Background
I'm trying much harder these days to say yes to opportunities, so when Mark asked if I wanted to do this trip, I did say yes. The idea was to ride from Glenwood Springs back to Fort Collins in 3.5 days, mostly along the sidepath on I-70. The trip would be all motel-camping.
Summary and Outlook
Point-to-point touring
This trip showed me that the actual commitment to the day has to be a big portion of the return to really enjoy point-to-point touring. I didn't get that return this time. That idea that "I'm here now, and I have to be there later, and failure is not an option" seems to be a necessary part of the point-to-point experience.
I wonder if I even got the thrill in the past. Maybe I was just more interested in going to the limit. When I was younger I did have the reputation of suckering people into a lot of death marches.
Aging
It's pretty clear that I'm not young anymore. Given that, I have to either dial back my expectation of what can be accomplished on a ride, or I have to find ways to extract more performance from what ability remains. That leads me to three main ideas: better nutrition, better equipment, and more appropriate rides. I think I have wrung all the improvements out of the first two, so maybe days with 13 km of 7 % grade at altitude are not in the future.
Equipment
When I returned to Virginia, always happens on the first ride after some kind of tour, I was astounded at how nice and fast my regular road bike is. My response to aging has become making choices to extract every performance advantage from the bike, so that the rides stay enjoyable. When I have toured on my green Zeus, fifty-mile days have to be the norm.
But I definitely needed something more than a 36-32 on Loveland Pass. Ninety minutes of 70 rpm was too much.
Travel
Maybe seven days of one-on-one was too much for me. Mark was certainly a great host, but my anxiety level started creeping up on the last day.
Climb statistics
- Vail Pass: 17.8 km 648 m 421 VAM 154 bpm average 159 W average 2540 m to 3178 m
- Loveland: 13.0 km 730 m 458 VAM 150 bpm average 156 W average 2876 m to 3602 m
- Va Canyon: 06.2 km 328 m 328 VAM 141 bpm average 145 W average 2407 m to 2745 m
Gear
- 2013 Crux with Hed Ardennes wheels with tubeless Maxxis Speed Terrane 33 mm file-tread tires and a 48-34 with 11-32 cassette. The tires were treacherous on the paved descents, and were not necessary for the Virginia Canyon climb. The way the knobs hooked up in high speed turns was unexpectedly unsettling. I would have been better off with 32 mm road tires.
- Lezyne Bar Caddy bag. https://ride.lezyne.com/products/1-sb-bcaddy-v104 Although it looks like a dry bag, it isn't--not even minimally-- despite the description of "highly water resistant." But I just used it for my rain and cold gear. It came with two male buckles on one side, but it worked OK once I fixed it. Its size was perfect for drop-bar setups.
- Ortlieb 16.5 l seat bag: https://us.ortlieb.com/products/seat-pack Its comically huge size makes it really difficult to climb out of the saddle--it's always 180 degrees out of phase.
- Revelate Tangle frame bag. https://revelatedesigns.com/product/tangleframebag/ Didn't hit my knees on it on this trip.
Clothing: I opted for minimalist, because I feared hauling extra gear over a 4000-meter pass.
I prepared by assuming that we would get rained on, and it would be very cold.
Mark's gear:
Although I felt a little like a cycling re-enactor, with my 13-year-old CX bike with QR, Mark put me to shame. He was riding the same frame he used during our 1979 three-week trip around Lake Michigan. His only concession to modernity was the 1990s-era drivetrain.
Day 1: Glenwood Springs to Eagle
Map: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/19684930964
Distance: 60km
We took the Bustang from Fort Collins to Glenwoods springs, which took about five hours including a transfer in Denver. The regional bus system in Colorado is nothing short of amazing. Both bikes rode on the bike rack on the front of the bus, though on Ft Collins to Denver, mine rode in the luggage compartment.
