Nederland to Crested Butte - Day 0

As mentioned in the summary, we revised the original plan to take the bus from Boulder to Ned and ride a few extra miles out of Ned to find a camping spot. This was a fine way to kick off the trip, and it shaved a few miles off of Day 1, which ended up being a 100+ mile day anyway, with 9000 ft. of climbing.

What a deceptive way to start a hard trip!  An air-conditioned ride in a bus, a nice BBQ dinner and craft beer at the Wild Mountain in Ned, followed by an easy spin south on HW 119. Food is one of the most important and enjoyable parts of a trip like this, so I made a point of documenting comestibles on this trip, but I missed this meal. However, I did catch Rob enjoying desert after he grabbed Twizzlers at a convenience store on the way out of town:

Rob actually had these Twizzlers all the way through the Colorado Trail well past Copper, he must have gotten tired of them because he was handing them out to other trail users.

We saw a very nice sunset south of Ned, just one small example of what makes a trip like this worth it. We'll be crossing that mountain range in the background, and the two that follow it as well, before this trip is done:

After some hunting and pecking we found a nice spot to crash for the night, near some USFS outbuildings. That's my Tarptent Contrail on the right, half set up, with a 2 mil plastic sheet as a foot print. This was my first trip to use this tent (I did practice with it a bunch in the back yard though), and I loved it.  One and a half pounds, roomy, with space to sit up and dress, and it packs small. It's single wall, so you have to avoid touching the walls (they get wet), and it's not free standing, but the positives outweigh these concerns. I highly recommend it. I've got better pictures of it later:

A few more Twizzlers, then beddy time. Big day tomorrow! Continue reading, day 1.

Nederland to Crested Butte - Ride summary

Earlier this year I was invited to be part of an ambitious bikepacking trip planned by my friend Rob, a 4 day, self-supported trip from Boulder to Crested Butte. In the tradition of bikepacking, we would carry all we needed (shelter, clothes, bike repair stuff, etc.) and resupply with food and water en-route. Food we'd buy when we passed through towns, water we'd buy or filter from streams. With help from another friend, John, on planning the route (thanks John, and hope you can make the next trip!) we came up with the following route:

• Day 1 - Boulder to the Silverthorne/Dillon/Frisco/Copper area, via Rollins Pass, Winter Park, Frasier, East Branch Reservior, HW 9.
• Day 2 - Copper to Leadville via the Colorado Trail segment 8 and HW 24
• Day 3 - Leadville to Aspen via Turquoise Lake, Hagerman Pass, Ruedi Reservoir, and Basalt
• Day 4 - Aspen to Crested Butte via Pearl Pass

This route maximizes the amount of dirt (I have an asphalt allergy, you see, when riding paved roads I break out in a rash and get all itchy, and is why I don't even own a road bike) and puts us in a town about once a day.  

For a few reasons, we made a last minute decision to start in Nederland instead of Boulder, taking the bus to the Nederland park-and-ride, cutting off about 20 miles. We also decided to make the bus trip the day prior to the real start of the trip (we jokingly called this the "prologue", or "Day 0") thinking, why not get in a few miles up front since Day 1 was the longest day (Day 1 was well over 100 miles even with this change). So, Day 1 really started near Rollinsville instead of Boulder, otherwise the plan was unchanged.

In the end, we rode well, suffered well, ate well, saw pretty good weather overall, had no mechanical issues worse than a cut tire and two flats, and we made it to CB in fine fashion, a bit ahead of schedule. Total ride stats were:

• Total miles: 272
• Total vertical: 27,400 feet
• Total moving time: 1 day, 10 hours, 15 minutes
• Total trip time: 3 days, 19 hours, 21 minutes
• Number of passes: 6
• Number of continental divide crossings: 3
• Highest point reached: 12,700 feet

What hits home most on a trip like this is the additional fatigue imposed by the self-supported approach. Our bikes weighed around 40 pounds with gear (more with a full water load). Eating, buying food, filtering water, setting up camp, tearing down camp, fixing flats above tree line praying a storm doesn't kick in (there's nowhere to hide from lightning above tree line), all take their toll. Not to mention how hard it can be to roll out of the sleeping bag at 7 AM, after barely any sleep, when it's 45 degrees and your shoes and clothes are still all wet, and you've got 12 hours in the saddle ahead of you. Very tough, but also very rewarding.

