Camp Scotty Continuted...
Well, time to wrap up this Colorado report.
First off I'd like to apologize to Shawn for not getting in touch with him once I found out Scotty didn't get him the ride plans list for the week. Bah. Well, then again it was 'Camp Scotty' so, I should have anticipated a more anomalistic adventure. Kind of like wishing I would have taken my light the day we rode in Eagle.
Day 4 - Tuesday - Minturn
Two Elks and Commando Run, coupled with some paved and dirt road climbs, it makes a good loop right from town. First day of getting up high. Yowza. If the altitude wasn't enough, the steep pitches cresting the top really put the scream on things. WFO bombing singletrack? Mmm... Baby you know it! :)
Ride Profile
Stats: 4 hr 6 min - 30.2 miles - 4480' of ascent
Day 5 - Wednesday - Eagle
After another good night of star gazing on the mountain, we packed up the bikes and headed to Eagle. Unfortunately, today we didn't ride any singletrack, since we got lost trying to find the top of the hill where they started. This day consisted of the most climbing of the trip. Almost 16 miles in, I had clocked almost 5k in ascent as daylight was waning. A hop, skip, and a jump and we were u-turning to a blazing fast two track downhill, making the parking lot in the twilight.
This is also the loop where we saw a bear. Adam and Scott were making fun of me because I wanted to get to hell out of there and they wanted to sit and chill while the bear roamed around the area. Sorry, call me a puss, but I'm not one to mess with potentially dangerous wild animals, especially with a backpack of yummy (to the bear) food. And most likely, the bear wouldn't discriminate enough to avoid stick boy and go after healthier vittles. heh.
Ride Profile
Stats: 4 hrs 23 mins - 26.5 miles - 5209' of ascent
Day 6 - Rest Day
After a final night of camping, we packed up all our crap and bee-lined through Leadville, where we stopped for lunch, to Salida. A nice trip to Absolute bikes netted a map of the Monarch Crest trail and a route to ride to the top if we so desired. We moteled it this night, nice to take a hot shower after living in the woods for a few days.
Day 7 - Monarch Crest
After rescanning the maps the night before, we decided to shuttle up to the top of the hill and skip the 4 hour climb by bike. After almost a week of chasing Adam around, it was Scotty's turn to lead the pack as he hightailed it to get ahead of everyone in the shuttle group so we wouldn't have to slow down on the downhills. And the downhills were aplenty. More WFO nutty downhill rock gardens than you can shake a stick at. And the pitches on some of the climbs above 11k'? Priceless.
Today was my only crash of the trip, falling down a ravine off the side of the road while battling the uncontrollable urge to discharge my post ride margaritas on our drive back to Denver.
Ride Profile
Ride Stats: 3hr 32mins - 34.8 miles - 2573' of ascent
Day 8 - Denver
Just a simple bikepath ride today, Adam got in his 'required' daily intervals, Scott chased him around and I just chilled at a smell the flowers pace.
Epiloge
It was an awesome trip, though way too short. We got in some great rides, missed seeing all the people I had planned to see with our screwing around and basic obliviousness to the real world going on around us.
So to get everyone on the same page on tentative plans for the next 'Camp Scotty': end of March '09 for Riding some Rims in Moab. Stay tuned for details.
First off I'd like to apologize to Shawn for not getting in touch with him once I found out Scotty didn't get him the ride plans list for the week. Bah. Well, then again it was 'Camp Scotty' so, I should have anticipated a more anomalistic adventure. Kind of like wishing I would have taken my light the day we rode in Eagle.
Day 4 - Tuesday - Minturn
Two Elks and Commando Run, coupled with some paved and dirt road climbs, it makes a good loop right from town. First day of getting up high. Yowza. If the altitude wasn't enough, the steep pitches cresting the top really put the scream on things. WFO bombing singletrack? Mmm... Baby you know it! :)
Ride Profile
Stats: 4 hr 6 min - 30.2 miles - 4480' of ascent
Day 5 - Wednesday - Eagle
After another good night of star gazing on the mountain, we packed up the bikes and headed to Eagle. Unfortunately, today we didn't ride any singletrack, since we got lost trying to find the top of the hill where they started. This day consisted of the most climbing of the trip. Almost 16 miles in, I had clocked almost 5k in ascent as daylight was waning. A hop, skip, and a jump and we were u-turning to a blazing fast two track downhill, making the parking lot in the twilight.
This is also the loop where we saw a bear. Adam and Scott were making fun of me because I wanted to get to hell out of there and they wanted to sit and chill while the bear roamed around the area. Sorry, call me a puss, but I'm not one to mess with potentially dangerous wild animals, especially with a backpack of yummy (to the bear) food. And most likely, the bear wouldn't discriminate enough to avoid stick boy and go after healthier vittles. heh.
Ride Profile
Stats: 4 hrs 23 mins - 26.5 miles - 5209' of ascent
Day 6 - Rest Day
After a final night of camping, we packed up all our crap and bee-lined through Leadville, where we stopped for lunch, to Salida. A nice trip to Absolute bikes netted a map of the Monarch Crest trail and a route to ride to the top if we so desired. We moteled it this night, nice to take a hot shower after living in the woods for a few days.
Day 7 - Monarch Crest
After rescanning the maps the night before, we decided to shuttle up to the top of the hill and skip the 4 hour climb by bike. After almost a week of chasing Adam around, it was Scotty's turn to lead the pack as he hightailed it to get ahead of everyone in the shuttle group so we wouldn't have to slow down on the downhills. And the downhills were aplenty. More WFO nutty downhill rock gardens than you can shake a stick at. And the pitches on some of the climbs above 11k'? Priceless.
Today was my only crash of the trip, falling down a ravine off the side of the road while battling the uncontrollable urge to discharge my post ride margaritas on our drive back to Denver.
Ride Profile
Ride Stats: 3hr 32mins - 34.8 miles - 2573' of ascent
Day 8 - Denver
Just a simple bikepath ride today, Adam got in his 'required' daily intervals, Scott chased him around and I just chilled at a smell the flowers pace.
Epiloge
It was an awesome trip, though way too short. We got in some great rides, missed seeing all the people I had planned to see with our screwing around and basic obliviousness to the real world going on around us.
So to get everyone on the same page on tentative plans for the next 'Camp Scotty': end of March '09 for Riding some Rims in Moab. Stay tuned for details.
posted by JimL at 11:23 AM
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