The long bus ride meant that we were not even kitting up until almost 2:30. Amusingly, despite four engineering degrees between us, neither of us could discern that the bathroom door on the bus opened inward rather than outward, so the portajohn at the bus stop in Glenwood Springs was a welcome relief. We had to make a brief detour to the Target so I could get a replacement phone charger. Ugh
The first 30 km of the ride through Glenwood Canyon were spectacular, but hot. Even though you are often right under I-70, the highway noise is minimal. We even got to see the train we had originally planned to take.
Day 2: Eagle to Frisco
Map: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/19694143433
Distance: 96km
We started pretty early, and immediately ran into the situation the plagues any kind of group ride: someone is fast, and someone is less fast. The faster person tries to go slower, but inevitably tortures the less fast person.
We had to navigate a lot of bike path in Vail, dodging pedestrians. But then it was on to the feature of the day: Vail Pass. I went out too hard, after I got passed by a gentleman of similar age but riding an e-bike. Although the scenery on the climb was spectacular, the actual pass was pretty mundane. It was just a dirt parking lot next to the interstate. But the climb was all bike path/abandoned road. I ended up waiting for Mark for almost an hour at the top. How he made it to the top with gear and a 39-28 is beyond me. I spent most of the climb in the 34-32 barely turning it over at 70rpm.
While waiting, a big tour van disgorged 25 young women, all dressed identically in dark shirts and black, calf-length dresses. They were all prepped to coast back to Copper Mountain, as far as I could tell, completely without adult supervision. One of them crashed almost immediately.
After Copper Mountain we spotted a moose and calf off to the side of the path, and then it was on to Frisco. Mark went off to look for liquids, and I explored the Frisco Historic Park and Museum, which is a collection of buildings that have been relocated from other sites around Frisco. I love local history museums, and this one really succeeds at encapsulating the history of Frisco. As always, I wish it had more maps.
Our grade-school friend, Betsey Foley, drove all the way over from Vail to meet us for dinner. I had not seen her since 1980.
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| Looking back westward on Vail Pass. The real climbing hasn't even started yet. |
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| Waiting for Mark at the top of Vail Pass. Some kind of girls summer camp (fundamentalist? Orthodox?) |
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| Mark, Betsey, and I in Frisco |
Links: Frisco Historic Park: https://www.townoffrisco.com/things-to-do/frisco-historic-park-museum/
Day 3: Frisco to Blackhawk
Map: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/19703846727
Distance: 98 km
At breakfast, Mark confirmed what he had hinted at the day before. He opted to take the bus from Frisco and meet me in Idaho Springs, which left me to attack Loveland Pass alone. He graciously took my seatbag to lighten the load.
I got lost a half dozen times before I got out of Frisco's seemingly limitless warren of bike paths, and had to use my phone to navigate to the base of the first climb.
Loveland Pass, which is the original road that the current I-70 tunnel bypassed in 1973, climbs 730 m in 13 km to 3660 m at just under 7 %. The traffic was almost non-existent; much of it was tanker trucks that are banned from the tunnel. To be honest, it was not fun. Instead it was just a 1:45 slog, where I mostly thought "Let's get this over with." The switchbacks that start after the Arapahoe Basin ski area helped break up the monotony.
I'm smiling in the picture at the saddle of the pass, but I didn't a sense of accomplishment like I once did. Instead it was just more relief that the climb hadn't killed me.
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| At the highest point on Loveland Pass |
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| View from the descent overlooking the I-70 tunnel |
By the time I started descending, Mark had texted me his location in Idaho Springs. I felt like I had to move it along, so the next ninety minutes were another time trial, mostly on the I-70 frontage road. The first and best part was on a dedicated paved bike trail along US6, which I assume is the right-of-way of an abandoned railroad.
The frontage road scenery wasn't great, but Silver Plume, Georgetown, and Idaho Springs looked like neat places to do more exploring, including the Georgetown Loop Railroad.
Amusingly, in Silver Plume I ran into two Kelley Benefits alumni on their way to the top of the pass. Oh to be in my early 20s again. I'm sure they were concerned when this rando old dude was yelling "Hey KBS!" at them.
