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Change in plans: Route suggestions Colorado/Wyoming/Yellowstone requested.

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Change in plans: Route suggestions Colorado/Wyoming/Yellowstone requested.

Old 03-09-19, 09:13 PM
  #26  
Paul Barnard
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Originally Posted by BobG
Yep. Just wanted to make sure Mike was aware that Monarch Pass was a side trip if he chooses the suggested direct route Taos to TransAm, be it 18 miles up and back or one of the longer alternate loops.

Back when I was a young 40 something I rode from Gothic Campground above Crested Butte to Sand Dunes NP near Alamosa via Slumgullion Pass in 4-5 days. Probably take twice as long now! I likely camped at Sapinero, Lake City, Creede, Monte Vista and finally Sand Dunes... fairly short days.

I stand corrected. I've edited my post above to remove the word "well"!
I can't imagine climbing Slumgullion out of Lake City. That would be BRUTAL on a loaded touring bike. The ride from Gothic to Lake City is just about as good as it gets in my opinion.
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Old 03-09-19, 09:20 PM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by mev
One useful pointer:
- The Colorado Bicycling Map showing rough traffic counts and shoulders: https://www.codot.gov/programs/bikep...bicycling-maps

For calibration purposes, TxDot also publishes traffic count studies, the last one that included San Antonio was in 2015 - https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/d...rban-2015.html I think you will find on average the shoulder+traffic situation easier in the CO mountains than what you find in Central TX.
.

Thanks for the Colorado Bicycle map. That is a very good tool.
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Old 03-10-19, 02:45 PM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by Paul Barnard
I can't imagine climbing Slumgullion out of Lake City. That would be BRUTAL on a loaded touring bike...
I was in good shape that summer Paul. Colorado was at the tail end of a long road tour down from Canada. I stopped for over a week at Crested Butte where I rented a mountain bike for their annual "Fat Tire Bike Week". I used the cozy. humming bird filled USFS campground at Gothic for my headquarters riding 20 miles RT daily into CB for the organized rides.

Slumgullion Pass was paved, I don't recall it being any harder than others. The challenge was my crossing to Gothic over Schofield Pass, that rubbled Jeep road...



I know you're familiar with it from your past posts on other threads. Most difficult I've ever done on a loaded bike. Had to portage bike and bags separately over a lingering snow field near Devil's Punch Bowl.

Fortunately I was going up slowly and not down fast through the rubble. The descent to Gothic and CB was smooth. Kebler Pass just to the south would have been easier. Jamawani used that one on his northbound route posted above but Schofield was a straight shot to Gothic where I had planned to stay.

Had so much fun at the Fat Tire Week I returned the next summer. This time Amtrak Boston to Grand Junction, then a route sticking to pavement over Grand Mesa > Hotchkiss > Crawford > Black Canyon > Gunnison > Crested Butte. Shipped my own mtb out UPS this time for the event. I took Kebler Pass back out to Glenwood Springs for the return Amtrak.

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Old 03-10-19, 03:53 PM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by mev
One useful pointer:
- The Colorado Bicycling Map showing rough traffic counts and shoulders: https://www.codot.gov/programs/bikep...bicycling-maps

For calibration purposes, TxDot also publishes traffic count studies, the last one that included San Antonio was in 2015 - https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/d...rban-2015.html I think you will find on average the shoulder+traffic situation easier in the CO mountains than what you find in Central TX.

For that reason, my recommendations on routes would be biased more towards interesting places to pass on your travels - since I do think you'll find reasonable (perhaps not optimal) routes between many of the spaces in-between. A slightly eclectic list of some I'd put on my recommend list (not sure if you'd get one route to visit all):
* The Great Sand Dunes is a cool place to visit and get some time to go out on the dunes. There is an nice hot springs/camping place close by near Hooper.
* Timberline is ~11,300ft +/- so it can make a difference where/how you cross the passes - since you'll still see trees near top of a lower pass like Hoosier Pass (~11,500ft) but clearly be above the trees on a higher pass like Independence Pass (~12,100ft), Trail Ridge (~12,200ft) or Loveland Pass (~12,000ft). Personally I like getting up higher for some of the views. Most of these passes have some long grades but aren't particularly steep. The official Colorado Highway Map has a section that lists grades for primary paved passes, perhaps also can be found online. Keebler Pass isn't all paved but is reasonable gravel road and among my more favorite lower passes.
* Resort towns; good and bad here. Accommodations are sometimes slightly more expensive, but there are also interesting things going on in the area. Personally I like little towns that aren't resorts (e.g. Paonia, Walden, Montrose) more than the biggest resort towns.
* If you are late in the summer and want to mix hiking/biking there are possibilities of climbing a 14er. These are going to vary from fairly easy ones (two you could bike to the top) to some that are more technical or longer.
* A few spots that are sometimes more off the beaten path, some interesting/some less so:
- Mesa Verde near Cortez has some impressive ruins. Slightly lower/warmer; and a fair amount of climbing to get in/out of the park.
- The westernmost parts of the state have some more canyons/mesas type region. Colorado National Monument has some fun riding with a moderate amount of climbing. Grand Mesa (~10000ft) has some longer grades from surrounding areas (e.g. +5000ft).
- Limited stakes gambling in Cripple Creek, Blackhawk and Central City; IMO a weird mix that took old mining towns and suddenly injected a bunch of new money.
- Rafting, particularly on Arkansas River; hot spots including near Buena Vista and then further downriver through the Royal Gorge; also some on the Colorado River at several points.

