With Katy and Oliver in Sydney for 10 days, Duncan took the oppurtunity of cramming in 5 action packed days with us and his Ohio cycling buddy Trevor.
Day 1 Beige joined D , T and G for epic ride from Meadow Ranch over Independence Pass to Twin Lakes and back . 91 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing.
Day 2 Mountain bike day. A round of Rim, Viewline, Deadline and Tom Blake trails from and to MR.
Day 3 2nd day on Mountain bikes. Ditch trail to Connector and Government trail whole way to Buttermilk, lunch at the Big Wrap in Aspen and back over Airline and Deadline trails to MR , D & T taking in Tom Blake trail at the end. G baled on the last !
Day 4 Back to road bikes. Up the Frying Pan river to Ruedi Reservoir and way beyond up to the end of the paved section 33 miles from Basalt and right at the entrance to Hagerman Pass ( route of original Midland railway linking Denver with Aspen in the late 1880's ). G & M started and finished in Basalt. For D & T, mileage was dead on 100 as they arrived back at MR. Very significant climbing involved. No stats available. Note to ask Beige,
Day 5 Breakfast at Main St Bakery for the 4 of us and we then left D & T to bike up to Maroon Lake and back to MR. After 4 days of sunshine they got hammered by the weather ( wet and cold ) and arrived back in poor shape. Hypothermic in T's case ? Must have been close !
Day 6. D on his own ( T had returned to Columbus after day 5 - planned ! ) left v early and biked from MR up Castle Creek to Ashcroft and back by 11. Bikes ( both road and mountain ) boxed and collected by Fedex and he was on the plane back to Oregon by 6.
Phew !
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| Outside Main St Bakery Aspen. G took an hour's start on Beige , D & T, and had a big breakfast ( with M who biked home to MR ) to boot. He need it all ! |
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| G got to this point near top of Pass and got good view of their ascent |
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| Trevor leading the way. Beige and D dropped form the slipstream ! |
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| About to descend to the other side. A long way back to here again ! |
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| Trying not to think about it. |
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| Two days later - start of Connector leading to Government trail |
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| We left G'ment trail by mistake at Buttermilk and ended up far higher than we intended. At Cliff House restaraunt at top of Buttermilk. Good view across to Highlands. |
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| The end was only 2.8 miles ( uphill ) away, but it was too much ! Time to beat a retreat for M, all 30 miles of it and over one significant climb and against a head wind all the way . D & K on their way back to clock 100 miles on returning to MR. |
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| This was the end of the hard surface and the turning point. Hagerman Pass just 3 miles up the track - and down to Leadville from there. The old Midland Rwy line and the only access to Aspen in the silver mining days of the 1890's. The Rio Grande rwy line from Glenwood Springs was being was being constructed at the same time making this line redundant after a very short spell of life. |
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| On the way back. Looking down to Ruedi reservoir half way up the Frying Pan river. |
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| Some tired bodies on the lawn at MR after the Frying Pan day |