In Idaho Springs I rejoined Mark, and we set off up Virginia Canyon Road, an excellent 6-km, 330 m dirt climb. It passes quite a few active mines.
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| Looking back toward Idaho Springs. |
My dad said that he and friends had driven down this road at dusk from Blackhawk in the 1980s. I thought it looked pretty tame, but perhaps its wider than it was forty years ago.
I found an unopened Gu at the base of the climb, which I consumed the next day!
Our lodgings were at the Lady Luck Casino in Blackhawk.
Links:
- Background on Loveland Pass: wikipedia-Loveland Pass
- History of the I-70 tunnel: Colorado DoT History of Loveland Pass Tunnel
Day 4: Blackhawk to Fort Collins
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| Day 3 route |
Mark took us on a gravel side excursion that turned out to just go directly up the fall line: hard, but it was early in the day. The first 30 miles were on the Peak-to-Peak highway. At one point, while looking at my Garmin, I apparently drifted over the white line on the shoulder and scared some dude in an SUV, who pulled over to let me have it. Surprisingly, I think Mark was more worried than I was that he was going to shoot me. I just apologized.
After Nederland, we blundered onto the "Ned Gravel" course. Because we were riding against the direction of the race, I really had to pay attention to figure out which line to avoid. Fortunately, we were off the downhill section of the course after only a few miles, though we followed the route for about 10 miles in total. The section of Gold Hill road that we descended looked exceptionally brutal for the racers going the opposite direction.
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| On the Ned Gravel course. |
We lunched at the Gold Hill Store, a famous Boulder area ride destination. I had a coffee and a delicious grilled cheese and bacon sandwich.
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| Rejuvenating grilled cheese at the Gold Hill Store. |
The descent to Lefthand Canyon Rd on Lickskillet Rd took my brakes to the limit. But then we were on the pavement. Weirdly, a triathlete and a road guy both took some risks to get around me, but then sat up and forced me to pass them back. How they couldn't outdescend a guy with 35mm gravel tires is beyond me.
In Hygiene, Mark opted to call Mitch for a car service back to Fort Collins. Once again he took my seatbag and handlebar bag, and I rode the last 35 miles alone. I wasn't so much on fumes as just unable to go past 135bpm, though I felt like I could have done that for hours. As usual, I got lost on the bike path in Loveland, and then hit a million cross streets on the bike path in Fort Collins.
Day 5: Hermit Park Limber Pine Trail
We had planned a day of mountain biking, but I accidently added an extra day on the say, so we ended up with two days. Day 1 was on the Limber Pine trail at Hermit Park, a former Hewlett-Packard company recreation site.
Mark let me use his twenty-year-old Titus Racer-X full-suspension MTB, which was pretty high-tech and high-zoot when it was new. It included a swanky Chris King headset! And it was set up like my Stumpjumper with narrow bars.
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| More re-enactor mode on the Racer-X. |
The guide I consulted after the ride described the route as "fast and flowing," but that description obviously did not take me into account. It was close to the limit of my anemic MTB abilities. It didn't help that I was still figuring out the bike. I got better on the return leg, but I still bashed my shins up figuring out that I could ride over stuff.
We went for pie afterwards, and I got the strawberry-rhubarb, because Sandra wasn't around. It reminded me of my childhood, where rhubarb was on the menu every day in the summer.
Links
Limber Pine/Hermit Park https://www.visitestespark.com/blog/post/guide-to-exploring-hermit-park/
Day 6: Switzerland Trail
The second mountain bike day was on the Switzerland Trail, an abandoned railroad bed built to serve the mining industry and failed about one hundred years ago. That meant that the gradients were not steep, and I didn't have to contend with any rock gardens. It was technically unchallenging, but probably not much fun on a gravel bike.
Plus the scenery was amazing.
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| On the Switzerland loop off the Peak-to-Peak highway. |
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| Switzerland trail |
Links
- History of the Switzerland Trail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland_Trail
- More history https://www.historycolorado.org/location/denver-boulder-western-railway-switzerland-trail-america
