately! :p

BBD

[link]

Here's a sampling of area rides.
http://www.summitcolorado.com/summit-county/biking/
I believe Link lives in Summit county. Send him a pm and see if he has some suggestions.

PS - You should head east to Idaho Springs and give
Mt Evans a try.


bike path from vail pass to vail just got swept by cdot ...very nice

[mwos]

http://www.summitcolorado.com/keystone/bike-to-montezuma.php

The ride to Montezuma is one of my favorites. Good road and little traffic. To make it longer we start at the marina in Dillion or Frisco.

Vail Pass is a must do.

Pick up the "Summit County Bike Guide". It's mostly mtn biking but does show parking areas, topo maps for the paved trails. It's available at the visitor center at Silverthorne or the bike shops.

[bob the nailer]

I second the notion of montezuma. From breck, head down the bike path and for a shorter harder ride go over swan mountain road, then up to keystone and on up to montezuma. For a longer, easier time go on to frisco and over to dillon, then up to montezuma from there. On the way back, stop in the river run base area of keystone, two nice coffee shops there, have a coffee and danish, watch the world go by. Great times. Enjoy.

[gman]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I arrived Sunday evening late and was hit hard with the altitude - had a really difficult time breathing and it felt as if someone was standing on my chest. Felt better yesterday morning and spent the early part of the day "scoping". Went to a couple of bike shops, talked to a really nice dude that was quite helpful. Bought the Summit County map, studied it and have some rides planned for the rest of the week - mostly along the lines of what others have suggested here.

For yesterday, I took a short 1-hour jaunt up Boreas Pass, Baldy Road and off into some new paved development which took me from 9450ft to just over 10500. I didn't feel horrible, but felt like a cylinder or two wasn't firing. I am riding the "backup bike" with 9-speed Ultegra and put my 12x27 on the back. There were sections near the top where standing I was at 5mph and 175bpm. The ride down was fun, hitting 40 on a couple of smooth straight sections.

Weather permitting (rain/snow forecasted today) I will make the run from Breck up to Frisco and Dillon and back in on the east side of the valley. Tomorrow, depending on recovery, I'd like to make it around to Copper Mountain. Later in the week, over to Vail Pass and all the way into Vail.

I have a few pics I'll post later.

[mschol17]

The ride over Hoosier Pass (11,500 ft) to Alma is nice. The downhill to Alma is pretty straight and really fast. Hoosier Pass down to Breck is switchbacks and a little nerve-racking.

We were staying in Fairplay, and going down 1k feet to Breckenridge was really apparent in terms of lung function. I can't imagine what Mt. Evans is like at 13k feet!

[gman]

The ride over Hoosier Pass (11,500 ft) to Alma is nice. The downhill to Alma is pretty straight and really fast. Hoosier Pass down to Breck is switchbacks and a little nerve-racking.

We were staying in Fairplay, and going down 1k feet to Breckenridge was really apparent in terms of lung function. I can't imagine what Mt. Evans is like at 13k feet!

We drove up from DFW through Amarillo, Dumas, Canon City, Pueblo and then up through Fairplay and Alma. I was taking note of the Hoosier Pass and it seemed that it would challenging in either direction. I was considering a ride from Breck back to the pass, but on a recon drive back yesterday, I found the shoulder to be little to none (most cases) and lots of traffic with several semi trailers.

It would be a good ride, but it seems too risky to me. But then again, my balls have shriveled up over the last few years and I find more and more that I shy away from many things I would have done without a second thought 10 years ago.

[bob the nailer]

Hoosier pass= too much traffic, there are so many areas to ride, boreas pass, ute pass, montezuma, hardly any traffic. Ute pass is a great ride, head north out of silverthorne on hwy 9 I think it is, turn off to ute pass, ride it all the way down the back if you have never seen a molybdenum processing plant. Almost no traffic on the road, except of course hwy 9.

[Steve K]

A link to some of the climbs in the state. You may want to take a day trip to the ones outside your base stop.

http://www.rmccrides.com/ClimbDB/main_page.html