I grew up in CO and spent about half my adult life there including ~9 ride-the-rockies/BTC type rides and a lot of my own touring going closer to home (rest of time as adult in TX, OR, CA, MA). In my experience, there are multiple interesting routes - so I'd also suggest finding some of the stopover points that look interesting for what you might want to see/do/visit.
Your point about going to going to more interesting places is mostly my issue with some of the proposed routes above. While getting away from traffic is a nice goal, if all you end up doing is “riding”, then what’s the point of touring. My suggestions for tours tend to go to places were people can see things rather than just cover mileage. Part of the reason that I suggested CO17 is that it has interesting...if cheesy...places to visit.
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Old 03-10-19, 05:24 PM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by BobG
I was in good shape that summer Paul. Colorado was at the tail end of a long road tour down from Canada. I stopped for over a week at Crested Butte where I rented a mountain bike for their annual "Fat Tire Bike Week". I used the cozy. humming bird filled USFS campground at Gothic for my headquarters riding 20 miles RT daily into CB for the organized rides.

Slumgullion Pass was paved, I don't recall it being any harder than others. The challenge was my crossing to Gothic over Schofield Pass, that rubbled Jeep road...



I know you're familiar with it from your past posts on other threads. Most difficult I've ever done on a loaded bike. Had to portage bike and bags separately over a lingering snow field near Devil's Punch Bowl.

Fortunately I was going up slowly and not down fast through the rubble. The descent to Gothic and CB was smooth. Kebler Pass just to the south would have been easier. Jamawani used that one on his northbound route posted above but Schofield was a straight shot to Gothic where I had planned to stay.

Had so much fun at the Fat Tire Week I returned the next summer. This time Amtrak Boston to Grand Junction, then a route sticking to pavement over Grand Mesa > Hotchkiss > Crawford > Black Canyon > Gunnison > Crested Butte. Shipped my own mtb out UPS this time for the event. I took Kebler Pass back out to Glenwood Springs for the return Amtrak.
You must have come into Gothic from the Crystal and the Devil's Punchbowl. The grades on the road there cannot compare to Slumgullion (one of the 10 most difficult in the state), but the surface assures you cannot get into any kind of rythym. It is a rock and boulder strewn mess as your pic clearly illustrates. IIRC Cycocommute was contemplating doing that route. If you did Grand Mesa North, you did one of the top 25 most difficult climbs in the country!

I have never been to the CB Fat Tire Fest. I go out there almost every summer, but never early enough to catch it. Gothic is a cool little place. I am too old, and I am married, so I didn't even notice all the good looking students. They have a coffee shop there now. It makes for a good energy boost when I ride from CB to Schofield and over into Paradise Divide. If you haven't been to Paradise, it's a must see in the area. It has some of the most majestic views in that whole region. I have fallen in love with the CB area. I have been all over this country and have never found a place I like as well. You can walk down the streets in town and see $5000 bikes leaning against a store front unlocked. All of the people are happy and friendly. I even noticed that the kids walking around don't often have their faces glued to their phones! I wish there were a way I could afford to summer there when I retire, but it is spendy.
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Old 03-11-19, 08:14 AM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by Paul Barnard
That looks like a fantastic route. Highway 114 is low traffic and a gorgeous road, but it is narrow and people are hauling ass. It would make me a bit nervous on a bike. From 114's intersection with 50 all the way to Glenwood Springs is perfect in my opinion. I have driven all of it many times and have ridden some of it.

Any idea when you are going to be passing through Crested Butte?
Thanks for the info on 114. Not.hing is ever really set in stone. Along the way we always check out route plans with locals, cyclists when possible, as motorist's opinions are often skewed.