Thanks to Rob for being such a great riding buddy. And thanks to JP who was part of the route planning, but couldn't join in.  Next time, JP (and JS too)! 

Following is a map of the whole route. Each day of the ride is summarized in successive blog posts after this one, plenty of pictures are included:

Here's one picture as a teaser. I was the official photographer of the trip, so 99% of the pictures have Rob in them, but this one includes me and the noble steed at the top of Pearl Pass at 12,700 ft. I love the fact that the clouds are actually below us:

Continue reading with a day by day trip summary, with lots of pictures.

Six hours of riding at Buff Creek...

...and all I got was a few mediocre pics. The weather, views, and company were great, I should have gotten more pictures, but I guess I was too busy enjoying the amazing single track.

My newish Waltworks with my brand new Porcelain Rocket frame bag, next to JS's new Pivot:

Working a short climb:

All in all, about 48 miles and 5200 ft. of climbing, all on singletrack - a great way to start spring!

Boulder to Ned

Meetin' up with the Johns at the coffee shop:

The plan?  To attempt to bust our way through snow and any other obstacles and climb up to the Ned area.  JP had ridden down from Ned to join us while JS and I had met up at his house and biked the mile or so here to find JP recovering with some hot tea.  Bad ass!

After the Boulder creek path and 4 Mile Canyon, this is the start of Wall Street (right below Salina):

Start of the Switzerland trail. At this point we were alternating between ice, snow, and dry ground:

Sometimes you gotta give up and walk - no shame in it, for any of us:

A nice dry spot and a good view east to the plains:

It's all about balance:

Stopping to enjoy a nice view of the divide:

High enough now to find long uninterrupted stretches of deep snow.  I had some winter shoes on (love my Shimano MW81s!), but the other guys didn't.  Not sure how they managed, I would have been miserable:

Moose print - guess they're more used to these conditions than we are: 

The very top of Switerland near the Peak to Peak highway is mostly plowed (mostly):

Then it was on to take in a quick view of the Caribou Ranch valley, then on to JP's house for a quick beer/snack, then the bus back to Boulder (we wanted the most expedient way home at that point).  Wait, aren't you supposed to take the bus up from Boulder to Ned?

The route:

About 35 miles and 4200 ft. of climbing

Weld county again... naturally

It's been a long winter, and a long winter season of trolling the dirt roads out NE of Longmont in Weld county.  Here's a typical 69 mile route that includes several scenic miles along the Poudre river between Greeley and Windsor:

What's that you say? Endless hours of the following is boring?

Actually there can be a fair amount of excitement, Weld county is a hot bed of all kinds of wholesome American activities.  For example, you have farming:

 and fracking:

 you've got drinking:

dumping:

pooping:

and dying:

And not as popular but high on my list, you've got riding:

But it's not all fun and games out there.  I know our educational system has some problems, but if people have to be warned about poorly performing kids, it's gotta be really bad:

Or maybe the sign is in reference to another problem?

Be careful, Weld county is full of barns!  I don't think squirting a water bottle at zombies will work as well as it does on aggro farm dogs. (I apologize for the lame humor, the mind really wanders on those long rides).

Quick pics...

...from a recent group evening/night ride. Nothing fancy, just another JP Thursday night ride, this one covering most of the Marshall Mesa area.

Put up the winter clothes and break out the sunscreen, it's spring already.  It was in the 70s at the start of the ride:

JP acts the gentlemen and holds the gate for the group:

A nice sunset:

Some quick snaps...

...of a short ride today. With a one foot week-old layer of snow still on the ground, the only riding lately has been commuting to work. This morning I woke up to about one inch of new snow, still falling, and very cold temps.  While the plan is to get in a a longer gravel ride tomorrow, I couldn't resist a quick ride on the fresh snow.