Similar question - Has anyone here rode Vail Pass from Breckenridge?
I live in Chicago and am planning to visit in August and want to do a little riding while I'm there. The Vail Pass route looks cool to me because it's entirely on a trail so I don't have to worry about motorists. It's 41 miles with 2300ft of climbing, which on its own doesn't sound too intense, but the summit is 10,600ft.
Am I crazy to think that I can do a ride like this 2-3 days after I land? For context, a typical 40 mile ride in the Chicago area will have around 300ft of elevation gain (most of that is overpasses/bridges). I'm a reasonably fit cyclist, but the only significant climbing I do is on Zwift.