I'm guessing we'll be through Crested Butte the second or third week in July. Is that where you live?
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Old 03-11-19, 08:50 AM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by cyccommute


Your point about going to going to more interesting places is mostly my issue with some of the proposed routes above. While getting away from traffic is a nice goal, if all you end up doing is “riding”, then what’s the point of touring. My suggestions for tours tend to go to places were people can see things rather than just cover mileage. Part of the reason that I suggested CO17 is that it has interesting...if cheesy...places to visit.
)

A lengthy post here, so apologies in advance. I’ve never ridden anyplace where it felt like just “riding” (with the possible exception of having to “get through” a city). I don’t need to be blown away by vistas or entertained by “cheesy” (and, yes, this can sound dismissive and pejorative, but I don’t mean it that way).
Part of what I enjoy is the rhythm of riding, part of it is the landscape, and depending on the landscape, I may have to adjust my focus to near or far, but it’s all interesting, and part of it is self-reliance and dealing with daily issues that are soluble.
I gravitate to wilderness travel (canoeing and backpacking), but lately, and this may have something to do with our nation’s present harsh partisanship, I’ve been craving reconnecting with people in the way that happens when I’m exposed on a bike and they receive me as a vulnerable human being instead of someone belonging to this or that group. I find this happens most often in more out of the way places where I’m not just “one more cyclist,” i.e. part of a group about whom someone has already made up their minds.
I don’t know whether the profile above is unique. We all overlap here and there. I think it’s up to me to gather advice and recommendations from other cyclists and then sift it to make it fit what I need. On one long canoe trip, based on suggestions, our group wanted to experience the Albany River and Kopka River in northwest Ontario. The only way we could make both happen was to take the Albany northeast, exit south up the Pikitigushi River and then hop a train west to hit the Kopka and end the trip at lake Nippigon. On another, we wanted to do something unique so we did a height of land involving a three day portage that locals said “might go”, to take us to another river system. We could not have done these trips without a lot of input from others, but we made them our own by mixing and matching.
I truly enjoy and benefit from a wide range of recommendations. Sometimes it lets me know where to ride, at other times it alerts me to what I want to avoid. It’s all appreciated. I can never tell anyone where they should ride. All I can tell them is what I’ve done and encourage them to decide whether that might be a fit for them.
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Old 03-11-19, 01:00 PM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by revcp
Thanks for the info on 114. Not.hing is ever really set in stone. Along the way we always check out route plans with locals, cyclists when possible, as motorist's opinions are often skewed.

I'm guessing we'll be through Crested Butte the second or third week in July. Is that where you live?

Shoot me a PM when you are a few days out of Crested Butte. We rent a 2 BR condo there every summer and the 2nd room stays vacant. If we are still there you are more than welcome to crash with us. As of right now it looks like we will be there through the 23rd of July.
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Old 03-12-19, 07:40 AM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by Paul Barnard
Shoot me a PM when you are a few days out of Crested Butte. We rent a 2 BR condo there every summer and the 2nd room stays vacant. If we are still there you are more than welcome to crash with us. As of right now it looks like we will be there through the 23rd of July.
How very kind. I will certainly take you up on that, and the timing should be fine.
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Old 03-12-19, 07:57 AM
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Originally Posted by revcp
How very kind. I will certainly take you up on that, and the timing should be fine.
Many years ago when I was single I was a very active motorcycle tourist and offered my house to traveling riders. I hosted riders from 5 different countries and am richer for having done so. I have even tossed a set of keys to my house to a few people and let them come and go as they please. When I got married it was hard to make time to ride, so I gave it up. It's harder to make it all work out with a wife now, but it should be very easy to accommodate you around that time. My mother is undecided on visiting, so if she's there when you pass through I won't be able to host you, but will happily buy you lunch and show you around. It is such a wonderful place.
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Old 03-12-19, 08:18 AM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by Paul Barnard
Many years ago when I was single I was a very active motorcycle tourist and offered my house to traveling riders. I hosted riders from 5 different countries and am richer for having done so. I have even tossed a set of keys to my house to a few people and let them come and go as they please. When I got married it was hard to make time to ride, so I gave it up. It's harder to make it all work out with a wife now, but it should be very easy to accommodate you around that time. My mother is undecided on visiting, so if she's there when you pass through I won't be able to host you, but will happily buy you lunch and show you around. It is such a wonderful place.
Again, thank you. Mothers-in-law come before sweaty cyclists.
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